Goodbye, Eri is a manga I read this month. It is by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the author of Chainsaw Man. Before clicking through to this review, I want to strongly advise reading the story for yourself. I will give spoilers, and a lot of really impactful moments in this story are built on twists. I will say that the narrative has less problematic content than Chainsaw Man, so I can recommend it to a more general audience. The main sensitive issue is the topic of suicide. If you want to read it, it is available in a Shonen Jump membership (found in most app stores) which you could get for maybe 4$. I enjoyed the short story so much that I wound up buying my own copy! So, now that I've given my spoiler warning, let's get into a short story that is Fujimito to a T.
First, I will rapidly run through my scoring categories.
Categories:
- Impact/Personal History (7): While I have only just recently read this story, it hit me very hard. I pushed my brother to read and we have had a lot of fun discussions concerning it. It was suggested to me by a friend and I sincerely appreciate the recommendation! 7 is probably the highest score I could give a newly discovered gem like Goodbye, Eri.
- Presentation (10): I absolutely adore the presentation of this story. It is told completely through the first-person perspective... or more accurately through the semi-first-person perspective of a phone camera. It is a black-and-white manga imitating the style of a found-footage film. Almost every page is broken into four rectangular panels, conveying the idea of smartphone footage being taken horizontally. Fujimoto has often impressed me with the use of unusual methods of conveying his narratives through creative panel usage (for instance things breaking into or merging out of the comic panel borders). This story is much more reserved, but the artistic choice of a nearly uniform four-panel page works wonders for the narrative. I sincerely can't convey how much I love how this choice sells the central ideas of the story revolving around film/video and memory. It is fantastic. Plus it conveys character chemistry exceedingly well, since it will show four very similar panels in a row and allow you to pick up on subtle changes in facial expressions and body language. The manga is not in a rush and does really well with these quiet moments. Aside from that, as far as the art itself goes, Fujimoto delivers some really beautiful panels that work well in black and white. Characters sitting in a dark room with the light of a tv making their face shine white in the surrounding dark. It is very pretty. He also uses an interesting technique to convey motion blur (having images sorta overlap slightly), which continues to emphasize that this manga is telling a story about the visual medium of video.
- World Building (4): The world of Goodbye, Eri is a contemporary Japan. The setting works perfectly well for the story, but it is not particularly ambitious. The one supernatural element to the story feels strange and isn't really explored, hence the score of a 4 rather than a 5. Fujimoto is fully capable of creating amazing power systems and worlds, but Goodbye, Eri does not call for such elements. While this particular score is low, it is in no way a blow to my overall opinion of the piece.
- Aesthetic (9): Generally the art and aesthetic of this story are practically perfect. The visuals are uniform and the characters ooze Fujimoto's artistic style. Granted the most prominent character wears a simple school uniform, but her face and hair are recognizable enough (especially in Fujimoto's art style). Characters are expressive but not over-the-top and cartoonish.
- Protagonists (7): This is actually a little bit tricky. Yuta Ito is the POV character and he is very down-to-earth and likable. He's a hurt person trying to recover from loss and abuse. His friendship with Eri is AMAZING. Or is it? Ha. I will get into that in a later discussion. But Eri herself is a main character, and I am not sure if she is a protagonist. She's this weird conceptual character. Almost otherworldly. And she saves Yuta twice. And I just really really like that. Once again, the concept of befriending the "Other" works in this setting. Even if at first she seems to be just a strange classmate who loves film. The vulnerability of opening up to her is very tangible in the narrative, and there are even some really impactful lines of Yuta being okay with even dying because of trusting her. So I genuinely wound up liking and caring for the well-being of the two main characters, but I am also not sure how well we know either of them by the end. As such I'd argue the strongest element of the narrative is the thought-provoking thematic elements.
- Antagonists (2): Arguably the only "antagonistic" forces are the meaner kids at the school and Yuta's mother. Maybe even Yuta's own self-destructive mentality could be considered the antagonist. But this narrative is not antagonist driven.
- Themes/Depth (10): Goodbye, Eri is a story about ideas. It is highly theme-driven. The concept of film and video is heavily involved. On the one hand, a lot of the bonding that occurs between a depressed and hurt Yuta and the mysterious Eri happens as they both watch films together. She discusses film theory, writing, and creation with him. He is driven to film almost everything, and Eri pushes him to perfect his craft. There is also an interesting element of a creator discovering what *he* wants to put into a story. "A dash of fantasy". So the narrative definitely leans into the intensely personal craft of creating stories (films more specifically). However, I would argue the primary theme of Goodbye, Eri is that video is both inherently, unintentionally, and sometimes intentionally dishonest. It is a fascinating exploration of a medium we would consider to be one of the most honest and trustworthy and how what we choose to film and show changes it. Video is explored as a tool for memory. For preservation. And as such we can basically choose what we remember and how we remember it. There is incredible power in editing, and in Goodbye, Eri there is a pretty uplifting message of using video recording to remember the best elements of someone, rather than the entirety of who they are. Since the whole story is told through found footage (which we know is being edited), there are plenty of moments we are forced to question. Some elements of the friendship between Eri and Yuta are changed and exaggerated for the camera... because that's how they want to be remembered. There are probably other major themes and meanings in this story I've overlooked, but I absolutely love how it made me think about these concepts. And it does so while also managing the emotional tone incredibly well (mostly. Ha... Explosions occasionally interrupt!).
