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Bakuman, Volume 9: Talent and Pride (Bakuman #9)

by Tsugumi Ohba, Takeshi Obata, Tetsuichiro Miyaki (translator)

4.21 of 5 stars 4.21 · rating details · 414 ratings · 14 reviews

By the creators of Death Note! The mystery behind manga-making revealed! Reads R to L (Japanese Style), for audiences T.

Average student Moritaka Mashiro enjoys drawing for fun. When his classmate and aspiring writer Akito Takagi discovers his talent, he begs Moritaka to team up with him as a manga-creating duo. But what exactly does it take to make it in the manga-publishi...more

Paperback, 189 pages

Published February 7th 2012 by VIZ Media LLC (first published August 4th 2010)

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Jun 17, 2012 Maxwell Heath rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: manga

I think this is where I'm going to step off the Bakuman train. While I really enjoyed Death Note, and I liked the first few volumes of this, I'm no longer interested in Bakuman at all. The characters aren't very good, for one thing. Whereas a large part of the excitement in Death Note comes from the rivalry between Light and L, the rival character in this story is bland. He seems like an attempt to adapt L's eccentricity, but that fails here because unlike L, Nizuma doesn't really have anything...more

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Apr 23, 2012 Radek rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shonen, manga, comedy

When Ohba Tsugumi and Obata Takeshi announced that they're working on a new series, the world went all "Yeah!", even I was kind of interested in their new piece because I enjoyed Death Note. It wasn't as phenomenal as everyone says but it was fairly good read. So, now when Bakuman ended I think it's right time to write some short review.

It starts peacefully, Moritaka Mashiro doesn't know what to do with his life and then Takagi Akito tells him to draw manga. After some happenings they finally de...more When Ohba Tsugumi and Obata Takeshi announced that they're working on a new series, the world went all "Yeah!", even I was kind of interested in their new piece because I enjoyed Death Note. It wasn't as phenomenal as everyone says but it was fairly good read. So, now when Bakuman ended I think it's right time to write some short review.

It starts peacefully, Moritaka Mashiro doesn't know what to do with his life and then Takagi Akito tells him to draw manga. After some happenings they finally decides to draw manga. Takagi is writer and Moritaka is artist. And so the story goes on... Wait, haven't I forgot about something? Well, yes. It couldn't be a story without some girl, right? So there's this Azuki Miho and she will voice the main character of Moritaka's manga when it will be made into anime and then they will marry...

Oh boy, where to start? How about the story... Even the basic structure is bad. One boy tries to fulfil his dream to become a mangaka. Sounds nice, so why they had to add that "I will marry a girl" theme? It's completely unnecessary and distracting. Characters are dull and boring. I know that this is story for kids but characters are constantly happy. Even if some bad things are going on the overall mood is so overwhelmingly positive it makes my teeth ache.

These are major mistakes but what disappointed me the most was the attitude of author to whole "manga theme". In this piece, even if they are constantly talking about making an art, manga is something like consumable goods and not like an art. I will be honest with you, I see manga medium as an art medium. And my blood boiled when they were saying things like "Holy cow, it's popular, it's good." which is WRONG.

As for the "how manga industry works" part of this story. Don't expect some valuable informations. Almost everything what they state is general knowledge for readers of manga .

Bakuman is great and horrible at the same time. It can greatly convince people that it's good read. But it's in fact a very badly developed story. I was utterly disappointed. And no, it won't get better, I read it until the end. I don't force my opinion on you, but for me, reader who treats manga as an art, Bakuman is bad. (less)

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Mar 08, 2012 Miss rated it 2 of 5 stars

Okay so I accepted Iwase's crush on Akito last volume because it brought her back to the manga and I really like her. But seriously? Mr. Hattori? You can let her have goals that aren't about being attractive to dudes Ohba. D: Also Hattori can just shut his face, the hell you mean you're practically writing the story, she's just filling it in. I can't with Ohba's insistence that women can't write shonen manga, it grows increasingly more infuriating. It makes me want to throw copies of Full Metal...more Okay so I accepted Iwase's crush on Akito last volume because it brought her back to the manga and I really like her. But seriously? Mr. Hattori? You can let her have goals that aren't about being attractive to dudes Ohba. D: Also Hattori can just shut his face, the hell you mean you're practically writing the story, she's just filling it in. I can't with Ohba's insistence that women can't write shonen manga, it grows increasingly more infuriating. It makes me want to throw copies of Full Metal Alchemist in his face. Or D. Gray Man. Or Katekyo Hitman Reborn. Or any of the other dozen commercially and artistically successful shonen manga I know of authored by women.

