Not Recommended
I had watched the first season along with a few episodes of the second season a while ago, but I had to stop for some reason I can't remember. So, I decided to go back and start the second season from the beginning. Bad idea... Now I know why I decided not to stick to watching the second season. Even as I'm typing this, I still can't grasp the stark difference between my thoughts on the show vs the majority's opinion. I felt betrayed by the score, so I thought I'll throw in a different perspective regarding the anime. The first season felt like an inoffensive storythat was just okay to watch (from what little I remember), but this second season was a trudge to go through. I had to force myself to watch another episode with the idea that it'd get better eventually, but unfortunately it got worse. The entire season could be skipped, and nothing would change except a few set pieces.
Near the end, I decided not to continue on with the third season since I realized that I lost my interest.
Now the characters. The way I'd describe the majority of them would be: Obnoxious. They barely have any redeeming qualities. They are one dimensional and only serve as convenient devices to keep the story moving along. Romances are thrown in out of completely nowhere and only feel as though they are introduced and used for motivation.
Character development consists of complete 180 degree changes in personality and character thought processes are indescribable.
The story consists of a popularity contest between manga authors of the same publisher. It starts with them calling each other rivals, telling each other that they'll beat each other next time. Then, they come up with ideas haphazardly and start working on them, hoping it'll get NUMBER ONE IN THE RANKINGS!.... then if they get a good ranking they congratulate each other, if they don't then they say they'll beat each other next time.
There are some stakes thrown in to each of these repetitions because the makers know if they don't include those in, then there would be nothing left of interest. But then the stakes are pummeled as soon as push comes to shove, and you start wondering why they were included in the first place.
Artwork is okay, nothing special but it's decent. Actually, it was nice to see different manga authors with different drawing styles.
Sound was okay too, serviceable enough for the show.
It's difficult for me not to spoil stuff while talking about my experience watching this anime, so I feel that right here would be a good place for people to stop reading. But for those who've watched the show or don't care about spoilers, please continue...
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SPOILER WARNING
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I mentioned the characters being obnoxious. So let me expand on that...
The main characters Mashiro and Takagi aka Ashirogi Muto stand true on that statement the most. They are childish, whiny, arrogant and stuck up, with these inflated but fragile egos. They are constantly bitching about being popular and getting the best rankings and would change their entire story they worked on to get ranked better. They feel like they only want to be manga authors for the sake of becoming famous, getting anime adaptations, and striking it big. Mashiro is especially guilty of this to the point where almost every word spoken out of his mouth made me go "oh just shut up" in my head.
Mashiro's art is very good and never needs any polish. Takagi is just this genius who can think of a good story on the spot, but is otherwise really bland. Ah who am I kidding, everybody in this show is bland. But still they crapshoot everywhere because the season needs to stretch to 25 episodes and the makers need some form of progression throughout the series.
Of course, every "rival" has this behavioural pattern as well, although not to the same degree. They're all different flavours of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".
Niizuma Eiji is shown as this super genius with an eccentric personality, and serves as the main rival to Ashirogi Muto. Both as manga authors and being super annoying to look at. Sheesh, his screams still ring in my head. He has no "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" but he does have "I wont lose to you!".
Fukuda is this angry man that rages at everything and is a hardass with a caring heart. He is the angry version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".
Hiramaru was a character that I found decent. His dynamic with his editor was predictable but okay to watch. His shtick is that he is forced to draw manga while he wants to do other stuff. He is the unwilling version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".
Nakai is just a plain creep with fragile self esteem.
Iwase is an arrogant woman with too much time on her hands. A vindictive and narrow minded individual with the weirdest motivation. She is the vengeful version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".
Aoki is a manipulative, heartless and proper woman who does a 180 degree personality change into become a blank slate. She is the female version of "I'll work hard and beat you next time!" and "I wont lose to you!".
Moving on with other characters,
Azuki is Mashiro's girlfriend and nothing would change if she was replaced by cardboard. Their relationship makes no sense and makes you wonder how the hell they fell in love and decided to marry each other in the first place.
Miyoshi is a convenience.
Miura is just this loudmouthed, boisterous man who actually achieves nothing. NOTHING. His purpose is solely to act as an obstacle and he comes in to achieve only that, then to leave after he has been overcome. To me, it felt like he is the only reason the second season occurred. If you take out the portion of the anime from the point where Miura is introduced as Ashirogi's editor to where Miura is exchanged back to Hattori, then apart from Nakai leaving the picture and the serialization manga names changing, nothing happens.
Oh I guess Takagi and Miyoshi get married? I don't even know how or why they decided to do that. Felt like it was just convenient to throw in because they're both best friends of the show's main romance.
Hattori is a decent character. He's the only one that made me laugh once in a scene in the entire season, but still he seemed like a genuinely likeable and competent editor. Don't get me wrong though, still a bit bland.
The chief editor is shown as this very competent and serious dude, but to me he seemed like a really indecisive prick. First, he says he'll put Ashirogi on hiatus for a whole year since Mashiro got sick due to overworking and for some reason was sick and needed to get surgery, so he needs rest to recover. But then he's like "naah jk".
Second, he tells his editors to vote for Ashirogi's manga serialization to see if it can compete with Niizuma Eiji's work, since they're all incompetent and can't judge their own publications. The condition is that if it can't compete, then Ashirogi's contract would be terminated. The editors vote 4 to 3, saying that Ashirogi can't beat Eiji with this at the end of the episode. BUT NOOOOOOOO, since this show can't have that happen, just at the fucking start of the next episode, they editors are like "But sir! Ashirogi's career is at stake! Let's leave it in the hands of the readers to decide!" so the vote changes to 7-0 in favour of Ashirogi's serialization.
Are you fucking kidding me?! Are you telling me that all that time spent into coming to these dilemmas was for nothing? Why can I see these predictable outcomes from a mile away! Things like these make for a very frustrating viewing experience and you're left thinking "What was the point?".
Near the end, a conversation gets shoehorned in about manga authors focusing on story vs popularity and this is where I realize why there is such an obsession with rankings. Mashiro basically declares that he writes manga only for popularity's sake, and to me personally (even though I do not read manga) that was indication to not watch the third season.
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SPOILER END
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Actually, now that I think about it. This show unintentionally, through it's own dialogue, the way it's story is written, the way it's characters interact and behave, tells me a lot about how some manga authors think and go about creating a manga. That is really interesting and odd since none of the actual content depicts any semblance of realism.
The thought processes and dialogue of characters really commentate on the thoughts of the makers themselves as they were making the show, and how shallow the whole thing is.
Making a weekly publish in a manga while coming up with what happens next every week will not make up a good story or an interesting read unless the whole thing's planned from the beginning. Shounen mangas have this problem the most, and this show magnifies this by showing us the actual time and thought put into them.
These works are done purely for the purpose of running a business, and authors' ideas are reworked and washed down to make them more mainstream at the cost of originality. Overworking their authors by giving them breakneck deadlines while manipulating their want for becoming popular as fuel for encouragement for working hard.
This makes me understand why I never liked shows like One Piece, Naruto or Bleach. I always felt like the stories in them were made up on the spot and pieced together, dragging on for no reason other than maintaining viewership, popularity and fanbase.
Bakuman is one of these shows but with no battle scenes or action.
