Bakuman Season 3 - Episode 17

Last week saw the end of an era within Bakuman, as Nizuma bowed out with his final chapter of Crow, only to refocus himself upon his next project and what he claims will be the best manga ever written.

If only Iwase could steal just a fraction of Eiji's confidence, as NATURAL continues its inexorably downwards slide towards cancellation.  Needless to say, it isn't something that she takes well, and unable to face up to her ability to rival Takagi and the like she shuts herself away while refusing to write any more.  When news of this reaches Takagi he realises that something needs to be done, and luckily himself and Mashiro know exactly how to push just the right buttons to get her back on track.



There are even bigger changes afoot as the episode progresses, as the opening of a new magazine sees some massive changes amongst the Shounen Jack editorial staff - most notably, it means a new position at the aforementioned new magazine for the chief editor, who decides to announce the news by visiting all of the authors in person and thanking them for their efforts.  This is particularly poignant in Mashiro's case, as the chief finally gets to unburden himself of discussions he'd previously had with Mashiro's uncle while confessing (to the surprise of his hosts) that it was this promise to look after Mashiro were he ever to become a manga artist that led to him being overly harsh in his demands on the pair.  Never mind all this soppy nonsense however - both Nizuma and Ashirogi Muto have new manga concepts on the brain!

With its latest major story arc put to bed last time around, there was a little time for Bakuman to luxuriate in shaking things up and turning them around before setting us on the track to what will surely bring us to the finale of the series.  If I had one wish here it's that a little more time was spent making the most of the magazine's editorial shake-up - it would have been great to have some time to focus on the editors and their rivalries for once away from the demands of the artists in their care.  Still, I'm suitably hyped for the next showdown between Ashirogi Muto and Nizuma Eiji, even if their respective ideas were starting to sound like Code Geass and Kore wa Zombie desu ka for a second...