Anyways, I really didn't find this volume as engaging as the previous one. The marriage plot is ridiculous and apparently is going to be played as something plausible which made the first half a write off. The second half with the whole artistic vs. commercial conflict was interesting though I fall on the side of saying Akito and Mashiro are behaving extremely unprofessionally. I find it very unrealistic that the editor in chief caved. They're new artists without a very large fan base; realistically they would have been dropped assuming they were even able to push their point that far. They would have been better off continuing to write, if Akira was as unsuited to gag manga as they claim the declining story quality would have had them dropped anyways. (I say this from a professional viewpoint, as a reader I prefer it when stories end while they're still strong instead of lingering as the quality declines).

And since I'm registering complaints anyways, I really wish Miho would get to do something in the volume other than being the voice of support for Mashiro. How's her goal of being a voice actress coming along? Ohba could use her storyline as an opportunity to expand on further aspects of the manga/anime industry and flesh out her character. Who knows, I might find her and Mashiro's 'romance' less implausible if I had an idea of who she is. 2.5 stars(less)

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Mar 09, 2013 Sarah Lu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: manga, slice-of-life, shonen

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Shujin is more of a focus in this volume, with two major things going on: his marriage to Kaya and his inability to come up with new material for Tanto.

On the Kaya front, things don't seem to go so well at first with her father, but once again we find out how small a world these kids live in and discover that Kaya's father was best friends with Saiko's uncle. The three talk about Saiko's uncle and how Shujin and Saiko are going to work their best to be successful. Kaya's father gives his approv...more Shujin is more of a focus in this volume, with two major things going on: his marriage to Kaya and his inability to come up with new material for Tanto.

On the Kaya front, things don't seem to go so well at first with her father, but once again we find out how small a world these kids live in and discover that Kaya's father was best friends with Saiko's uncle. The three talk about Saiko's uncle and how Shujin and Saiko are going to work their best to be successful. Kaya's father gives his approval for the marriage, which happens some months later for Kaya's June wedding.

Shujin's roadblock with gag's for Tanto begins to hinder his ability to sleep, as he stays up for hours on end to try to think of things, ultimately causing him to look thin at his wedding. Everyone is rightly worried about him, especially Kaya, as she had seen with Saiko how one's health can go downhill when they push themselves too far.

Saiko, Azuki, and Kaya speak to one another and agree that it might be a good idea to cancel Tanto. Not only can Shujin no longer come up with stories, but it isn't really the series that Muto Ashirogi excels at. They are grasping at straws and they know that the series will never be a big hit.

Saiko tells Shujin his decision once Shujin and Kaya comes home from their honeymoon, and after an initial shock, Shujin agrees. They go down to the Shueisha offices and after heated arguments with the editors there, they are given permission to cancel Tanto on the condition that they must come up with a series for serialization in the next six months or they will never work for Jump again.

As always, I enjoyed Kaya in this chapter. Iwase appeared a couple of times, but for the most part to just gloat about her success in manga. I really do not like her character. She is very shallow and while she could have gone off to be successful in her own way, writing novels, she started writing manga just so that she could beat Shujin down. She also goes from having a crush on Shujin to Akira Hattori, Muto Ashirogi's first editor, and now her editor, and it seems.... a little forced in a way.

I love what is going on with Shizuka and his editor. Seeing him slowly gather the courage to submit his work again after being rejected and saying that he wouldn't try again. And his editor standing up for him, it was great.

I have to wonder, Team Fukuda never really seems to age. There are little differences between them from the beginning of the series and now, which there should be. At least some slimming of the faces or something. Or maybe there is and I'm just not seeing it because I'm reading the books one after another. Maybe if I looked back at the first one, but they don't really seem to look their age.... They still look like 14/15 year olds...

