Bakuman 139

This will be my final Bakuman translation :( Check out the news here if you haven't already. Somehow it's fitting that for my final translation of this series, the series itself is talking about "final chapter" :p Though, Eiji also says in this chapter, "see you again desu", so who knows, hahaha.

Anyway, thanks for all the support so far <3 You guys have been awesome! :glomp :squish :hug



01
x1: 29th July, Friday. The day of the results for issue #34, where "PCP" had the center color.
x2: Unless someone stops "CROW"'s number one streak by this issue, #34, Eiji will write his next manuscript as if it were the final chapter of "CROW"
a1: Page 139 Final Chapter and Comments

b1: ...
b2: ...

a2: Intense staring...!!

b3: ...
b4: It's not like staring at your smartphone's going to make the results come any faster, you know?

screen: WJ Hattori-san
b5: !
b6: Sure doesn't look like it!

b7: Yes, this is Takagi!

02
b1: "PCP" tied for second plae
b2: Tied for second place?

a1: Second place...
a2: A tie...?

b3: What about "CROW"?

a3: ☆JC Volume 14 will be released on 4th August!! It's the start of the Nanamine Arc!!
b4a: "CROW" got 420 votes, while "PCP" and "GIRI" tied with 403 votes a piece
b4b: The early results had a difference of two votes between you, so I figured something like this would happen
b4c: "GIRI" was third in the early results, but the new elements in it must have been refreshing enough for it to take the checkered flag (TN: in case anyone doesn't know - in a race, the checkered flag is associated with the winner as he is the first to drive past that flag)

b5: ... So there was only a difference of 17 votes between us and "CROW", huh?
b6: ...!

b7: You did good. Excluding your very first chapter, this is the best showing you've had so far

03
b1: Yes, but...

b2: This means that "CROW" will...
b3a: Yeah... It'll end with a lead color three weeks from now
b3b: We've already received instructions to add the words "final chapter" to the "JUMP" cover that had been put on hold, and to the "CROW" frontispiece as well

b4: Haaaaaaaah...

b5: And so our summer ends... Don't you feel that way?
b6: It hasn't ended...! On the contrary, it's just beginning, so...

b7a: Eiji really is amazing after all
b7b: It's so cool to be able to monopolize the number one spot for so long and then end with a lead color...

b8: ... Yeah... Cool...
b9: And that makes it all the more mortifying...

04
b1: I know it's mortifying, but if "CROW" hadn't been there, you two would have been in first place!
b2: Isn't that amazing?

b3a: So if "CROW"... If Eiji hadn't been around, we'd be number one, huh...
b3b: Looking at it another way, it's precisely because Eiji was there that we were able to come this far

b4a: Yeah...
b4b: When we were in the third year of middle school, we read about him in that copy of "JUMP" we picked up in the convenience store. First runner-up, Niizuma Eiji, age 15.
b4c: When we saw that... We realized that there was someone around the same age as us who was this amazing, and who would be our rival in aiming for the top spot in "JUMP"... We decided on our own that we had to defeat him, and we weren't wrong about that

b5: And ever since then, we've been chasing after Eiji

b6: Until we get serialized, please wait for us and continue being serialized
b7: Roger! But I may have become number one by then
b8: ...

05
b1: B... But it's not like Niizuma-san's not going to be a mangaka anymore, right?
b2: That's true, but... For starters, it just feels like we've been totally defeated...
b3a: "Until we get serialized, please wait for us and continue being serialized"
b3b: That's what I said to him the first time we met...

b4a: Eiji continued to be serialized, and waited for us, and while we did get serialized, we were never able to catch up to him...
b4b: And just before we were able to catch up, "CROW" ends... And it's not like it got canceled, it ended in such a perfect manner, too
below b4: Haaaaah...
b5: Well, I think you've reached a point where you can say that you did catch up to him!
b6a: No, never mind "+ NATURAL", we weren't able to catch up with "CROW". The only time we ever defeated him was with the first chapter of "PCP"...
b6b: In the end, Eiji alone is able to write such interesting manga... Even the two of us combined are no match for just him alone...

a1: Never mind "no match"...
b7: Did you come up with something?
b8: Yeah, thanks
b9: My rival is Ashirogi Muto
b10a: There isn't any dialogue
b10b: He's telling a story using the art alone...
a2: If Eiji hadn't been there, we wouldn't even have been able to come this far as mangaka...

