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Bakuman。

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  • Accidental Aesop: First impressions aren't everything. While Eiji comes off as tactless and arrogant at first glance, his remarks about drawing when he was younger hint at how it was the only form of entertainment available to a poor kid like him (and he turns out to be using his manga to help out his parents), and even his demand to cancel a manga if he becomes the top manga artist turns out to be a way to maintain creative control over his work and end his own series at the height of its popularity rather than be forced to drag it out well past its expiration date for financial reasons. Similarly, Fukuda, who comes off as abrasive at first glance, turns out to be a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who forms a group of collaborating manga artists; Yamahisa starts out looking like a sleaze but turned out to be a very respectful editor; and the initially cold Aoki proves able to warm up to people like Takagi and Hiramaru over time. Contrast Nakai, who seems like a Nice Guy at first glance, but has hidden feelings of resentment and entitlement, and whose darker depths later become apparent.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation:
    • One can argue that Nakai never quite Took a Level in Jerkass, and was mainly repressing the less admirable aspects of his personality, as he never admits how much Fukuda's reminding him that his career is going nowhere upsets him to his face. Over time, he does so less often, such as when he loses his temper at an assistant when Hideout Door is doing poorly. Similarly, considering that he accuses Aoki of causing his present situation by rejecting him, it's possible that his long history of failure is more his fault than he's willing to admit. His wishi-washiness over participating in the strike, however, is one of the rare times people can give him credit—while the rest of Team Fukuda and Aoki are in the beginning of their careers, Nakai is considered over-the-hill for his profession and already in the bottom half of the rankings with Hideout Door, not to mention that he doesn't know Mashiro that well. It can definitely be cowardly, but he'd be risking his last shot over what amounts to two stubborn men arguing over one's health.
    • Toward the end of Hideout Door's serialization, Nakai becomes desperate to stay serialized, while Aoki refuses to compromise her vision. Is Aoki self-centered and inconsiderate of Nakai (especially given his long struggle to get serialized), or is she simply staying true to herself like a good artist should? Is Nakai's concern understandable, or is he so desperate to stay in the magazine (not to mention work together with Aoki) that he disregards her wishes?
    • Iwase: Snobby and obsessed with competition? Or is she a talented woman who is determined to prove herself, but is a victim of Unfortunate Implications and/or Takagi's dismissing her as being fixated on besting him?
    • While the editor in chief is largely seen as unreasonable for putting Detective Trap on hiatus while Mashiro is hospitalized, it's possible to conclude that he's the Only Sane Man concerned about Mashiro's health but unwilling to end his career over this, like his mother wants. Considering that the main characters realize that the editor has valid points later on, and he's generally portrayed as a tough but fair Reasonable Authority Figure, it's possible that the story even intended for him to be seen this way.
    • Does Mashiro really love Azuki or does she just love the ideal he has about her? Especially if we take into account that due to the promise they made, their interaction is minimal and they cannot get to know each other well.
  • Anvilicious: When Mashiro and Takagi end up writing their story according to reader suggestions due to understandably being desperate to keep Detective Trap going, Miura, of all people, notices something's off and calls them out on it. He then points out that the fan mail doesn't represent the majority of the readers, and the readers are there for Mashiro and Takagi's story. It's not exactly subtle in how it criticizes merely pandering in an attempt to gain popularity. The arc with Toru Nanamine also has Mashiro and Takagi being challenged by a manga that is entirely written by multiple fans, with the man who publishes it being extremely arrogant despite being unable to spot inconsistencies in "his" writing.
  • Awesome Music:
    • "Shin-Takarajima" (New Treasure Island), the optimistic alternative-punk ending theme for 2015 live-action adaptation of Bakuman by a Japanese group Sakanaction.
    • The anime's second opening, " Dream of Life" the second opening of the anime, is no slouch either. The awesome instrumentation and vocals are backed up by lyrics that uncannily match the show.
  • Base-Breaking Character:
    • Iwase. How sympathetic is she, and how does this compare to how she is intended to be seen?
