by On July 19, Tatsuki Fujimoto’s short manga “Lookback” was published in the manga app “Shonen Jump +.”
Tatsuki Fujimoto is a manga artist known for his works such as “Fire Punch” (Shueisha) and “Chainsaw Man” (same as above). “Chainsaw Man,” which finished the serialization of the first part, “Public Security Edition” in “Weekly Shonen Jump,” is scheduled to be serialized in the second part in “Shonen Jump +.” At the same time, it has been decided to animate. The content was hidden, but considering the future development, it may be a gaiden of “Chainsaw Man.” Was rumored to be. Meanwhile, the announced “Lookback” is a frontispiece in a room with nobody, “A new era youth one-shot 143P !! Was written.
From the impression of the past work, I expected an entertainment work with many flashy actions, but the short story released was “Sorrowful Youth Manga,” which made me feel the determination of Tatsuki Fujimoto as a manga artist. Below, there is a spoiler.
The story begins in elementary school. Fujino, who writes a four-frame manga in the grade newspaper, is told by the teacher that he wants the next group of school refusal students, Kyomoto, to hand over a frame of the four-frame manga. Fujino was staring at Kyomoto, asking, “Can you draw a manga for a weak person who doesn’t even have a school?”, But Kyomoto’s manga “After School” published in the grade newspaper has a thorough background of 4 The sheets were lined up.
They were incomparably good at Fujino’s paintings. Fujino, who was disappointed when the boy in the seat next to him said, “If you line up with Kyomoto’s paintings, Fujino’s paintings are futuristic,” he begins studying painting to draw manga. Wonderful. By silently arranging cuts of different times and places that capture Fujino’s appearance over his back, the passage of time is expressed. Books for drawing manga such as human body drawings and perspective are gradually increasing on the bookshelf. .. Fujino’s clothes, which silently draw manga, and the slowly changing interior of the room have a quiet force.
The background that looks white and ephemeral is beautiful even though it is written in detail. The layout and frame movement are the biggest attractions of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s work, and the textual explanations are kept to a minimum. To put it the other way around, he is a manga artist who can express the essence of the world with just two frames. Compared to the weekly serialization of “Chainsaw Man,” the design is polite and calm, and I associate it with the quiet-tasting literary manga drawn by Minetaro Mochizuki in recent years. Perhaps after the series was over, I took the time to remove it slowly. Not to mention the composition, all the pictures, such as the comics lined up on the bookshelf and the DVDs scattered around my feet, have meaning, so I want to read them over and over again.
The story is a so-called manga artist, and it is a work that can be called Tatsuki Fujimoto’s version of “Manga Michi” (written by Fujiko Fujio A). Fujino and Kyomoto Since the surname are one letter different from the author. It may have an autobiographical element. Fujino, whose teacher told her to deliver his diploma at the elementary school graduation ceremony, met Kyomoto for the first time. After that, the two began to draw manga under the pseudonym of Kyo Fujino.
Since the work submitted at the age of 13 was semi-selected, the lives of the two manga artists have been smooth. However, the combination disappeared when Kyomoto wanted to go to art school. Fujino continued to write manga and began to serialize a manga called “Shark Kick,” which was a combination of “Fire Punch” and “Chainsaw Man.” On January 10, 2016, a man with an unspecified address invaded an art university in Yamagata Prefecture, slashing students with something like an ax and killing 12 people. One of the dead was Kyomoto. After that, the story diverges and depicts the life of Fujino, who did not become a manga artist, and Kyomoto, who became a college student. Fujino, who happens to see the criminal, defeats the criminal with karate and saves Kyomoto, who was attacked. It was another world that might have been possible, but Fujino’s reality did not change.
The story ends with her “over the back,” depicting her working on the manga again. July 18, the day before this work was published, was when the arson murder case occurred in Kyoto Animation in 2019. Also, January 15, when the incident occurs in the play, is close to the day when a man in the first grade of the manga department at Kyoto Tsinghua University was stabbed to death by a thrill kill in 2007.
The culprit, in this case, has not yet been caught. Perhaps the surname of Kyomoto, who is “good at drawing the background,” was taken from “Kyoto” in “Kyoto Animation” and “Kyoto Seika University.” Many people may find it a “bad hobby” to use the actual murder as the subject of a manga. However, I felt most was the author’s urgency, who said, “I might have been that way” if I made a mistake.
The same is true not only for the victim but also for the criminal. “You got rid of me! The criminal who angers Kyomoto by saying “?” Is surely another Fujino and Kyomoto. Perhaps Tatsuki Fujimoto tried to scoop up the victim and the repressed emotions of the perpetrator at the same time. As a result, we succeeded in creating a “reality that can only be drawn in the manga.” This is the most impressive manga of the year.
