[gallery link="file" columns="4" orderby="title"]

That was quick. Looks like some cuts are being made for this season's adaptation.

The Super Leaders Love Fest and Shiratori mini-arc were kept short. Mixed feelings for me; I wasn't a huge fan of Shiratori's arc but I did enjoy the short few chapters we got with the Super Leaders Love Fest. It's a pity we didn't get to see anything about why the results ended up as they did. The conclusion didn't fit well in terms of pacing and that's unfortunate but then again, I was expecting some sort of cuts in order for the anime to try to cover more of the manga. For those of you who want to know, this is what was explained in the Bakuman manga:

  • Eiji's one-shot was more like a battle manga than a romance, that's why he performed poorly.
  • Aoki was the best and her one-shot was most like a romantic series suited for Jump.
  • Fukuda missed the mark altogether with his Yankee love story - this is more Shonen Magazine's speed if you ask me.
  • Iwase's one was more from a feminine perspective and so boys didn't vote for it at all.
  • Hiramaru's shonen version of Kimi ni Todoke was a hit with the readers.

This was one of the bigger tests of friendship for Ashirogi Muto. As I understand, in the manga industry it's common for writers to work with multiple artists. In fact it's uncommon for a writer-artist duo such as this one to exist and even for Ohba and Obata (the creators) teaming up again may have come as a surprise to many. It's because of the unusual relationship between Mashiro and Takagi, that ta conflict was bound to arise. Unlike the one in season one, where they were frustrated because they couldn't get to the top this time it's the fear of letting your partner work with someone else.

In the end friendship prevails (how shonen) and the duo end up punching each other, causing Kaya to flip a switch. A funny way to end the episode and now the Shiratori arc is fully over! Next we get a moment of celebration as Bakuman uses more real-life situations and celebrates the first year of PCP.