Oh hey, I didn’t see you there welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 124: Consideration and Provocation in which everything falls apart way faster than I figured, and I’m also weird and vulnerable.
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Consideration and Provocation Summary
Chapter Two
The boys discuss Nanamine’s latest attack with his art upgrade. They both admire how sharply the quality has risen; especially in the fine details of the series and question how he could have somehow improved with his second chapter rather than the reverse, which is usual. They figure out that he must have hired an incredible new assistant.
They question, however, why he’d wait til chapter two to bring out the big guns art wise. Shujin notes that a second chapter doing better than the first is basically impossible, but since his first made second place he’s interested to see the results of the second chapter.
Kaya posits correctly that he found a new guy later. Saiko thinks it’s possible but wants to keep focus on beating him with the story arc’s climax.
Atta boy.
Shujin is confident in PCP’s eventual victory but wonders how badly What You Need could actually do when its art is so good.
Saiko recognizes the quality of the details of the art and wonders if it could really be the person he’s thinking of.
At the Jump office, the editors are all floored to learn that What You Need’s second chapter also came in Second. Kosugi is shocked, and Miura declares Nanamine the biggest genius since Eiji. Yoshida recognizes that the art quality intentionally improved in the second chapter; he’s smart.
Editor Bowl Cut (official name because I forgot) thinks he’s a combo of intuitive genius and calculating rather than Ashirogi’s calculating.
Now this is pod racing shonen storytelling.
Kosugi, depressed, goes to give the news to Nanamine. Hattori watches and worries: Ashirogi needed to do well this week. If What You Need takes off, they’re all cooked.
At Nanamine’s studio, his smug expression is all we need to know how well he’s taking the news. He basks in his success and how right he was. He even notes he did better than Crow which no rookie has done that he knows of. PCP came in fourth. Nanamine goes on to complain about how Kosugi made it seem like he was screwed with his first chapter coming in second.
He offers forgiveness for Kosugi’s trespass (grrr) and lets him remain as opinion 51. He shoos him away, though.
Kosugi gets up and leaves as Nanamine joins his chatroom.
Kaya loses it at the fact that the guys got their asses handed to them with PCP coming in fourth. Shujin remembers how important art is for manga. Saiko give shim a dirty look.
Kaya takes the copium: Saiiko’s art is still better. Nanamine’s art is cold, right?
Saiko looks on the “bright side”: Nanamine has met expectations. His art and story are great; he’s an amazing rookie. Shujin’s bummed that he won’t be getting canceled after ten weeks. Saiko’s less sure about that. It may be out of the question for ten, but Nanamine has trapped himself. With expectations now sky high for the chapter, if he doesn’t dramatically improve for chapter three, there is going to be disappointment.
Meanwhile at Nanamine’s studio, Nakai watches Idols performing while eating junk food like an absolute pig. Nanamine comes to thank him for his contributions to making chapter two successful. Nakai’s surprised to learn the results. He asks about Aoki and Ashirogi: PCP got 4th, ad God Given 7th.
Nakai is over the moon to have learned that he beat his rivals.
Heartbreakingly, he celebrates by cramming his face with more food. He wants to go to Aoki’s place to rub it in that he beat her and that he’s the chief assistant now.
Jesus fucking christ.
Nanamine privately wonders how Nakai could be so full of himself since he’s a cog in the machine. But Nanamine – being the actual worst – enables him: why not let her know that he won and let her know that rankings are everything in manga?
Nakai then brings the subtext to text: will she change her impression of me if I do?
Nanamine asks if anything has happened between them: he knows about their former partnership. Nakai backs off. He just wants to show her up.
Nanamine reassures him that she’ll be impressed but privately thinks he’s a pathetic old man.
One Week Later
Nanamine is shocked to learn that chapter three has fallen to …9th place. fuck that’s brutal, man.
PCP Placed fourth. Neener neener.
Kosugi gives him the skinny: the voters who like what you need also like PCP because of its crossover appeal, but they like PCP more and rank it more highly (because it’s better). PCP is siphoning off his votes.
