Hello Broza, and welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 116: Aims and Evaluation, in which ergodicity is the name of the game, things get darker, and are we are so back baby hits a x3 multiplier.
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Aims and Evaluation Summary
Anti-Jump
Shujin remarks that the manga they’re reading is the one he wants to do. A battle manga of the minds!
Saiko points out that this manga won’t work: the main character doesn’t stand out at all, nor does he even have a name. The mangaka is forgetting the basics. Shujin thinks it might be intentional, though.
When asked why, Shujijn explains that the first thing ever Jump Editor says is to “start with the characters.” Saiko agrees with that logic, but Shujin sees this piece as a response to that. An Anti-Jump of some kind.
Dun dun dun.
Shujin points out that the moment the teacher suggests they all have to work together, he dies and you discover he was totally selfish. Friendship and Camraderie are essential to Jump manga (it’s on the masthead); this manga series suggests that’s a lie, and reality is much more selfish. The Main Character is concerned with their survival, first and foremost.
Saiko wonders why someone would even bother and Shujin speculates it would be to standout. It’s entertaining for someone who reads a lot of Jump because you don’t normally see it. Shujin asks Saiko’s opinion of the piece: he thinks it’s neat, but it gives him a bad after taste. It’s too far afield from the normal shonen fare. And Saiko doesn’t buy into the setting.
Saiko clarified that theere’s no explanation for any of the antagonist’s abilities or behavior, becoming a good internet-critic pointing out plot holes in how any of this could feasibly happen. Shujin notices it now that Saiko’s said something but wasn’t bothered by it initially.
Shujin goes with the classic “it’s just a story” defense and points out some *ahem* specific examples: why would writing a name in a death note kill someone (Lol), how do Luffy’s arms and legs stretch.
Saiko reminds him that here are in-universe explanations for both of those things: Death Notes are tools of Shinigami and Luffy ate a Devil fruit. Shujin argues the point that there’s no scientific real basis for their behavior, but Saiko doesn’t think they need a scientific explanation.
Which is Shujin’s whole point. But Saiko – continuing this incredibly meta debate which I adore – points out that even fantasy has some higher level order to keep things convincing. Shujin offers that it might be explained later on; regardless, he thinks its good. Saiko agrees and they want to see what happens next.
In Classroom of Truth, God’s Rules Are Terrifying and Inescapable
Classroom of Truth Summary
One by one
Continuing where we left off in the previous page, Another student suggests that because the bodies of their classmates have disappeared they might have been set free. The nameless protagonist thinks that might be a fair read of the situation.
Ogura, the student, vanishes, announced dead by God. Thirty five remain. As Ogura vanishes his true thoughts come out: he was hoping someone else would be dumb enough to sacrifice themselves and die on purpose.
After his death, everyone freaks out and the protagonist – Takahashi – announces everyone should remain silent. Nito agrees with him only to also vanish. Thirty four to go. His parting thoughts: don’t tell everyone to keep their mouth shut, nobody speaks, nobody dies.
Saiko and Shujin react at the protagonist’s very plain name after all that setup. Shujin thinks the mangaka is unconcerned by it.
In universe, everyone realizes that Takahashi was sincere about his desire not to talk because he didn’t disappear. Takahashi reiterates to everyone to stop running their mouths. He’s uncertain still whether it’s lying that’s causing this or something else. Stop talking.
Q&A
Everyone goes silent and God gets bored. He switches to a Q&A. He starts with the class president, Watanabe. Why did Watanabe nominate himself for president?
Watanabe thinks he’s fine if he doesn’t speak, but God tells him to spit it in 10 seconds or he’ll kill him on the spot. He reveals to everyone that he did it because he thought it would look good on his record.
Everyone’s appalled to learn that the speech he gave was a lie, God notes his ego, and then Watnabe lets everyone know that he also loves feeling superior to everyone, too
Oy.
God announces that he’s spoken the truth. Watanabe is relieved that he lives, but his classmates hate him now. He flips out at them. He’s alive, and since only one of them is going to get out alive everyone who knows his secret will be dead once the death game has concluded. There’s no reason to hide if he gets out of here.
Next on the Q&A: Vice President Saeki. She volunteered to be the class representative and instead won the role of vice president. Why did she do that?
Her answer is she wanted to help; when pressed by Takahashi for the truth, she offers it was because she wanted to help make this a better class for everyone.
Everyone waits, but God announces this is the truth.
Saiko and Shujin, again, ruining this meta bit, comment on the emotional moment about the heroine. Shujin sees it as serious humor.
Meanwhile Saeki thanks Takahashi for caring.
The students debate whether the most honest person will survive. Others are more skeptical. It all seems like a game to “God”. The sicko is just getting his rocks off.
