Tsugumi Ohba, the creator of the popular manga and anime series Death Note and Bakuman, is a legend in the manga world. Ohba’s work has inspired many other manga artists, and Death Note, his first manga, which he co-created with illustrator Takeshi Obata, is considered by many to be one of the best works in the history of entertainment.
After the success of Death Note, Ohba collaborated once again with Obata to create Bakuman. The series instantly became a hit in the manga world because it was a story about two boys who were trying to become manga artists. The series explains their journey, and it even has some real-world inspiration from the Weekly Shonen Jump.
Although Bakuman is considered one of Ohba’s best works, he once revealed in an interview that he initially hated one aspect of the series and could not do anything about it. However, later on, it only helped in making the plotline of the series better.
Tsugumi Ohba’s Decision to Make a Manga About Manga!
In 2012, when Bakuman finally concluded, Viz Media interviewed Ohba to find out more about the mangaka and how he created such a great series. Ohba shared his experiences about when he first started as a mangaka and his interactions with Obata. He even talked about how he came up with the idea of creating a manga about manga.
Ohba stated:
“I thought about how many people want to become manga creators and how I could create this story since I’m in the industry. I don’t know what the reaction from the editorial department was, but my editor’s reaction to the first chapter was a lot better than I had nervously expected.”
According to the Death Note creator, he wanted people, especially aspiring manga creators, to know more about the manga industry and how it works. As he was already a part of it, he decided to create the story and share it with his editorial department. His editor liked the first chapter, and the rest is history.
The One Problem With Bakuman That Tsugumi Ohba Hated
During the interview, Tsugumi Ohba was asked about the problems he faced while working on the series. The creator pointed out that because the narrative was so complex, the story continued to grow, and he could not stop it no matter what. He was having trouble coming up with new ideas to introduce in the story to keep it interesting.
Ohba explained:
“It was a weird series. The hardest part was that the story kept getting longer and longer, and I had trouble coming up with new ideas. But thanks to that I was able to include stories that I had never initially considered. The best thing is that hopefully there are many readers who really enjoyed it.”
While the series getting longer posed a huge problem for the Death Note creator, it did help him include new narratives that he had not thought about initially. Bakuman has only flourished since then, as it has been developed into an anime series and a live-action adaptation film.
You can read Bakuman manga on Viz Media.
