Sharp eyes have spotted Toru Nakayama's Mega Man Zero Collection box art appearing in a chapter of Bakuman; a manga written by Tsugumi Ohba and illustrated by Takeshi Obata of Death Note fame.
It's a rather unusual cameo... random, even, but an interesting one nonetheless. Check it out after the jump!
As noted on Rockman's Diary, the cameo pops up in Bakuman volume 18, chapter 157:
For comparison...
Curiously, the image was originally obscured in the chapter's serialized version within the pages of Shonen Jump. You can see what that looks like right here. The image was seemingly restored for the chapter's tankÅbon format.
To what end would Obata want to sneak in such an obvious (and possibly deliberate) cameo? Maybe he was playing the game during this particular chapter's production and wanted to give it a little nod? Who knows! Artists are always slipping in all sorts of cool and weird easter-eggs. Why, just look at all the fine examples from Walt Disney!
I've had little to no exposure to Bakuman so I can't say if there's any other Mega Man-y things sprinkles throughout the manga's 176 chapters. Be sure to hit us up if you know something we don't!
Thanks for the tip, Riela.
The author of the manga or maybe some of his assistants are for sure fans of the game or the series without a doubt, or maybe they are close friends with Nakayama, anyway, interesting cameo.
ReplyDeleteWat.
ReplyDeleteA bit random, sure. But cool nonetheless! The image of the art seems strategically placed. Subliminal message? lol
ReplyDeleteI already loved Bakuman, now I like it even more.
ReplyDeleteAwesome cameo.
Huh. I'm no fan of Bakuman, but that's a pretty cool shoutout. And good eyes on catching that.
ReplyDeletePerhaps this is a nudge to start reading it...
Also a bit odd to me that this showed up less than a week after my start-to-finish marathon reading of Bakuman. Furthermore, I actually did notice the filtering of the image. I just thought it was done to look cool at the time. I'm glad it turned out to be something I love so much!
ReplyDeleteI'm a little surprised that he didn't get any bad rep for including that in. This one manga-ka once had all of her works taken off shelves because she copied fashion designs from fashion magazines, you'd think this guy would also get punished for deliberately using official artwork.
ReplyDelete@Dr. Jerk
ReplyDeleteWell it was probably obscured in the original but not the reprint because they'd secured permission to use the image.
Sorry to burst your bubble Protodude, but that kinda stuff happens all the time in Bakuman. They try to parrallel the jump magazines a lot. Said issue they're referencing would be based on an existing one with an actual ad on the back, nothing special.
ReplyDeleteI love Bakuman! Interesting find!
ReplyDelete