An overall thought on Shujin and Saiko and the way that people in the series say that they are incredibly talented but they haven't found that spark yet in the series. The way that the duo talk about their manga... They ultimately only care if it is popular, if it will get high in the ratings and get popular. They don't make the manga just for the love of drawing or the love of storytelling. They are doing it so that that they can be popular. That intention will reflect in the work and I think that that is what the editors are talking about when they say that their work is good in the technical aspect, but isn't great. It doesn't have that heart that Eiji's work has because Eiji creates his manga out of pure love of the art and storytelling. Once Muto Ashirogi learns this, I think that they will finally be able to compete with Eiji.(less)

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Apr 06, 2013 Jocelyne rated it 5 of 5 stars

I have to say I'm incredibly relieved that Ashirogi realized that they didn't enjoy making gag manga. And although it made me sad to see that Eiji was depressed by their lack of competition, I'm also glad that it motivated them. They barely deserved to be Nizuma's rivals with a manga series like Tanto. Now they're striving to get back where they need to be, and I'm proud of them for taking the necessary, albeit risky, steps to achieving their goal of beating Nizuma! Woo volume 10 here I come!

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Mar 20, 2012 Hollowspine rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really tried to savor this one, it was awesome. I love the direction the story is taking, and I can't wait to see where it goes next and what new series Ashirogi will come up with to beat Nizuma. Also, I cannot wait to see +Natural fail.

I wish that some of these series were real, I'd love to read them too! It's amazing how many ideas Ohba comes up with and the way that Obata transforms his style to emulate the different artists in the story.

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Feb 29, 2012 Douglas rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, manga, inspiring-2012, young-adult

This continues to be one of my favorite series. The art is top notch and expressive, and the story is engaging. This volume earned five stars from me for featuring fantastic character expressions, genuine laugh out loud moments, and a message of individualism and self-faith that resonated with me.

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Apr 28, 2012 Kate rated it 3 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 25, 2012 Sean rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: manga

The boys continue their travels through the world of manga and Jump, with some serious decisions needing to be made. Still a joy.

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May 15, 2012 Anne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: manga-graphic-novels, read2012

Better than the last volume, story started picking up towards the end.

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Feb 10, 2012 Vee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: drawing, fiction, manga

Eventually I will read this manga in Japanese.

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May 11, 2013 Harry Roberts rated it 5 of 5 stars

Finally away from that gag

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Jul 19, 2012 Kristen rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: graphicnovels, humor, realistic-fiction, youngadult

Love love love this series!

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Nov 15, 2012 Child960801 rated it 4 of 5 stars

Oh, a wedding.

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Jun 18, 2013 Hon Kar Yee rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 16, 2013 Marina rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 15, 2013 Ployrta added it

Jun 14, 2013 Tiffany rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: manga-comics-graphic-novels

Jun 13, 2013 Alya rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 09, 2013 Kayano rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 08, 2013 Roy Hankins rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 07, 2013 Tsubasa rated it 3 of 5 stars

Jun 09, 2013 Anca rated it 5 of 5 stars

Jun 06, 2013 Dramatica rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 04, 2013 Gates added it

Jun 02, 2013 Rana added it

Shelves: manga

Jun 02, 2013 Irock Irock rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 02, 2013 Maja marked it as to-read

Shelves: bakuman

Jun 01, 2013 Cookie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Jun 01, 2013 Luis Mendoza rated it 5 of 5 stars

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About Tsugumi Ohba

Tsugumi Ohba (大場つぐみ Ōba Tsugumi?, born in Tokyo, Japan) is a writer best known for the manga Death Note. His real identity is a closely guarded secret. As stated by the profile placed at the beginning of each Death Note manga, Ohba collects teacups and develops manga plots while holding his knees on a chair, similar to a habit of L, one of the main characters of the series.

There is speculation th...more

More about Tsugumi Ohba...

Books by Tsugumi Ohba

Death Note, Vol. 1: Boredom (Death Note, #1)

Death Note, Vol. 2: Confluence (Death Note, #2)

Death Note, Vol. 3: Hard Run (Death Note, #3)

Death Note, Vol. 4: Love (Death Note, #4)

Death Note, Vol. 8: Target (Death Note, #8)

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Bakuman, Volume 9: Talent and Pride (Bakuman #9)

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