Who let the dogs out? and welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 134: Front Runner and Slow Runner, in which the plot is gearing up for something big, and I am super excited

If you’re not caught up, please use this index here to do so. There are no spoilers past the current chapter.

If you want to support the mangaka and read along, please consider buying a tankobon of the current volume or subscribing to Weekly Shonen Jump or Mangaplus. I’m not affiliated with VIZ, I just want artists to make money.

If you want to support this content so it can continue at a regular pace, please like my Facebook page and Twitter, or comment down below. I do read those comments, and they make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Or, if you want to support me, buy me a cup of coffee here

Front Runner and Slow Runner Summary

The Rival Dynamic

Picking up a little after PCP gets third place, Hattori compliments them on their decision-making on the copycat story. They’ve received even more fan mail than before; they all thank the fans in a cute little meta bit. Fans are great, aren’t they?

They are kawaiii.

Shujin and Saiko – adorably – explain they both had the idea to do the copycat and how they acted, truly, as Muto Ashirogi. Hattori is glad the two are in sync, as always. He also brings up that many editors in the department were concerned about the dangers of the story; they thought it would further antagonize the uncaught criminal. But Hattori convinced them that it would just show that Ashirogi wouldn’t bow to hostage takers’ demands, and he’d take responsibility, which got them to recognise that their first job was to protect the mangaka, not the copycat.

Shujin is shocked by the news.

Well, anyway, they also thank Eiji for gunning for first place and getting it. They never would have been fired up enough without him doing that. They think he did it to cheer them up. Hattori agrees and is glad that the boys have a good rival dynamic with him.

Hattori goes onto mention that he’s won first place three weeks in a row and has changed his routine from shitting out storyboards at warp speed to spending days contemplating and rewriting them.

The boys are horrified to learn that he actually has started taking his time and then also get comically grumpy about how absolutely insanely broken Eiji is at making manga. Shujin despairs that they’ll never beat their rival. Saiko tries to placate him: they might get first – even gag manga have gotten first in the past like Dr. Slump so it’s not hopeless – Shujin is convinced that battle manga will always win.

Shujin also recognizes that not only are mainstream at the top, but the differential between first and third is much greater than it looks: it’s a 150 vote gap. He’s starting to feel the limitations of success with a non-mainstream story.

Saiko brings him back to reality: they’ll inch their way up a little bit at a time.

Not An Interesting Story Anymore

At Eiji Co., Ltd Eiji gives Miura and Yujiro the final drafts for Crow and +Natural. Eiji asks Yujiro whether he got first place again. Yujiro confirms and Eiji says he’ll be putting all his efforts into getting Crow to first again. Yujiro is a little shaken by the tenor, but is ultimately at ease: he hasn’t mentioned cancelling another series since he got first.

Miura sheepishly wonders if Eiji would be willing to help with +Natural as well. Eiji gives him a limp “I’m doing what I can” and asks what the matter is. Miura explains that the art is fine, but since the end of the anime +Natural has fallen all the way to 10th place. Even though he’s doing the art for both it’s falling.

Eiji’s answer is simple: the story isn’t interesting. He’s not the story writer. It’s not his problem. If he wants the series to improve, Miura and Iwase will have to work together to make the story better.

Miura catching L’s left and right. Jesus.

Yujiro wheedles Miura a bit: the story hasn’t been good lately. It’s just repetitive defeating a strong enemy and then an even stronger enemy appearing. Eiji agrees: very repetitive.

Miura’s aggrieved that they’re not even pretending to spare his feelings.

Eiji offers that he can help as long as he’s allowed to make alterations to the story, but he can only do so much. Iwase is also very proud (see: Stubborn as shit) and, unlike Ashirogi, they can’t be true partners who understand each other.

Eiji gives his brutal prognosis: if she can’t come up with new ideas, she should end her run rather than have it drag on. Miura freaks: the graphic novels are still selling!

