Hi! and welcome to my read-through of Bakuman Chapter 136: Potential and Counterplan in which everything is part of Nizuma’s keikaku doori.
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Potential and Counterplan Summary
Until the Final Chapter!
Picking up directly from the previous chapter, Nizuma announces his excitement at being challenged by Team Fukuda and changes his goal: if anyone can beat him before he completes the final draft of his final chapter, he won’t end Crow. He tells them to bring. It. On.
Oh shit.
Everyone (except for Hiramaru) are prepared to take him down. Hiramaru screams in horror. Good job ,Hiramaru.
The next day at the studio Shujin laments how hard it’s going to be to actually put their money where their mouth is. Even so, he still wants to beat him. Shujin starts doing the math on how many weeks they have to dominate Nizuma: he struggles because of anticipated first place results for this week and the chapter he just submitted. There are twelve weeks after that and that’s not including the one he’s working on…
He realizes it’s too complicated so he simplifies for the audience: they have seven weeks to beat the stuffing out of him (metaphorically). Everything hinges on the next seven weeks.
Curious number. Almost like that’s the number of chapters left in this future volume!
At Eiji Co., Ltd, Yujiro freaks out at the revised goal of getting first place until the final chapter. Nizuma commands him to inform Sasaki about the change to the plans.
Yujiro hilariously and rightfully panics about the absolutely nightmarish logistics of a series that’s slated to end suddenly reversing course if they don’t get first say, at the penultimate chapter (wink wink). He then forgets about those logistics because it would be too real for the plot to deal with that and figures they’ll find a way to make it work.
(LOL).
Yujiro then remembers the actual more difficult truth: Nizuma is going to have to get first for 18 weeks in a row which is absurd. Nizuma confirms that’s the case and that’s what he told Team Fukuda. He’s so motivated now that he’ll never lose.
Yujiro explains that he’s on Team Fukuda’s side in this one. Nizuma asks if he’s an enemy as well.
Crow is a top series and Yujiro wants it to continue. Nizuma understands, but he gotta do what he gotta do. Yujiro then asks him if he can tell the other editors about it. He wants everyone mobilized to try and take Nizuma out and knocking Crow from the top spot. Nizuma gives him a hard side-eye but before Yujiro can get an apology out Nizuma tells to do it.
The ENTIRE DEPARTMENT IS HIS ENEMY; LET THE STAKES BE RAISED MOTHAFUCKAHHSSS.
HO SHIT.
Prepping for Battle!
Shujin thinks a good idea to beat Eiji is to run a four and three chapter arc during the seven week run and juice up the conclusions to get first place. Saiko doesn’t think that’s going to work. He points out that method is tried and true and it has never worked on Nizuma. Shujin sees the light and asks how they can beat Crow.
Saiko thinks they need to get even LESS mainstream. Shujin wants more information.
Crow is a typical mainstream battle manga and PCP’s appeal is that it is a cult series. Given that the appeal is the cult element they need to strike with that mentality to highlight how different they are from Crow.
A little sadly (but only a little), What You Need has ended, and Nanamine is out of the picture, so he won’t siphon off the votes.
Shujin is all for it. But he doesn’t know what they need to change specifically.
Saiko wants to brainstorm on it. (LOL).
At Fukuda’s studio, Fukuda lays out his super awesome plan to take out the king.
- A new mentor character who is a legendary racer. He wears leather jackets even in the summer (whoa). He’s a core member in a special team composed of other high powered individuals
- Giri will learn a LEGENDARY RIDING TECHNIQUE which will be taught through
- SECRET TRAINING SESSIONS that are super tough. and of course they will give Giri
- a HELLA COOL NEW BIKE (hell yeah).
Everyone is pumped by this simple – yet effective – plan of attack.
AVENGERS EDITORS ASSEMBLE!
