Customer Reviews

Bakuman., Vol. 1

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Bakuman is a favorite of mine, and I've been looking forward to the release of this first book for a while!


An artist myself, I've always been interested in the creation process of manga, so this series naturally grabbed my attention. Far from boring and pedantic (as some manga about manga are apt to be), it explores the inspirations and aspirations of two friends (and the almost courtly teenage love of the artist of the pair and his hopeful voice actress crush) as they work to accomplish their dreams.

As expected of this author/artist pair (speaking of Ohba and Obata, but you know...), the art and storytelling are pretty, exciting, and funny. Its slice-of-life genre is a relief from all the popular fantasy shounen series.

The translation and printing of the English book are extremely well-done as well, and, as an added bonus, at the end of each chapter they have the storyboards of one or two pages by both the writer and artist, a really fun and awesome treat!

I absolutely adore this series. I'm a creative professional and small business owner, and pull much of my inspirations from comics, movies and games. I've shipped my own share of "dud" projects, as well as some I truly believe in; I've even had my share of successes too, so I can relate to the thrill of the struggle and the reward. Bakuman somehow manages to condense the process, the technical, the ups and downs, the business, the thrill, the competition, rivalry (that it's positive), life, and the very idea of creating something original in to a body of work that's easy and exciting to read. Sure, it's a Manga and it exaggerates things, but who wants to read about a half arsed effort?

Creative people often have their "staples", timeless favorite works that inspired them. It's especially rare to find something after you've "grown up" that can only be described as EXPLETIVE awesome, and even more rare to find something that resonates deeply. If it was Watchmen or Dragon Ball that lit the fire, Bakuman is like feeding the flame with gasoline in a high oxygen environment. It's a series you'll want to proudly display next to that 2nd extra special Blu Ray collectors edition of Fight Club you bought for "the shelf".

Especially in later volumes, the creators masterfully crafts believable competing series from all the story's authors, especially if you've followed classic or current Jump series over the years. They skillfully suggest tactics, reasoning, and solutions to winning in a chart position race. Like seriously, as insane as it sounds, a businessman or someone in marketing could learn from this Manga. Maybe that's a stretch, but if charting and tactics play a role in your business, you'll be highly entertained. I just can't get over how well the writer knows his market. Tactically, not to mention story pacing and distillation enough for it to be a mass market series. From the perspective of a creator, there's so much meta going on here, it makes Inception look like Dr. Seuss. I cannot praise this series enough.

I can't wait to fill my shelves with the English volumes. But like the serialization meetings in the story, if Bakuman is up for cancellation, please cancel a different series instead! ;) Skip the early results, my survey card has Bakuman in all 3 slots. :D

Thanks Viz!

When you read the story, you just know that the mangaka duo aren't making any guarantees on the success and happiness of its characters. That lack of a "safe feeling" is what makes this series far more addicting than other Shonen series that cradle me. Also, I've never been a mangaka of Shonen Jump, put the way they portray the inner workings seems EXTREMELY honest and realistic. They go so far as to drop the names of the most famous Shonen mangaka out right now, and even have them currently running in Shonen Jump with our fictional protagonists. At the very least it's the most detailed/educational series I've read about aspiring mangakas so far. I sometimes like to think that I have an understanding of how the world of anime/manga works, but this series has definitely re-educated me.

As I read this series I get an overwhelming feeling that this mangaka duo are channeling a lot of their experiences from trying to get Death Note (specifically) published in Shonen Jump. They even reference Death Note (as a series) several times in the first few pages, it's almost as if they want to plant that seed in the reader's mind so they make comparisons as they read on. Also it's interesting to note that the author Tsugumi Ohba is unknown to the public. Ohba's real identity (and gender) is a closely guarded secret.

This series is GREAT! It blows away all other series with stories about characters aspriring to make it in the manga/anime industry. If you don't believe me on how great this series is, look at how highly it's ranked in Japan. My little review here is a pathetically small drop in the bucket of all the praise that is out there for Bakuman.

I've been reading the Japanese version of Bakuman for a long time now, and since Viz brought the English version, I couldn't help myself to support mangas of this caliber. Like many have said, the art and story are superb, but for me the story is the strongest point, I can't really say that the manga authors (mangakas) go through that many hurdles to get published or not, but I can I agree with the author if you really want to reach your goal, you just have to stick to it and work hard it to see it come true.