Both are confused by Eiji’s sentiment of wanting +Natural to end; Miura at least has Mikata’s Justice and agrees that +Natural has past its peak so maybe it isn’t the worst idea.

The Dunder Twins

At Hiramaru’s studio, Nakai and Hiramaru draw and complain. Hiramaru complains of stuffiness, and Nakai openly dislikes Hiramaru. Regardless, Hiramaru wants the best from Nakai.

Nakai complains that’s the only way to draw for Hiramaru since it fits his work stylistically (nice). Hiramaru gets annoyed with Nakai’s lack of formality in their relationship, especially since, technically, Hiramaru is his boss. Nakai is still salty about Aoki and Hiramaru’s relationship with her, that’s why.

Hiramaru freaks at Nakai’s unrequited feelings and gets another idea for his manga.

Nakai has given up, though. He’s just miserable working under her new partner.

Hiramaru suggests something awful: go to Yoshida for advice. That was how he got Aoki in the first place (checks notes: incorrect).

Hoooooo boy, this can only end well.

At that same moment, Yoshida arrives with a mask on (jesus christ) and when asked thinks it’s impossible for Nakai to find a girlfriend. Hiramaru is smug: he thought so too.

(LOL).

Yoshida then has a moment of clarity. He could exploit this to his advantage, oh yes.

Oh no.

He asks if Nakai seriously wants a girlfriend. Of course. Yoshida wants him to start a strict diet regiment that he will create and also openly admits that if he does that, it will eat into his plans for Nakai to financially ruin Hiramaru and keep him as a wage slave making manga indefinitely.

We’re just openly admitting it now, right? Fuckin’ hell man.

Hiramaru’s shocked to learn of Yoshida’s actual ploy, but Yoshida is focused on Nakai now. No matter how much feed (his words, not mine) he gives Nakai it doesn’t negatively affect Hiramaru enough. It’ll be even worse if Nakai gets sick and Nakai is too good to be Hiramaru’s assistant.

I don’t know whether to laugh hysterically at how openly awful Yoshida is or just cry at how terrible this would be IRL.

If Nakai is serious, Yoshida will turn Nakai into a Super Manga artist! It’s the Super Saiyan Version of a manga artist!

Oh god. Oh no. Oh fu-

He’ll have the mentality of a first-class mangaka that any woman – even Aoki – will fall for. He’s always had the skills; now he’ll have a chance.

Pleasseee god why.

It will be hard, but it’s worth a shot. Hiramaru freaks at the idea of Yoshida making Nakai attractive enough to steal his girl. Hiramaru suggests Nakai remain fat forever, and he’ll pay for all his pizza. And he should remain arrogant, too. But Yoshida’s suggestion is too powerful, and his ultimate keikaku (that means strategy) to keep Hiramaru in a negative state will keep him successful. Besides, if he succeeds it’s a win win.

I really don’t like this.

Nakai’s going to give it a shot. Yoshidas first suggestion: a six mile (10 KM run) every morning and night.

What next, 100 pushups, 100 squats, and 100 situps?

What It Meant

On April 22nd, Yujiro’s pumped to learn that Crow got first for the fourth week in a row. Yamahisa’s bummed, Yoshida thinks everything is exciting because it’s a “final battle” like event, and Hattori’s doing the mental math: Crow is doing so good it even beat Road Racer Giri by eight votes even though the anime just came out for that one.

Miura, meanwhile, is privately panicking: Mikata’s Justice got 7th and +Natural 13th.

Fuckin goof.

Miura reassures himself: even if +Natural fails, he’s got Mikata’s Justice going.

Hattori lets Yujiro know that Ashirogi wanted to thank Eiji: Crow getting first cheered them up.

Yujiro assumes that’s why Eiji is doing all this and gets excited. A confused Hattori wants some clarification. Yujiro explains that CHEKHOV’S CANCELLATION has been worrying him and that Eiji might be trying to do that, but he chooses to believe it was for Ashirogi’s sake. He can understand why he hasn’t said anything yet.