06
b1a: Niizuma-san's only 22, isn't he?
b1b: When you think about that, he's really amazing...
b1c: To be able to be serialized for seven years and end at number one...

b2: Yeah, amazing...

b3: It makes me want to congratulate him
b4: Eh?

b5: I want to try to have an ending like his
b6: I aspire to be like him...

b7: Indeed
b8: I really do wanna try monopolizing the number one spot for as long as he did and then ending with a lead color, too...

b9a: When someone manages to do something like that, I wanna say something like, "I underestimated you," or...
b9b: Nah, it actually really makes me wanna say "congratulations"
b10: As a fellow mangaka... As a rival...

b11: As a friend
b12: Yeah

07
x1: And so, on the 9th of August, the sample copy of issue #38 that carried the final chapter of "CROW", was printed

b1: That was the best ending ever
b2: Thank you

b3: But perhaps, being able to end like this feels a little superfluous

b4: Niizuma-sensei...
b5: Sensei?

cover: Lead color and 31 pages // The Conclusion of "CROW"!!
b6: I am honored to have been able to take charge of "CROW" to the very end
b7: Is that so

b8: And...

b9: Thank you so much for your hard work!!

08
b1: Thank you for your hard work, too
b2a: ...
b2b: It feels like he has absolutely no interest in a manga that's already over

b3a: I can't exactly tell you to have a good, long break, since "+ NATURAL" is still ongoing...
b3b: But at least you can take a little breather and slow down a little

b4a: Hm?
b4b: Has "+ NATURAL" got another new character? Cool
b5: This isn't "+ NATURAL"
b6: Eh? Then what is it?

b7a: I don't have a title for it just yet, but it's a manga where the heroes are chemical elements
b7b: Only Pt and Ag have appeared so far, though (TN: Pt = Platinum, Ag = Silver)

b8: You... You're already drawing a new series!?
b9: I'm just drawing it right now because I wouldn't be able to settle down otherwise

b10: Wait... Can I have a look!?

09
b1: Isn't this in the middle of a chapter?
b2a: Ugh, you're so noisy
b2b: I think that's about a hundred pages into the story
b3: A hundred!?
a1: Even if you take the first chapter as being fifty pages long, that means he's already drawn about four chapters worth of stuff...

a2: ... It's as good as "CROW"
a3: Interesting...!

b4a: But this thing about chemical elements becoming heroes - didn't someone write a manga like that before...?
b4b: Oh no, it was just constellations and the zodiac
b4c: Niizuma-kun, did you do some research into this?
b5: I'm not drawing these for actual serialization, so there's no need to do any research

b6: If you want something that no-one's written before, then I'd recommend a series about space cockroaches
b7a: Space cockroaches? What the hell?
b7b: What do you mean, series?
b8: I'm not too sure myself, but by jump comics standards, I'd say about 30 volumes...
b9: Ca... Can you show me whatever you have? I mean, everything I've never seen before!?

10
b1: When the heck did you draw this much!?
b2: I already told you, whenever I had free time in between drawing "CROW" and "+ NATURAL"
b3: A normal person wouldn't have had any free time, they'd have been running out of time...

b4: Of course, while I was serialized, I spent the bulk of my time on "CROW"
a1: Unbelievable... And these are all at "CROW"'s level
a2: No, even better than that...!

a3: The editor-in-chief
b5: Try your best to write your next series as soon as you can
a4: He did say that, but...

b6: ...

11
a1: I see, even if you tell Niizuma-kun to "take a break," he'd still draw manga. He always wants to be drawing
a2: Even if he remains silent, he's actually already producing more and more series...
a3: ... Rather than going about telling him what to do, it'd probably be better to give him free rein... Better not to rush him... At this rate... If it's Niizuma-kun... He'll produce something even better than "CROW"... No...

a4: He has the potential to create... The most famous manga in the history of "JUMP"
a5: That's right... "CROW" was popular, but beyond that, it was the series that monopolized the top spot in "JUMP" for twenty weeks...

b1: Yuujirou-san, this time you suddenly went silent. Anything the matter?
b2: N... No. All the manuscripts you have here aren't things you were planning to serialize, correct?
b3: Correct

a6: And now I'll prompt it out of him...

b4: Oh yeah, Niizuma-kun, is there some place you'd like to go? Anywhere in the world
b5: I want to see the Louvre, the pyramids and an aurora

b6: I... I see... Going to see all of them may be impossible, but as a well-deserved break after being serialized, and also to expand your horizons, you're entitled to a vacation to collect data
b7: OHHHHH? I can go?

12
b1: Ah, that'd be my cell phone
above Yuujirou's head: So noisy

b2: Niizuma-shishouuuu! The final chapter was captivating!!
b3: Fukuda-sensei!
b4: Fukuda...?

b5: I saw the sample copy, I noticed that I forgot to say "thank you for your hard work" in my comment on the contents page (TN: every mangaka gets to write a short comment on the contents page in every issue of JUMP)
b6: Rather than everyone writing that separately, I thought it'd be better to tell you straight

b7a: "Thank you for your hard work"?
b7b: Contents page?
b8: Yeah, most people included that in their comments

b9: Thank you for all your hard work on "CROW"! It's frustrating, but Niizuma-shishou, you had the coolest ending to a manga ever!
b10: Thanks
b11: Bye, then, I've conveyed my congratulations
b12: *pu*