Inspirational and fun story, is what I like about Bakuman. Highly recommend it!!

I've been reading Bakuman since it first began serialization and have not stopped since. This is a beautifully put together volume of an overall great series. The story begins at a nice pace and keeps going at it, slowly but surely building up, and culminating in a long, wonderful-to-look at read. The art is extremely professional, the writing is good, but what I like a whole lot is that after finishing reading the 200 or so pages, you feel more fulfilled than you would after a typical manga volume. It is a very meaty, well-rounded series and book and I look forward to all the upcoming volumes!

My only complaint is that the extras in-between chapters are very, very sparse and basic. Hint Hint Viz ;)

I have read over the first volume a couple of times, and I can say that I see great potential out of this manga. The friendship is developing and the romance is shown in a sizable amount, and for and otaku it really does give and inside look on the lives of those who make manga in Japan.
The summary of the manga would go as is: The main character is an average high school kid who under circumstances meets another boy who wishes to make manga, and with his help is able to take his first steps to gaining his romance with a... "marriage Proposal!"The later chapters of this manga give the start to the new manga creating duo.

Bakuman is by far one of my favorite manga's out there, and i'm pretty picky about good manga. It will make the biggest impact on those who themselves write, draw, or have any other sort of dream that they feel they wont be able to accomplish. That would explain the title of this review, and a big frase in it. Most of you have probably already read some of Bakuman and know all about it but if not it centers around an artist and a writer trying to become mangaka, which them being gamblers in the game of never knowing if they'll be successful or if they'll end up failing and with no job. Seeing as how becoming a successful mangaka in Shonen Jump is almost as low in chances as winning the lottery) Anyhow its a great story and is worth the 10 dollars. Plus if you haven't read it yet you could always check out the first chapter online. I can almost be sure you wont be disappointed

The year was 2009, and I was looking for some good manga to read because I got kind of tired of Bleach. I found out about this amazing manga called Death Note. I read it in 3 days, and LOVED it. Ohba and Obata (The writer and artist) are geniuses!

One year later, I found out that the duo were writing another manga series called Bakuman. I was kind of skeptic about reading it at first, but when I started, I could not put it down. It hooks you in from the very first chapter. The characters seem so real, and they are very well developed. The plot is also very interesting.

This story follows the junior high students, Takagi (Shujin) and Mashiro (Saiko), as they pursue their dreams of becoming mangakas (people who make a living off of writing/drawing manga). At first Mashiro is timid to cooperate, but when he confesses his love to his dream crush (Azuki Miho) he promises her that once he becomes a mangaka, they will marry. Mashiro doesn't actually mean to say that, it just sort of slips out, but then it turns out for the better. Azuki accepts the promise, but before they get married Azuki wants to become a voice actress. She also says that they can't see each other until their dreams come true. They encourage each other through texting/e-mail.

I don't want to ruin too much, so just read on and find out. I promise that you won't regret it!

Rating: 5/5 stars.

Like a couple of the other reviewers I too found this book inspiring and fun to read, particularly since I can apply a few things from this story into my design experiences. The art is beautiful, downright breathtaking, and the 1 page extras in between chapters help show the process of making a comic. Not only that but it truly is a fun read, following the lives of two boys as they strive to become professional comic artists, with all the ups and downs. I love this series, and it only gets better and better! Will definitely get the next volumes when they become available!

Bakuman is perhaps something different in the vein of typical Shonen Jump manga. Unlike the others which all have swords, pirates, ninjas, or other high action fighting, Bakuman instead focuses on kids who have high aspirations to become manga writers or a voice actress of manga and anime. Its pretty interesting for it seems a lot of people who are fans of manga probably would not mind doing the same as these kids and pursuing that dream. That has to be part of the reason why this series is so popular and such an awesome and refreshing series to read.

The character interaction is top class and many scenes are great to laugh at. The artists did an excellent job with the facial expressions which I seem to love. The writing is excellent as well and it is great to see attempts at including possibly stories that the writers wished could be made into real series, so it seems to serve as his experimental testing ground for these one shot stories and such.

That being said this was a captivating volume with quite a bit of writing and dialogue. Definitely check it out.

The only con is that there are not any omakes or other bonuses in the volume (no afterwards, extra random funny scenes). However there are storyboards in Japanese in between each chapter.