Many panels are blurry to show Yuta isn't holding the phone steady or is trying to film something too close to be in focus. Mind Screw: There's generally no telling what is incidental footage of people being their true selves or edited performances. Even the above mentions of Yuta's dad turning out to be merely playing a fictionalized version of himself get muddied by him asking if they could do another take of something he says out of seeming sincerity.

Following those events, nothing stays normal for Yuta. After spending so much time behind the camera, Yuta starts looking at his own life as an outsider, and Fujimoto very beautifully tells the story from Yuta's camera perspective through his art. It's one of those rare stories that leaves the ending on readers' perspective. The ending leaves you thinking if what happened with Yuta was real or it was just something that Yuta imagined for his movie. I'm always drawn to works that attempt to push the boundaries of their own medium, and this does that beautifully with its replication of camera motion. I'm also drawn to works that speak on subjects of mortality, creation, and selfhood, so this sunk its metaphorical fangs in me from the get-go. It asserts all we have is memory, and honoring someone with memory is the greatest way to keep them living, but it also cheapens their existence. We will never really know the true perspective of this story, just like we will never know the true perspective of the lives anyone else around us may be living. Despite that, we are still inspired to give our best effort to show someone in the light we wish they were, and in their best moments, actually may be. Creation, and then filling in the gaps, is the best way we can achieve closure and progress for any kind of grief, as well as connection with our fellow man. Historical Villain Upgrade: In-Universe, Yuta's father plays himself as a Fantasy-Forbidding Father who wants Eri to leave Yuta alone. In reality, he's quite supportive of the two. Due to the length of this oneshot, all spoilers are untagged. Please read the story before continuing!Yuta and Eri grow closer as time goes by until Eri falls unconscious while the two were playing at a beach. Eri is revealed to also be terminally ill like Yuta's mother. A depressed Yuta is discouraged from attempting any more progress on his movie. However, his father encourages him to push forward, while also revealing to the reader that Yuta's mother was actually abusive towards her son and husband. The film she had Yuta make was an attempt to either capitalize on her illness if she survived, or memorialize her in a positive light if she died. What I assumed was just Fujimoto talking about a dead relative turned into a story showcasing his obvious love of he has an exceptional gift for illustrating realistic, flawed, conflicted characters that you just can't help but root for and see yourself in. As is evident in the many complex relationship dynamics in Chainsaw Man, Fujimoto portrays the ups and downs of young love in all its forms expertly. The affection between Yuta and Eri, as well as Yuta and his dying mother, is both genuine and toxic, both heartwarming and unsettling, and painfully realistic. Before reading this manga, I for some reason believed that I could not love a one-shot manga enough for it to become one of my favourites. I had convinced myself that there was simply not enough of a short manga to be able to properly develop a fully engaging storyline, likely because of the fact that I have not read many one-shots. This manga most definitely proved me wrong and changed my perspective. This seems more along the lines of an experimental film, just under the medium of manga. I feel like Fujimoto's true calling is more this sort of thing. The kind of works you'd want to submit to film festivals because of how they want to bend the medium. Beats me why this is published in Shounen Jump, but I could say that about pretty much all of his work. And I'd say this was Fujimoto at his best. The art can look pretty rough and there are the signature poop jokes, but those are staples you’d expect going in. At the core, the message is still as basic as "Creators getting hurt is part of the creative process, but do what you want and just get good!" that reminds me, I transferred my family’s home videos to digital last year. I’m too lazy to do anything with it.

In a montage of Yuta's daily life, there are several clips of his dad crying in secret. It's later revealed that his wife was just as abusive to him as she was their son, and he felt immense guilt over how she treated Yuta. Goodbye, Eri touches on some very human and delicate themes that are explored in a creative, oddly intimate, real way through the literal lens of a camera. It's quite the unique vehicle to tell the story and quite enrapturing because of it. 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. Writer Revolt: In-universe, the bizarre ending of Dead Explosion Mother, where Yuta runs away from the hospital as it explodes, was his rebellion against his mother manipulating the rest of film to make her look better. More subtly, he also included some of the random footage of cats she told him to get rid of. Viz Media and Manga Plus published the manga simultaneously with the Japanese release. [5] The tankōbon volume was released by Viz Media on June 27, 2023. [1] Reception [ edit ]I never feel compelled to write a review on here, but I feel so deeply affected by this work, it would be almost cruel to myself to not write something. Yuta's mom is revealed to have been abusive to her son and husband late into the story. This helps tie into the theme of perspective, as Yuta's mom only wanted to be remembered for her good qualities, hence her intent for Yuta to record the final days of her life. Eri rightfully points out how horribly selfish this is. The nonlinear storytelling is genius in the way that it confuses the viewers right alongside our protagonist, Yuta. The many layers of meta stories-within-stories pile on as the story progresses, leaving readers to question what is real and what is fiction. With the mangaka having demonstrated his plot-twist prowess, his newest one-shot is no exception, in the most surprising and chilling way possible. Tomato Surprise: The fact that Yuta's mother was a verbally and physically abusive mother and wife was obviously well known by Yuta and his father, which were her victims, but was deliberately kept away from the reader, since they only meet the version of her that is shown in the overly idealized documentary. It is not until his father reveals that he recorded the final moments of his mother that the reader sees that she spent most of her time berating her son for being useless to her.