Bakuman

The duo that did Death Note is back, but the dark and philosophical nature of their previous work has been traded in for a comedic slice of life that details the workings of the very magazine they are published in. What starts out as the dream of two middle school students quickly becomes a reality as they become established manga-ka and become well recognized in the industry.

Join Takagi and Masahiro, two boys with a dream of becoming serialized in the country's number 1 manga, Weekly Shonen Jump. After a series of mishaps and style changes, the duo finally makes it into the coveted manga via contest. After a few more contests and rank shuffling, Takagi and Masahiro do what very few highschool students have ever done before; become serialized.

While this may sound boring on the surface, the ambitions of two young boys coupled with other important commitments makes for a funny and dramatic story. In addition to their dream chasing, the highschoolers must juggle school work, relationships, hanging out with friends, and taking care of their health. As you may have guessed, some of these life necessities crumble at one point or another due to the stressful nature of being part of both the Japanese school system and a business that requires long hours.

Interestingly enough, the series tackles some very visible issues with Shonen Jump such as the popularity being equivalent to the page placement in the magazine. With the main characters and several supporting ones optimism toward changing Jump, you would almost expect it be serialized in an anti-jump magazine.

The series is only a year in, so making a final judgement now would be unfair. However, I will say it is much weaker than the duo's previous work. I'll give Ohba and Obata a break since a series like Death Note is hard to follow no matter who you are. I have been enjoying it, but I do miss the shocking plot twists and thriller nature of Death Note. Perhaps my expectations of the duo shouldn't be represented in a post about a romantic comedy, so I'll just say it's a nice time-waster with a somewhat unpredictable plot. I would reccomend it to anyone that is looking for another series to read, but not another action one.