At Jump Editorial, the entire office is in an uproar over Eiji’s plans. Aida’s concerned about the financial hit the magazine will take if it ends; Yujiro doesn’t want it to end; Yamahisa thinks artists should end their series on their own terms (surprising good guy Yamahisa moment); another nameless editor believes that manga belongs to the creator and agrees with Yamahisa; Nakano, a hardliner, believes that Jump owns the manga completely.
Miura and Hattori observe the chaos from afar.
Miura points out an important question: whether an editor works for the mangaka or the magazine/company profits. They are still employees at the end of the day.
Yoshida – being himself (ugh) – brings out a different tactic: this isn’t about company profits, this is about NIZUMA HIMSELF!
Uh huh. Sure.
While Yoshida understands a mangaka ending their series after hitting their physical and emotional limit (uh, lol, what, no look at Hiramaru) and running out of ideas, it’s clear Nizuma still has gas in the tank creatively. He’s at his peak. He’s also young and growing rapidly. Letting a mangaka do as they please isn’t always the best way to support them. The editor is there to bring the most out of the artist. Yoshida is confident they can draw something even more out of Nizuma at this point.
…I unfortunately don’t disagree with him entirely here. (we gotta talk about this)
He also mentions that company profits do matter, but if they let Crow end they are going to waste Nizuma’s potential and it is going to be a massive loss for Jump as well!
Yoshida goes back to the bedrock of being an editor: creating an attractive magazine that readers will enjoy. Ending Crow goes against that!
Aida gets fucking pumped by Yoshida’s stump speech and agrees that it would be a waste to end Crow now. Aida asks if Yujiro tried to get Nizuma to not end the series. No, because Sasaki has agreed to it, so Nizuma won’t budge. The only way to beat it is by having a series overcome it in the rankings. Yujiro explains that Nizuma is very hard-headed, so he won’t change his mind.
Yamahisa points out it’s going to be very difficult to beat Crow at this point. Yoshida chews off his head: it’s their job as editors to beat Crow!.
Hattori thinks Ashirogi wants in on this action but thinks they might actually already know about it, but he’s distracted by a lovely sight:
Everyone in the office is resolved to be the one to beat Nizuma.
It’s genuinely fucking inspiring. A rare sight.
Takahama and Mikata’s Justice
At Takahama’s place Miura is pumped to beat Nizuma and is somehow shocked when Takahama immediately gets on board. Takahama explains that his goal has been to overtake Ashirogi and Nizuma both.
Miura reminds him the TV Drama isn’t starting until fall, though. Takahama has a plan. He’s been saving a special story that he wanted to do one day. Miura asks what the story is.
It involves Akira – the protagonist – and his police friend, Hiroto a police detective. Hiroto is accused of a specific crime, but Akira knowing his friend is convinced he’s innocent. However, he’s required to prosecute his friend regardless. The defense pushes for a plea deal and reduced sentence; Akira unwaveringly supports his friend and eventually proves his friends innocence, but the arc is about Akira’s struggle prosecuting his friend.
Miura’s all about that human drama in this very specific case. Takahama explains the twists and turns and Miura is pumped for the climactic courtroom twist.
Takahama – thankfully – scolds Miura for getting ahead of himself: they have to set everything up and come up with the case and the evidence. In a fit of passion, Takahama knocks over his stacks of books.
They both decide to work together on it.
Kazutan
At Hiramaru’s studio, Hiramaru celebrates Nizuma’s actual victory of being able to end a series on his own terms. Hiramaru tries to butter up Yoshida to do the same with Can’t Fool Me before Yoshida kills it in the cradle: it’s ten years too early for that.
Besides, Hiramaru needs to get first and stop Crow from ending KAPOW.
Hiramaru’s horrified by the idea of having to get first place and reminds Yoshida he is but a lowly gag series and it is impossible for him. Yoshida agrees, it’s STILL, a gag manga.
Huh.
When asked what that means, Yoshida explains that Can’t Fool Me is going to transition from Gag to a story with laughter and tears. Hiramaru explains that that has always been Hiramaru’s goal.
