I'm slightly drunk (today we had a small party at our department... I took one sip of red wine and my mind went completely blank in less than a minute @.@;;; I'm not a drinker at all, and I don't even act funny when I'm drunk, I just become sleepy and apathetic like a brick), but I still want to talk about Baku-man! The newest spoilers are behind the cut because they're pretty big. So... Saiko and Shujin's manga got canceled after all. The same thing happened to Nakai and Aoki's series. I'm glad that Aoki seems to be generally okay with it - she's planning to return to the shoujo industry, and I personally see that as the best choice. I'm not saying that it's impossible for women to write shounen manga, of course (just look at Hoshino-sensei's D.Gray-man), but Aoki in particular appears to be into stories that fit magazines like Hana to Yume or LaLa better than Shounen Jump. There's nothing wrong with that. And I prefer shoujo anyway, so all's well. Moritaka and Akito are no longer depressed either - naturally, they were upset at first, but Miho's text message improved Moritaka's mood quite a bit and they decided to try something else. ^^ In any case... I love Ohba-sensei because he's not afraid to do all sorts of evil stuff to his main characters. My biggest problem with manga like Prince of Tennis is that the protagonists never really lose, while in Baku-man, Saiko and Shujin's projects are not always successful, even though they're obviously talented and devoted to their job. I suspect that they will beat Eiji at some point, in some way, but right now, he's clearly stronger, although he also takes them very seriously as his rivals. Speaking of that... I have a feeling that Eiji is quite upset about their cancellation. He clearly harbors some kind of tough love for Moritaka ^^ and their presence in Shounen Jump means a lot to him. Man, do I love rambling about this series. Death Note is my top favorite because I'm fiercely loyal to Teru (that's why I torture him so much, OBVIOUSLY), but Baku-man just... has nearly everything I'm interested in, and it's realistic. I want my volume 4 to arrive soon. *.* Unless I'm mistaken, it contains the chapter where Aoki appears for the first time, among other things. ♥