Some people think it’s better to tell the truth since your real thoughts will come out anyway. Takahashi, however, believes some would rather die than be forced to tell the truth.
The next question is for Aoi, who is in seat 1. he is asked whether he stole Nanbara’s gym clothes, which were stolen on May 13th. Nanbara is shocked to learn that her suspicions were accurate (ew). Aoi, however, denies it.
God announces that Aoi has spoken the truth. Nanbara apologizes. God moves sequentially down, asking everyone while seat No. 7 sweats the fact that he did steal her clothes and will be the next to die. Ueno, and Kato both answer truthfully. Before God gets to no. 6, No. 7 intervenes and mentions he was born before everyone else in 2001 and is therefore 14.
God announces that an intentional lie will not lead to death or escape and will not be acknowledged.
Everyone realizes what Shima didn’t say and are disgusted by his behavior.
Rule Changes
The PA announces that if Shima wishes to die, he can kill himself, or have another classmate kill him. Everyone works through the – honestly somewhat convoluted – mechanics of lying and truth and death and get to a philosophical debate on whether one can intentionally wish to die.
Oy.
The class all answers questions and there are 29 remaining students, although god toys with them. God decides to pair the student up despite the odd number; the odd one out will die. Everyone sees through the gambi immediately: the least popular person will die. they call god cruel.
God questions that and decides on a rule change: he will allow “The surviving pair” to escape the room together and lets everyone know that they can change the rules as they see fit. Takahashi sees the game fro what it is: a way to toy with with them.
Saeki immediately asks to pair up with Takahashi. They form an immediate bond. Several other people quickly join teams. God adds a new rule: Pairs shall be considered a single unit, so if one member dies, so does the other.
The other students get vicious as the pool thins down. The a student tries to pair up with Miki, but Miki refuses because Miki’s a weakling. They’re going to fight to death; it’s the obvious conclusion.
Everyone asks what is going on with him. Miki explains that at a certain point, they’ll have to kill each other to be the least one standing. It’s obvious. The other students go lord of the flies on Miki once they realize he’s only in it for himself.
They offer to tie him up. He screams as he’s tied up and confined to desk chairs. The students callously watch as he’s all alone, the only one without a pair, now….
He begs for his life as the chapter ends on a cliffhanger.
Classroom of Truth Reaction
Commit to the Bit
This series shows a lot of potential. I’m not going to lie. The art is strong. really strong. Even stronger than some other manga this series is nested in he designs are so appealing, I could definitely see this turning into a series.
But I don’t know how I feel about the premise. It’s a little…dark y’know? I mean, everyone’s going to die. I think that’s pretty clear from the setup. although I’m sure someone could find some other obvious connections to this manga. This one felt to me like the manga that Suzanne Collins didn’t actually knock off: Battle Royale.
There is a definitely similar vibe to the proceedings. all the characters are amoral in an every man for himself situation, except our lovely, if ultimately forgettable protagonists are the last one’s standing.
It definitely doesn’t feel like a jump manga, though. Every man for himself is totally unsuited for jump. And every time they’ve tried something like, it’s always ended up turning Jump in the end.
If anything, this reminds me of the early work of Muto Ashirogi. Speaking of which.
Death Note/Ashirogi
I think what this really felt like was Death Note, mixed with Two Earths, or The World is All About Money and Intelligence. Like, the darkness of the premise that was a hallmark of the early styles of Muto Ashirogi really is here. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that this author…whose name I haven’t looked up yet is actually a fan of ashirogi.
And it’s not just in the dark, mild sci-fi premise either, but it’s in the abundant use of screentones, which is a hallmark of their early style, and emphasis on a more horror atmosphere. Sure, death games have been done to death, but there is a freshness to everything here.
I will say that the protagonists name is a little bland, and so is his character. he’s just another good guy. And even though I usually like generic good guys, he’s experiencing, generic good guy in a bad situation syndrome. and you know how that is.
Generic Good Guy in a Bad Situation
This has to be one of my least favorite tropes in horror. The main character is bland as a piece of toast, but he’s so comparatively kind and well-adjusted next to everyone else that he seems like a shining beacon. You see this in Attack on Titan early on. Eren Jaeger is definitely a bit of an angry goody two shoes and he doesn’t get interesting until he starts doing all the fucked up heinous shit.
And that’s unfortunately also the case for a lot of death games. You can’t spend too much time building a character if they’re eventually going to die off, and if they die off, they’re no longer narratively useful. So what do you do?
You make a generic good guy.
He says the right things, he talks to the right people. He makes the right decisions.
Yawn.
Takahashi is peak generic good guy, and it’s going to take a lot more for me to be invested in this story than the premise.
Which, speaking of.