    • Same goes for Kayoko Mashiro, for not only being a nagging mother, but for being very strict and hardly supportive of her son's dream to become a manga artist (especially considering the circumstances that inspire him to do so). Some believe she has valid reasons to do so, given what happened to her brother-in-law (and later, her own son getting hospitalized because he's neglecting his body over work), but others see her as being unreasonable. Granted, she does gradually loosen up and become a bit more willing to tolerate Moritaka going into manga.
  • Broken Base:
    • Ashirogi's series-wide goal to get an anime that Miho will star in has met with some critics. Some believe the goal to be admirable and passionate, exploring the lengths that they'll all go through to achieve the clout necessary for an anime, and also displays their drive to achieve their goal while competing with the rest of the generation of mangaka. Others think that, since the goal was only made in relation to Mashiro's relationship with Miho, that the duo put themselves through a lot of strain for an arbitrary goal.
    • As the years went on, fans debated over whether +Natural's lack of on-screen success was the fault of its editors or its mangaka. Some put the blame squarely on Miura, as he didn't have the eloquence, presence, or skill Hattori did to help Iwase develop the story while he showed much more investment in Takahama's Mitaka's Justice. Others believe Iwase was to blame because of how much she relied on Hattori's guidance in the initial stage, and her refusal to grow with or work around Miura. A third camp blames Hattori for the scope of his investment and then not preparing Miura or Iwase for after he left the project. That being said, it couldn't have done that bad; like Fukuda's Kiyoshi, +Natural was plugging away in the background for multiple in-universe years with only one arc devoted to its possible cancellation—and then it kept going even after that.
  • Character Perception Evolution: While you won't have many people who see him as their favorite character even today, Miura has had the benefit of time and hindsight soften some of the hate he received. His clumsiness, stubbornness, and relative inexperience as an editor are still treated as his major flaws, but on rereads some fans appreciated his support of the Muto Ashirogi duo throughout Detective Trap's run and some sympathized with him when Mashiro and Takagi were being equally stubborn about the possibility of doing gag manga. Some fans also found he wasn't completely at fault for his pushing of gag manga, as he'd heard plenty of other editors in the Jump offices stating that they needed more gag manga in the magazine and did proper research to explain why he'd think the duo could survive with one. And to his credit, he did successfully oversee Takahama's Mitaka's Justice (which was popular enough to score its own live action adaptation), but that was entirely offscreen.
  • Designated Villain:
    • Iwase, to some of the base that believe that her portrayal as a snobby bitch because she's smart and talented is sexist. On the other hand, Takagi later accepts her as a rival, which could indicate that we are not meant to agree with his initial reactions.
    • The Editor-In-Chief is portrayed as unfair for putting Detective Trap on hiatus while Mashiro is hospitalized, then extending it until he graduates from school. All of Mashiro's rivals go together on a strike in protest and their editors start agreeing with them, and eventually the Editor has to compromise. A few reviewers instead expressed that while Mashiro's passion is admirable, and he managed to draw in these conditions, he really shouldn't be working while in a hospital, especially when his uncle's death from overworking was brought up in the same arc. His stubbornness didn't save Detective Trap from cancellation due to low ratings anyway.
  • Diagnosed by the Audience: Eiji Niizuma's odd mannerisms, difficulty of understanding social norms despite himself being sociable, atypical Limited Wardrobe, and unparalleled genius, are believed to be indicators of Asperger's.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse:
    • Hattori is rather popular for being a good mentor to Mashiro and Takagi, as well as to his kohai Miura.
    • Hell, just look around some manga forums and you'll see this series is full of them. Hiramaru, Eiji, Aoki, Iwase.
    • Chapter 110 gave the results of a new popularity poll, with some very interesting results. Yoshida (Hiramaru's editor) made #9, beating out Iwase (#10) and Hattori (who tied at #12 with Kaya) and all the other editors. Aoki Ko was #8, Fukuda was #7, but Otters 11 (not Hiramaru, but the manga character he created) made #6, the only manga-within-manga character here to get notable rank. Takagi was only #5, beaten out by Azuki (#4). But the real surprise was the top three — Hiramaru was #3, Mashiro was #2, and Niizuma Eiji was #1 by a wide margin (1700 votes to Mashiro's 1200). In Japan, the Hiramaru/Yoshida subplot seems to be the up and coming darkhorse.