Nanamine’s shock will not allow him to accept that he’s just not writing something good. He doesn’t understand how his perfect method isn’t working. He also recognizes that he made the story shallower with chapter four. He still doesn’t understand the drop though.
Shujin and Saiko discuss how far Nanamine has fallen. They conclude that while he took readers by surprise with chapter two, he couldn’t keep up the momentum, and the art was a band-aid for a bigger issue. If the art hadn’t done it, chapter two would likely have ended up in 9th as well. Shujin is unsympathetic: sink or swim motherfucker.
Saiko thinks the art has taken a dip in quality as well.
Nanamine fumes over his loss, and Kosugi points out that he’s shooting himself in the foot with his similarity to PCP. He’s losing his voice in the shuffle.
Nanamine demands that Kosugi leave immediately and rips up the results. Again. Jesus.
He goes to his chat room and, miraculously, lies to them about getting 7th instead of 9th (what a loser) and that PCP retained its spot in fourth. The chat room agrees that they cannot fall behind PCP. Nanamine lets them know what Kosugi told them and his solution to the problem: beat them at their own game.
wolf thinks they’ll have to get closer in content, but LL, emo, and f-u think it was dumb to pick a fight with them to begin with. Nanamine can’t handle the criticism and commits to beating PCP. they all agreed to make it similar to PCP.
The chatroom devolves into a mild flame war over whether they should have fought PCP, to begin with. One chatter – Nobuo – doesn’t understand why it’s sticking in Nanamine’s craw so much.
Nanamine gives them an ultimatum: anyone who doesn’t want What You Need to overlap with PCP needs to get out. Pai, LL, E231, and Osaru all depart the chatroom.
Nanamine privately panics. The slightest loss of ground and ranks are already breaking? He can’t panic at this point and restores order to himself internally. He rallies the troops: they must beat PCP and all the remaining people need to consider ways to achieve that in a “rational” manner.
One Week Later
The early results come in for What You Need, and Kosugi is devastated: 13th place.
OUCH.
Miura’s confused, the art is good. He assumes it’ll get a bump in the final results. Miura confirms that it’s 13th in the finals, too. Nanamine needs to find a way to turn it around.
Kosugi decides to get chapter six from Nanamine.
Nanamine is furious at getting thirteenth. Kosugi gently scolds him: he’s getting what he deserves for trying to broaden appeal. Nanamine doesn’t understand what’s wrong with it.
Nanamine throws a hissy and demands that Kosugi not get cocky and that he’s always wrong. What a baby. Kosugi snaps and leaves Nanamine to stew in his own nonsense.
Nanamine goes back to the chat room. He’s facing resistance from all sides. The Chatroom is aghast that they’ve fallen again and blame Nanamine for not actually using their ideas for the story. They question his wisdom in making changes on his own. Nanamine is furious that the winds of fortune have changed so drastically. He wonders why they’re turning on him now.
I can only fucking imagine.
He tells all of them that if they have problems with how he’s doing things, they can leave.
The remaining chat members point out that that’s a bad idea. Only 23 of the original crew remain, and they know they have his balls in a vise (metaphorically).
Nanamine jumps into political wrangling mode: the manga comes first, and anyone who doesn’t want the best manga should leave.
A user, devi1, suggests that they find a way to beat PCP in their own game. Others latch on: get a spy to infiltrate their network, find out what they’re working on, and tell the same story. But BETTER.
I do not like where this is going.
Nanamine chews on the idea but thinks its unrealistic. Another user – Goto – points out that Nakai is friendly with the boys and the others latch onto the idea. Nobuo is resistant, though. Aka thinks the ends justify the means.
Nanamine actually likes the idea (because he is, again, the absolute worst), but he thinks Nakai isn’t suited for it.
Speaking of Nakai Suited
I laughed. I’m not going to lie.
Nakai – wobbling in a suit tie and sunglasses – takes the train over to Aoki’s apartment.
For a solitary moment, he wonders if what he’s doing is the right thing to do. He remembers Chapter thirty-eight, remembers that’s he just an assistant. He doens’t even know what he’s hoping to accomplish.
At that moment, he hears a car pull up. and sees Aoki….and Hiramaru? He overhears their discussion about tea and Aoki’s wish for Hiramaru to get a series by the next meeting. Hiramaru guarantees he’ll do so.