What a great premise
It really is a knock out of the park. It’s like PCP, a little, if I think about it, although there isn’t really an opportunity for a rival character like Akechi. And it’s a little too serious, I think the idea of an overpowered character is ripe for conflict the moment it gets started, and that’s just, ugh, so good.
But I will also say, I don’t like how morally dark this is. Look, I know people are crappy, but they’re not that crappy. and there is some good in people, I’m sure if the series were willing to make another point, and not be such a massive edgelord about it it’d be great.
But we’ll just…have to see, I guess.
And that wraps up my Classroom of Truth reaction. I hope you liked it. Be sure to follow me on…
Hold up.
Wait a second.
Oh right. Didn’t see that page turn there.
Aims And Evaluation Summary (Part II)
Un runnable
Thirty minutes later, the boys have read all 10 chapters. Saiko reminds the audience that, despite the ten chapters here, they only rate the first. Shujin thinks all ten chapters are good, but the first holds up on its own, he’s unsure what to do.
Saiko argues that it can’t be run in Jump. The protagonist dies at the end.
SPOILERS, man.
the two discuss and thinks it truly is an anti-jump manga. It showcases the worst of human nature; friendship, effort, and victory have no place in this story. The two argue whether it has any Jump qualities, but Saiko (I think) points out that only 8 characters survive the room, and all of them die by the end so their effort was for nothing.
Shujin does note that the games once they get out of the room are even better than in the room. Saiko’s hung up on the “all the characters dying” part of it.
Me too, buddy, me too.
Similarities
Saiko also notes that ta later development if, when you get captured by an invader they share your looks and mind in a secluded location, you get eaten feels a lot like Two Earths?
The character of Takahashi runs from his double and gets eaten. Shujin points out that Two Earths didn’t even make it to the final round of the Treasure Rookie Contest so he wouldn’t be ripping it off.
Shujin does say, however, that it’s scary how close this is to the idea he’s been formulating for a new manga. And, more importantly, this is great, no matter how you look at it.
They try to steer back to all the manga they have to read before judging anything. They read the manga but Classroom of Truth is the standout by a wide margin, it’s compatibility with Jump aside.
Shujin thinks if it were toned down a bit it could run in Jump with little issue.
Saiko disagrees: it’s relying too heavily on eccentricity to standout and the mangaka isn’t building up his characters properly. Shujin pushes back: it’s still better than the rookies who are overly concerned with being Jump suitable that their work feels flat and lifeless. This is honest talent.
Shujin thinks traditional battle manga are played out and he wants to do a story like this. if this author were to get a series in jump, it would be a challenge to their status in the magazine.
They decide to rate it 5 for story, 5 for art, 2 or 3 for original and character, and 5s for the rest. Saiko concludes it is, therefore the best, by a mile.
Saiko reviews the name and thinks it sounds familiar: Tohru Nanamine. Shujin asks if he’ been published, but Saiko knows what it actually is.
He stomps over to his desk and pulls out their fanmail. There was a middle schooler who wrote letters every week Detective Trap was running. He remembers because he was one of the only boys who wrote to them.
Shujin remembers as Saiko rustles through the fanmail.
And on that note, the chapter ends.
Aims and Evaluation Reaction
Let’s Talk Ergodicity, but first…
Damn, we are so fucking back, baby. This shit hit so good. Oh baby, I love it. Everything about this chapter made me happy. Truly another home-run of a chapter among a string of them. I cannot articulate just how amazing I feel right now.
And you know why. I almost don’t have to say it at this point. Maybe I shouldn’t say it since it is so obvious. But you know I am going to say it because I haz to, you guyz.
METAFICTION.
We are eating good on the metafiction front babies. We are eating super duper good with this chapter – which was, admittedly a bitch and a half to recap because of my decision to commit to the bit myself – and not only because we have an example of what metafiction does better than anything else, we’re also getting our first, true glimpse into the powers of metafictional ergodicity.
uhhh…let me explain in non-jargon-y terms.
Ergodicity
So, if you’ve ever heard of a little book called House of Leaves, you may have heard of the term “Ergodic” fiction. Because that is the book that popularized the concept.
In House of Leaves, the book is designed to mirror the action of the story it is telling typographically: certain sequences are designed to be read like a labyrinth; others are designed to feel like you’re climbing up stairs. Then there is the dual narrative in the footnotes and the main narrative of the Navidson Record, in which the characters live in a house that is one inch bigger on the inside than on the outside.
Coincidentally, the book itself’s cover is about a centimeter smaller than the contents of the book. But I’m sure that’s not intentional.
In any case, Ergodic literature is mostly seen as a gimmick because, honestly, it’s kind of gimmicky when it’s done poorly. If you write about a bird in the shape of a bird, it’s kind of, if not trite, then simple minded.