  • Epileptic Trees: The series started a popular real-life theory that Tsugumi Ohba was actually just a Secret Identity for Hiroshi Gamou, the author of popular 90s Gag Series Luckyman. Evidence for this is that Nobuhiro's manga and later career heavily resemble Gamou's, making his death very strange from a meta sense, Ohba's own art shown in the volumes closely resembling Gamou's, and that Ohba himself has literally zero credited work prior to Death Note, suggesting he had a career prior under a different name. When asked, Editor-in-Chief Sasaki pointedly declined to answer.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: Aoki with either Takagi or especially Shinda Fukuda. In the end, Takagi ends up married to Miyoshi, while Aoki is in a relationship with Hiramaru, and is ultimately engaged to him.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Mitaka's Justice, a courtroom manga that ran in Weekly Jump in this universe, was a great success and continued on even after the final chapter. Obata's 2014 collaboration with Nobuaki Enoki, Gakyuu Houtei, was similarly styled after courtroom dramas but didn't last beyond three volumes.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight:
    • The third chapter has Mashiro forcing Takagi into making a storyboard, with Takagi complaining that he could just give Mashiro a script. Guess how Eiji and Iwase make +Natural work, and how Mashiro and Takagi start taking the lead with PCP?
    • Ohba and Obata's following manga, Platinum End, makes quite a few things funnier in hindsight:
      • The authors' occasional Take That! towards Jump SQ looks rather awkward since Platinum End was serialized there.
      • Mashiro and Takagi's first manga, which involves angels, ends up getting canceled due to poor ratings. Platinum End similarly heavily involves angels in the story. However, it's also generally considered their worst manga for its bleak tone, bland or unlikable characters, poor attempts at sounding philosophical, and an infamous Audience-Alienating Ending. It seems like they should have taken their own advice.
      • The antagonist of the first half, Metropoliman, is a rich teenager who believes that ugly, poor, or (who he deems) undesirable people don't deserve to live; and who uses both his superpowers and money around to have everything go his way. Many consumers likened him to a Nanamine who took even more wrong lessons from The World Is All About Money and Intelligence.
  • Iron Woobie: Nobuhiro "Taro Kawaguchi" Mashiro. The girl he likes, one of his main reasons for being a mangaka, found another man? He believes he got this far because of her, and she's still watching him. His contract got canceled? He thinks it's an opportunity to start over as a newbie.
  • Memetic Mutation:
    • It's common habit to discuss the series mentioned in Bakuman as if they are actual series.
    • Miura would like you to know you need more gags.Explanation
    • Posting images of the editor-in-chief during discussions of real-world canceled Jump series.
  • Narm: While the reader can comprehend that What You Need for a Thrilling School Life initially seems like a brilliant debut serialization for a rookie author, what little we actually see of the manga seems more like a gag series than a well constructed young adult-aimed work.
  • Nightmare Fuel: Nanamine's Classroom of Truth manga. Let's face it, that got incredibly disturbing at times. Also overlaps with Paranoia Fuel.
  • One True Threesome: While Takagi and Kaya are set in stone and Mashiro and Takagi have a very tight bond, some fans just see the three as a polycule. Kaya's been supporting Muto Ashirogi since the very beginning, and while they're sometimes bad at showing it, they both love Kaya and appreciate her. They even rope Mashiro into joining them on a New Year's retreat to a hot spring near the end of the manga. Can turn into a foursome with Miho, as Kaya and Miho are still close friends and the trio is equally as supportive of her voice acting career as she is of Muto Ashirogi's manga career.
  • Paranoia Fuel: In Classroom of Truth, you could, out of nowhere, be put into a survival tournament against the people you work or go to school with every day. The person who outwardly seems like a Reasonable Authority Figure is willing to kill you so he can survive. And if you have any secrets you want to keep from others, you can't, lest you die.
  • Squick: Hiramaru's briefly mentioned medical condition that causes him to urinate blood.
  • The Scrappy:
    • Miura gets some hate for being overly pushy and trying to force Mashiro and Takagi to do gag manga, in spite of his lack of experience. Some of these reader reactions may be intentional, since the main characters are somewhat frustrated with having him as an editor, although they do accept that they can't blame him for all their troubles.
