Why Miura is Important to Bakuman's Narrative

 It's generally hard to find any Bakuman readers who like Miura more than they like Hattori, since the latter seems to be better at his job and has a better rapport with the main characters. However, having Miura take over as Muto Ashirogi's editor was a good move for the story, and this post will explain why unpopular characters can still play vital roles in their respective stories.

First, here's some context. Hattori helped guide Mashiro and Takagi through the process of getting their feet in the door at Shonen Jump (or "Jack," if you watch the anime). They have talent, but they still need to hone their skills and learn the ins and outs of Jump before they can get published. If they hadn't gotten a good editor to guide them through this process, they likely would never have succeeded, and they have Hattori to thank for it.

Enter Miura, who takes over as their editor just after their first work, Detective Trap, gets published, despite not having played any role in the creation process (a fact that will become significant later). He's younger and less experienced than his senpai, Hattori, which means two things. First, since he's new to the process of editing a manga artist's work, his advice is less reliable. Second, because he hasn't accomplished as much, he's desperate to prove himself and keep his job, and thus has less confidence than Hattori. The latter, paradoxically, results in Miura worrying about his and Ashirogi's chances, while also coming off as bullheaded about his decisions.

Because of this, Miura prefers gag manga, since his research shows that they are more stable in the rankings, despite the fact that it doesn't fit Ashirogi's style (especially not Takagi's writing).  This only gets worse when Detective Trap gets canceled,  which, despite being due to factors outside of Miura's control, worsens his desperation to prove himself. As a result, relationships between Miura and Ashirogi become tense, with Takagi storming out of a restaurant after a heated argument, and Ashirogi submitting a one-shot to a contest behind Miura's back. Ashirogi isn't alone, since Takahama, a former assistant of the duo, also has disputes with Miura about the direction his story should take.

One would imagine that Miura would be meant to be seen as just another obstacle to Ashirogi's career, but that isn't the case. When Takahama goes to the editor in chief, asking to get another editor because Miura is holding him back, the editor in chief refuses, saying that Takahama's claims are essentially him claiming to have no talent. At that point, the main characters realize that they've been blaming Miura too much, and they have to take responsibility for their own success. Miura also puts in a lot of effort into his job, as seen when he ships Ashirogi a box full of gag manga with his annotations, which arrives after the argument in the restaurant. Despite initially being offended at how persistent Miura is about getting them to go into gag manga, Ashirogi begin to understand his perspective, and agree to work with him.

It's also worth noting that Miura isn't quite as bad as the protagonists think. He's perceptive enough to notice that something's off about their storyboards, and to realize that pandering to those who write fan mail is a bad idea, since they don't represent the readership. He's also not nearly as incompetent as some editors Mashiro tells horror stories about, since he can be relied upon to keep his appointments and genuinely cares about his writers becoming a success. He makes mistakes, but he owns up to them and tries to learn from them, as seen when he goes to Hattori for advice immediately after the confrontation in the diner.

When the protagonists realize that Tanto isn't going to get them the success they desire, they don't blame Miura. Instead, they go to the editor in chief with an audacious request to quit writing Tanto, and propose launching a new series that better aligns with their style. With Miura and Hattori's help, they overcome the high bar set for them and get published, getting out of their rut in the process and showing that in the end, success or failure in the manga world is up to them.

In the end, it's a bit of a shame that the protagonists got reassigned back to Hattori when PCP got serialized, around the time Miura started shaping up. Miura is an important character to the series that sheds insight onto the relationship between editors and manga artists, and sends the message that you should work to better yourself instead of blaming others for your lack of success.