FUCKKKK and welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 128: Hot-Blooded and Total Defeat, in which I’ve gone from annoyed to absolutely furious.

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Portrait and Mocking Summary

Nakai’s Back….*twirls fingers*

With 15 minutes left until the party begins, Shujin wants to make the rounds. Eiji introduces himself in peak Eiji fashion making a Bleach pun, and he admits that PCP is getting good enough that even Crow could lose to them now. Fukuda arrives and, tsundere that he is, also grudgingly admits they’ve gotten good.

The Boys take the compliment in stride.

Eiji then mentions What You Need “That Wannabe PCP‘”: it failed even with Nakai’s art to roid it up.

Ashirogi and Fukuda are shocked to learn that Nakai is back; Saiko however, suspected that might be the case. Eiji confirms it was 100 pa-sen-to Mr. Nakai’s artwork.

Surprisingly, Fukuda has a warm reaction to the news that Nakai might be starting manga again, even if it is only as an assistant. He immediately seeks to confirm that it’s true. Eiji doesn’t actually know if it’s Nakai; he’s just using his manga sixth sense.

Saiko reminds them they can ask Kosugi about it, and they go over to ask him. While he isn’t certain, he did hear Nanamine refer to him as “Nakai Sensei.”

The boys are relieved to learn that Nakai has returned, is working as an assistant, and seems to be doing well.

UGHHHHHH.

Kosugi bursts their bubble: He was fired. When asked for a follow-up, Kosugi is unclear on the details. They ask what Nakai is up to now. Kosugi doesn’t know.

Fukuda returns to his usual self and hopes that Nakai’s number remains the same.

At an internet & comic cafe, Nakai is woken up by his phone ringing. Fukuda asks after him, but Nakai tells him to piss off in so many words and then hangs up.

Fukuda is shocked by the callousness, and Saiko is worried that Nakai didn’t mention what he was doing; Shujin reminds Saiko that if Nakai were up to something, he’d be braggadocious about it.

Aida overhears the conversation about Nakai and fills them in on the situation: he called to ask for open assistant positions. But in consideration of the incident with Aoki, his abrupt quitting of Takahama’s series, and now his issues with Nanamine’s studios, Aida told him straight up that he doesn’t want him working as an assistant for Shueisha. He advised Naakai to become a teacher at a training school, but Nakai was also rejected twice after job interviews.

Woof.

Saiko – a good boi at heart, for better and in this case, horribly worse – points out that if he wants to be an assistant, he still has a passion for the position, right? Aida concedes that’s the case, but he’s causing too many problems.

Shujin also reminds Saiko that because Kato currently works for them, they wouldn’t be able to hire him anyway.

The boys and Fukuda share a moment of despair for their friends and decide to focus on the 2016 New Year’s party.

Holy shit. 2016? WATTT.

Portraits in Shibuya

The next day, Saiko’s still – bless his heart – worried about Nakai. Shujin wonders if he went back to Akita after getting fired. Saiko thinks that’s an insane idea and has faith that Nakai still wants to make manga in his heart of hearts. Shujin doesn’t understand why Saiko’s yelling.

Me neither, buddy.

Saio just wants his friend to return to making manga; Shujin thinks it could be possible for him to turn back the clock to the person he was when he worked on Hideout Door.

Saiko decides to call….*checks notes* Nanamine? to see if he knows anything. Shujin rightfully points out that’s a horrible idea. But Nanamine is the only person who knows.

Surprisingly, Nanamine picks up and is now working on his manga the traditional way. He lets Saiko know that Nakai was seen by his assistant working off the Hachiko Exit in Shibuya, drawing portraits for 500 yen a pop. A job like that “suits him.”

Shujin agrees with Nanamine: it’s using his skills to the fullest extent.

Saiko can’t let it go, though, and calls Fukuda. Shujin, still playing the real adult here, tells him he needs to mind his own business. But Fukuda’s just as shocked and appalled as he is.

At the exit, Nakai shivers alone, with his portrait sign up and ready.

Three women take notice and think it sounds fun. They ask Nakai to draw them. Nakai is thrilled for the obvious reasons and explains that the price is 500 per person.

The girls are confused: all three want to be drawn together. Nakai offers to do a deal for 1,000 yen, but the girls haggle for 600.

Nakai – a fool to the end – thinks this is an opportunity to meet girls and decides to draw all three for six hundred yen, like a fucking chump.

The girls are thrilled with their portrait and thank him for his work. Nakai thinks this line of work suits him more than manga.

That is until Fukuda drops by.

An Offer He Can’t Refuse

Nakai’s terrified to talk to Fukuda and tells him to leave if he plans on mocking him.

Fukuda explains he’s going to have his manga animated and needs another skilled assistant to add to the staff. If he’s considering a re-do, he can work for Fukuda.

Nakai chews on it, but before he can answer, the girl from before walks up to him. He asks her what’s up.

Oh no.

She explains that he was so good at drawing her that she wants him to draw her alone this time. He asks her to sit down; she notices Fukuda and doesn’t want to intrude. Nakai denies he’s a customer and asks him to leave again.

