Hello hello hello and welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 121: Confidence and Sacrifice in which I kinda explain why this battle is already lost, and why good series get cancelled.

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Confidence and Sacrifice Summary

The Serialization Meeting and Confidence

On Friday, August 28th, the editors hold the serialization meeting and Kosugi is absent. Miura is concerned since he’s potentially going to get great news.

At that moment, Nanamine arrives with Kosugi in tow. The editors are surprised Nanamine came down to the office. While it has been done in the past, Miura chalks it up to pure confidence in his series and wanting to get the new directly.

Nanamine acts to perfection: he just wants to show his “determination” and get down to revisions wth Kosugi immediately, should he fail to be serialized.

Right, Mr. Kosugi?

The bowl-cut headed editor wonders why Kosugi seems so down when his ward is so pumped. Kosugi demurs, and Miura assumes that’s it’s the normal nerves that go along with serialization meetings. Surprisingly, his advice to Kosugi is sincere and good: expect the worst and relax so if the best happens, you’ll get pleasantly surprised.

Good job, Miura. You don’t suck for once.

Internally, Kosugi wracked with uncertainty, questions whether getting serialized is right. He hopes to himself that it will fall through. Hattori sees Kosugi’s nerves, and wonders what’s up.

Meanwhile, at Hiramaru’s studio, Hiramaru is unable to relax because of the serialization; he’s more worried about what’ll happen to his relationship with “Yuritan” (blegh) if she gets a series and he doesn’t. He imagines Aoki leaving him because he’s unemployed before having another, more paranoid thought

He wonders if it’s secretly a ploy by Yoshida to make him want to do a series.

Hiramaru reminds himself that there plenty of series to serialization and plenty of fish in the sea, while playing with an Otter action figure. But, just to be safe, he’s going to give Aoki a call and playacts Otter saying that’s a good idea.

…..wow.

Aoki picks up, cute as a button and she expresses her hope that they’ll both get a series. Hiramaru asks if it would be bad if not; it’d be awful, so just stay positive.

Hiramaru, lacking a single a positive bone in his body, freaks out at the idea that if he doesn’t get serialized Aoki will completely lose interest in him.

Aoki wonders where Hiramaru has gone, but he is in his head, planning for the fact that if he doens’t get a series she’ll DUMP HIM. Dun dun dun.

The Moment of Truth

Nanamine greets Yujiro and thanks him for his help. Yujiro wonders if he’s there for serialization. Nanamine plays coy: there’s NO WAY he could get a series at only 18 golly gee whillikers.

Yujiro points out that that ain’t shit anymore since Nizuma, Ashirogi, Shizuka and Shiratori all got serialized in their teens. It’s actually kinda common now.

Sick burn, bro.

Nanamine still plays the fool and wonders if he’s ready.

Yujiro thinks that Nanamine is energetic, but doesn’t buy the idea that he doesn’t feel ready for serialization. Why else would he come? Yamahisa’s first and only concern is Aoki’s new series. While there are similarities between Nanamine and Aoki’s series, there’s just enough differences that both series could make it through.

Yamahisa’s other worry is for Shizuka, who’s not doing too well at the moment and this could be the death knell. Yujiro reminds him that the biggest hit series is likely to be PCP as it has the biggest crossover. Yamahisa remembers that Nanamine was heavily influenced by Ashirogi so that tracks. He doubts PCP is in danger, though, given its popularity.

At that moment, the editors returned:

Yoshida lets Yamahisa know that Aoki is going to start in issue 44 with God Given. Nanamine will be serialized in issue 45 for What You Need For A Meaningful Life. Only those two will be serialized. .

Yamahisa asks after Hiramaru and Yoshida’s upset that he couldn’t clinch it. He then asks about Shizuka: safe for now. They all wonder which series is getting canned, then?

Meanwhile, Nanamine is exuberant about his victory. He can’t believe it! He attributes his success to Kosugi but Kosugi wants to hear what’s happening with his captain first. He apologizes to Kosugi and goes to sit in the corner.

The series that is geting canceled is Loveta and Peace. Aida’s surprised, as well.

Awww. That’s actually abit sad.

Aida gives him the usual rejection notes: he’s young, and they look forward to his work, but he was in the double digits. Aida thinks it’s too bad, but he also notes that nothing was particularly screaming “Cancel Me” and so it was a much harder choice than usual.

Crushing One Manga With Another

They all sip their coffee, have their meeting, and then go to talk to their mangaka. Hattori stops Kosugi as he goes to talk to Nanamine.

He looks very glum even though he just got a new series, and Hattori wants to know hat’s going on. What’s going on. Ohhhh what’s going on.

Sorry.

