Young film director Gene Fini is basking in the glow of his wildly successful debut. In fact, Gene’s already got another offer on the a certain Nyallywood powerhouse wants him at the helm for their mega blockbuster sequel, Max Storm 2 . The lavish budget and incredible locations are enough to leave his jaw hanging, but he soon realizes he doesn’t quite fit in with this new crowd. When it comes to film, Gene can’t accept anything but the best, and his passion and lofty ideals are about to send both him and his boss and mentor—the spunky, phenomenally talented film producer, Pompo—hurtling off in a very unexpected direction.
I'm an ex-film major (alongside likely more than 80% of graduates) and I deeply stand by this 2nd volume being so much less pretentious than the 1st. Instead of being mostly flashy, trying to catch everyone's interest with each character's top 3 films varying nicely within the top 100 films of all-time, it shows more empathy and heart behind the character of Gene, a true cinephile who solely lives to watch movies, digest and log them with no real acquaintances or friends to speak of; his journey to becoming a director while remaining true to his ambitions and love of film was a much more worthwhile read than the 1st volume which due to its banal pompous flagging I almost didn't care to pick up this last volume of only a 2 volume run.
I'M SO GLAD THE MANGAKA AGREED TO DO A POMPO 2 BECAUSE THIS WAS JUST AS MUCH A DELIGHT AS THE FIRST ONE! I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a third installment even though I now know how they feel about continuing Pompo lol.