Joint Review of Bakuman 171: Microphone and Script

[scav]

Joint Review of Bakuman 171: Microphone and Script
by kdowns, FrostyMouse & scav


yo check check yo yo 1,2,3, alright guy this is the beginning of a new team. The review is little late this time but i hope you enjoy it.​

Analysis

1-It's a bad idea​

The chapter start with takagi telling to kaya about the public audition and explain the process.Kaya is surprised, she thinks it's unfair because the most popular actress will get more chance to win (indeed) but it was Saiko descision, even thought takagi accepted it, he wasn't up for it. He just respected Saiko descision. From Saiko point, if Azuki doesn't win, that mean she doesn't have the ability to be Naho's voice.
Kaya is not the only one to think that the public audition are a bad idea. Azuki's manager doesn't look happy(problem?

). He's yelling and says that it ruin everything. However Azuki have a positive attitude toward the audition when everybody think it's unfair ( well nothing will surprise me with those 2). The manager is worried, but seems like he have enough confidence in Azuka to let her take part on the audition.

The dougie, you're doing it right

2-the storm is coming​

The Organizators have all the contextant for the Audition gathered in one piece.There are a lot of contextant, they have first to send a taped demo and only the first twenty will be selected for the audition. The text for the demo is short, however the script for the real audition is long. there are a lot of amateurs among the contextant, they're impressed by the lenght of the script. But not all the candidates are amateur, some are real pro and full of confidence. One of them called Otsuki says will a devilish looking that "she can get the role". Another one called Natarakun, who's presented as an Azuki friend, says she will go all out. She have more popularity than Azuki, and she's clearly not the only one. The vote are nationals, so all the best voice actress want to win, the results will decide who's the number one. It's going to be difficult for Azuki, the storm's coming toward the couple ()

3-Everyone's talking about it​

Hattori's having a discussion with takagi and Saiko about the audition.It became the big talk of the media: On jump, on tv advertissment and even after crow anime. That's a good news for Ashirogi muto, at least jump readers will be aware of the audition, the fans of the actress won't be the only one to vote. The advertissement on Jump have a good effect, the students are talking about it after jump release. However they have differents opinions, not all of them are rooting for Azuki. On the web, the fanatics are talking about it aswell, fatboy is exuding his poison again( i hate that guy )
Takagi is on it too. He get all panicked when he find a poll on the web were Azuki is only 5th, we can see that from his sweat. After seeing it, Kaya is panicking too, however tagaki is reasurring her: "people doing those sort of thing are the actress-loving fans".

WTF is this Shit?

4-The day before: memories,thoughts and confidence​

Dun Dun Dun, J-1 before the audition. How are our future married? are they stressed and panicked? nah Saiko is chilling with tagaki on the balcon, drinking beer (gimme me one ). Tagaki get a bit emotional and start to talk about their dream and the long road they walked together since high school. He put the point on how difficult it is for someone aiming to become a voice actress and get the role she want. They're at the end of the road to their dream, the next day Azuki will take the "microphone of dreams" and tagaki says how amazing it is. Saiko is kinda relaxed and indifferent, he don't want to text Azuki, he's confident.
On the other side, Azuki's in her room with the script. Azuki's not totally sure to win, when her sister tell her "you'll get married", she answer "it's not decided yet". However the confidence is there too, her sister give her a lucky charm and more confidence.They go to eat, their mother made a real feast (yummiiiiiii ). pré-celebration?

5-Audition day:this is the war ​

The audition day: Azuki is coming for the audition. A lot of fans fanatic gathered in the place, some of them are rooting in for Azuki, but a lot of them are booing her. Seems like there still some haters who think she got her because her connection . I kinda understand why Saiko wanted to make public auditions, everything make sense now, at least that way if Azuki win everyone will acknowledge her
Azuki get in the room where all the selected actress gathered, she meet her friend Natara. While they walk on the piece, they heard the others actress talking, some are gossiping, scheming, talking about their relations and stuff.And everybody point out Azuki. Otsuki come toward Azuki with his devilish smile, just to say that she will win (straight and arrogant woman). Another big shot come, an old one but popular, she act all friendly but she's just faking, on the inside she's underestimating all the other candidats because her experience. this is funny how everybody's faking in his own way, they're all ready to crush their opponents. this is the war ( SPAAAARRRRRTA

).

