The Best and Worst of Bakuman. 2011

[saladesu]

We had this thread last year, so I thought we could do it again this year! A little late, but better late than never, right? And sorry for copying most of the opening post, I'm not very creative and besides, I wrote that OP so....

The Best and Worst of Bakuman. 2011

2011 is over, and 2012 has begun! Let's have a look at what happened in the world of Bakuman. in the past year: What did you like? What did you hate? What do you remember best about Bakuman. in 2011? What expectations do you have for 2012?

Let's begin with the characters... Which character stood out the most this year? What did any of these characters do this year that struck you as memorable, or which changed your impression of them, for better or for worse?

How about the editors? Who gave the best input this year? Who gave the most useless input?

What plot developments left you the most excited about them? Which manga in the Bakuman world that was introduced in 2011 interested you the most?

Which page/panel was the most aesthetically pleasing? ... Anything about Bakuman. in 2011 and expectations for 2012 can be discussed in this thread!

As we are looking at the year 2011, please restrict your discussions to chapters 116-161. Just remember, no bashing any character or member!

You can refer to the chapter guide thread for a run-down of what happened in chapter 116-161, if you have forgotten

[alphabeta]

Well, I'll start to make this thread active.

Characters:

Nanamine.

End of Discussion.

Seriously, Nanamine was the only major new character introduced during the period we're discussing. The rest was either fodder-stuff (bank robber, Saikou's schoolmates, Ririka) or people who made a comeback (Nakai).

Nanamine brought Bakuman to a new level. His dark ways of doing business and common traits he shared with Light gave him a reasonable fan base and established him as Bakuman's first real antagonist.

It was because of Nanamine that Ashirogi brought the quality of PCP to a new level. It was because of Nanamine('s combeback) that the rest of Team Fukuda brought their respective works to a higher level (Takahama even getting 2nd place IIRC).

Even though, his method failed (due to Bakuman being a shounen and not Seinen) Nanamine created a revolution between JUMP's editors and mangaka, what can not be denied. He is one of the most important characters in Bakuman.

So, I'd like to mention Nanamine as the character who stood out the most this year.

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The next character who needs to be mentioned here is Eiji. Two major plot lines make me mention him here. First, there's the 1st-place-20-week-marathon and the connected "ending a manga" to it.

One of the first major proclaimed goals by a character during the earliest days of Bakuman finally resolves. Personally, I did not like how Ohba pulled it off, but what's done is done. By doing that marathon, Eiji reinstabled himself as the antagonist in Bakuman. Bakuman was without any actual antagonist at all, until Nanamine was introduced and after Nana's story was finished the title went to Eiji.

And the second part that needs to be mentioned about Eiji is obviously his new manga "Zombie Gun". Described by the editorial department as "even better" than Crow, ZG will be the new (and probably last) obstacle that Ashirogi have to overcome in order to achieve their dreams.

The canceling of Crow and the creation of Zombie Gun make Eiji the character who struck me as rememberable the most.


That's it for the time, I'll check out the other categories later.