She gives him a pinky promise to make sure it happens.
Nakai’s hopes for – whatever it is he wanted with Aoki – evaporate in that instant. He rushes away in pain and sorrow.
Back at the studio, he weeps while remembering the promise he made to his mother to bring back a wife. She’s nice but ultimately skeptical. But his dark side ignites: he tells Nanamine to fire Minamida and Ogura and populate their staff entirely with women.
Ugh. Ughhhhhh.
Nanamine’s furious at Nakai’s breakdown and desire for a harem when the series is on fire. He gets a call from Kosugi.
The results for chapter five are in and he’s in 15th. Oof. They’re on the precipice of collapse.
Nanamine hangs up before Kosugi can offer a lifeline.
Nanamine reviews the footage: He’s 15th, on a ledge, and serialization is coming up in a week. He probably won’t be canceled then, but he has to think of something fast.
He won’t just steal their ideas, he has to steal their storyboards. Nakai is useless aside form art and he can’t contact his chat room and he doens’t trust them. Besides if he was found out he’d be finished.
He has another realization: what if he did the same story in the same issue? He’d be guaranteed to win with 20 people on his side. He reasons that Ashirogi is desperate to beat him (definitely no projection here). They won’t turn this down at all!
He calls the boys and gives them his pitch to compete with the same story. Shujin’s confused so Nanamine lays it out: they’ll run chapters with identical plots in the same week. He asks them which issue would work best. Nanamine pretends to have it together: they promised to crush him, right? This’ll be the deciding factor. Maybe they’re too scared?
Shujin gives a banger response: he’s getting desperate. Shujin points out – obviously – that doing the same story on the same issue would cause all sorts of issues. They’re not going to fall for his tricks. They’re going to keep making PCP the best it can be, as they always have.
Shujin ends the call to a furious, cornered Nanamine as the chapter concludes.
Consideration and Provocation
Beautifully Brutal
Yeah, so I thought that Ohba was going to slow roll Nanamine’s ultimate destruction a bit, but goddamn, this is all gas, no brakes. Manga is truly a brutal industry.
And what’s so beautiful about Pride Goeth Before a Fall narrative is on full display here and amped up on steroids: Nanamine has no one but himself to blame for his failure. That’s the most satisfying part of this entire narrative.
That’s pretty satisfying in the context of such a spectacular explosion because, while it would be somewhat more satisfying to have the boys beat him through their own will, I find it a lot more fun to have someone self-destruct through their own character failings and let the people who are just doing their thing win because they are just….doing their thing.
And to the boy’s credit, while they’re still very much sidelined for this leg of the story, they even give some credit to Nanamine for meeting expectations and achieving something genuinely laudable: A chapter two that ranks in second place. Even if it is ultimately disappointing. I also like the subtle foreshadowing by Shujin that just because he did well in chapter two doesn’t mean he’s safe from ultimate cancellation.
There is a nice bit of meta-commentary on the weekly release schedule with this arc going on. Namely, you can’t chalk a series’s continued success to the merits of a single chapter.
I also like another point often overlooked in artistic creation: if you set expectations too high too early, you will only court disappointment because in order for people to remain invested you have to keep topping yourself. It’s one of the tricky balancing acts of creating and one of the reasons endings are so hard. Orson Welles learned that the hard way with Citizen Kane.
Saiko and Shujin are finally embodying this principle of slow, incremental achievement overtaking flash in the pan success. They started doing it at the end of the romance arc, and it’s honestly the moment where they started to feel like they truly matured, which signals to me that we really are approaching an endgame, even though we still have a while to get there.
They’re mature now, and they’re handling this maturely. Up against Nanamine’s childishness, it’s really refreshing to see how just staying the course is really what they need to do.
It’s a useful life lesson: consistency may not get you spectacular results, but it will get you to a solid place regardless. So, keeping things up at a sustainable pace is almost always the way to go.
But yeah, let’s dig a little deeper.
Nanamine’s Lost Control
I think this chapter really highlighted what I mentioned previously about lies being unsustainable. Through no one’s fault but his own, he’s lost half his standing army of creators and he’s on a rapid downward spiral. I can see this arc ending in cancellation as the ultimate victory for the boys.
