Bakuman (バクマン。, stylized as BAKUMAN。) is a Japanese manga series written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, the same creative team responsible for Death Note.

Some characters resemble real authors and editors of Weekly Shōnen Jump, and many manga titles mentioned in Bakuman have actually been published in the magazine.

A 75-episode anime television adaptation of the series by J.C.Staff was broadcast for three seasons on NHK Educational TV from October 2010 to March 2013.

The two boys then start creating manga, under the pen name Muto Ashirogi, in hopes of getting serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump.

After submitting many one-shots to Shueisha, Ashirogi begin their first serialized manga in Weekly Shōnen Jump, Detective Trap (疑探偵TRAP（ぎたんていトラップ）, Gitantei Torappu), which is eventually canceled due to its declining popularity, after Mashiro is hospitalized for overworking on it.

Daihatsu Tanto), which they give up on, realizing it will never be popular, coupled with Takagi's difficulty with writing rapid-fire humor.

[4] Obata said that when he started the manga, he struggled with the large amount of dialogue and information, not having enough space to draw the detailed backgrounds that he wanted.

But he eventually realized that the dialogue is "the main character" of the series and shifted to making the art as unobtrusive as possible, such as using simple camera angles so that the composition was not too elaborate and the text could be read smoothly.

[4] When asked how accurate the manga process depicted in Bakuman is to reality, current Weekly Shōnen Jump editor-in-chief Hiroyuki Nakano said that as a work of fiction, some things are exaggerated for dramatic effect, "But it takes a lot of details from real life, so I think it's quite close.

11 (ラッコ11号, Rakko 11-gō), the gag manga created by the character Kazuya Hiramaru in Bakuman, was published in the August 8, 2010 issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump.

[27][28] A third and final season was announced in the 3/4th (2012) combined issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump and began airing on October 6, 2012.

In August 2011, Media Blasters licensed the first two seasons of the Bakuman anime for North America, including an English-language dub.

Written and directed by Hitoshi Ōne (Moteki), the film stars Takeru Satoh as Moritaka Mashiro and Ryunosuke Kamiki as Akito Takagi.

Written and directed by Worry Kinoshita, it starred Hiroki Suzuki as Mashiro and Yoshihiko Aramaki as Takagi.

[39] Bakuman received a four-episode Vomic adaptation, where voice actors, music and sound effects are heard as the manga images appear on screen, that was broadcast on the TV show Sakiyomi Jum-Bang!

[42] A novel titled PCP -Perfect Crime Party- and based on the fictional manga of the same name created by Takagi and Mashiro in Bakuman was released by Shueisha on October 2, 2015.

It was written by Sei Hatsuno, although Takagi and Mashiro's fictional pen name "Muto Ashirogi" is credited with the original story.

[44] The first volume of the series placed fourth on the Oricon manga chart during its debut week, selling 154,675 copies.

He felt that while it can be "text-heavy" on the process of making manga, it is ultimately a "heroic story of self-improvement, friendship and striving to succeed."

Although he praised the conflicting viewpoints of the protagonists, Santos remarked that the series could learn from Ohba and Obata's previous serial Death Note; commenting that the beginning is not as gripping and the plot twists are "pretty weak" and "seem like petty contrivances."

[56] Christopher Butcher reviewing volume one for About.com had strong praise for the art, calling it "quite possibly the best-drawn manga out today."

"[57] In an article discussing the underdevelopment of its female lead characters, Gregory Segal of Comic Book Resources wrote that some fans speculate the series' inclusion of such tropes is a form of meta-commentary on the traditional portrayal of women in shōnen manga.

is "a real celebration of and testament to the unique power of Japan's comics culture" and the best live-action manga adaptation he's seen this year.

[63] Mark Schilling for The Japan Times gave the film four out of five stars, with strong praise for director and screenwriter Hitoshi Ōne.