Yujiro will go over to Eiji’s place soon and plans to let him know about Ashirogi.

At Eiji Co. Ltd, Yujiro gives him the good news. Yujiro also mentions Ashirogi sensei’s thanks. Eiji seems confused and asks what that means. He doesn’t understand.

Uh-oh.

Meanwhile, Nakai is out running and dying because he’s overweight and just jumped from zero to ten. He wants to become a super manga artist, but after half a mile run, he’s already winded and falling over. He gives up and goes home.

Then he sees Gigga Burger and goes in.

He engorges himself on food and gets even fatter.

Fuck.

The Chopping Block

On Thursday, April 28th at Shueisha, Yujiro learns that Crow got first five weeks in a row. Yujiro’s surprised because it’s a Thursday, but golden week means results came in early. Yamahisa freaks: Shizuka got 10th (haven’t heard that name in a while) and Aoki got seventh. Can’t Fool Me got fifth which is perfect for it right now.

Yujiro is borderline manic with excitement: he has Road Racer Giri in third place and Eiji has had first for five straight weeks. Plus, Eiji hasn’t mentioned canceling his series yet.

Yujiro announces that it might be time for him to be promoted to captain given his frankly comical levels of success. He’s not too young anymore! Yamahisa and Yoshida think he’s a little too enthusiastic, but they can’t point it out because he is absolutely cleaning house.

Yujiro rushes off to get the drafts for Road Racer Giri.

Miura is glad to see Mikata’s Justice got 6th, but Aida berates him for not doing anything about +Natural and skating by. Hattori, meanwhile, is a little miffed that Giri got third and PCP dropped to 4th. He wonders if it’s impossible to beat a manga that has an animated series or Eiji.

At Fukuda’s studio, he and the assistants are thrilled by the anime release. Even though it’s only three episodes in its already so excitinng, they’re confident it will increase popularity and graphic novel sales. Yujiro arrives and gives them the good news about third place. Fukuda relishes the idea that it’s no longer impossible to get first place.

Yujiro pumps the brake on that notion: they’re still lagging pretty far behind Crow. Fukuda takes that news with some salt: does Giri not getting first mean anything to him since he’s also doing Crow?

Yujiro thinks the contrary: he likes it when newer scruffier underdogs beat established properties to get first place. Fukuda’s impressed by Eiji getting first five weeks in a row and Yujiro mentions he was initially worried. When asked for clarification he reveals the truth to the new assistant (He already told Fukuda and Yasuoka).

Yujiro tries to downplay the possibility and he remembers one condition: If he was the top star of jump and still felt the same about it he could do it.

Yasuoka and the other assistant are thirsty for the deets on which series Eiji wants axed. Yujiro hasn’t asked, but given that it’s been seven years, the series might already have been cancelled, right? Or it could be +Natural.

Uh oh. Nizuma said the story isn’t good, and Iwase is too proud to change her stories, so it might be better to axe the series now rather than prolong its suffering.

The assistant wonders why Eiji might want to axe his own series (+Natural). Yujiro thinks that might be a stronger contributing factor to wanting to end it. He even said he would create better stories for it. Yasuoka thinks it might be Aoki or Hiramaru’s series since they beat him at the love fest. Fukuda reminds Yasuoka, correctly, that Eiji isn’t that kind of guy.

Yujiro goes on his *Cough* rationalization *Cough* happy monologue about how it’s meaningless talk since measuring the most popular author in Jump is an impossible task. If we include contributions of the mangaka and tankobon sales, Eiji still lags heavily. And even if that was the case, Eiji still isn’t planning to end a series anymore and wouldn’t do something like that.

Yasuoka wonders why Yujiro even brings it up.

He can talk about it now that it isn’t an issue.

Oh, my sweet summer child. You fool. You have said the thing. Prepare your asshole.

Yujiro continues: It shows how much Eiji has grown over the last seven years, and he also knows that Eiji did this to cheer Ashirogi up.