Kosugi plays it down: he doesn’t know if he has what it takes for this. Hattori thinks that’s bullshit and puts some puzzle pieces together after remembering Ashirogi’s response to Nanamine potentially getting a series. Their language was too suspicious. He asks Kosugi about Nanamine’s meeting with the boys but Kosugi doesn’t know what happened, he wasn’t there very long.

Hattori mentions the boy’s vow; Kosugi ruefully mentions that if that’s what it takes to teach Nanamine a lesson but stops before going further and runs away before Hattori can get more info.

Hattori is concerned that Kosugi is not only not concerned by the rhetoric, but actively hoping for it? Something isn’t adding up. Kosugi denies anything and runs to meet with Nanamine.

Receiving the News

Hiramaru is gutted to learn he didn’t get serialized, but Aoki did. He’s freaking out because he assumes Aoki will now end things with him. He drops his phone just as Yoshida advises him not to jump to conclusions. Yoshida admits he was just messing with him to motivate him with that talk.

Dude. Dude…..

Hiramaru has a very specific recollection of the previous conversation they had and, in a fit fo terror, decides to call Aoki to double check that she’s still interested in him.

Poor guy.

Aoki receives a call during her editorial meeting with Yamahisa. She sees he’s calling but elects to focus on her meeting – y’know, the important serialization thing – and opts to call him later, noting it’s a “personal” call.

The two continue their meeting.

Aoki you are too pure for this world.

Hiramaru is devastated by the fact that she hung up on him. It’s over. IT’S OVER I TELL YOU.

Meanwhile, Shiratori gets the news but handles it very maturely. He suspected this might be the case. But he’s had so much fun drawing manga and is simply happy to have a purpose in life now. He acknowledges that Loveta was the produce of Shujin’s help, but his next series will be all his own work. He ran his series for a half a year so he’s confident in his ability to do it.

Hattori is surrpised by how maturely Shiratori has taken this as he talks about his mother still being disappointed, but warming up to the process. He promises to make the next work something even she’ll love. Hattori promises to help make it a hit.

Afterwards he decides to drop by the boy’s studio to chat with them.

Mask off

At Nanamine’s studio, Nanamine gives Kosugi his standing orders with his smug, punchable face: storyboards will be up to him and his crew and Kosugi’s voice will only be the 51st among equals for every chapter, and for all future developments. Kosugi is gutted to have no place in this and not truly being his editor.

Nanamine asks what Kosugi is doing sitting there. He’s excused.

God this guy sucks.

Nanamine relishes his control over Kosugi and how much of a chump/pushover he is. He’s free to do as he likes.

Meanwhile, Hattori asks the boys what’s going on. He’s worried about Kosugi and Nanamine’s relationship and they just started working together. Shujin asks what Hattori was told about the situation. Nothing, which is why he’s asking the boys for intel. he’s never seen someone so miserable about getting a series.

Shujin lets slip that Kosugi must have seen how Nanamine works. Saiko is appalled that Shujin is spilling this secret, but Shujin, correctly, notes that since this now involves Kosugi it’s time to spill the beans.

Hattori listens to the story and is furious at what he hears.

He’s had a bad feeling about that boy since Classroom of Truth was uploaded; and his plotting and dialogue don’t click. This work style is dishonest.

But shujin points out it’s not illegal. Technically.

Ehhh…

Hattori begrudgingly agrees, but points out it would not have been serialized had this information come up immediately. Hattori figures out that this is why they want to crush the series with PCP.

Shujin and Saiko follow the snitches get stitches policy and would have felt bad letting Hattori know the truth so they wante to take matters into their own hands.

Hattori understands because he’s a real one.

At the same moment, Nanamine gives them a call. Shujin asks if they can reveal their plan to the shitheel.

Hattori – delightfully – is all about getting this snot-nosed punk his just desserts and asks to “Rub it in his face” (I love you, Hattori).

They answer the phone.

Nanamine brags to the boys that he nabbed the series and this method works. It’s his own brand of “Friendship, Hard Work, and Victory”. When Shujin balks at that, he explains “The friendship of fifty people, the hard work to share and combine into a series, and victory of results”. Shonen Jump’s model wasn’t too hard to figure out after all.

Shujin thinks that regardless of how effective the method is, it’s wrong. Not only that, he needs a hit before he can start talking smack like he’s doing. Shujin promises to make sure that he’ll never be able to say it.

Nanamine pretends not to hear so Shujin shouts louder: they’ll never give him the opporrtunity to brag. PCP will own him and his pathetic excuse for a series. BA BAM.

Smug, Nanamine’s surprised that they think they can beat him and his series. He has 50 people at his beck and call.

Saiko takes the phone and tells him there’s no way they can lose to a patched up hack job like his work. They give their job their whole ass. Their stories are the product of hard work, blood, sweat, and tears.

