Episode
Bakuman: Examination and Provocation
Overview
The serialization committee decides to serialize Aoki's What God Gave Me and Nanamine's What You Need for a Meaningful School Life. As Kosugi begins to be bothered by Nanamine's method, Hattori senses his discomfort and visits Mashiro and Takagi to gain some insight on Kosugi's attitude, which they reveal is due to Nanamine's unorthodox method, enraging Hattori. At the same time, Nanamine calls Akito to gloat about his serialization, but Ashirogi Muto states they will crush his methods using all the hard work they have put into PCP. Unperturbed, Nanamine says that they will let the rankings decide who is superior. Eventually, Hattori confronts Kosugi and is able to lift his spirits by reminding him of his value as an editor. As Nanamine collaborates with his internet acquaintances, some drop out after becoming fearful of his intention to challenge Ashirogi Muto.
Details
- Series
- Bakuman
- Season
- Season 3
- Episode
- Episode 10
- Air date
- 2012-12-08
- Runtime
- 25 min
Episode context
Examination and Provocation is Episode 10 in Season 3 of Bakuman. It aired on 2012-12-08. The runtime is 25 min.
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Episode 9: Confidence and Resolve
As Nanamine's meeting with Mashiro and Takagi continues, he equates them to amateaurs with no self confidence. Realizing that their words are falling on deaf ears, Mashiro adamantly states that sooner or later Nanamine's scheme will be exposed. Nanamine continues to refine the storyboard for his one-shot with help from his internet community, should it get serialized and completely neglects input from his editor, Kosugi. A flashback shows Nanamine being a loner as a child, until he read Ashirogi Muto's Money & Intelligence, spawning his myopic philosophy that anything can be achieved through money alone. As Nanamine's rating gets even higher, Mashiro and Takagi analyze his progress and begin to discuss their successor to PCP. The editorial department continue to marvel at Nanamine's work albeit minor skepticism from Hattori and Kosugi.
Episode 11: Impatience and Comeback
As Nanamine's battle with Ashirogi Muto continues, he hires Nakai and is able to increase the level of his art albeit Nakai inadvertently discovers his method. As the weeks progress, Aoki's What God Gave Me rises to the top of the rankings followed by a sharp decline, while Ashirogi Muto's PCP remain steady at 4th place. Nanamine's What You Need for a Meaningful School Life initially comes in 2nd place but soon plummets to 15th and is on the verge of cancellation since he keeps adding too many ideas from his internet community. Nanamine then tries to bait Ashirogi Muto into competing with the same type of story, which they reject outright due to Yueisha's policy. While he continues to argue with his internet community and rejecting Kosugi's input, a large part of Nanamine's community abandons him for rejecting their ideas and exposes his method to deputy chief editor Aida.
More episodes from this season
Episode 8: Aims and Evaluation
Mashiro and Takagi begin reading The Classroom of Truth and decide that it is an excellent manga despite the fact that it is unorthodox in nature. The serialization committee however, in the end, decide that the manga itself is not suited for Shonen Jack and have it remain a finalist in the competition. Its author, Nanamine Tooru turns out to be a long time fan of Ashirogi Muto and is brought to Yueisha to discuss changing the material of The Classroom of Truth. However, Nanamine releases the manga on the internet which upsets Yueisha's policy but in return he brings them a new manga which the Chief reads and approves as a one-shot immediately, while everyone begins to think highly of him. Later, when Nanamine meets Takagi and Mashiro, he reveals a devious plan where he deliberately collaborates with fellow mangaka on the internet and incorporates their ideas into his work, which he then passes off as his own.
Episode 12: Zeal and Utter Defeat
Kosugi explains the competition to Nanamine and tells him that if he loose, he has to form a proper author-editor relationship with him. Meanwhile, Takagi explains the obvious flaw in Nanamine's method: controlling such a large group of people and choosing/blending the best ideas from them is simply impossible. Nakai also realizes this and tells the internet community that Nanamine had been hiding the true ratings from them to prevent their departure, which they do upon learnin of this. With his ranking dropped to 19th and PCP in 3rd place, Nanamine decides to give up but Kosugi doesn't let him walk away and demonstrates he wouldn't leave him, prompting Nanamine to start anew by doing the work himself. Eventually, at Yueisha's Annual New Years Day party (2016), Nanamine deems Ashirogi Muto his rival and vows to beat them eventually. Soon an elementary school reunion takes place which Mashiro attends and is hailed as a celebrity by his former classmates.
Episode 7: Commemorative Photo Shoot and Classroom
Yoshida wants Hiramaru to aim his manga, Never Reaching You, which placed 2nd in the Super Leaders Fest for a serialization. Hiramaru reluctantly agrees so long as he can go on a tea date with Aoki. Suspecting that Yoshida may be pulling the strings behind the scene, Hiramaru and Aoki to turn off their phones so they can't be disturbed. When Yoshida realizes this, he goes after them but is sent on a wild goose chase through the city. Takagi, Mashiro and Fukada deduce that Hiramaru went to the tea shop he wrote about in his manga. They chase him and Aoki to a pedestrian bridge where Yoshida tries to convince him to keep drawing because he is a true genius that comes around every 2-3 years. Hiramaru goes to confess to Aoki, but Yoshida tries to talk him out of it because he will be crushed if he is turned down. However he goes ahead with support from Mashiro, Takagi, Miyoshi and Fukada, to which Aoki accepts.