Manga Team Fukuda are silent at this but ultimately let Yujiro have the argument and they do think Eiji *could* do something like that but if he was always able to get first why is he only waiting til now to do so?

Eiji’s Goals

At the studio, the assistants all marvel over Crow getting first five weeks in a row. Moriya sees it’s an all-out climactic battle now. Shujin laments that PCP will never become an anime. Orihara asks why that is. Shujin explains that the content makes it advertiser unfriendly and the bank robbery kinda finally shut the door completely.

The boys sulk at the news.

Shujin suggests they start seriously considering another series. Saiko – with one of the best-backhanded compliments ever – notes his drawing speed has gotten better because Shujin’s been so late recently. He’s also been designing characters to use for a cult-hit, non-traditional battle manga with mainstream designs. But none of them are working for him.

Shujin wants to take a look at them. Saiko’s defensive, but Shujin wants to see it anyway.

Shujin thinks they look good, but Saiko notes they have to have an extra something to them. These ones are duds.

On Monday, May 9th Eiji walks into Shueisha’s office with purpose. Yujiro wasn’t expecting him and wonders why he’s there. Eiji went through all the procedures and checked in. Yujiro didn’t get a call letting him know he was there.

Eiji came to see the editor-in-chief and he was given permission to come up.

Yujiro’s look of shock tells us all we need to know.

Eiji’s here to cash in ON CHEKHOV’S CANCELLATION LET’S GOOOOOOOOO.

On that intense note, the chapter concludes.

Front Runner and Slow Runner Reaction

Eiji Means Business and the First Rule of Not Fucking Things Up

So you may have noticed the last few read-throughs were a bit light. That was because a.) I want to clean up my summarizing style for ease of reading, and 2.) they weren’t the densest chapters emotionally or physically. I want to give you the best bang for your buck, but I can only do so much.

The same cannot be said of this chapter. This chapter was packed to the fucking gills, and let’s dig into that as fast as possible.

Holy shit, there’s so much to unpack here, but first, Yujiro, you dumbasss, why’d you have to go and do that?

By that, I mean spilling the beans on something you are “Certain” is never going to happen super confidently before you are 100% sure. You fool! That is a rookie mistake of keeping a secret.

*Queens of the Stone Age “Lost Art of Keeping a Secret” starts playing in the background*

But seriously, I’m aware of when I engage in magical thinking, but I’ve been burned by this too many times not to be a little wary of it; also, this is a story, and comic overconfidence usually precedes a fall, but…

Don’t talk about something until you’re sure it’s safe to talk about.

I don’t know what it is (probably a self-fulfilling prophecy, let’s be real), but when you talk about something too much, it somehow mystically fucks up whatever was going to happen and makes the less desirable result pop up. Is it magical thinking? Yes. Do I care? Fuck no.

And Yujiro demonstrates why discretion is valuable in the way he delivers the news to Fukuda. He’s not off the hot seat; he knows that’s the case, and he’s counting his chickens before they hatch. He’s not being like a sage who treats reality like walking on thin ice.

Basically: be cautious with things that need to remain under wraps; you never know when it will bite you in the ass.

Weird magical thinking aside, Eiji is mobilizing: he’s going to axe a series, and we have some candidates. But the big thing is he’s doing it. And that means that whatever is about to come in the next few chapters is going to be fucking crazy.

And I know that to some degree because–

Eiji is Deadly Serious

So one of the elements of the character retcon with Eiji that we’ve discussed is his perennial silliness and light heartedness. He’s always been a goofy character outside of his introduction and a lot of fuss is made about the fact that he’s kind of an intuitive goober who is just insanely good at what he does, to the extent that he can fulfil the wishes of those around him and accurately read tea-leaves narratively.

But here, he’s serious. And that means something is definitely up.

