Detailing the lives of two young students as they strive to become professional mangaka, Bakuman is one of the finest anime and manga franchises to come out of the last two decades. Detailing what the manga industry looks like, the popular series definitely hit home with its audience in many ways. It was also something of a departure for its creative team, though in the best way.
It’s been a good several years since either the manga or anime of Bakuman have been “new” series. Even so, it remains highly regarded both by fans of its creators’ other works and in general. Here’s what Bakuman is all about, and where the modern classic can be enjoyed.
The Plot of Bakuman
The actual genre of Bakuman is something of a head scratcher; while it was published in Weekly Shonen Jump, it’s definitely not the typical fare meant for the usual shonen demographic. Bakuman tells the tale of Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi, two junior high school students who pledge to become professional manga creators. Another pledge is made by Moritaka as well, following a romantic confession to his crush Miho Azuki. She herself confessed to wanting to be a voice actress (despite her quiet, shy nature), and agrees to marry Moritaka -- after voicing a character in the future anime adaptation of his manga.
The catch is that they can’t see each other face-to-face again until then, making theirs a rather unique romance. From there, the manga duo works valiantly on tithes at Weekly Shonen Jump, determined to achieve their dreams.
Where to Read the Bakuman Manga
Bakuman was created by Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata, best known for their psychological horror manga classic Death Note and their more recent hit series Platinum End. Running in Weekly Shonen Jump from 2008-2012, the original manga series was collected into 20 volumes, comprised of 76 chapters total.
The Bakuman manga can still be found through most book retailers, including Barnes and Noble, Books-a-Million as well as online through Right Stuf Anime. It’s also available digitally through Kindle & Comixology, which is great given that physical copies of the earlier manga are harder to come by and thus more expensive.
Where to Watch the Bakuman Anime
The Bakuman anime adaptation began its first season in 2010, running for 25 episodes. It was later followed by two more seasons of the same length, the last of which concluded in early 2013. Produced by J.C. Staff, the anime is highly lauded, with its first season especially being remembered for the feel-good ditty “Blue Bird” by Kobukuro.
Sadly, physical collections of the show are incredibly hard to come by, with Media Blasters canceling them indefinitely. Thankfully it's a lot easier to simply stream, namely for free. All three seasons of Bakuman can be found on both Hulu as well as the completely free Tubi TV streaming service.
