Bakuman Episode 5

I admit it. Bakuman is pretty awesome. Not only for the great story, or the detail they put into it when they talk about mangka things. I love it because of how they make it feel real. I don’t know about you, but I’ve attempted to do the fusion dance multiple times with my best friend. I shortly followed up with getting super mad at him when he didn’t say the words right and messed up on his form.

This week’s Bakuman was AMAZING. Between Takagi and Moritaka, the brotherly feeling has grown immensely. Like I said earlier, it takes a really good friend to do the fusion dance with you. It takes your best friend to start insulting the way you did your dance. From the intricate steps to the pitch of your “FUSION”, it has the power to make or break friendships. The friendship between our dynamic duo continues to amaze me with how much it’s grown in such a small period of time. For the everyone out there, back when you were little, I’m sure you remember what it was like to sleep over at a friend’s house. Freezing your butt off since you’d argue over who would sleep on the bed, eventually leading to no one using it. Talking through the night since neither of you can sleep. Doing stupid things instead of sleeping even though you’re both tired. Trying coffee for the first time to try to stay awake longer.

Besides the fusion dance (a sign of awesomeness) both Takagi and Moritaka bust out their skills this episode. Takagi, the man in charge of creating the “name”, actually has some pretty amazing ideas. From the two ideas he pitched, I personally thought the story of a second world was only mildly interesting. Having a second earth to fix the problems of the original one, it really makes you think about how different the world could be. But I didn’t feel the same rush of excitement Moritaka did. While I’m glad they went this idea for their name, I must admit the baseball “name” would have been pretty funny. Gurasan Pitcher – The blind pitcher who wears sunglasses! Moritaka on the other hand has set some pretty high standards for his work. In charge of actually bringing the ideas to life on paper, it was really awesome to see the different steps artwork goes through before it’s finalized. From name, to rough sketch, clean sketch, to ink. It’s pretty hard work – especially when your hand ends up like that. While Takagi manages to finish his work a lot quicker then Moritaka I think it’s pretty thoughtful with what he decides to do with his extra time. After Moritaka decides to start art from scratch after they see their rival, Niizuma Eiji’s work in Shonen Jump Jack, Takagi attempts to try what Moritaka does. Seeing how he can’t draw or ink worth crap, he teaches himself how to cut out the tones and has the battle scars to prove it. In the end, both Takagi and Moritaka finish their name together – unsure of their work but feeling damn proud and finishing with a glorious handshake.

On the relationship forefront it looks like Takagi will finally get some action. Whether it’s wanted or not, it looks like he doesn’t have a choice. By not thinking before he spoke to Miyoshia Kaya (Yahagi Sayuri), Azuki’s best friend, it looks like Takagi is going to end up in an awkward situation whenever they get close to each other. Somehow Takagi manages to phrase his words to sound like he wanted to talk to Kaya. Leading Kaya to think that he’s hitting on her. With this kind of behavior coming from Takagi, it really surprised me. I’d expect him to be better than Moritaka with relationship type things, not the other way around. Then again, it’s hard to tell if Takagi actually likes her or not. Especially when you add in the fact that Kaya competed nationally in some sort form of martial arts – maybe Takagi will “begin” to like her. Moritaka on the other hand still does NOT have Azuki’s phone number. I refuse to accept any of his deluded fantasies until he mans up and actually gets Azuki’s number. Especially when he shows such skill in understanding how relationships work, except when it comes to his own.