But imagine if Nanamine would take even the slightest bit of Kosugi’s advice: Kosugi continues to surprise me by actively fighting against Nanamine’s bullshit. He’s doing everything in his power to try and convince Nanamine of the wrong-headedness of his choices and how if he would just listen to him and try to think for himself, he would probably do okay.
But Nanamine refuses. His refusals are also extremifying which, once again, I feel vindicated in calling this the Death Note arc of Bakuman because that’s what it feels like. There is a definite sense of escalation to how things are going. And it’s also continuing to trend toward darkness, as Nanamine loses grip with reality and thinks that it’s a logical idea to try and get Ashirogi to give him ideas.
I think the commentary on internet culture making you a bit of a brainless fool who can’t think for themselves is silly, at the very least, but I do like the underlying message that this series is also pushing with Nanamine that it’s always paid lip service to a degree, but is now underlining more overtly: You have to have your own voice and do things for yourself.
Among the many things that Nanamine is incapable of – at least for the purposes of this arc – is that he can’t think for himself and make potentially unpopular decisions in service of his story being better. It’s a contradiction within him. He can’t take other’s advice when things get tough, but he also can’t follow his own narrative instincts.
And part of me thinks that Nanamine is probably able to do all of this stuff, but he’s so married to his method – because of all the narcissism that if he let himself do it, it would be an actual headache. He won’t allow himself to think for himself because it would break him.
It’s tragic in the sense that it’s totally avoidable, and if he was willing to eat shit even the slightest bit, he’d probably succeed.
But he can’t, so he won’t. And I don’t feel particularly bad about it.
Actually,
That’s Not Entirely True
So before I Jump into my semi-regular personal blog element of this read-through, I do want to make clear: I’m not a narcissist, but they have exploited me in my past—several times. I’m reacting weirdly strongly to Nanamine’s displays of overt narcissism. In that case, it is because I have experienced firsthand how absolutely ruinous these people are when you have to deal with them, and how they can infect every part of your life until you lose your confidence in yourself, your self-esteem, and have to rely on them for emotional stability.
But also, I’ve been terrified that I am a narcissist for a very long time. And this run of chapters has put some of those fears right into my face. Even though I’m not a narcissist, due to other personal traits, I have sometimes acted – albeit on a very much more limited level – in the ways that Nanamine is acting.
It’s never been to that extreme, and if anything, I’m an echoist, but Nanamine’s behavior is awakening something visceral and uncomfortable in me.
Because that kind of freak-out is something I used to do in my youth, it was for different reasons. But I still did it. And seeing someone do the same stuff – on a much more pathological level – makes me profoundly uncomfortable.
Thankfully, I’ve found healthier ways to deal with my emotions and no longer engage with these behaviors. But as a result of dealing with them – and actual narcissists – I’m far less sympathetic to this kind of bullshit.
In any event, even though I find Nanamine’s behavior contemptible, I do, unfortunately, have some empathy for what he’s doing and why he’s doing it. Even if ultimately, it’s not okay, and we have to acknowledge that it is self-destructive in the extreme.
Speaking of that.
Nakai. Goddamn Nakai.
Yeah, so Nakai’s introduction was rough and in this chapter and it just got so. much. worse.
Just like Nanamine is as utterly and overwhelmingly contemptible as Nakai is – and he is truly the scum of the earth, it’s unambiguous – but goddamn it, I can’t just turn off my empathy for the dumb asshole. Even though he’s handling it in such a supremely unhealthy way, and I mean that in every sense of the word, there is still something about the fact that he’s angry at someone who hurt him and wants to return the favor, but also simultaneously can’t let go of the past that makes me feel something like compassion.
The sequence where he actually got suited up got a chortle out of me. But, again, there was a painful bit of recognition.
I’m embarrassed by my past because I used to be trapped in the ways of thinking Nakai is. It took a fair bit of time to undo the mental trap I had set for myself. I used to have twin impulses towards self-destruction and a desire for connection that operated against each other. As I’ve said, Nakai is a dark mirror for me, and it makes me uncomfortable to see someone who has had similar moments of pain, frustration, and loneliness handle things in such a uniquely poor way.