Okay, I am in tears; that’s a legit hilarious gag.
Yoshida thinks it still feels like a gag. You know why?
THE ARTWORK LOOKS LIKE A GAG SERIES:
Yoshida is going to upgrade his artwork in the next five weeks to make the series a serious negative love story manga (what a mouthful). Hiramaru points out that it’s going to be very difficult to change the artwork on a dime. Yoshida reminds him of Nakai’s existence. Hiramaru is rightfully terrified at the prospect of learning from that cretin. He’s super depressed just working with him.
Yoshida’s thrilled to learn that Hiramaru’s still miserable with Nakai, and Hiramaru gets an idea.
Yoshida believes using Nakai as a way to make Hiramaru miserable will be perfect to keep spirits down for the time being. But he has another ace up his sleeve.
And that is…
Aoki.
Fuck me.
Yoshida calls Yamahisa during his meeting with Aoki and Yamahisa explains that he and Aoki have concluded their work simply isn’t the type of material to suddenly get first place so they’re going to stay the course rather than taking any major risks.
Yoshida fabricates the rest of the call hamming up how much Aoki would love for Hiramaru to get first and how it would make him super cool and wonderful.
Yamahisa has no idea what the fuck is going on, but Yoshida lays it on thick: Aoki will grant Hiramaru any request if he gets first place.
Kill me.
That gets Hirarmaru up and attem. He’ll do anything to get first place. He’ll learn from Nakai and gather enough negative energy to win. Hiramaru MUST do it. HE WILL DO IT. Yoshida manipulates him further and asks to put Aoki on the line. Hiramaru, on the phone with his beloved and asks to confirm whether Aoki will, in fact, do anything if he gets first place.
Dear god Ohba, be careful.
She promises to do so if it is in her power to do.
Hiramaru’s request? Call him Kazutan.
Okay, okay, that’s cute. I’ll let it go. This time. *finger gestures: I’m watching you*
Aoki is flabbergasted but agrees to do it. Hiramaru is ready to get first. Yoshida is shocked by how little Hiramaru actually wants.
Thank god.
New Characters
Yujiro admires the character designs for the new characters for Road Racer Giri featuring the legendary leather riding outlaw who has never been defeated. The other members are cool too.
Yujiro reminds him of the most important thing in a Shonen magazine: THE NEW MOTORBIKE DESIGN HELL YEAH.
Fukuda and Yujiro are totally on the same page. Yujiro thinks that adding a new character is a common technique to get more votes, but a new character AND a new Bike? Beating Crow might not be a pipe dream.
Fukuda promises to make that dream a reality.
Saiko has an idea for a new character: someone who could fit in a mainstream battle manga, but will appear in their cult hit non-mainstream manga. In order for it to work they need a dark anti-hero.
I really like where this is going.
Shujin came to the same conclusion but thinks that they should do it before the next series they do after they beat Crow with PCP. Saiko corrects him: they should introduce a character like that in PCP!
Oh. I’m sad now.
Shujin agrees but reminds Saiko that they did that last time with the copycat and he wasn’t a very attractive evil character. Saiko doesn’t want a run of the mill criminal but rather a character in the vein of the man with many faces from the Akechi detective novels of Rampo Edogawa. Shujin’s totally on board with the idea: Someone really suspicious who never appears directly in front of PCP but will criticize and advise them at times, too.
Ideas are flowing through Shujin now, and he’ll have a story ready by tomorrow.
Three days later, Hattori is thrilled with this new idea – a character who is neither friend nor foe – who PCP must figure out one way or the other. He greenlights them to put it in the running against Nizuma.
They create the character “Sigma” for issue 26, which will come out on May 30th. Saiko presents the design – offscreen (lol) – for the character and Shujin thinks it’s cool. Fukuda works on his new characters and motorbikes. His assistants ask if he got inspiration from Toriyama (aww). Takahama creates a story about a character being falsely accused. Hiramaru improves his artwork, and Nakai tortures him. The sample issue for Issue 26 comes out with the new ideas.
