My numbers for the review doesn't work: I grade it overall 10 - even though story was 8; art 10; character 7; enjoyment 9. Because, hey, life isn't rational anyway.

Moving on, Bakuman is an incredibly layered, poignant, powerful masterpiece by both Takeshi Obata (art) and Tsugimi Ohba (writer) - I daresay they surpassed themselves from Death Note, which became a global sensation - as Death Note was a uniquely gripping thriller, but Bakuman is a genuinely landmark series where Japanese manga's art, history, genre, and traditions all shine thoroughly.

First we had our usual manga tropes: the shy female heroine, the hungry upstart, the underdog triumph, the eccentric genius. However, what the TO team did was to masterfully play and subvert the stereotypes against the angles of (1) the character being a character; (2) the character imitating another iconic character from a different manga, (3) the characters subverting their own stereotypes. For instance, the shy female heroine is pragmatic to a fault; the hungry upstart genuinely motivated but deeply flawed; the underdog triumph is rife with false-starts and bad puns; the eccentric genius an extremely loveable presence that is always uplifting his generation. (Plus the macho guy never gets a girl, yet a shoujo female character falls for an endearingly awkward creep.) I know other female reviewers dislike the sexism of Ohba's writing, but frankly I believe sexism is a universal - if not doubly worse in American comics within the Marvel tradition. Read the art for art, not as political commentary, yo.

I loved the beautiful nuances, and highly meta approach towards manga as a craft, art, discipline, business - but above all as an obsessively all-consuming passion. The realism of everyday compromises for art; the unassailable spirit for growth; the pain of growing a brand beyond a team's control - are all masterfully played out within a manga that's more than a manga about manga. I loved that it contains multiple historic manga references; displays diverse manga genres through the display of both art and plot; the elegant interplays of diverse sub-plots where romance, friendship, family, and career are all given very even and diverse representations within a galaxy of memorable characters.

Bakuman is not a manga that will be serialized, turned into merchandise, become a best-selling movie - but it will enter into the cannon of global comic history, and nearly achieves what one of the characters claim, will be the "best manga in the entire world".

(PS: Bakuman also contains one the best English translations I've ever read in a manga too.)