And I had someone hurt me a few months ago. Going deeper than that wouldn’t be fair to them, but my heart has been hurting. And for a while I had the same desire to simultaneously re-establish contact while also never wanting to see them again. So I do understand where Nakai is coming from.
But unlike Nakai, my pain – which lessens each day – is not a justification to act like an asshole. It’s something I have to learn to live with and take day by day. I’ll get better. It does suck. And it’s not an excuse.
The same could not be said for Nakai. And that’s the rub.
Which is also why I’m particularly harsh against him. It is totally within Nakai’s power to change his life for the better if he so chooses, but he keeps digging himself deeper. And the deeper he digs himself, the harder it is to justify this empathy I have for his painful humanity.
It makes me embarrassed to have empathy for him. Because I don’t want to resonate with someone so fucking awful.
But yeah, thinking that Aoki would just be cool with him coming up to her after all that happened and then getting crushed by the realization that she moved on isn’t a healthy thing to do. But it is, unfortunately, a very human thing to do.
Which is one of the strengths of this particular arc.
Even though these characters are terrible, they’re still human, and the narrative also operates on a human level. Loneliness, validation, and a need for approval are totally real motivations, and their approach to dealing with them is totally unacceptable. But, simultaneously, are pretty common reactions to.
I feel so weird, man.
And the fact that Nakai buries his sorrows in eating and misogyny just makes me feel icky and gross. And it makes it all so much worse. It makes the idea that you can have compassion for him much worse.
Anyway…
Kosugi, The Chatroom, and the Boys
I haven’t really commented on the chatroom although, admittedly they are also a character. But they are worth briefly mentioning.
One of the reasons this whole affair is going tits up for Nanamine is that he is placing all his money on the combined brainpower of internet weirdos. Which, rookie mistake bro.
But seriously, it’s interseting to see how the Chatroom functions as a complete character narratively. They’re pushing back against him and challenging his authority. And one of the most obvious failures of this plan is something that was mentioned obliquely: they want credit.
At least in this chapter, it’s clear that Nanamine didn’t factor in that people’s feelings would be hurt if they didn’t include every idea or implemented them incorrectly. That’s a delicious layer of irony, given my whole spiel about Nanamine not thinking for himself. He’s damned if he doesn’t think for himself, but he’s also damned if he takes an idea and interprets it poorly.
Seeing how the chatroom somehow puts up with his nonsense and resists him is an interesting dynamic pulling him further into darkness.
As for Kosugi, I like that Kosugi continues putting up resistance to the worst impulses of his ward. he knows that everything is a terrible idea and is, to my delight, actually calling Nanamine out on his bullshit. Granted, he’s still doing the shonen thing of offering to save his bacon, and part of me really doesn’t want that, but you can only go so far with this magazine.
Keep taking Nanamine to task, Kosugi, even if it doesn’t work.
As for the boys, we enter a speculative part of this arc: will they actually do a head to head duel between manga? My answer right now is no. Because that’s immoral and stupid and would probably backfire on them horribly.
But also, this is a shonen manga, and we’re just at the edge of the climax of this arc. Honestly, it feels like it has flown by. Seeing how Nanamine came in so strong several chapters ago, he is now actively deluding himself to make things work out internally. It’s great and terrible at the same time.
So even though it was super satisfying to see Shujin go “eat shit and die” bro (respectfully) at the suggestion, part of me thinks they’re going to do it anyway as an eventful way to wrap up this arc. And that would be interesting. But ultimately, Nanamine has lost, and I don’t know how this would make his downfall any sweeter except for a final piece of vengeance.
Stray Thoughts:
–Nakai and his mom made me sad. Nakai makes me sad, man. Even his mom knows he’s full of shit.
Hiramaru and Aoki actually going strong was one of the nice little points of this chapter that got overshadowed by the Nakai of it all.
— I also didn’t mention how much art plays a role in success. It does. Although I will admit that a series with great art doesn’t necessarily grab my attention if the story is doggy doo, and this shows why.
Until next time,
Peace
