PCP may get cancelled if fundamental changes aren’t made.

——

With the drama behind Saiko and Azuki done, Saiko and Shujin start to focus on their manga. Although they were ranking in the top six, Hattori believed that this was not good enough. Their series was falling behind both Crow and +Natural, and if it didn’t outrank one of them in 25 weeks, then it would be cut. Hattori seems to be at a loss, as is Ashirogi Muto. How could they make an already high ranking manga even better? What did Eiji see that they couldn’t see? 

With their rivals giving them encouraging words, Ashirogi Muto undertakes the arduous task of reviewing their series, as well as the age groups that liked it. How could they tackled the age gap — those between the ages of 10 and 18 — that their series neglected?

They can’t implement too many changes because they don’t want to lose current fans, but they need to change it in such a way to get new fans and keep their old ones. It was a perplexing issue. However, thanks to the assistants, Saiko is led to the problem. Their manga’s art didn’t pop out like the other shonen manga; rather, because PCP is a story set in the real world with realistic events and issues, Saiko tried to keep the art too realistic wasn’t daring enough with angles and the screentones. Arriving to this conclusion — immediately at the same time that Eiji did — was a thrilling method of handling it in the animation. 

With Saiko changing the art, Eiji and Iwase start to get into the competitive spirit. The best parts of Bakuman showed itself well here, with much of the suspense, regarding the rankings, kept one focused intently on the anime. Who would prevail on top? It’s almost hard to choose sides as one would no doubt be a fan of both Eiji and Saiko.

The episode was good. The tea party for Hiramaru, as well as the developing relationship between Iwase and Eiji, greatly complemented the suspense surrounding the manga. It added a bit of comedy that the manga wasn’t providing in its chapter, thereby keeping things fresh and interesting. What will happen next? Will +Natural stay at the top with its anime going strong, as well as this +Natural Crow crossover? How will PCP respond?

GO Rating: 4/5