Goodbye, Eri - A Cinematic Story about Perception of Life, Death, and Reality

After the hectic first quarter in 2022, I got an interesting notification on my MangaPLUS app. Tatsuki Fujimoto, the creator of the comic Chainsaw Man, just released a new 200-pages one-shot titled Goodbye, Eri. In 2021, I read his one-shot titled Look Back. That one is also a great story about creating something on your own. I guess that’s why I am so hyped with this new one-shot. Please read the one-shot on the official source. :)

Here’s the premise of the story written on MangaPLUS:

With his mother dying, Yuta attempts to capture her last days on his phone. After her death, Yuta heads to the roof of the hospital to commit suicide, but a meeting with a strange girl leads him on the path to making a movie.

I would say it’s better to get into this one-shot with minimal information. I hope you can get the best experience. And this is gonna be a spoiler notes, because there are a lot of interesting things — layers of things — in Goodbye, Eri.

So, let’s start.

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Paneling

This is the second page of the one-shot. In this one-shot, Fujimoto uses a simple 4 panels as a base for every page. For me, I think it’s a great approach to tell the story just like we see or record a video on our phone, on a landscape 16:9 ratio.

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Layered Stories

I really like how the paneling and story-telling work hand-in-hand in this one-shot. Somehow, Fujimoto allows you to feel the emotion on the panels even though there is minimal dialogue in the panels without a change of perspective.

In that panel when Yuta feels that his mother will die soon, you can feel that he took a pause before saying what he felt. And then being honest about being sad.

I think within the first few minutes, it feels like a sad story about a kid who wants to make an independent movie with his phone. But after *that first explosion*, I got really hooked on what will be told next.

His first movie got mocked by most people at his school. Fujimoto showed us the laugh and the bad comments he received directly. I was under impression that probably Yuta’s recording those comments too.

Some of those shaky images might give a hint that he put all those comments on the record.

I think Fujimoto also put a commentary about our society. That those comments might lead to suicide.

I love how Fujimoto translates first-person-view into this one-shot with the various montages that convey the moment. It might be a rush like this one. I can feel that Yuta was rushing to the roof-top of the hospital.

And then, there comes the next character in this one-shot. Eri, the strange girl who asked Yuta: “You gonna jump?”.

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For The Love of Cinema

It’s really great that after that question from Eri, we can feel that Yuta is still recording those moments. It feels like we are experiencing those moments from Yuta’s eyes.

Turned out, Eri was the only person crying during Yuta’s movie screening at the school. I guess in some ways, Yuta was moved from being hopeless to being hopeful. And then they spent more time together, especially watching movies.

One of my favorite panel.

And then Eri thinks Yuta is ready to make his new movie. She really emphasizes that it must be his story. Not anyone else. And then there are more dialogue involving Yuta’s father about being passionate on creating something. It really reminds me that being passionate also means passio, to suffer.

I once aimed to be a creator myself, so I know how it goes!

That one really hurts.

But then, there is also an uplifting conflict that even though you know it might hurt, that’s part of the creation itself.

I really like how Ranaditya & Rossi from Ikkuro podcast highlighted how that scene might subtly show how Fujimoto handles those conflicting thoughts in his mind. The first one is about the fear of getting mocked because of our creation. The contrast is about accepting that, yeah, the creator would get hurt too in the process of creation itself.

Perception

And now about perception. Near the final act of the one-shot, we got another twist. And probably some understanding of why the one-shot is titled Goodbye, Eri. Eri was dying too.

And then we got more twists about Yuta’s mother in the eye of Yuta’s father. You can suddenly feel the pain by seeing Yuta’s footage of his mother that didn’t make the cut for the movie he make.

And I really love the contrast on the next few panels after that. Just after the heart-wrenching moments, Fujimoto gives us a heart-warming perspective.

I guess it’s also painful because I know that’s not an easy thing to do.

…You have the power to decide for yourself, how you’ll remember someone.
That’s an incredible thing.

I had a few re-read, and if we are paying attention, we can really understand how meaningful the movie is to the father and what a great character Yuta had.

The cat in the Yuta’s movie.

The mother’s comment is NOT in Yuta’s movie.

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Perception and Memories

So, how Yuta will remember Eri?

I guess the final part of the one-shot leaves the perception to us. I really feel that in this one-shot, Fujimoto leaves the interpretation to us.

Are our perceptions the reflection of who we are?

It’s an intricate thing to think about.

There are more beautiful panels and dialogues in the one-shot. And really feels cinematic.

Yuta continues to work on the movie.

A movie that really makes people bawl their eyes out.

That’s a truly heartwarming contrast compared to the reaction to his first movie about her mother’s death.

Epilogue

The epilogue, once again, leaves the reader to interpret themselves.

Which story that you will choose as a reality?

Which story will you tell yourself?

It’s really a mixed after-taste after I finished reading this cinematic one-shot.

Even though it’s a comic one-shot, it truly feels cinematic. And you want to come back to that experience.

I wish the paperback will come in English. Or who knows I can manage to learn Japanese quickly and buy the Japanese one.

Extra notes: to answer Ikkuro podcast question, I guess Fujimoto as a movie director is David Fincher.

Final words, as my direct tweet reaction after the first read:

Please stay alive, Tatsuki Fujimoto.
What a great creation. A simultaneous heart-wrecking and heart-warming storyline in a single one-shot.