Summary
Author Tatsuki Fujimoto had a head start in his career with the mangaFire Punch, butChainsaw Manmade him famous worldwide. Thanks to the incredible manga and the stellar adaptation by Studio MAPPA, Denji’s dark story became a massive success. However,Fujimoto is celebrated for his lesser-known, shorter stories beyondChainsaw Manand Fire Punch.Look Backhas recently been adapted into a film, but shortly before Part 2 of Chainsaw Man, Fujimoto releasedGoodbye, Eri.This short story is a masterclass different from usual manga creation, taking a more cinematic and less conventional approach.
Fujimoto first showed this style with Look Back and, to some extent, in Fire Punch and Chainsaw Man, but it was with Goodbye, Eri that he kicked it into full gear. This is why you should read Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Goodbye, Eri.
A Story About Flawed Humans
People Are Broken, Art Is Perfect
The manga follows Yuta Ito, a high schooler who is gifted a smartphone for his birthday. After his mother falls terminally ill, she gives him the task of documenting her final moments as a documentary. Yuta then premieres the film at his school. He gets bullied and ridiculed for the film, causing him to attempt to jump off the school building. There he meets Eri, a girl who tells him she loved the movie and asks him to film her. The story then follows Yuta’s time with Eri making the film.
In his previous works, Fujimoto had already shown his innate talent for character writing. While his two major works are in the Shōnen category,his approach to storytelling is much closer to Seinen. Fujimoto makes incredibly human and explicit characters. He’s not shy about making his characters extremely flawed and at times hard to watch. The narrative core of his works is the human element. Beyond any fighting and superpowers, his stories are more about how humans relate to each other and the hardships of intimacy and coming into their own. Fujimoto, more than a great artist or creator, is a master of character-driven narrative.
Goodbye, Eri is the best example of this.There’s no fighting or superpowers, there’s no good and evil. It’s all about the small-scale people in the story. This isn’t a story you read to get excited watching epic battles or trying to decipher complex plots and developments. Goodbye, Eri is a character drama in manga form. More than a standard manga, readers are treated to a more intimate and cinematic style.
Movie Made Manga
Fujimoto’s Love of Film
Fans of Chainsaw Man may know that authorTatsuki Fujimoto is a massive fan of cinema. The first opening of the series is full of references to famous movies. This is on full display with Goodbye, Eri. Here, Fujimoto steers away from the usual dynamic paneling seen in manga. Instead, he uses rectangular panels in sequence to portray scenes. This is his art emulating cinematic shots seen in live-action films. The reader follows the story through sequential panels just like a filmstrip.
Dialogue and images are all presented in a subtle, sequential style. This is to present the story as it was a film because of Fujimoto’s passion for the medium but also because a large portion of the story is Yuta’s film of his mother and then Eri. The reader sees the story through Yuta’s film. Fujimoto puts the reader in the seats of the audience watching Yuta’s film.
Goodbye, Eri is a manga like no other. It blurs the line between graphic novel and film. Its approach to storytelling as well as manga creation sets it apart from most series you’ll find in the medium. If you loveChainsaw Man, you should take a look at Fujimoto’s masterpiece,Goodbye, Eri.
Chainsaw Man
Chainsaw Man is an action-heavy shonen anime that follows Denji, a guy who fuses with a devil called Pochita. The show is based on a manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
