Hi Babe, and welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 119: Overconfidence and Publicity in which I continue glazing editors and non-creatives in the arts. They’re important, yo.

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Overconfidence and Publicity Summary

Classroom of Falsehood!

Continuing directly where the last chapter left off, the boys stare at Nanamine in shock as he looks at their library. Saiko wants immediate confirmation that Nanamine actually wrote Classroom of Truth.

Not exactly.

Ruh roh.

Nanamine “compiled” the ideas from four of the people he met online to create it. That’s how he got several ideas that Shujin thought were the best concepts of the whole story.

Shujin says as much and wants to confirm that Nanamine actually didn’t come up with them. Nanamine’s response? It doesn’t matter who came up with the idea, he’s the one who put it all together, so the credit goes to him. Nanamine also points out that there were ideas that more “risky” including a toilet in the classroom, and a boy who didn’t want to die a virgin attacking ladies.

Fuck me that’s dark.

Nanamine takes credit for realizing those obviously terrible ideas are…obviously terrible. He didn’t think the other objectionable shit wouldn’t pass the test, though.

I don’t like this guy.

Saiko thinks that four people giving input is one thing, but taking ideas from 50 people isn’t even a person’s work anymore. Nanamine counters: once you take an editor’s input, your work is no longer yours, is it?

Nanamine slanders editors further (grrr): they’re just after a paycheck, you might as well get some honest opinions with no strings attached. In Nanamine’s mind, he went the extra mile getting thousands of opinions on his work that had good feedback. He’s come up with the most flawless creation method possible.

Oh cool, let that narcissist flag fly baby.

Shujin admits he was impressed by how different Classroom of Truth was, but he’s shocked and disappointed to learn that his methods are so “off”. He declares Nanamine will never be a proper creator with this mindset.

True, for the record.

Nanamine is disappointed that Ashirogi doesn’t understand him of all people. He always thought of them as innovative thinks who stop at nothing for the next great idea.

They bite back: they’re even more disappointed to learn that their most loyal fan would waste his talent like this. Saiko hits a sore spot, though: you can’t be so proud working in this industry.

Nanamine responds poorly to that.

The Value of Editors

Nanamine goes on a tirade: when it comes to professional pride, the boys are mistaken: a pro uses any means necessary to succeed. To gain a solid fanbase and make good sales. Pride that comes before material success has not yet learned the meaning of professional.

Hoo boy. Hoo boy. My fingers are ready for this reaction.

Nanamine goes for the jugular: Tanto was entirely their editor’s idea. Tanto is what happens when you listen to your (shitty) editor using the ridiculous conventions that publishing companies force on their creators. The truly talented should be given the right to produce and market themselves on their own terms.

Anyone who uses an editor is an amateur.

Look here buddy you are dead– oh right, still in summary mode.

Saiko politely tells Nanamine to check himself before he wrecks himself: don’t underestimate the pros (Ashirogi in parenthesis) and and stop being so full of yourself. If you want to draw for Jump you have to have faith in your editor.

Nanamine continues with his bullshit thinking that Ashirogi had what it took to make a new path in manga. They’re just editor’s pets after all.

Shujin fumes silently. While Saiko lays down a challenge: See how far your army will take you. But remember, they’re all amateurs themselves, so don’t be surprised if you fail.

Breaking the tension is Kaya coming home.

Kaya is thrilled to meet one of Ashirogi’s biggest fans. Nanamine is more measured in his politeness, now. Kaya’s cheery as all get out and plans to cook a feast this evening. she invites him to stay, but Nanamine politely declines. Kaya tries to get him to stay, but Shujin tells her to let him go.

Nanamine looks forward to seeing which of their series is more popular as he heads out, confusing Kaya.

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

Kaya is shocked to learn about Nanamine’s underhanded methods. Shujin swears Kaya to absolute secrecy: not even Hattori or the assistants can know. Shujin reasons that Nanamine only told them because he’s a huge fan. Shujin wouldn’t have spilled anything to anyone. He wishes he’d never known.

Saiko’s convinced if word gets out he’ll be in trouble. again.

Kaya points out, correctly, that if he has 50 people on his not quite payroll, then it could leak easily. Shujin agrees, but still refuses to snitch, lest he get stitches. Metaphorically.

Kaya gets a jab in: he’ll get in some good ideas that way, though. That’s not the point; pros do their own work. Shujin mentions the new one-shot made by the group of 50 people, shocking Kaya with his speed. Saiko doesn’t want him to beat PCP.

