Bakuman - Episode 6

With their first manuscript completed, it's time for Akito and Moritaka to find someone suitable to look at it - an effort which proves to be easier then you might think, as they're granted an appointment with one of Shonen Jack's editors the very next day.  Of course, that's only a minuscule step on the way to becoming fully-fledged manga artists...

With such an important event on the horizon, this sixth episode of Bakuman understandably focuses almost solely upon it, diverging only briefly to cover what drove and inspired Akito to try his hand at becoming a manga writer via a dip into his family history.  From there we get to see the boys' meeting with Hattori, the aforementioned editor, who proves to be surprisingly positive about their work.  Of course, their manuscript isn't accepted outright and it still isn't up to the required standard, but Hattori is impressed by both the plot and illustrations, so the potential is clearly there in his eyes, leading him to take the manuscript for the magazine's monthly prize to see how it fares.

While this is fantastic news for the pair of wannabes, who even get Hattori's e-mail address to get in touch with him via, the question remains as to whether he's a good editor or not?  Moritaka and Akito's impression is that he's a very good contact to have, but from our own viewpoint we see suggestions that Hattori has struggled to find any noteworthy manga artists in the past, which adds another interesting dimension to proceedings.  Talking of interesting developments, there's also a new seating plan in the pair's class, which is going to ramp up the tension somewhat to boot...

Once again, I found myself really enjoying Bakuman as a simple but effective piece of entertainment, which ensnares you in its two hopeful young "gamblers" and leaves you rooting for them while also sharing their pains and agony as they try to make a name for themselves.  Although the full-blown depiction of their first manuscript's story actually made it seem far less compelling than the initial idea sounded, I enjoyed seeing it fleshed out a little, and overall this proved to be a well-paced instalment to watch that did its job of keeping me on the edge of my seat without drifting into overblown drama admirably.