But when it’s used with *stage whispers* Metafiction, it becomes an incredibly powerful tool to reveal to us the several layers of reality that separate us from a work of art.
And this chapter is one of the purest examples of Diegetic Ergodicity.
Oh god, more jargon.
Very quickly: when something occurs in a text that the characters are privy to – for example, a song plays on the radio and we hear the song coming from the radio in movies – it’s considered diegetic. When it’s something that we the audience members are aware of but the characters aren’t – like a song playing over a montage – it’s considered non-diegetic.
Anyway:
Classroom of Truth is ergodic at its best
The genius of this chapter, aside from the obvious use of the deleter paper margins, and some screentone margins, and the dramatic change in art style, and a whole other story, is that we are, for a moment, indistinguishable from our protagonists. This is an expansion on something they’ve done several times in previous chapters – most recently during my favorite arc so far – but taken to a greater extreme.
In contrast to the previous usages of this technique, here we are, functionally, the main characters being introduced to our new rival, as the main characters are. Total diegesis.
This adds several layers of intrigue to the narrative, but we also get to experience it in the form of storytelling. And not just any old storytelling, manga storytelling.
But even more impressive than that, we can get a sense that this rival – who might be a fan of the boys – is going to push the series itself in a darker direction.
As we’ve discussed, Bakuman is a bit of a genre chameleon when it wants to be and the last chapter hinted that we were taking a darker turn apropos of Shujin wanting to make a non-traditional battle story a la Death Note, and then we get a Death Note like story that shows us just how dark Bakuman can get
And what’s even cooler than that is we can sample a genre of story that you wouldn’t expect from this genre and it still makes narrative sense because there is a layer separating Classroom of Truth from the main story.
SO we get two stories from the price of one, that comments on the fact that you are reading a manga, makes you an engaged co-conspirator in the act of consuming the manga, and we even get a modernist shift in genre without killing the tone of the arch story.
That is so damn good.
And it helps that
The One-Shot is compelling
It must have taken a lot of Ohba’s creative abilities to be able to come up with such a chapter. He’s essentially working on two chapters at the same time for this one. Even though it isn’t complete, there is enough there that he had to make up the story and premise, while working on his current manga, as though he were working on two stories at the same time.
At least it’s peak Ohba. He’s leaning into his talents.
The separation between text and creator has never been so delightfully thin.
Even though I’m not into nihilistic stories, I still got a major kick out of this. It has a lot of classic horror elements, and I do like me some Jump manga, but it was fun to see something so twisted, even if I wouldn’t personally enjoy it. I enjoy it for the tonal flexibility it affords the series that would otherwise be absent and plus, it just looks super cool even though it looks like it was an enormous pain in the ass to draw.
But we haven’t actually talked about the second part of the chapter: the actual story.
The Anti-Jump
I think my suspicions that this is going to be a comparatively darker arc than previous ones may come true, although I have been wrong enough in the past that I’ll be wary of making any firm pronouncements
But given that the rival – Nanamine seems to be their name – is entering off screen with a nameless protagonist and a death game that mirrors Ashirogi’s work, I can see this going some dark directions fast.
And I think that’d honestly be great. I don’t know how far the story can push the bounds of believability by creating a darker run of chapters in Bakuman, but I could totally see it getting darker.
And I don’t just mean in terms of story, if we see the art get a certain kind of exaggerated – like it is in this fictional chapter of Classroom of Truth – with terror, and exaggerated poses, and all sorts of scummy underhanded shit, then we could get a real incredible lead into the final quarterish of the story. We’re only a few chapters away from being approximately 3/4th of the way done, so things should heat up as we head into the end game.
Who is this Nanamine? What is his(?) game? Does he have one?
I assume so, since as this series has also underlined pretty unambiguously, manga is a reflection of the artist who writes it, and if Nanamine is able to come up with a story this twisted and conniving, then I assume there will be mind games abounding in the next few chapters.
Which is, hoenstly, a smart choice because
We need an external conflict
At this point in the story, the boys are in a good place, so we need an external actor to motivate them again to keep the action going. And, not for nothing, new villains willl, most of the time give the story an edge, a sense of threat.
And this story is menacing. There’s real darkness to it. Darkness we’ve never actually seen in Bakuman. Which gives me hope that one of my two predictions will come true.
We’ll get a Death Note like story by the end, or PCP will get an anime.
Either way, I win.
I’ll also note that I feel Saiko and Shujin on reading things that feel kind of lifeless because they want to be accepted. I’ve discussed it before, but I can only imagine how mangaka who are supposed to judge for these competitions feel about reading this work. It’s a nice little note.
But I have less to say now, I just want to see what happens next.
Until next time,
Peace