Fukuda gets the message and goes.

As Fukuda leaves, the boys arrive and discuss. Shujin thinks he’s leaving because he didn’t find him, but Fukuda points him out.

The boys find him having a lively discussion with the girl about his history working in Jump on a fantasy manga. She flirts with him aggressively about it. She invites him to her house to draw a picture of her. She wants a whole-body picture drawn like a manga character.

Oh no.

Ashirogi feels me because they’re suspicious. She mentions she lives alone, and they’ll have privacy for the special illustrations. Nakai can’t see past his dick.

The two leave together, and the boys are flabbergasted that he’d do something so monumentally stupid.

Fukuda finally acknowledges that Nakai is a lost cause. Shujin agrees. But Saiko can’t let go. He shouts after him.

Saiko begs Nakai to keep drawing manga. Nakai almost – ALMOST – has a moment of self-reflection but then decides to leave with the woman. When asked, he explains that they are nothing to worry about.

Shujin and Fukuda both point out that Nakai is a lost cause and that it is not worth trying to save. Fukuda thinks if it works with that girl, he’ll be happy.

Saiko is crushed.

Downward Spiral

The Girl invites him into her apartment. She’s excited that a professional mangaka is going to do an illustration. She wants an autograph. Tee hee <3.

As Nakai walks in, the truth reveals itself. The three girls from before laugh at his expense. The girl who lured him bet a thousand yen that he would come to her apartment against Aki and Moeh. They call him a perverted old man and laugh at the fact that they bet all their money on him not coming.

Nakai hits rock bottom.

The girls keep laughing as Nakai’s dreams are shattered. Despite their offer to “Play” for a little bit, he’s horrified. He runs away despite the opportunity and falls over himself. Cursing himself for being made fun of. Weeping. Money on the ground.

He gets up in a daze, wandering the streets of Tokyo.

Ugh.

He goes to a hostess club, and the girl tries to comfort him since he looks down. He gets misogynistic and thinks women are untrustworthy. The hostess – bless her heart – tries to get him to open up about his broken heart, but he gets violent and freaks her out.

Security comes because of the disturbance, and he gets even more belligerent.

UGHHHH.

The two find he doesn’t even have the money to afford the hostess club. They beat him up and throw him out on the street. They tell him never to come back. He agrees.

NOT AOKI. GODDAMN IT.

Meanwhile, at Aoki’s apartment, she’s having a delightful conversation with Hirmaru when she gets a ring at her door.

She goes to check on it and gets an earful of drunk, belligerent Nakai yelling at her to come out. He’s on the ground, beers around him, bashing at her door.

He blames her for everything and wants her to come outside. Aoki is concerned about the drunkenness. Hiramaru hears what’s going on over the phone and tells her to call the police—which is the right call, by the way—but she doesn’t want to make it a police incident.

My dear, it needs to become a police incident at this point

Hiramaru is genuinely concerned for his girlfriend and decides to come down to her place. He asks her to buy some time.

Aoki stalls Nakai by mentioning that she’s going to come down in a bit but that she was just in the bath and needs some time to get ready. Nakai gets perverted – again (kill me) – at the thought and asks her to hurry while licking the air.

KILL ME.

Hiramaru arrives and asks just what the hell Nakai thinks he’s doing. He explains that she asked for his help and didn’t want to jeopardize his future with a police report, so he’s rescuing her instead.

Okay, Hiramaru, for once, I like you.

Nakai gets even more belligerent at the fact that he was lied to. He thinks Aoki’s insulting him, and he plans to beat the hell out of her. Hiramaru swears not to let that happen and will not let Nakai get any closer.

On that ominous, heartbreaking, and exhausting note, this chapter concludes.

Portrait and Mocking Reaction

Hindsight is 20/20

So, if you go to my read-through of Chapter 38, you’ll find I was quite thrilled with the chapter and found it a wholesome dedication to hard work and the power of perseverance.

I changed my tune, however, because a regular commenter at the time (I hope you’re okay, Rusty, and that you’re reading, even if you no longer have the time) commented that Nakai’s behavior in that chapter was stalking. And he was right. His behavior was creepy and stalkerish, and I was too high on that shonen good boi juice to notice it.

That’s why I put a disclaimer about it at the top. I didn’t alter the blog, but I did change my opinion.

And at the time I didn’t quite piece together that Rusty had read the whole manga and so knew the ultimate fate of Nakai and what he would ultimately do, which likely colored his perspective on the situation in a way I couldn’t understand.

Let’s just say that, aside from embracing the perspective, it’s only solidified into full-blown disgust at this point. Nakai is a monster. He needs to be dealt with by law enforcement. This isn’t a laughing matter.

And I’m very afraid that this series is going to do something I am praying it won’t do. For the sake of women everywhere, I hope it doesn’t do what I think it’s going to do.

And this wish is more fervent after the resolution of Nanamine’s arc. But let’s be real clear here so that we don’t run from it anymore:

NAKAI IS A PREDATOR

Nakai is a lot of things. He’s engaged in some light grooming – I don’t remember if any of the assistants were younger than 18 with Nanamine, but lord, I wouldn’t be surprised – he’s engaged with sex workers in this chapter, albeit unknowingly; he’s sexually harassed several co-workers at this point. And he’s also attacking women at hostess clubs.