(fuck yeah).

it’s only when your back is against the wall, when you just want to run and hide, and everything is at its limit that your work comes to life. A soulless husk of a story without your own suffering could never beat the real thing.

Nanamine thinks it’s passe; they’re even lesser than he thought. Whatever happens the better manga will win in the end.

Saiko observes that his art is good, so he won’t be immediately destroyed after ten weeks. But even so…

He hands the phone back to shujin.

Shujin apologizes for the delay and Nanamine is about to tear in him for stupidity, but Shujin stops him. It won’t take ten weeks to crush him like an ant.

They’ll make sure he’s done before then.

On that note, the chapter ends.

Confidence and Sacrifice Reaction

The Battle Begins and Nanamine Already Lost

There is a clip I saw on Instagram from Death Note where the internal monologues were cut out of a sequence between Light and L at a restaurant discussing Kira.

In the sequence L makes several assumptions about Kira and his personality and tries to get Light’s read on the situation. Light falls for the bait and, trying to get in L’s good graces, makes a series of “correct” assumptions about Kira’s identity and personality.

Then L toys with him.

With the monologues in place, Light seems like a genius, playing 4D chess with this wide-eyed ghoul of a detective with a sweet tooth.

But without the benefit of his internal monologue – when we see that he’s just sitting and thinking – especially the moments where L is antagonizing him with leading questions an assumptions, it’s very VERY obvious that he is Kira. He looks super guilty.

And that is Nanamine in a nutshell, except he’s even stupider than that, because he doesn’t know how to control the flow of information because of his narcissist streak.

The moment Hattori found out, I knew the outcome of this battle. I mean, I knew the outcome of this battle because this is a manga and even when the heroes are up against the wall, they come out on top unless it is narratively significant for them to lose (like the romance arc we got out of a few chapters ago).

But this is a straight battle and Nanamine is going to lose hard.

Sidenote, the sequence where Hatori found out the truth was masterfully done. Just like with the screentone being changed to be lighter and less used to give a more frenetic flow to the panels when PCP started, the series is going all in on using black and intense hatching to give this sense of intensity and it is working.

Seeing Hattori looking super fucking pissed was amazing.

I also like that, even though it would be more logical – and would solve the problem immediately let’s be real – if he just told the editorial department about Nanamine’s chicanery, the fact that he knows that snitching is one of the ultimate sins makes him so much cooler than your avergae editor.

But anyway, the fact that a good portion of Aida’s staff knows about the situation and are actively rooting for its failure, not to mention the impossibility of controlling 50 other people means that Nanamine doesn’t have the information controlled. Classic overconfidence.

When you’re engaging in clandestine activity, the flow of information is the most important element of its continued success.

Let’s pretend that I don’t know that.

But I do appreciate how good an actor Nanamine can be, even if he lets his asshole slip regularly. He’s playing himself exactly to what the editorial office believes he should be doing. Seeing him play them at the beginning by being charming is straight out of the Light Yagami playbook. It was cool to see and it is a nice a little meta-commentary on the masthead of Jump being Hard Work, Friendship, and Victory.

Speaking of the editorial meeting

Loveta and Unfair Cancellations

We’ll start here since I was legitimately surprised that they cancelled Loveta & Peace after devoting one of their longest – and worst – arcs to its creation.

I won’t lie, it almost feels anti-climactic to have Shiratori done so dirty, but there is something to be said about this kind of cancellation that the series just acknowledged and is worth discussing for its practical real world implications.

Western Audiences have made something of a meme of a new series showing great potential only to get axed relatively quickly: Red Hood, Phantom Seer, Neru the Way of the Martial Artist (maybe not that last one) etc.. If you go on message boards that discuss manga or youtube corners you will find this lament that “OH THEY’RE JUST CANCELLING ALL THESE GREAT SERIES WITHOUT GIVING THEM A CHANCE”.

First off: Yes. Sometimes that is the case. And Jump’s editorial habit is why. They have quarterly serialization meetings to give new mangaka a chance to create a hit series and become a sensation and there are a limited number of spots in their magazine due to both cost, and, let’s be real, the prestige of publication in one of the most famous magazines in the world.

And sometimes the run of series in the magazine are ALL good. I’ve had patches in my years of reading Jump where every manga was, at a minimum, decent.

But as I’ve read Jump longer and longer I can usually tell within the first few chapters which series are destined to survive and which are not, with some exceptions. And that’s due to that IT factor we discussed.

Honestly, there is a bit of foreshadowing during the Loveta arc that Shiratori wasn’t going to be able to cut it on his own as a mangaka without Shujin’s assistance. So this isn’t entirely surprising.

But also, and this really sucks, but sometimes there are nothing but good manga, but new manga need to be given a shot, so they axe ones that show promise to make room for a newbie.