Crow still has first place on lock for issues 24 and 25, but issue 26 is going to be where the battle truly begins. Shujin’s surprised to see Giri introduced a new character as well; they’re even more shocked by the improvement in Hiramaru’s artwork. Hattori explains that this is all thanks to Yujiro. Hattori might be overthinking, but it seems the quality of most of the line-up has drastically improved.
Saiko thinks that everyone who visited Nizuma is trying something new.
Fukuda thinks he’s got it in the bag; Yoshida congratulates him on the art and thinks he’s just lazy. Hiramaru is doing it for Kazutan. Takahama is hard at work preparing for the climax in three chapters. He’s confident, however, that he’ll still move up with the most recent chapter.
Saiko and Shujin are ready to take Nizuma on and beat him as the chapter concludes.
Potential and Counterplan Reaction
Ohba got me good
Damn, we are firing on all cylinders. All fucking cylinders, and I am fucking pumped, and we’re going to talk about this insanely great chapter. Another winner and hopefully a winner among winners as the Nizuma vs Everyone/Thanos vs. Avengers style battle ramps up over the remainder of Volume 16 until its conclusion.
But I was a little wrong about my read on having Ohba do this battle early.
We are swimming in metafiction, but I didn’t realize it went this deep. Me, the metafiction guy. The guy who literally has to say metafiction at least fourteen times a read-through to get the point across.
I was confused why this battle is happening now when there are now less than 40 chapters in the story left (lets pretend there still would have been further arcs after this battle because there would have been because of the anime) but Nizuma’s plans foreshadowed it perfectly. And Ohba may actually make one of his most compelling meta points if he actually pulls this off.
This is a climactic, final battle type event between the big bad rival and the ragtag group of heroes who have to beat him.
It’s sorta like what’s happening in Crow right now.
They said a few chapters ago that Crow is in a big climactic battle that will be unbeatable in terms of quality and Nizuma wants to end on that note. But if he loses – which he kind of has to narratively – then the series will have this huge climactic battle and then….just keep going.
And Bakuman is doing the exact same thing.
M E T A F I C T I O N baby.
And that’s such a baller meta point to make and it takes some absolutely huge brass knockers to try and accomplish that I’m impressed by the borderline impudence of such a move on Ohba’s part.
He’s intentionally putting this big battle here as a way to point out why manga should be ended on their own terms. At least to some degree, putting such a hype sequence well before the actual end of the series – intentionally, with that foreshadowing, there’s no way he didn’t know about it – is a great way to remind the audience that he’s still salty about Death Note being extended past its natural lifespan.
Pardon the pun. Except don’t.
So after this battle, I’m kind of terrified for what follows because unless it’s something even more spectacular, my disappointment might be immeasurable, and my enjoyment of the series might be ruined.
I’m pretty confident the quality will remain high, but if this is anything like 40 chapters ago, around Chapter 100, I’m nervous.
But while we’re here, let’s fucking relish what a beautiful fucking chapter this was.
Starting with–
Is this Nizuma’s Keikaku? (That means strategy)
Part of me is very tempted to say that this whole gambit is a way to get everyone firing on all cylinders – except the women who are conspicuously absent, which we’ll get to – because it’s such a Nizuma move to try and get the best out of everybody because of his love of manga. That would totally track.
And despite the fact that Nizuma loves manga to the extent that he wants a perfect run, I think he also wants this exact result, which is why he’s so pumped that everyone is turning against him. And now that everyone has a goal to beat him, the magazine is going to experience a golden run.
In fact, I think it might be the case that Nizuma is angling to have everyone try so hard to beat him that popularity for all the series soars at the exact time pushing circulation up super high so that when he inevitably wins, he can leave the magazine in a financially better place so that the ending of Crow doesn’t harm it too much because this motherfucker LOVES manga.
