I avoided Bakuman for the longest time. A creative work about creatives struggling to succeed in the very medium they’re portrayed in just seems…masturbatory. However, I recently gave the series a chance and was quite surprised with it. The story is simple: Classmates Mashiro and Takagi decide to pursue their dream of becoming professional mangaka together, ultimately aiming at having their work adapted into an anime. Set over ten years, the themes are more about growing up than necessarily coming of age. Mashiro and Takagi set out after a dream and have to come to grips with the fact that it’s not a singular thing, but an accumulation of smaller victories.

The series features tons of interesting characters, fantastic artwork, and a story that follows a definite shonen pattern (work hard, persevere, overcome obstacle, repeat). There are a few drawbacks though. While a good number of the characters are interesting, the sheer number of them means a fair few aren’t fully rounded out. I think one of the illustrated popularity polls showed someone ranked at 41st, which should give you some idea. One character’s neglect in particular bothered me because they were fairly central to the plot and didn’t really see much love until the end of the series. Besides that, the only other negative was that the pacing seemed really uneven.

On to the good stuff. If forced, I’d label Bakuman a slice-of-life dramedy; however, Bakuman isn’t a series easily confined to one genre. There are times when it acts like a romance, times when the pacing and art resemble a battle series, and still other times when there are some serious mystery elements. This flexibility of the story and art is perfect because it allows them to show and comment on a wide range of manga, which is what you want in a manga about the business of manga production.

The aspect about the business and creation of manga turned out to be the biggest draw. If the story was getting a little slow, there was still always the promise of some insight of how to construct a serialized story or how the editorial side works. The fact that Obata and Ohba teach about various aspects of the business of creating while still telling a compelling story, without seeming to lecture, is incredible.

Overall, this is a very good series that should have a little something for everyone in it. I would definitely recommend, particularly for creative types that like to tell stories in any form.