Which is good for Aoki and, blegh, Nanamine, but also means that some mangaka are going to get the short end of the stick. And in this case, Shiratori just wasn’t cutting it.

That sucks.

Brief sidenote: western audiences are only bitching about this now because they are now a part of the process due to the online releases of Jump. They’re experiencing it in real time which is why it seems like Jump is cancelling more series, but they are almost certainly cancelling approximately the same amount of series as they always have.

Anyway.

But, for better or worse, Shiratori is one of the most emotinoally centered characters in the series so he takes it well. I wonder if we’ll see him again. I kinda hope so, and part of me suspects he’ll show up again around the endgame if not sooner, but it’s kind of a tragic character note to end on if this is the end.

Speaking of that.

Hiraoki in danger because of trauma

So this part was…relatable, and frustrating, but mostly relatable which I kinda hate. But here we are.

I give Yoshida a lot of hell for his treatment of Hiramaru throughout the series because it is overtly manipulative. And yes, yes, I know it’s in service of a comedic bit and that I shouldn’t take it seriously – and, if i’m being perfectly honest, my reactions are a little more heightened for the purposes of these read-throughs (though still my genuine feelings) – but Hiramaru’s histrionic reaction to not getting serialized is kinda why Yoshida’s manipulative behavior puts a particularly nasty taste in my mouth.

As I’ve commented elsewhere on this website, I have some traumatic experiences in my past. That’s all you need to know. You can infer whatever you want, but they have led to similar fears that Hiramaru has in the extreme. They aren’t that extreme. But they’re there. I know about them. I’m working on them. They have interfered with relationships in the past and presently, too.

And let’s be real, Yoshida’s behavior has contributed significantly towards traumatizing Hiramaru in this way.

We don’t get Hiramaru’s backstory – and we’re not going to – but in the real world these behaviors do not come out of nowhere. They are symptoms of severe emotional neglect and isolation and, sometimes, abuse of other kinds.

So even though I know it’s supposed to be a bit, Hiramaru is demonstrating hypervigilant anxiety, catastrophizing and black and white thinking – all great for his manga – but horrible for his ability to maintain real relationships.

Similar to SHizuka, how the editors treat their mangaka is shown to have an enormous effect on these people who are often sensitive and isolated due to the extremely brutal nature of their work. It’s also what makes Nanamine so particularly contemptible (more on that in a bit).

So even if we don’t know Hiramaru’s full backstory, I’m pinning the blame for his extreme reaction to Aoki’s normal behavior on Yoshida. Yoshida created this situation through bald manipulation of Hiramaru’s feelings and desires to get him to produce pages and now this is the result.

It makes me very angry.

And I know that it’s going to continue – this gag has run for so many chapters now and I can tell it isn’t out of steam – but I still want to call it out because, just like Nanamine, knowing what to look for is good for the future.

Anyway, I’m stepping off my soap box in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

Nanamine sucks. This bit made me go har har. Onward.

Kosugi and the Boys

Yeah, so Nanamine’s general behavior is pretty awful, but his treatment of Kosugi in particular really underscores a major theme of this particular arc: the editor/mangaka relationship and, if I had to guess, Kosugi is going to remain a chump for the forseeable future.

As I said when I met Kosugi, one of my least favorite character archetypes is the pathetic loser trope who gets put in a shitty situation and then does nothing to resolve the situation of their own volition and allows themselves to be used. It’s a common trope in darker manga like Seinen or something like a chainsaw man. A character who is an out and out coward who, when push comes to shove, isn’t a secret badass. He’s playing that role right now.

On TV tropes, there is Crouching Moron Hidden Badass. This is just Crouching Doofus.

And I’m getting mad vibes of this from Kosugi. Which I don’t like. I hope he grows a spine because I want Nanamine to truly lose. And to truly lose in this case would meant hat not only does he get cancelled but his methodology also has to fail. he has to prove via negativa that the editor/mangaka relationships is important.

And as I’ve stated regularly it’s an essential element of all narrative craft. You need someone from the outside looking in making notes on how to improve the work. Work does not improve in a vacuum.

But he’s just taking it right now. And he’s getting bitter about it, too. Which makes it kinda worse. Standup for yourself Kosugi.

But fortunately for us, the boys are ready to tear ass.

I got so pumped seeing the boys read to take Nanamine down through hard work and taking their time. Which is truly the best way to do it. And I like that the series, even when it toys with anti-jump ideas, is still a jump manga through and through. So to see the boys vow to beat the anti-jump method with friendship and hard work has me fucking pumped.

And what’s even better is there is something so obvious about their victory that it doesn’t matter that it’s going to take a bunch of chapters to resolve – although I kinda hope it goes longer rather than shorter – because it’ll be fun to see how it all shakes out.

But that’ll be for next time.

Until then,

Peace