Game recognizes game: Shujin points out that, even without the 50 people, Nanamine is a talented mangaka. He’ll get colored pages as well a lot of pages since it’s a one-shot. If that’s the Case, PCP might not be able to compete anyway. Kaya asks if Shujin believes that.

He’s just being logical.

He doe say, however, that if Nanamine gets a series they’ll take him down. Saiko thinks that this success will be short-lived. Shujin hopes that’s the case, but the future is uncertain. Regardless, knowing this guy, he’ll have a storyboard for a series ready to go in an instant. Saiko agrees: it’ll probably be up for serialization in the next meeting.

Kaya suggests they get a move on on that second series they want to do and beat him with it.

Saiko has a different perspective: they would have done that in their youth, but they don’t want to play games. Slow and steady wins the race. Kaya’s surprised by how calm Saiko is. Kaya asks about what Shujin’s working on, a non-traditional battle manga?

No. Shujin is doing something called: Unconventional Traditional Battle Manga

This fucking goober.

Kaya doesn’t understand the difference and thinks he’s making things more confusing.

He might be, just a touch.

“Editorial Meetings”

On July 6th, Miura asks after Kosugi. Aida lets him know that he’s having a meeting with Nanamine. Aida expresses hopelessness at the lack of good material for the combined august 10th issue of the magazine; he wanted Nanamine’s one-shot to be ready, but that would require him to get his one-shot done in a month. Aida thinks it’s still a good idea to ask Kosugi about it since he’s meeting with Nanamine.

Kosugi gets the call and is shocked to learn that Aida wants his one-shot – titled Nerves and the Accompanying Vapors. Kosugi promises to tell Nanamine but he’s uncertain whether it’s possible.

Nanamine is thrilled by the news and confirms he can get it in in time…of course he is.

Kosugi explains it still needs to pass revision first.

Nanamine lets a curious detail slip: he has a bunch of friends who can “help him out” and he’ll be able to draw forty-five pages in two weeks. Kosugi is curious about what “friends” means in this case. But Nanamine just wants the go-ahead.

This little shit.

Kosugi decides to give it a go and requests Nanamine make the fixes. Nanamine helpfully exposits them for the audience: Make the protagonist stand out more. Make the art likeable. Soften up the crude stuff. That’s all ne?

Nanamine thanks him and peaces out.

Back at his place, Nanamine is happy and contemptuous about the fact that 34 people are online. He starts the discord meeting. He gives the notes that Kosugi mentioned.

The commenters – Nobuo, Kenchan, Haru, Taka, and SUGI all send poorly spelled – and therefore accurate – chat messages rejecting all Kosugi’s notes. Like most braindead internet commenters, Nobuo thinks that his manga is not a character centric story. Kenchan rejects the notes about the art needing more appeal as it is supposed to be “realistic”

Haru thinks the vulgarity is essential to the story.

Taka suggests that they switch the heroine and hero

Sugi thinks that Taka is a genius.

Oh god. This is so dumb. Breathe in for the recap.

Nanamine decides to reject his editors notes and go with Taka’s suggestion. He also tells them to keep the ideas coming for a serialized version.

Pushing up the ladder

The next day Kosugi is alarmed to find that none of his suggestions have been implemented. Nanamine thinks it’s still better as it is, though.

Nanamine, playing the hopeful shonen-goodboi protagonist asks to push it up the ladder. He’s pretty sure they’ll let it pass. If it doesn’t work, he’ll give up on it fro the combined issue.

Kosugi is furious, but agrees to take it up stairs. Nanamine thanks him for his understanding and offering to do so

Fuck this guy.

In the office, Aida’s group marvel at the revisions he implemented. Hattori sees it reads as a comedy at first, but the way he draws you into the characters minds feel real. Miura thinks Kosugi is lucky: two months into he job and he’s got a brilliant one-shot. Kosugi feels like he hasn’t done anything, though, which Miura thinks makes sense it all fell into his lap.

Aida approves the one-shot and is confident it’ll be good. He asks if Nanamine will make it in time. Kosugi explains he can do it two weeks. Kosugi, however, doesn’t like the story.

Hattori picks up something up and reads it again. He thinks it’s good for an 18 year old. Almost too good. No spark of youth. It’s more than the work of a rookie artist. Kosugi agrees that it’s too confident. He also finds it, alarming, at least, that Nanamine already has plans for a series with this one-shot.

That surprises everybody.

Someone comments that Kosugi might get a series in August of his first year. A major accomplishment. Kosugi’s surprised to hear this. It is explained to him that most first years just learn the ropes and doing odd jobs.