And he’s stalking Aoki. Unambiguously.

This is not okay. This is not a well person. This is all monstrous.

Oh, and he’s threatening to beat Aoki up for all of his problems, and I have to reiterate that this is ENTIRELY HIS FAULT.

At no point has Nakai been repentant for his behavior; at no point has Nakai taken those fleeting moments of reflection and done something with them other than stuff his face with fucking food. He has never reined in any of his worst impulses or changed as a person. I can’t take how much rope this series has given him, and he’s still PROBABLY GOING TO BE HERE FOR THE LONG HAUL.

And looks, the girls pranking him was sad and kinda mean. And he’s in a shit spot because no one will hire him (because of the things he did in his past for which he has shown no remorse or made any effort to change)

This is the bad part about the shonen methodology.

The unambiguous bad part.

Sometimes, it’s better not to redeem a character

Look, I love Shonen so much. I love it because it puts characters in situations where they work hard, make friends, and eventually grow past their worst impulses to become healthy and happy people. So many of my worst impulses emotionally have been healed through the sheer inspiration of seeing characters like Luffy, Naruto, Deku, and more push through their own struggles with a smile on their faces.

But goddamn it. This is where the limit is for me emotionally. Shonen, like all things, has its bad moments. And this is as bad as it can get.

In the last chapter, I mused about Saiko being the beating heart of this series and the unambiguous hero. But here is where that becomes a failure, a mistake, and something that should not be celebrated.

Because Nakai is a predator, this isn’t a joke. In the real world, this leads to a poor girl getting beaten up, raped, or murdered. It’s not some story. And the people who engage in this behavior are monsters. Full stop. There is only so much accountability you can give to a person before their mistakes are too much to justify.

So even though I understand why Fukuda and Saiko want Nakai to continue making manga, and on some level admire the fact that they can overlook his behavior, ultimately, Aida and Shujin have the right idea to leave Nakai alone.

And this is also a matter of wanting to change. Nanamine has changed, which….is kinda also shit, but we just spent like two months on why that’s shit, so I’m not going further into it. But in Nakai’s case, his desire to change is outstripped entirely by his impulsive behavior and his truly craven impulses. He is so totally divorced from any personal responsibility that nothing the boys do will convince him to change for the better.

And not for nothing, but if the reason Nakai wanted Aoki was for sex, he could have done that with the – let’s be honest – sex workers who pranked him. They OFFERED him the opportunity to fuck around because he was good at drawing. He could have gotten exactly what he’s been dreaming about. Still, he was too filled with pride and animus towards Aoki without recognizing all the horrible ways in which he had created the circumstances for his suffering.

It’s truly infuriating and it makes me so angry.

And I want to make something clear.

This is not entirely good storytelling

Yeah. Bakuman is good storytelling, and I’m saying that because right now, what it’s doing is awful mainly because the person coming to Aoki’s rescue is Hiramaru.

While I love that we have character tropes that are also representative of the manga they make as a nice piece of metafiction, this is the one instance where I’m truly horrified that this is the route they’ve chosen to take to deal with Nakai.

Hiramaru is not just writing a gag manga; he is a gag character. He lives in a vortex of gags and gaggery, which is, on the one hand, why I was so about him getting with Aoki in the way that he did in what feels soooooo long ago. It was a moment of genuineness that really added some true cojones to him and negated Nakai a bit.

But he’s still being used as a long-running punchline in the series. Even his efforts at courting Aoki – which seem to be working to my continued delight and shock – and while I hope that this upcoming confrontation will have the proper gravity that it deserves (this needs to be handled with fucking care), I am horrified by the idea that because Hiramaru is spearheading this intervention it is going to be a giant laugh track and it’s going to be a joke the whole way through.

PLEASE DON’T DO THIS TO ME, OHBA, I’M BEGGING YOU.

Aoki should file a police report, and the boys should let their friend get arrested. Sometimes, people need to pay for their literal crimes. And in Nakai’s case, everything he is doing is so beyond the pale bad that I’m surprised it got past Jump editorial. This is the kind of dark that’s not just “Death Note style pastiche” dark. This is actual darkness.

We are staring into the fucking abyss of a person who has failed so spectacularly and entirely through their own mistakes and hubris. And a woman might pay for it.

I’m not okay with it.

I’d like it if they left Nakai alone and just had him draw shit at Shibuya, and nary the twain shall meet. Or have him be arrested. It would ruin his career, but that would be just.

Sometimes, people need to pay for the weight of their sins.

And I don’t know what I’m going to do if they let Nakai off the hook here.

I liked what Nakai did in Chapter 38 until I was shown that I was wrong. Then I changed my mind. Swiftly, too.

I don’t know if there is anything Ohba can do to change my mind here. If he makes the decision, I’m scared he will make it.

But we’ll find out in the next chapter, won’t we?

Fuck me.

Until next time

Peace