Bakuman

It's kinda funny to see that in the color pages for the manga polls, Ashirogi Muto has always strived to surpass Eiji throughout the story while getting by many other things. Yet here if this were ever have a bearing in the manga (Which I doubt), The duo has managed to surpass him yet again!

Still, I'm standing by the opinion that they gotta add a thrid party to Reversi's plot. Some big name mangas have added this element just so it isn't just a show that only features dual protagonists or Good guys Group vs Bad Guys Group.

Of course, Shuyin being Shuyin, the thought of wanting to make Reversi longer wears him down and well... How much scrutiny do we subject pieces like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece and Hajime No Ippo because they have been going for so long? I agree completely with Mashiro's view on this; as long as the story always has quality in every aspect, the length doesn't have to become such a big issue.

edited 5th Dec '11 5:10:20 PM by Android_Chaos

I'm honestly somewhat surprised it's even in discussion.

Well, to be honest, I'm not surprised, but I do think that the mere fact that it's even in discussion reflects poorly on the state of the manga industry.

No story will last forever, so you can either end it on your terms, or you can end it on your editor's terms. You can either plan out a great ending well in advance, or you can be told that you're going to have to come up with some kind of ending by a strict deadline. You can either have the entire thing follow a cohesive, well-thought-out arc, or can have be stretched out as hell.

See what I'm getting at here?

I mean, if, as a writer, your first priority isn't to write well, your obviously doing something wrong.

edited 5th Dec '11 1:09:20 PM by Gilphon

Gilphon: Well, some stories ARE meant to last long periods of times. You have stuff like western comic books and most sitcoms that are just naturally made to be extended and be marketed as such.

edited 5th Dec '11 1:08:43 PM by AtticusFinch

Sure. But then it's a bad idea to try to work in any kind of overarching plot. In other words, rather than being one story of indefinite length, those sorts of things are a collection of stories of finite length.

edited 5th Dec '11 1:13:20 PM by Gilphon

Western comics (at last super hero comics) are worse in that regard. They are expected to last forever and, as such, they can never have a drastic change. Even Jump long runners has more consistent plot development, at last.

But I agree this question even being on discussion speaks poorly of the industry.

In other Bakuman news, volumes 6, 7 and 8 have come out of the official Viz version. To recap: 6 is the one where Mashiro gets sick and Trap goes on hiatus. 7 is when Trap is canceled, and Ashirogi Mutou's gag-loving editor starts pushing them to make a humor manga. 8 has a bunch of stuff, including the writer's getting into a love triangle and deciding to marry Kaya in an attempt to stop further romantic nonsense, the advent of the weird shut-in manga creator (but not actually seen yet), Nakai completely blowing his chances with Aoki, Aoki being taught how to do pantyshots, and Hattori's brilliant scheme to up everyone's game by having Eiji draw Iwase's manga.

And just in case you missed it, Bakuman is scheduled to be one of the manga in the new online only Shonen Jump Alpha, with new chapters appearing (supposedly) only two weeks after being published in Japan.

6 and 7 have been out for ages.

Since Borders closed, I've had to use less reliable sources for my manga volumes.

Anyone watching the Bakuman anime? One blogger said last season was creeping slow, this season was very fast with the plot twists (I think Trap cancellation was episode 9 or 10?). Since the anime was incredibly faithful the to manga in the first season, I was wondering did things got speed up later on in the manga.

Comments about the latest chapter - Death Note strongest arc was when it was Light vs L storyline. I am wondering, if Ashirogi Muto continue to stick one antagonist and become successful because of, it would be admitting to their Death Note fans that killing off L was the wrong thing to do.

edited 8th Dec '11 9:48:48 PM by kalandra

New chapter's out.

It's been two years since then? It's kind of amusing how little happens to people when they're not being focused on. Given how much time has passed, should there have been like college graduations and such?

Surprised that Natural is still ongoing, i thought it had dropped long time ago.

Hey, they really made something out of Aoki's series being cancelled! And I absolutely love it when Hiramaru hijacks the plot like there's no tomorrow.

edited 13th Dec '11 1:58:33 AM by DOmen

Anime season 3 green-lit.

Sweet.

Chapter 160 is out and whaddya know, against all odds, yet again, Aoki accepts!

Oh and Zombie Gun's selling better by a large margin for some reason.

Link?

Mods say no.

In any event, WHAT, 900000!?

...we can't link to manga anymore?

Correct.

Hmm. Hiramaru's entire relationship with Aoki seems to be based on Throw A Dog A Bone logic. Not sure how to feel about that.

Also, my theory for why Zombie Gun's doing so much better in sales, despite Reversi doing better in questionnaires: Think about which kind of audience would be more likely to actually bother to fill out the questionnaires.

Was that thread ever made, or are we still going off of that one post by one mod?

Anyway, that really is quite the difference in numbers...

You mean the older people who actually have money, and can therefore buy the releases?

Also, yeah, just from one mod post in the One Piece thread.

No, I mean people who put enough thought into things to coherently choose a favourite.

Which is probably the same type of people who are likely to enjoy watching mind games more than straight action.

I love the way Aoki was drawn throughout this chapter.

I've long given up they can write a good romance story. And, hey, their relationship at last feels more natural then Mashiro's and Azuki's. At last they actually knew each other before the proposal. And had gone in dates.

So what? I honestly can't follow your logic.

edited 20th Dec '11 2:36:00 AM by Heatth