Episode 13: Imitation and Unconsciousness
As Mashiro and Azuki ponder the effects that the robbery would have on PCP and Takagi, the Chief and Hattori decide to support Ashirogi Muto as much as possible. However, Takagi's mental state has already been greatly affected. This causes him to write lower quality stories and eventually he reuses old ideas he once rejected. This results in PCP's ranking dropping from the top five to the 12th place. As PCP enters a slump, Yujirou confides in Hattori of Nizuma's deal to cancel one manga should he get the top spot in the rankings, which may happen soon. This leads Hattori to become fearful of PCP's serialization. As another bank robbery occurs, the thieves leave a card, claiming they are PCP, which enrages Takagi but he finally finds a way to resolve this.PCP's next chapter is about a copycat crime intended to make it seem like the PCP protagonists had done it, but is foiled by their rival who realized the real PCP wouldn't commit criminal acts, much less claim it was their doing.
Episode 6: Punch and Independence
Mashiro convinces Takagi to let him work on their entry for the Super Leaders Fest so he can concentrate on Rabuta & Peace. After overcoming a bit of writer's block, Mashiro decides on entering with a love story. At Yueisha's Annual New Years Day party (2015) it is discovered that everyone intends on entering the Super Leaders Fest with love stories. Mashiro asks Azuki for her input in his manga which would be based on their feelings for each other. Mashiro and Takagi end up having a fight over whether or not it is right for them to drift apart and work on separate manga. Shiratori decides to quit being an assistant and focus on getting Rabuta & Peace serialized while Takagi stops coming to the studio altogether, even going as far as to discuss PCP with Hattori separately. Later on Takagi comes back and explains that he had been away teaching Shiratori to become independent because Rabuta & Peace is his manga.
Episode 14: Continuity and Obstruction
Nizuma begins devoting himself to CROW, which soon manages to place 1st in the rankings for five consecutive weeks. Yujirou is initially thrilled but later worries Nizuma's determination is connected with the deal he made with the Chief. He speculates Nizuma might want to end +Natural. As Ashirogi Muto follow CROW's progress, they take it as Nizuma's method of motivating them to improve PCP. Soon enough, Nizuma pays the Chief a surprise visit at the Yueisha and Yujirou can only speculate what they discuss. Yujirou informs Fukuda of Nizuma's intentions, who then gathers together Takagi, Mashiro, Aoki, Hiramaru, Takahama and Akina to confront Nizuma directly. Nizuma explains the deal he made with the Chief: he'll get to end a anga should he gain 1st place in the rankings for 10 consecutive weeks. He then reveals that he intends to end CROW at the height of its popularity since he doesn't believe in Yueisha's policy of continuing a manga solely for profit.
Episode 5: Step and Watch
Takagi and Shiratori's manga Rabuta & Peace is entered into the serialization committee and it is published in the November issue of Shonen Jack placing 5th in the voting charts. Mashiro decides to use his free time to improve his drawing skill, aiming to reach a level where he can draw two manga simultaneously and be on par with Niizuma. Shiratori's mother disapproves of him drawing manga because of their family's high class reputation causing him to run away from home. His family then comes to the studio looking for him where Shiratori's mother insults everyone there by looking down on their manga artists' abilities. This leads to a heated exchange of words by both parties. Hiramaru and Aoki's serializations are both canceled due to low ratings and enter into an upcoming competition, Super Leaders Fest.
Episode 15: Cover and Center
With Nizuma's ultimatum clearly set, only seven weeks remain until the end of CROW. Yujirou decides to inform the entire editing department of Nizuma's intentions, much to their frustration but eventually decide to do all they can for their authors to surpass CROW. As the weeks close in, everyone does their best to improve their manga, with Fukuda introducing a new character in Road Racer Giri and Takahama beginning a new story arc for Seigi no Mikata while utilizing their cover spreads. As Ashirogi Muto decide how to compete against Nizuma, they decide to utilize the strength that PCP possesses: its unconventionaliy and introduce a mysterious new anti heroic character called "Sigma". As the results come in, CROW remains 1st while Road Racer Giri and Seigi no Mikata place 2nd in consecutive weeks followed by PCP, with the editing department's favorite for beating CROW being Seigi no Mikata.
Episode 4: Margin and Pitfall
PCP gets selected for a drama CD to which Mashiro and Takagi nominate Azuki for the role of the main female character. As popularity of PCP continues to increase a light novel is also spawned. However Takagi and Mashiro still push for an anime adapation causing Hattori to say that PCP will probably not be made into one. He goes on to explain that the editors at Yueisha had received numerous letters of complaint from adults saying that their children have been engaging in petty crimes and mischievous behaviour because of PCP's realistically influencial content. Niizuma also seems upset upon learning of this news. Shiratori draws his own storyboard with help from Takagi and shows it to Hattori who says that it may be good enough to be printed as a one-shot and even a serialization. Mashiro had conceived a plan for Ashirogi Muto to begin work on another manga.
Episode 16: Last Chapter and Comments
Yujirou acknowledges Nizuma's determination and states that he will support him in ending CROW. As Ashirogi Muto's next chapter of PCP is published, everyone marvels at their brilliance in using the colored page the way the did. The page itself is an invitation for the protagonists of PCP to meet the mysterious "Sigma". The page shows the portrait of PCP's leader, Matoko, which is altered by "Sigma" to detail the date, time and place of their meeting. The idea is that the readers are able to engage themselves in the puzzle by using the colored page. As the results come in, Ashirogi Muto ties in second place with Road Racer Giri while CROW takes first place yet again. As Takagi and Mashiro think about their defeat, they realize it was their rivalry with Nizuma that brought them as far as they have come, and express this in the comments section for CROW's final chapter. As Yujirou congratulates Nizuma on ending CROW, he is shocked to discover Nizuma already has many other manga's drawn.