I’ve not made too fine a point on it because I’ve been fucking pumped because it means the narrative is heading towards its endgame, but yeah, the way Eiji has been portrayed in the last few chapters is actually fucking brilliant on Ohba’s part because it shows that he’s preparing for something big to the point where he can’t be his usual silly self.

He has something serious in mind. He’s a man with a plan.

And to some extent it kind of kills the whole “intuitive vs. calculating” type mangaka dynamic that is really there as way to create a small nen chart in a non battle manga. Eiji is a calculating type. He’s always calculated. His brain is just overclocked when it comes to manga.

And that’s sold by the fact that he’s taking his time on storyboards.

Of all the random wish fulfillment I’ve seen in stories, one of the funniest has to be the idea that someone can be so comically good at manga they have time to think about their storyboards before the deadline. That is some hardcore niche power fantasy, and it cracks me the fuck up.

Think about all the things you could have a power fantasy about, and it’s being able to take your time on something. I dunno, Funny shit.

In any event, Eiji’s expression is such a barometer for where the series is headed, and it kinda makes me nervous, especially since I don’t know if PCP is going to be counted as part of the three-strike policy at Jump. But we still don’t know who’s getting shitcanned if he succeeds.

The other thing we don’t know is if Jump will allow it (they will, since it’s manga) and what conditions Eiji will have to meet to get his wish. Because.

This is Shonen manga.

Your probably going to see this refrain many more times going forward, but it’s really worth reiterating that a lot of speculation can be quelled by the notion that this is a Shonen manga and not just a Shonen manga but a Jump manga – the Ur-Shonen – if you will, so a lot of things can be anticipated.

One of the weirder things that you can expect, especially from a story like this one where battles aren’t the key is that the hinge on which the characters function – much like what we talked about in the previous chapter – is conditional logic battles.

In something like One Piece, the battle conditions are usually pretty straightforward unless it’s something like the Davy Back Fight Arc, in which it’s a game. It’s the same with a tournament arc. Unless it’s some specific game, there will be a fight, and there will be an easy-to-understand win condition for completing the battle.

But because this is a story about art – which is inherently subjective – we’re not going to have those easy to measure win conditions. And so Ohba’s work around to keep the sense of stakes and pressure up is to create arbitrary endpoints and stakes with larger than life consequences.

I.E.: Beating Nanamine in ten chapters; PCP having to overtake +Natural in 25 chapters; blah blah blah.

And it’s effective because we don’t really have the opportunity to have a clear win condition when we don’t define parameters of what a win could be.

So what I’m saying is that Eiji’s not just going to cancel a series and then be done with it. Sasaki is probably going to give him some extra conditions he needs to meet to satisfy the requirement to cancel a series, and it’s going to create more story. As I was saying, the appeal of Bakuman isn’t manga. It’s about people playing logic games using manga as a vehicle for the conflict.

Anyway.

Speaking of this is a Shonen manga.

Nakai is a joke now

Given my previous bitch session about this several chapters back, you would think I would be furious that I have to deal with Nakai for the foreseeable future.

And I fucking am. Mwahahahahah eat dicks.

No. Actually, I’m resigned. Just give me some alcohol so I can get on their level, man. That’ll make it easier to tolerate, honestly. Because god, I didn’t think the gag with Yoshida and Hiramaru could get objectively worse. But somehow, life finds a way.

Honestly, it didn’t occur to me that Hiramaru and Nakai being the two thematic lolcows of the series would mean they would be the actual canonical ship at the end of the game, but here we fucking are. And it is truly heinous.

What’s even worse is that it made me laugh.

Now, let’s get this out of the way again so I can always be up to date on my disclaimers: nothing about this is right or just, and Nakai should be in prison because he’s a predator; Hiramaru should be in therapy; and Yoshida probably also deserves some comeuppance given his awful…everything.

That line about using Nakai as a literal pig to drain Hiramaru’s bank account to keep him working on manga indefinitely is actually the worst.

But I giggled. Maybe I’m just finally losing my mind.