Yamahisa and Yoshida watch with barely concealed contempt: if Nanamine gets published it’ll kill Shizuka; Hiramaru and Aoki are in a similar boat. He might rob them of their slot for the series. Yamahisa needs for Aoki to be serialized. They also noticed that the storyboard had romantic elements too.

Yamahisa nd Yoshida decide to hold meetings with Aoki and Hiramaru stat. Hiramaru needs to get his cynical edge back.

Faith

Two weeks Later, on July 20th, Kosugi gives Aida the pages. Aida is thrilled to have them right on schedule. Aida’s thrilled to see the art isn’t just clean, it’ better than Classroom of Truth. Hattori’s impressed. They’re both astonished by the quality of the work and wonder how someone could pull this off in two weeks.

Kosugi explains that there are people helping him. Hattori wonders at how skilled those friends are to produce work like this.

At Hiramaru’s studio, Yoshida explains that the new threat – hilariously not even bothering to refer to Nanamine by his name – will be a challenge to Hiramaru at the next serialization meeting. His story has beats similar to Hiramaru’s including a cowardly lover angle.

Hiramaru, still in the honeymoon phase explains that he assured Aoki – referred to as Yuritan (gross) – that he was going to get a new series at the meeting.

Yoshida is confused by the new pet name so Hiramaru clarifies that they’ve gotten close enough that he can refer to her as Yuritan (gross). Hiramaru is a little nonplussed, however, that even though he’s started referring to by a cute nickname, she hans’t returned the favor.

Yoshida doesn’t care. But he sees an angle here.

He asks Hiramaru to trust in ol’ Koji Yoshida, advisor in all things romance, to answer him honestly. How has their relationship actually progressed?

They’ve been out for tea once.

Yoshida makes a show of being thrilled that it’s just been tea, which puts Hiramaru on edge. He doesn’t understand.

Yoshida puts the screws to our boy: he’s in trouble. This is very unfortunate. Remember how, during the confession she said they should meet again; he has a nickname for her, but he’s Mr. Hiramaru. Which means…

Hiramaru’s only a friend to chat with over tea. Not a real romantic prospective.

Hiramaru is horrified. Yoshida goes in for the kill: if he doesn’t get a series they wont do tea time. Hiramaru’s terrified. Aoki doesn’t like men who don’t work. If you don’t have a job you’ll be “thrown out like yesterday’s trash”. That’s just how women are, Hiramaru.

Oh cool. Casual sexism. I can’t say I missed it.

At that moment, Hiramaru, in his despair has a flash of cynicism; a creative breakthrough, flowing through him.

Yoshida tells him to let forth his cynicism. Draw. DRAW LIKE THE WIND! Hiramaru despairs: he thought things were going well.

Yoshida’s relieved that, at least for now, Hiramaru should be fine.

Eww.

On August 3rd, a news paper reports that Nanamine’s one-shot will debut in next week’s issue of Jump. Shujin suspected this might happen, but is still surprised. Saiko sees it as a double-edged sword: he’s raising the bar for himself. Shujin reminds Saiko of Nanmine’s confidence in his work. That it could even surpass Classroom of Truth.

Shuin lists off all the recipe for this success: he generates hype, get’s peoples attention, then puts out something better than expected. With 50 people behind him, this might just be possible. He could, in fact, get a series within half a year of his first submission.

On that ominous note, the chapter concludes.

Overconfidence and Publicity Reaction

Hoo Boy

This chapter was….a lot. Mostly for the good – Hiramaru hijinks notwithstanding – but also. It was a lot.

Nanamine is finally full mask-off fuckstick and honestly, how did I ever imagine that this dude was anything other than a giant raging sack of shit? It’s all there. I’m tempted to re-read his introduction for the nth time to remind myself that even I am susceptible to the kind of charms this kid is giving off.

Even though I said I was annoyed by his earnestness. And I changed my mind mid-read-through. Whatever.

But there is one massive benefit to the overt scumminess of Nanamine and it’s something we already observed: Bakuman is altering its tone for the sake of this current arc. The Death Note arc is progressing nicely.

Particularly Nanamine who is proving himself to be an excellent villain character that the series has never really had aside from maybe Nakai and Eiji’s introduction. And Ishizawa…although he was a throwaway.

Nanamine is the first character to feel like a legitimate anime villain/antagonist in a way that other villains don’t feel like. And he’s clearly, on some level, modeled after Light Yagami from Death Note.

