This review is for the entire series, which I rate it 5 stars.
Bakuman is the follow up work of the Death Note creative team, which is composed of writer Tsugumi Ohba and artist Takeshi Obata. However, in my opinion, I believe this is the better work.
Bakuman is the story of two teenagers breaking into the manga industry and they going to do it in their own unorthodox way, just like this manga. This manga is so unlike the usual ones. It's not a battle manga, which is the most popular and successful manga genre. Yet, it's like a battle manga because it has rivals, training montages, and other tropes of the genre.
The creative team is firing on all cylinders. The writer creates a genre-bending work and gives Obata-sensei a massive and appropriate canvass to flex his extensive art range, give us the best artwork of his career. The entire story is dense yet light, because it is full of ideas and concepts, like the other manga titles of the main characters' rivals. I wouldn't mind those spun off.
The story is engaging and funny, and gives the fans a satisfying ending. I only wish they included an epilogue to help the reader decompress after reading the last few volumes because it gives you a massive sensation of "finale high".
Aside from the killer story and the amazing art, this manga gave the reader a new way to appreciate and enjoy manga.