Haters gonna hate

6-here we go​

The audition gonna start. they explains the procress and the rules to the candidates. they'll go one by one on the recording studio. Tagaki, Saiko and kaya are in front of their Tv. The first candidate doesn't make good impression on Kaya, she get bored. When Otsuki ( the arrogant one ) turn come, she make a good impression to the viewers, they praise her on the web. Same goes for goda ( the old one) she impress the viewers.
On the waiting room, Azuki is relaxed and thinking about Saiko, while all the others canditates are stressed. When Azuki is called in, she goes without her script ( she proved on the previous chapter that she don't need one). She announce her name on the "microphone of dreams" and the chapter end on a goddamn cliffhanger (@#$%*#@! ).

The microphone of dream

Azuki-Saiko, still a better story than twilight -scav​

Impressions

The public audition theme continues from the previous chapter, leaving us with a cliff hanger for Azuki's audition, much like how we were left with cliffhangers for Fukuda and Azuki's speeches at the end of chapters 167 and 168, respectively.

We begin with Takagi and Kaya, as well as Azuki's manager with Azuki, separately discussing the public auditions. The plot moves along nicely, as well as being realisitc. We meet the other important seiyuus, which finally shows us that Azuki is not the only important seiyuu in the world. Ririka was solely a plot device, so...Throughout the chapter, we learn how the audition process goes, and we meet the people involved. While the plot moved along well and the chapter ended at an appropriate point, not that much actually happened. For what Ohba did create, it was well done. The scene of Azuki's mom and sister making her a dinner for good luck is quite heartwarming and lovely, which raises the question of why more scenes with them aren't drawn. They have a significant amount to contribute, such as the conversation that Mashiro and Takagi have with Azuki's mother at the very beginning of the manga, after they learn that Kawaguchi Taro loved her.

With only a few pages provided for the other notable siyuus, Ohba provides quality characterization. We see that Natara-san is quite a nice person, who, while she will give it her all as it's a competition, firmly hopes that Azuki will win the audition and accomplish her dream. On the other hand, we meet Otsuki and Goda, both of whom couldn't care less about Azuki, and expect to win. The theme of negative comments from the extras continues this week, with some of the nameless seiyuu trash talking Azuki within her earshot. Sadly, Mashiro, Takagi, Kaya, and Azuki's manager do nothing out of the ordinary this week, other than providing the narration, as is often the case. Azuki was the protagonist of this chapter and the reminder of the hospital scene was quite touching, and gave some more of that needed development, which at times has been lacking from Azuki, due to her missing the majority of the manga.

The art picks up with some very well drawn faces and emotions. Obata gave us some of the nicest art that he has in a while, other than chapter 170's color page, but they're always nicer than a normal manga page. The trademark reactions and faces of Azuki's manager, Azuki, Takagi, Kaya, and Mashiro are all present and give a nice feel to the emotionally charged scene that is about to occur. Obata does again remind us that his skill at drawing realisitic women is incredibly well developed, as the seiyuus are all quite good looking, with Azuki's mom and sister getting some nice panels, contributing to the heartwarming scenes crafted by Ohba.

Overall, this chapter gets a 9/10. Even though the essentially "evil seiyuu" were a tad cliched, the rest of the chapter was very well done, from a smoothly moving plot to quality characterization, and some lovely art. -FrostyMouse



Predictions

With Azuki going into this audition without the use of her Script, We will see how others will react when they see that she isn't using the Script at all and realize how much she wants this role on her own. We should also see Mashiro's take on the fact that she went into the Audition without the use of her script. Azuki will most likely go through the entire Audition flawlessly. We most likely will not get to see the placements on the list until Chapter 173 as I foresee Obha trolling us endlessly by giving us yet another cliffhanger. -kdowns

The END ​