Goodbye, Eri

We got another Fujimoto one shot and there are still no news on Chainsaw Man Part 2, but I don't even care. This man does everything good. The following review will be me fanboying Fujimoto. And it will contain a bit of spoilers. Goodbye Eri. 10/10 imo You read the tittle and think it would be a cliché one shot when one of the characters die, and you would be right. At least for the first 100 pages. But when you read halfway through, story changes a bit. Now you don't know if something is happening or just acting, it honestly blew and fascinated me. As well thedocumentary & commentary feels very refreshing and helps you relate more to the main character. Another thing this one shot have is its unpredictability. I couldn't tell what was going to happen next and that kept invested through the read. Also it helps that Fujimoto makes you connect to the story with his immersive paneling. (Like when 3 constant pages are full black). Its an amazing and quick read that you can enjoy in like 5-10 minutes. If you have read Fujimoto's work you will like it. Also let me know your thoughts about the ending, do you guys think it was all a movie? Lol, peace out.

Very very interesting. A complete 1/10 and a 10/10 at the same time so I'll balance it out and leave it with a 9/10. Fujimoto got so meta with this one that it stopped amusing or really interesting me halfway through. Still I think it contains many great stories within, it's almost like an anthology where you can pick your favorite "movie" out of this one-shot and analyze it on your own and give it an individual review or score. The panelling was simple yet bright assimilating a camera most of the time if not all depending on the perspective you choose to view. Myfavorite part of this was the many pages just with black panels clearly imitating a long film reel before the final act, efficiently speaking they are a lazy waste of pages probably to push the page count to the 200 mark but contextually it makes sense to the plot and its upcoming conlusion. Fujimoto is a natural story boarder with all his previous works and now this one. He tells and shows stories like if they were put on film even when none of his manga has been animated yet. Satoshi Kon too had this natural talent where he drew all of his story boards in many note books. Fujimoto should become a director of either animated or even live action films in my opinion, at this point he honestly may even quit being a manga artist to pursue different paths to satisfy his artistic mind, at the very least this is the advice the late Yasuo Ohtsuka would definitely give him, as he once did to Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Great art and story, interesting characters and many paths to follow or envision. I can see this getting a live action movie in the way Solanin did.

Goodbye, Eri is a tale of loss, presented brilliantly by Fujimoto. The synopsis is nothing which would attract your attention but once you start reading it, you know this one shot is going to leave an impression for quite some time. To be honest, I didn't think I'd enjoy it the way I did. It seemed like a cliche with the death of the mother and an inspiring friend/love interest, but boy was I wrong! At first, the explosion we saw after the mother's death was quite shocking and I couldn't tell it apart from reality until it was stated. In my opinion, it's like Yuutagetting closure for the first time he experienced grief. He felt bad about himself for not filming his mother's last moments, but it was how he found closure to that chapter of his life. After Eri's 'death', he doesn't end the movie with an explosion because he always felt he didn't get closure. However, we see him going back to the abandoned building, getting to talk to Eri for the last time, and finally getting closure. Thus, ending it with an explosion which hits differently this time. At this point, I will add another take on the ending. The manga blurs the lines between reality and fantasy, as we're unable to really tell if Yuuta actually met Eri after he grew up. It could be his own touch of fantasy. It could also be viewed as him shooting that part with Eri back when she was alive and editing himself in his thirties; because he always loved adding a pinch of fantasy. In this case, the explosion he edited in the end could either be viewed as him getting closure to another part of his life or a touch of nostalgia in remembrance of the movie he made during his middle school days. Coming to the art, the 4-koma style in which each page was drawn was just clean. I loved the art from beginning to end and it never felt like even a panel was wasted. All the black panels in one part of the manga, the repetitive panels in various parts; everything fit perfectly with the tone of the manga. I'm no expert in the art department, but I'll go as far as saying that I loved it more than I did in Chainsaw Man. I think this is proof that Fujimoto is improving as an artist and I'm happy to witness it. I'd like to end this review by saying that we indeed have the power to remember our loved ones in the way we want, and not in a way they want us to. This is my takeaway from this beautiful one shot. So grateful to Fujimoto for creating it.

Fujimoto-senpai does it again. But this time in a one-shot dealing with love and loss. Told through the narrative of a young filmmaker coming to terms with trauma and death. A must read if you are a fan of Fujimoto-senpai's art style or storytelling. The story will leave you feeling empty yet satisfied, an emotional tour de force that explores the intricacies of grief, loss, coping, love, and more. You will likely feel like you know where the story is going, but only as Fujimoto-senpai can, the author twists the plot to medium breaking proportions, writing in a style closer to movie storyboards than mangaat some points. Not all readers will enjoy the themes or even the story, but I think that it is an important piece of manga worth the short read time. By the end you will be asking; what was true, what really happened, and what was just "a touch of fantasy?"