Bakuman Season 2 - Episode 8

Whoa, They got it!

They finally got their determination to win... But

It was too easy. Somehow, they fell short of making an emotional ending. In Fact, the main highlight of the episode was in Mashiro and Azuki talking about marriage. 

What changed before and after? They had the same determination from earlier. The editor in chief could see the quality of drawings and stories anytime, so it makes no sense to disagree with the serialization before and agree after. 

That's one way to look at it.

Another way is to think of Chief Editor as the mastermind. Had he not kept Trap on hiatus, Mashiro would be drawing manga without considering his health. Since the manga was on hiatus, He had to prove his caliber and excel in drawing manga while keeping his health checked. This made a win-win situation for everyone in the best case. However, in the worst-case scenario, which he was referring to, he would get his own plan backfired by either Mashiro giving up or losing his health entirely.

So that were two interpretations I could think of about the Chief Editor. The Second scenario would have been awesome had they explained his thinking. Otherwise, it's the stupid first case.

Anyway, On to the next...

Bakuman Season 2 - Episode 7

Damn, they are on a roll!

I understand where the chief editor is coming from. It is important for the editors not to pressure the authors to deliver their deadlines without considering their health. As the blame for his serious conditions or even death might defame the manga itself. The Chief Editor took Mashiro's mother's feelings into consideration, which are justified in worrying for him, considering she saw his Uncle die from the same cause. Obviously, she doesn't want him to end up with the same fate. 

But if you see this from another angle, The Editor holds him back from working towards his dream. Stopping him from writing manga till his good health was one thing, but he went as far as to refrain future high school manga authors. This one sentence has destroyed so many dreams at once. 

This conflict of opinions between young ones wanting to achieve dreams by doing something out of the ordinary and elders advising them against it, on account of their own bad experiences, is quite common. 

For example, in MHA, All Might himself came to talk to Deku's mother about his enrollment. We could have tried that here, but the Editor in chief himself is siding with his mother. 

One Solution I think is, All the Editors, Fukuda, group, Azuki will group up and talk to his mother and the editor in chief and convince them to let him work. Yeah! that will be an awesome scene. 

So... On to next

Bakuman Season 2 - Episode 6

 What an Episode! This should be one of the best episodes of the Anime. 

This was so packed!

Finally, Azuki confessed her feelings to him and had a good talk with him, making the romance between them a thousand times better. His mother getting to know that he has a girlfriend was funny, though 😆.

The internal struggle of everyone around him, whether to stop him or not, was unfortunate to watch. The Feels of his determination to make his manga in the last were also portrayed really well.

I can only predict that, in the next episode, the editor in chief will come up with a way to stop him from drawing anymore and give a solution to the hiatus. Let's go...

Bakuman Season 2 - Episode 5

Oh Nooooo! Please no...

Finally, the effects of skipping meals and sleep are showing up. Speaking from experience, it feels terrible when you are really motivated from inside to achieve something, but your body is just not capable.

The rankings are really fluctuating, which creates a tense environment for Mangakas. We really get to know the adventurous nature of a mangaka's life, where even one day mismanaged will cost them deadlines.

It was probably good when rankings were kept secret from authors, but rankings are a motivating factor for keeping up with the schedule. This constant instability in the rankings is really exciting to watch, and I am sure Takagi really likes it as this is what he became Mangaka for.

Coming to Mashiro, He is still not enjoying this adventure; rather, he always strives towards getting first without thinking about its implications, both on his career and body.

There is absolutely no focus on the assistants. They had zero development as characters and made to stick with their character sketch decided initially, but it still too early to conclude that, so let's see...

Bakuman Season 2 - Episode 4

 This episode was exciting. 

We learn so much about Mangaka's life.

The Mangaka authors have to decide their future plot with the previous rankings; there are two cases. Let me explain - 

If there is a positive review from the audience, i.e. their position is good,  they can infer that their story is working well, while they have absolutely no idea whether the story will do good in the future.

Here, Mangaka's confidence is tested, whether he is confident about his future work. If he is, then the story continues. If he is not, he will change the story accordingly.

If there is a negative review from the audience, i.e., their position is bad, This is the case that our characters face. Here, they can infer either of the two cases, 

1. Their story is not suitable for Jack, and they will have to adapt to the Magazine's general perception. They will have to introduce more shounen elements in manga like battles, comedy, etc.

2. Their story is not suitable for Jack, and they have to wait for the user base of the genre they are writing to know it. Our Duo is writing a Mystery Manga, which is not what Jack is known for. Hence they will have to wait for the people to spread the word.

Here they take the 2nd Decision, and I am happy with it because this is the decision you make while being calm and collected about it.

Bakuman Season 2 - Episode 3

Yay! What an ending..........I thought I would say that, but Nope😔

This episode was completely dominated by Nakai-san's infatuation towards Aoki, a non-expressive girl with a typical all-knowing girl's face. Nakai-san presently is completely dependent on Aoki to fulfill his Mangaka Goals.

He combined his strife for Serialization with his infatuation, and together they are helping his character leaps and bounds until..... tell me where in the world can you just put up a fuss and stay outside a girl's house, without being labeled as a stalker? At least in a real sense, it is not possible to get away with it easily. Again Unrealistic things like these in an anime showcasing the realistic troubles of Mangaka gets the story down.

Other than that, the episode was a blast. On to next then.

Bakuman Season 2 - Episode 2

The episode starts with the introduction of 3 more characters as assistants to the duo + Miyoshi. It certainly brings freshness to the story.     

The highlight of the episode is Azuki's stupidity. On one side, she is all shounen, talking about achieving dreams, making them a reality, not seeing each other till then, and all that. On the flip side, she has the mental strength of a panda. One bad audition and career problem brought her to a state where she starts losing herself. One more thing that stands out is that Her mother does almost nothing to console her, just puts up a plain smile in the complete scene. 

But the good thing that came out of all this is that they finally get to talk. They talk their hearts out while realizing that talking about their dreams get them even closer together, yet while staying far.

But again, the music is really bad, the emotion of finally talking is not at all complemented by the music which degrades that high potential scene.