    • Azuki has her fair share of people (including RolloT of Weekly Manga Recap) who find her relationship with Mashiro to be completely ridiculous and unbelievable, and that she isn't defined as a character beyond that. Some people instead believe that she's uninteresting because most of her struggles as a voice actress are deliberately glossed over and instead relayed by her friends, as a consequence of the story focusing on manga production.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat :
    • Quite a few fans have been clamoring for an Aoki/Shujin ship, despite his Official Couple status with Kaya and his powerful confession of love to her coupled with a marriage proposal which she accepts.
    • This seems to have blown over and many fans seem to have moved on to shipping Aoki with Fukuda after his Big Damn Heroes moment, offering to help her with her manga despite the two having a less than stellar start. However, like the above example, this ship was sunk in Chapter 114, where Hiramaru asks Aoki out and she accepts, and Fukuda is shown to be a Shipper on Deck for them.
  • Strangled by the Red String: Azuki and Mashiro have almost no interactions with each other due to promises, making it hard to believe all the devotion they have for each other.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Taro Kawaguchi, a mangaka who found moderate success with the gag manga Super Hero Legend and then floundered in mediocrity until his dying days, makes for a character ripe for potential. His relationships with Azuma, his former editor (now Editor-In-Chief) Sasaki, and Miho's mother all promise opportunities for storylines, and also hint at ways to tie into Mashiro outside of his Plot-Triggering Death and parallels to the latter's romance with Miho. However, Kawaguchi's presence isn't felt for a majority of the story, only coming into prominence during Nanamine's return.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
    • For a manga about manga production, we don't get too many glimpses of most of the mangaka's works. Snippets of their concept phases occasionally come up in arcs, but they'll rarely have a full chapter or sequence to get a feel for what the manga is supposed to be like.
    • When Takagi and Mashiro wanted a gag manga that they could easily transition into something more marketable or action-y, they struggle between Ten (a hitman tournament comedy that Miura was pushing) and Tanto (the science comedy they created themselves) before settling on Tanto. Some readers believed that Ten could have easily given Muto Ashirogi what they wanted at the time, especially since, as they pointed out themselves, plenty of Jump gag series with an action slant were able to transition into full action later down the line (Beelzebub, Reborn! (2004), Gintama).
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Nakai. The narrative indicates the audience is still supposed to feel some measure of sympathy for him, yet the majority of them has long since completely lost the capacity to be able to. The characters are split between those who have some sympathy for him and those who do not.
  • Values Dissonance: The series has an unfortunate tendency to fall back on Japan's strict traditional beliefs about gender roles, particularly with the narrative's treatment of Azuki, the main female lead. When Takagi talks about how clever Azuki is, he frames it as her not coming across as too intelligent since girls supposedly have the instinctive knowledge that they won't look cute if they're overly smart, and that her dream to become a voice actress is one that "many girls have nowadays" and that she doesn't feel any pressure about the future like he and Mashiro do since the best thing for a girl to do is become a good wife and mother. But the most egregious example is the line "Men have dreams that women will never be able to understand!", which comes across as very gender-essentialist.
  • The Woobie:
    • Previously Nakai, who'd been trying to get serialized and a girlfriend for over 10 years, without any success. Especially after he gets canceled because Aoki refuses to change anything. This was broken however when he acted like a total dick towards Aoki on rebound after being rejected by another girl, and has quit manga entirely. However, recent flashes to him show he's not completely content...
    • As of Chapter 102, Shiratori. As if having a crummy home life wasn't bad enough, when he makes a good enough concept for a manga and works with Takagi on it and makes it great, his mother, someone who knows and cares nothing about manga, doesn't give a shit and gives him an ultimatum: move to Paris to pursue only art, or quit being a mangaka's assistant and work for his father's makeup company. Though, he is aware of another course of action that he decides to take.
    • Azuma. He's been out of work for some time, and it has obviously taken its toll on him emotionally. As such, he turns to Nanamine, only to get cast aside when he's deemed to be not good enough. This makes it considerably more awesome and heartwarming when he does actually succeed on his own.

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