Dionkeykong

Close your eyes and imagine i'm sliding my han....Oops sorry,my bad lads wrong script..I meant close your eyes and imagine for a second that the creators of Death Note met once again and decided to collaborate on an anime called Bakuman with a . at the end for some reason..

"Aha",you might say,"why should i bother,it will be the same shit all over again"...And that's exactly what i thought at first..And i couldn't be more wrong,which incidentaly has never happened since 1985 or so..

No,as it happens they are also capable of mashing our brains with other kind of stories as well and this anime is the living proof for it.And surprises keep on coming if you stop and think that Bakuman is an anime adaptation of a manga about a duo whose goal is to make a manga with the aim of eventually getting an anime adaptation..How freakin' nuts is that?

As for the story?Well it's the story of Mashiro Moritaka who after his beloved uncle's death-who was also a mangaka-was left in a dark place,battling with crippling depression and no cares for his future even though he is a brilliant artist.What he does instead is spending his time fantasizing about Azuki Miho,a girl he has a visible crush on and not only that..He also paints some pics of her and that to be honest is kinda creepy..One fateful day,he forgets a notebook containing his drawings of her in class and when he goes back to get it he sees Takagi Akito,his classmate and the top student in the school,waiting for him holding his notebook.Takagi agrees to keep Mashiro’s secret,on the condition that they'll team up and make a manga..Pretty straightforward and almost down to earth if you think about it.

As you can see the connection with Death Note is just in names only cause the whole concept is totally different,it's more lighthearted.This is-in my mind-an anime targetted mostly for those who read manga,and more specifically Shounen Jump where Bakuman was actually first serialised.In the anime itself it's being referenced as "Jack" and it's a weekly publication in Japan with a variety of manga including Naruto,One Piece and Bleach among many other titles.Having your work portrayed in a magazine of this caliber then is a big deal.And one thing that stood out to me was that many of those anime where also making an appearance here which struck me as a bit of an advertisment exercise.

Another thing that stood out to me in a very bad way was the romance part of Bakuman.Who in their right mind goes to his crush's house to tell her that if they achieve their dreams they'll get married..No previous interactions involved that would excuse such a remark..And get that...She responded in a positive way..Which ultimately means that either there are people out there crazy enough to go through the ordeal of marriage cause reasons or that the writers were being idiotic on purpose..That there for me was one of the very first shortcomings and one that came close to ruining a big chunk of my interaction with the characters themselves.

The other thing was the main duo's hierarchy and character traits.Mashiro and Takagi have a good chemistry between them but individually they’re not the most likable of personalities and this is more evident with Mashiro whose competitiveness comes close to becoming obssesive taking people down with him.Takagi is a much more likable character,but for some reason the writers thought it would be good?! for him to take back seat even though he was the one to lead the charge in the first place...As for the female counterparts,Azuki is very much underused-for lack of better words-and i can't help but think that she plays more a plot point rather than an actual,you know,character...Like she should be.I can scarcely recall her being on screen to be honest.As for Miyoshi?Think of her as the classic case of tomboy with explosive anger issues(not really,she just kicks and punches Takagi sometimes)who has no idea what she's going to do with her life and ends up serving coffee to the main duo while they're working on their mangas..And i hate to keep coming back to this but the "romance" thingy between Azuki and Mashiro was unbelievably idiotic..As down to earth romances go this far surpasses in ridiculousness the ones seen in Kanon...And most of you here know just how much i hated that crap.

As for the main antagonist..Let's say he's a genius type of teenager who makes otakus' penises run wild while aiming for the same publication spot as our duo at the same time..Apart from that...How can i put this in a gentle manner...HE IS A FUCKING RETARD.Every single time he hits the screen he does so with animal screams..And i don't mean once or twice,that would be tolerable to some extent...But no,this fuck does it A-L-L T-H-E F-U-C-K-I-N-G T-I-M-E.

Now that doesn't say much about the story as a whole cause everything else is pretty much great..And i do mean great.

In fact Bakuman does its' best when it's going for the story it was supposed to in the first place..The makings of manga.From making the manga itself to the innards of manga industry and i have to say that i was glued to my screen each and every moment because i could somehow relate to these guys and their struggles.Bakuman is by no means,shape or form a bad anime..It's just that it could be much much better and that's a pity if you ask me.Ok i wasn't expecting Shirobako levels of achievement but there were some glaring issues that held it back.

Going to VA's and animation as well as music themes...All very very good.The animation and the music feel a bit old but that has to do with the writers intent of making this feel a bit old school and know what?It freakin' works like a charm and the VA's are there to make the experience even better with their delivery.

To sum it up Bakuman is great as an anime.Sure it could be wayyyyyyyy much better in terms of characters as they seem to lack common sense and in many cases emotion.Like i said it's no Shirobako and i didn't expect one to be honest.There are 2 more seasons ahead so i hope they fixed those issues.

Definitely reccomend it and don't forget that this review was made possible while listening to this tune DADDY ROCK "Raise A Glass"