Goodbye, Eri

Fujimoto, the creator of Chainsaw Man and the award-winning Look Back (2022), offers a surreal meditation on grief and film in this one-shot manga. When Yuta screens his documentary about his dying mother for his school, his classmates are shocked by the fantastical ending he adds. Except for Eri, who encourages him to make another film. The twisting nature of the plot makes for endless surprises while still dealing sensitively with the topics of death, illness, and grief. With artwork deliberately drawn to mimic camera angles, the book constantly leads the reader to question what is film and what is reality up until the last page--and even beyond. In poignantly meditating on grief, death, and the narrative nature of film, Fujimoto creates artwork illustrated to look like the images were shot on a phone camera, with blurry panels often at odd angles. The illustrations in particular draw the reader in and make for an immersive reading experience. This is compulsively readable, showing Fujimoto's expertise at one-shot stories.