- Uplifting (8): I will say, this story has many tragic moments. But there is something about it that is also very hopeful. The theme of remembering someone for their best moments as opposed to their worst is wholesome. Even the (probably faked) romance between Eri and Yuta is underlined by a genuine feeling of friendship and an organically forged bond. The main thing that is strange about this story is that every story Yuta tells must end in a large, absurdist explosion. I honestly wonder if this isn't Fujimoto commentating on his own tendency to write absurd endings that melt the brains of a very emotionally invested audience. To a degree, even this is sweet. As it shows Yuta's love of a dash of fantasy has survived all his hardships. It shows that Eri saved that part of him and refined his abilities to create without drowning the weird quirks he displayed from the very beginning.
- Tension (8): There are some very eerie scenes in this story. Particularly when a much older Yuta is walking in a first-person POV to the old room he and Eri used to watch films in... planning to kill himself there. It is a very uneasy feeling to see through the eyes (technically the camera lens) of someone walking to take their own life. Thankfully he is saved both times he moves to harm himself. There is an overall dread of tragedy that looms over the story, helping the tension. Plus the character chemistry helps make me care for the wellbeing of Yuta and Eri. All this makes a story with no action and very little peril manage to be quite tense!
- Pacing/Length (10): The story is patient (allowing for quiet scenes of character chemistry) while also being efficient. Taking a leisurely read, you can finish Goodbye, Eri in probably 45min. It is such an emotional rollercoaster of a ride. I feel the length is perfect, and there wasn't a single panel that made me bored.
- Emotional Resonance (9): The emotional resonance of this story is excellent. Yuta as our POV helps convey the happiness, friendship, humor, tragedy, and eventually hope of Goodbye, Eri. The explosion at the end is... strange. But as mentioned earlier, I think there is meaning behind it. That is the one absurdist thing that makes this story feel so very much like a Fujimoto manga. He can handle the most emotionally charged and impactful types of classical stories of love, family, and friendship... but don't get too comfortable because there will inevitably be something utterly insane tossed in. It will also probably have been set up in the first act and you will have been trying to ignore it or will have forgotten.
- Destination Clarity (3): I did not find the story to be predictable, and I definitely didn't anticipate the journey Yuta would take. That isn't as much of a problem when the story is a short as Goodbye, Eri.
- Consistency (7): The explosions, while they have their meaning, do make Goodbye, Eri feel very different from page to page. It is a type of emotional whiplash. I will also note that the final reveal of Eri being supernatural is somewhat strange and feels a little bit out of the blue. Neither of these things ruin the story for me, but they do feel odd.
Quality Notes:
I will start with what doesn't work for me.
Eri's final reveal is probably my one and only major complaint. I am not certain it is a complaint though. The fact that Yuta (in footage) pitches a movie where she is a vampire to her and then discovers in the end that she is indeed one feels weirdly contrived. But the catch is... we do not know if that conversation is organic or scripted. It is possible that Eri told him to pitch that idea, hinting at the reality to him. The hospital room discussion makes it feel like he came up with the idea himself, but that scene also has them share a kiss... and he tells another student that their whole romance was staged. So was that scene itself staged? It is hard to say! I don't wanna do the writing for the author, but the mechanism of our unfaithful narrator (ha, unfaithful filmer) in this story does allow me to believe that this reveal isn't as contrived as it first felt.
The explosions, while thematically relevant, also felt weird. Ha! Like, they kind of shatter the final emotional moment for me, but simultaneously it makes the final shot hit very hard.
To hit the what works for me.
Honestly, so much of this story worked so well for me. Fujimoto is one of the few authors that can make me get invested in a love story, and ironically the relationship between Eri and Yuta was all for show (probably). However, I believe their friendship was real. The emotional rollercoaster of this manga is an absolutely marvelous experience to sit through. The themes of memory and film hit hard and land almost flawlessly. It is such a treat to have a story like this to discuss with others. I've deliberated how much of the footage is edited. What is real, what is completely fake, what is exaggerated, and what is edited. It is a very clever story. It also has several humorous moments that made me laugh out loud. So, for a manga that feels like Fujimoto putting almost all of his strengths and quirks as an author forward, I couldn't more strongly recommend Goodbye, Eri. It is an absolute gem.
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