And not for nothing, but this arc already feels darker. Tonally, it’s still where Bakuman sits – somewhere between serious and funny, slice of life and battle-y. But there’s something lingering at the edges.

The art is where I notice it most. Obata is really going hard to show the dual nature of Nanamine’s villainy. The way he smirks. The way people take his angles…Shujin’s goofy ass face.

The art is also, literally, darker. They’re using more screentone again and there’s more blacks and beta coloring. We are heading into a dark arc. And that’s exciting because it means there’s a kind of thrill that the series hasn’t really indulged in up to this point. There’s a sense of danger.

And the Light Yagami-ness of Nanamine is not only present in his smart behavior, but also his absolute idiocy because….

Serious Humor; Smart Dumbass

One of the uniquely compelling angles to Nanamine’s character – aside from his absolutely dogshit perspective on the editorial process – which I will wax poetic about – is that despite his obvious intellect and frankly genius capacity for manipulation, he’s still kind of a dumbass.

This is typical of a narcissistic individual. I keep bringing this point up and I’m going to keep bringing this point up because Tohru fits the bill so perfectly that it’s almost a joke.

But my boy Nanamine has gamed the entire system, gotten everything to work out as he wants, but he’s not actively accounting for a future in which things might go wrong.

Now, in real life, Narcissists are very anxious people who are highly insecure about themselves, and so project their insecurities out as delusional levels of confidence. In Nanamine’s case we haven’t been exposed to the insecurity. Yet.

But I do suspect we will. For a few reasons.

The first, and biggest reason is that he confessed to the boys about his plan. He wanted praise for his accomplishment and he’s kind of acting like a serial killer. He’s getting a perverse thrill of revisiting his crime. And let’s be clear. On some level, Nanamine knows that what he does is fundamentally wrong. And no, something being technically legal does not make it right.

But Nanamine is, like Vic Mackey, a consequntialist: as long as this behavior benefits me, then it’s worth doing. And he has one goal: become a successful mangaka.

I’m not sure he even buys that the 50 peopel helping him is a legit tactic. I think he wants to be seen as smart and careful and methodical. But by revealing his ploy this early in the game, we already know that’s not entirely the truth.

But he still did effectively do it. And he also does convince most people that he’s a charming, earnest, if ambitious, guy who just wants to be a Shonen Jump mangaka. That does take some intelligence. And he has to be able to synthesize all the notes from his friends to make the manga and make it good. Plus he’s a gifted artist.

So on some level, Nanamine is smart. But he’s also impulsive, callous, and egotistical.

A smart dumbass.

And this colors his status as a foil to the boys because the boys. The boys and he have engaged in similar behavior before. Have done things that are kinda below board. But I’m not calling them villainous, or even amoral.

So where is the moral line?

Well, I guess it has to be the editors because…

Editor’s Matter, man.

So like, we’ve been over editors in this series before. I even made fun of how the series treats editors in its opening chatpers as a kind of Jump propaganda. But Editors – and non-creative creatives – are a vital component to the success of any manga or art in general.

I don’t know how to put this any other way than this very specific way: editors are like non-reactive chemical agents that are used to create a reaction in the reactive chemical agents. I’m dumb and not a chemist and that doesn’t mean what I want it to mean. But an editor’s purpose is not to just make you do what they tell you. It’s to get you to think about the work you are making.

What separates Saiko and Shujin from Nanamine – despite their surface level similarities and capacity for manipulation – is that Saiko and Shujin went through the work of becoming mangaka over many years. They were in a rush, but they never tried to game the process to get there faster. There is the essential goodboi shonen earnestness that makes them the heroes.

And even when they did try to manipulate the system to their advantage, there was always a sense of coloring within the lines. They worked with their editors, and they were willing to risk losing things that were important to them.

They have skin in the game.

And that is in part because editors serve as senseis. Hattori’s influence on the boys cannot be understated. He’s not just telling them what to fix; he’s showing them how to think of story critically. he doesn’t know how to draw anatomy, but he knows intuitively what makes a good manga good. Because he’s obsessed with it. Because he’s devoted time to trying to make a success.

And, although it can be frustrating, often the artistic process improves with friction. It’s why a lot of famous artists can fall off after they blow up. They don’t have people who are critical of them around them anymore to tell them their idea is kind of bad and/or dumb, so they just do it and hope for the best.

Famously, George Lucas encountered a lot of friction with his initial drafts of Star Wars – then, Guardian of the Whills – and was forced to make many many changes to it. Many of the characters we know and love would have been much weirder, and less likeable. But there were people pushing against him. This forced him to make changes – to make cuts – and the rest is history.