13
a1: Seigi no Mikata / Takahama Shouyou / Niizuma-sensei, thanks for all your hard work on "CROW". I'll do my best with sensei as my goal. <Shouyou>
a2: Kami-sama ga Kureta / Aoki Kou / Niizuma-sensei, thanks for all your hard work on "CROW". All the best with "+ NATURAL"! <Kou>
a3: Boku ni wa Tsuujinai / Hiramaru Kazuya / Niizuma-sensei, I was super touched by the way you ended "CROW"! I'll learn from you and end my manga in a cool way, as soon as possible.
a4: PCP - Perfect Crime Party - / Ashirogi Muto

b1: Everyone's thanking me for my hard work in these contents page comments
b2: Hm? Well, there've been a lot of them lately

a5: PCP - Perfect Crime Party - / Ashirogi Muto / Niizuma-sensei, thanks for all your hard work on "CROW". Thank you for battling it out with us till the very end. <Muto>

b3a: They're talking about how even after you managed to take the top spot for ten weeks running, you still took on their challenge until right before you drew the final chapter. right?
b3b: Ashirogi-kun's all serious about it...
b3c: But the readers will be totally clueless as to what they're talking about

b4: ...
b5: Anyway, I'd better pay a visit to those who left me comments
b6: You're so polite! You don't need to go that far...

14
b1: This final chapter probably took the top spot by a huge margin... If it's number one this week as well, that'd mean a streak of twenty number ones
b2: That's probably the case... "PCP" took fourth place last week and "GIRI" was in third...
b3: Niizuma-san is way cool, huh?

b4: Eh? One of the assistants? So early?

b5: Eh!? Niizuma-san!?
b6: Huh?

b7: Hello
b8: ... Hello...
b9: ...
b10: !?

15
b1: "Thank you for battling it out with us till the very end" ...
b2: No, I should be the one saying this to you. It was thanks to you that I got all fired up and was able to write an even more interesting story
b3: That's what I came to say

b4: Bye

b5: ... That's what I thought, too
b6: Is that so...
b7: Takagi once said, "I kinda feel like from Eiji's point of view, we're just some hindrances preventing him from ending "CROW", no?" ... (@proofer: this was from chapter 137 in case you want to check against the proofread version of this line ;))
b8: ...

b9: He was wrong, wasn't he?
b10: We weren't hindering you

b11: Yes, he was entirely wrong
b12: That was

16
b1: A battle between men!
b2: Someone who doesn't understand a battle between men is boring

b3a: ...
b3b: What does he mean?

b4a: When Niizuma-san said that he'd end his manga in a cool way by monopolizing the number one spot
b4b: Fukuda-san and the two of us taunted him, saying we definitely wouldn't let him do something like that...

b5: Yes, it made me happy

b6a: Ah! It's true that if he'd just said, "please let me end my manga in a cool manner," it would have been boring... Rather, you guys couldn't have called yourselves his rivals if you'd left it as that...
b6b: Is that it?

b7a: Well, that's the gist of it
b7b: Being rivals is all about doing things in such a way as to pit our obstinacy and our prides against each other and build each other up...
b8: ...!

17
b1a: That's right
b1b: Until I came out here to Tokyo from Aomori, drawing manga was something that was fun, but...
b1c: I was always alone
b2a: But when I got serialized in "JUMP"...
b2b: I was able to meet the readers...
b2c: And more importantly, Ashirogi-sensei, my greatest rivals and also friends with whom I can compete

b3a: To have been able to come into contact with rivals... Friends... I am happy...
b3b: I'm no longer alone. That alone makes me inexplicably happy
b3c: Thank you so much

a1: ...!
b4: Niizuma-san... We were the ones who were encouraged by you
b5: ...

b6: This isn't over!
b7: !
b8: That's true

18
b1: We may have lost to "CROW"... But the battle isn't over yet

b2a: Yes
b2b: We are rivals for eternity, of destiny

b3: ...
b4: Niizuma-san, please write your next series soon
b5: Yeah
b6: I want to win against an original manga by Niizuma-san, not "+ NATURAL"
b7: !?

19
b1a: Ashirogi-sensei, you're not going to be able to win
b1b: Against the next manga I draw

b2a: !
b2b: We won't know till we try...
b3: ... Since you've put it that way, does that mean you've already decided what you're going to draw next?
b4a: Yes!
b4b: I'll share this with you, because you're Ashirogi-sensei
b4c: The next manga I'm going to draw...

b5: Won't just be the best in "JUMP" - it'll be the best manga the world has ever seen!!

b6a: Well, then, I apologize for the intrusion
b6b: See you again desu (TN: Eiji actually says this in English/katakana, and adds a "desu" [sentence ending, no real meaning] to the end of it :3)
b7: ...
a1: He's gunning for world domination!!

b8a: Amazing...
b8b: Niizuma-sensei is so cool
b9: Even so, the best manga the world has ever seen? Isn't that kinda extravagant...?
b10: Isn't it?
b11: Oh, come on, Shuujin, you were the one who first told me, "Let's become the best mangaka in Japan!"