But Yoshida’s idea scared me for half a second because I thought: oh no, they’re actually going to try and make Nakai a super romantic badass mangaka who gets his own series and, ngl, taht’s one of the things I’m most afraid will happen and will lead to Nakai hooking up with Aoki at the end. Which I’m still terrified is a possibility.

Because Hiramaru thrives on pessimism, and that would make him make even more manga, even though he and Aoki are so cute.

It’s just all awful.

But, at least to some degree, I forgot that Nakai has no discipline and that he’s doomed to fail at basically whatever he does. and that means of course he gives up on his 6 KM run 1/6th of the way into it and gorges himself on burgers. That’s such peak Nakai behavior.

So For now, we’re safe. And even though it’s all so terrible, it’s all so gonzo terrible in such an extreme way that I can’t help but get a chuckle out of it and laugh.

Otherwise, I’ll cry.

Anyway, back to the issues at hand

Miura Sucks, and The Boys struggle

Again, the boys are kinda sidelined as part of their own series because now that they’re pretty firmly entrenched in their story and successful, there’s not much for them to do narratively.

It was nice to see them prepping for another series,s though. That was genuinely great. And I’m actually starting to think my theory that Eiji is going to end PCP makes more and more sense.

The series has now gone to great lengths to demonstrate how hopeless the anime for PCP is and how it’s unlikely to beat Eiji at the top spot: the two final win conditions for the series.

Given that it’s so hopeless, Eiji may be their way out of the mire they are in, even if Dr. Slump was popular as a gag manga in the 80s (that’s a fun tit bit and one that makes sense given the Toriyama of it all).

But something also doesn’t feel entirely right about that. There’s also worry about +Natural.

I guess the anime has really fucked Iwase over, and now she’s losing ground. Which sucks because her entrance was so badass, and it was so warming to see a woman do stuff. And now she’s stuck in a holding pattern, which is frankly common in a lot of manga where the enemies get stronger and then defeated, and then they have to defeat more.

But I assume the fact that Eiji is indifferent to +Natural going downhill is a bit of a red herring. I don’t see him cancelling it because in my heart I want it to be PCP. Unless that would kill the boys career in which case I don’t want that.

But in any event, I want to talk about how much Miura fucking sucks.

Even though he’s not a big part of this chapter, I think the reason Iwase is in a holding pattern is because she doesn’t have an editor like Hattori helping her. We circle against the relationship again and again, but honestly, it’s so important. and Miura is fucking awful.

I gave him several chances early when he got introduced, but here, his worst traits rear their head again: he cares only for his own skin and does not try to make the best manga possible. He’s hedging his bets with Mikata’s Justice (nice localization change you made there, I see you), and he doesn’t care that +Natural is faltering because of his own failures as an editor as much as it is Iwase’s stubbornness. If Miura could man up even a little bit he would be on his way to doing something to save it.

But rather, he’s just hoping for the best.

It’s really fucking awful.

And if +Natural gets canceled, it will be his fault. Not Eiji’s, not anyone else’s. His.

Which brings me back to the boys

The Fan Meta

It was sincerely cute seeing the boys admire their fandom this chapter. It was a bit of fanservice in one of the most literal sense, but it was nice for the authors to fangirl over their fans. Like. It’s nice to see that gratitude.

I’m not gonna lie; it made me feel kinda special.

And that’s what’s nice about this series, and one of the reasons I keep reading. Even though I have sincere frustrations with many of the storytelling elements, it’s clear that a lot of love has gone into this series and it was made with a lot of care and attention to detail. and if I’m frustrated by certain plot elements it’s because I know when Bakuman is at its peak it is truly some of the best out there. And I want that for this series.

So thank you Bakuman, I appreciate you too. You are great.

And also, it was nice seeing Hattori–

Actually, I’m going to end this chonky boy here.

Love you my fans who read. Yo uare great too, when you show yourself. I hope you will do so and comment and make me feel a little less lonely.

All the best,

Until next time

Peace