And by the rest, I mean the Prequel Trilogy. Where he had absolute carte blanche to do whatever he wanted. The results left something to be desired.

That doesn’t make good art.

And that’s also, ultimately, the tragic flaw to Nanamine and his “plan”. He doesn’t realize that discussing and taking good ideas doesn’t actually make good manga. His ability to synthesize information is impressive, but he’s only going one level deep. he’s not actually pushing himself to improve in a meaningful way.

Which is why he’ll fail. If he’d taken Kosugi’s message to heart he would be able to push deeper and implement the notes in a way that can change the deeper problems in his work that Kosugi notices.

But he’s not going to do that. because he’s a narcissist. And he can’t take responsibility for his actions.

By contrast–

The Boys Are So Good

I’m so happy my little guys have finally grown up.

From seeing them actually decide not to get reactive to this behavior to their decision to take it slow and steady I’m loving this new version of the boys. But they also respect Nanamine enough not to snitch on him. Whether that’s the right thing to do is…well, hard to say really, but this is Shonen so that was never going to happen.

But they’re not afraid to take things slowly and work on beating him through hard work and a little elbow grease. That’s amazing. It shows so much progress on their part that they’re finally willing to take the long steady path to success rather than try to take shortcuts.

Which is also what makes Nanamine so uniquely suited for this leg of the story.

The boys are done taking shortcuts. Now, they’re in it to win it by being good and doing the work. And they’ve been doing the work for years at this point in the narrative. at least 7 years. Probably more.

And that speaks to me. Because I am making similar changes to myself.

After 5 years on this blog, I’ve slowed down to focus on things in a different way. I’m going about my dreams with patience, and trying to improve my craft instead of trying to take the easy way out. I’m not finding immediate success. But immediate success isn’t the goal here.

And what I find immediately interesting is that the boys, being non-reactive to Nanamine’s taunts and shitty behavior are able to make smarter choices about how to whip his ass into shape while getting meta about it.

It’s great. I lvoe it. Please continue doing this, Bakuman baby.

As for everyhting else.

The Editors (and Yuritan)

So the editors this chapter were kind of gullible rubes, so there isn’t too much to say. But I do love how Hattori is so adept at reading manga that he can instantly tell something is just the slightest bit off about Nanamine’s manga. Too adult. Too mature. And while it works something is wrong about it. It’s a really neat little character detail that make Hattori so great.

I also, not gonna lie, got a bit of a perverse thrill seeing Yamahisa and Yoshida freak out because they are assssholleeesss even though they’ve also grown as people and I get a kick out of seeing them kinda suffer just the tiniest bit.

I am more worried about Hiramaru and Yoshida.

So even though Chapter 114 is peak, the comedy being mined out of its fall out is…less so.

One thing I consistently forget while reading manga is that due to the way the stories are structured, you often have emotional climaxes that then get mildly undone or changed into a new conflict a few chapters later.

I forgot that there was a part after the confession.

It is not being handled particularly well, if I do say so.

I guess I was hoping that Hiramaru would be a bit more mature about all of it, and that Yoshida would chill his overt manipulation of Hiramaru’s feelings. But that ain’t happening. Great. Great. Great.

Cool cool cool.

But seriously: now that Hiramaru is in a relationship of some kind, I don’t like that Yoshida is manipulating him in this specific way. Partially because I have fears of abandonment and it’s just not cool to exploit those and exploit traumatized people in this way. And also because I just want Hirarmaru to be a.) happy, but also. b.) make steps towards being healthy.

But he’s also idealizing Aoki and not spending time with her so we’re entering the things that are frustrating about the series attempts at romance. It’s just perpetuating the same ol’ bullshit we’ve seen before.

And while I did get a chuckle out of the “let the cynicism flow through you” Palpatine bit Yoshida pulled at the end of the chapter, ultimately, it’s still really manipulative. And even though we haven’t really discussed it because it’s a *checks notes* fictional gag character who is functionally a long running punchline, the things that Hiramaru are showing are classic traits of a victim of emotional abuse and neglect.

And that’s….not great.

And also, Aoki is being reduced to a carrot and stick now. Ugh. I don’t like this.

But anyway back to the main stuff.

Will Nanamine succeed? Will he fail (probably)? Will his shallow notes from friends bring him to new heights of fame?

I don’t really know but I do know that things are heating up, and I’m excited to see how they turn out.

Until next time,

Peace