VIZ Media, LLC, one of the leading licensors of Japanese manga and anime, has announced the release of a new manga under their Shonen Jump imprint, Bakuman. This manga once again showcases the skills of the creators of of the supernatural manga Death Note with art by Takeshi Obata and story by Tsugumi Ohba.
Though the manga will not be published until August 3 2010, previews of the Bakuman will start running in the May 2010 issue of VIZ Media's popular manga magazine, Shonen Jump. Bakuman has been rated 'T' for Teens, and the manga will carry a MSRP of $9.99 US / $12.99 CAN.
Bakuman: A Manga About Making Comics
The story of Bakuman follows Moritaka Mashiro and Akito Takagi. Moritaka likes to draw in his spare time, but one day is approached by classmate Akito, who is impressed with his talent. Akito is an aspiring writer and wants Moritaka to work with him creating manga. Moritaka is hesitant--becoming a professional comic creator is hard! But Akito is persistent, and it doesn't hurt that the girl he has a crush on is motivating him to take his talent as far as he can.
Elizabeth Kawasaki, the Senior Editorial Director at VIZ Media, has this to say about Bakuman: "Bakuman is an outstanding, behind-the-scenes manga about manga, and the artists who create it, written and drawn by the creative team that produced the Death Note series. The series is a great read for all manga fans, and especially fun for aspiring artists."
An anime version of Bakuman will premiere on Japanese television in the fall of 2010. The anime, to be animated by J.C. Staff, has been slated for a 25 episode run and will play on the NHK Educational channel.
Creators of Death Note Manga Reunite
Takeshi Obata is no stranger to the manga from Weekly Shonen Jump, having been the artist for Hikaru no Go, which won the 2003 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize: Shinsei "New Hope" award, as well as the 2000 Shogakukan Manga Award. He has also created the art for Arabian Majin Bokentan, Lamp Lamp, Ayatsuri Sakon, Cyborg Jichan G and Ral O Grad. In 2004 he joined forces with Tsugumi Ohba to create the international hit manga, Death Note, which also ran in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine. The pair began creating Bakuman in 2008 for Weekly Shonen Jump, where new chapters are still printed.
Further information about the Bakuman manga, as well as other manga in VIZ's Shonen Jump line, can be found on VIZ Media's Shonen Jump homepage.
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