Is that likely? No. But is it possible? Yeah. Sort of.
And I say that specifically because of Hattori’s reaction and the sheer joy all the characters had in this chapter. There is a persistent feeling of genuine thrill as all the characters decide to bring the big guns to take out Nizuma and beat him. This is an EVENT.
And that’s not unheard of in the realm of comics. DC and Marvel do that shit to. Having large-scale crossover events where everybody and their grandmother have to team up to take out the ultimate evil.
But because this is manga, and also about mind games, the climactic nature of this is less – let’s all defeat the big bad – and is, surprisingly, way more positive and about making the best possible story to overcome their opponent which is super wholesome. Which is also one of the reason’s I switched from my abject disgust with early Nizuma and straight up adore him now.
He’s ultimately a force for good, and the only things he can really do as a mangaka are bring out the skills of other mangaka because he’s not a creep, he’s not a weirdo, he’s not a predator. He just loves manga.
So I am all here for this, but this chapter was stupid filled with good shit and I want to get to that stuff, namely–
The New Stories and Meta Concerns.
Even though I had that whole spiel during the copycat arc about how this isn’t actually about Manga – the series itself obliquely referenced it – it still is very much about manga, to an extent perhaps greater than other stories are about their plot engines.
This chapter shows that in huge ways. Unlike the battle with Nanamine, this is like the battle with Iwase, where they have to win purely on the merits of their storytelling, and they have to plunge into the depths of their heart to come up with something truly spectacular. They have go to push their limits like all Shonen Good-bois must.
And what’s interesting to me specifically is that it’s unclear how much of these things that Fukuda, Takahama, Hiramaru, and the Boys are coming up with are going to be things that have a bearing on the macro plot. I assume they will.
So what interests me most is how they’re going to implement the three plot-based elements into the next seven chapters:
I assume there is going to be a new character entering the scene soon, and probably a mentor figure, based on Fukuda’s insights into ways to boost popularity.
It never actually occurred to me that introducing new characters is a way to drum up popularity, but it does make sense. One of the appeals of manga is that you get to meet new characters and relate to them, or want to be them, or hate them, and character is story.
So Fukuda coming up with a sensei means that we could get a sensei coming in the next few chapters. Although if I’m being honest, I don’t know how they would implement something like a new motorbike which, given the demographic would actually push new readers to the series.
Because, even though I largely read for the emotional elements of the storytelling, I know for a fact that most people are drawn to the physical components of the storytelling – cool powerups, cool characters, and cool technology, powers et. al.
So we can expect a new character – perhaps a new sensei.
But can we expect a betrayal or a false accusation? I could see it, although I don’t know how that would manifest in this particular story given that accusations don’t make sense. The drama of this arc, unlike the copycat arc, is centered on beating Nizuma on his own terms. So this might just be a meta-red-herring to keep the reader guessing as to what might happen.
Oh god, I’m finally losing my mind and becoming one of those One Piece stans who reads into everything.
Anyway.
Finally, we have the boys and their mystery character who might be a friend or foe.
Honestly, the more I think about it that also applies to Nizuma. So I think these ideas might just also be a reflection on the role Nizuma currently plays as both sensei/friend/foe/rival and plays the man of many faces to the boys Detective Akechi (I had to look this up).
And if that’s the case, I’m fine with it. But I kinda hope we get some more twists and turns than that because it’s always fun when these meta-elements prop up in the wild.
Speaking of that, let’s talk about
The Law of Unintended Consequences
One thing this arc has setup very well for the future is the fact that everyone is taking a calculated risk to boost popularity – including Bakuman itself – and that means that this battle is even more high stakes than normal because everyone is going at it as hard as they can.
But there is also a few real risks to everyone’s narrative safety: their new gambits might backfire, or the stories will get logjammed from all being good and might actually hurt everyone’s ranking by each being so individually good that they’re all bringing each other down. I’m honestly kind of expecting everyone to take a rankings hit at some point or another because it means that the battle is going badly and the boys are the underdogs.
As for Bakuman itself, I think Saiko is telling on the series itself a bit: they’re going to lean further into their cult-y style and go even weirder to create an even greater contrast with popular series. Something that can definitely impact them negatively, but, also, I believe it would work. That’s a plausible tactic to achieve victory.
Which is why I think a Sigma character being introduced is the most likely outcome of everything in this battle. Because they want a mainstream-ish character appearing. Unless that was supposed to be Nanamine. Oy.
In any event, Obata’s already flexing with the art style by having the design sheets for Fukuda and that one drawing of Takahama’s art style. This remains one of my favorite elements of the story to date. And it’s also a nod to Hiramaru’s level up as an artist in anticipation of this climactic showdown.
Speaking of–
For Once, I’m on Yoshida’s Side (sort of)
I really have to qualify that. I’m not on his willful manipulation of Hiramaru – especially what he’s doing with Nakai now, holy fuck – and I’m also not really buying the fact that Yoshida genuinely gives a shit about Nizuma – I don’t really buy that either – Yoshida has always been too mercenary for that line to be true for me.
But I do agree with him that being kind is not always the right thing to do.
Let me explain.
During that whole debate – from the editor’s side – on whether manga should keep running or be ended, he brought up an unfortunately good point: sometimes what’s best for someone is to force them to do something they might not necessarily want to do.
Now I want to be really clear, Yoshida does this all the time and it’s mostly monstrous. But there are situations where tough love is warranted or making a genuinely crappy decision is important for someone to change and grow. Like forcing them to quit partaking of a drug, or using discomfort as a means to push them to greatness.
Because, for better or worse, a lot of change is uncomfortable. And if you fall prey to letting yourself be guided by how comfortable something is, you are unlikely to grow as a person. Change is not always uncomfortable, but more often than not, it is.
Whether that’s dieting, or digging into your traumas to see why you react unhealthily to certain behaviors, or exercising, or developing a practice or working long hours on your dream. Sometimes, you’re going to have to eat shit.
And that doesn’t mean manipulation is okay. But sometimes you gotta be tough and eat shit if you want to achieve long-term goals.
So I do agree with Yoshida’s broader note that sometimes what’s best for someone may not be what they want. But I think in this case he’s really just protecting the magazine and that Nizuma would be fine either way because he shits out good manga all the time. He’s also Yoshida’s competition anyway, and Yoshida strikes me as a company man like Nakano.
The one thing I straight-up did not agree with was the idea of only ending things once the mangaka is a used-up husk. That was awful. But probably accurate
Speaking of other things I disliked:
The Lack of Women
Yeah. This is a problem.
So we haven’t seen Iwase in this battle yet and that’s definitely not an accident. She’s going to be involved somehow during this arc, I just don’t know how yet.
But aside from her Aoki is not only bowing out, but being used as fuel for Hiramaru to get some extra emotional juice to win and get first.
That’s real bad, man.
You know why it’s real bad, man, and I know why it’s real bad, man. But it’s real bad. Dammit Ohba, you were doing so good with these two goofballs.
Very briefly, I am glad that Hiramaru is actually just kind of…low stakes and sweet about his relationship and just wants Aoki to notice him. It’s very adorable because it’s a little sus, but he’s actually trying. Bless him.
But yeah, Aoki bowing out feels like Ohba talking about women’s capacity to compete while all the men fight for their dreams. I don’t like it.
Maybe Iwase will come in with the clutch somehow, but I’m not sure how she’s going to be able to manage that given her connection to Nizuma.
But yeah, this read-through is getting long and I’m just super pumped.
I feel like this is going to be a good seven chapters, and I am pumped for that.
Let’s see how the match continues.
Until next time,
Peace
