Story Summary:A story of two girls. How one out of jealousy sets out to improve and prove herself superior to another only find companionship and comfort in her rivals presence.

Spoiler, click to view

The story follows Fujino who writes 4-koma for her school newspaper and gets a rival in Kyomoto who starts doing the same every now and then but with some really amazing artwork that overshadows her simple art.She gets jealous and beaten down by others calling her work average and so starts playing eye of the tiger as she grinds out the artist class. She burns out of it eventually and stops in her third year of middle school only to have her rival Kyomoto the truant rekindle her passion for art when Fujino visits Kyomoto to deliver her graduation certificate. The two set out to create manga together and get published over the course of half a decade only to have Kyomoto pull out to pursue an art degree. The two part ways and Fujino continues on only to find out her partner has died in a homicide incident. She spirals into grief and we are shown a could have been only to have Fujino return to reality and decide to continue writing her manga as a final shot of her back as she works, draws the curtains.

Plot and Characters:To tell you the truth I am an absolute sucker for good coming of age stories and stories that have themes of creatives. This scratched both of those itches for me. Yes I am a Fujimoto fanboy but the writing here is pretty well done. The manga creates this timeline of events that you can very easily get lost in but makes sense if you take a step back and look at in the grand scheme of things. The main characters are compelling and likeable with the passionate and hardworking Fujino and the awkward and equally passionate Kyomoto. The two work great with each other and really give a sense of kinship throughout the manga and I found myself getting attached to the two of them just as they did to each other. The time lapses are well thought out and creative but dont get boring even though we get quite a few of them because of how full they are in storytelling.

Spoiler, click to view

Fujimoto explores a what if here but whereas other writers would make this a sort of time travel plot or some supernatural plot where her strong feelings of regret and grief makes her somehow save her friend he explores the very same sequence of events in a more human and real fashion. By making it a coping mechanism for the grieving character he takes on a journey inside the head of Fujino and explores grief and loss in a truly unique manner.

9.5/10

Art:
Ive always had these things I point out when reading any of fujimotos work but its his hatching, use of silence and paneling. All three of these are ever present in this masterpiece of art.

Fuji does this thing where he will have incomplete lineart and will use hatching to fill in the shape giving it weight and dimension which is something Ive so far never seen any other artist do. Its almost become a given to have clear complete lineart so that people cant call it "incomplete or rushed" fuji however just goes completely against that at times. That very sense of incompleteness is something this man has learned to weaponize to just slay whatever he touches with his pen. Using incomplete line art gives it a special charm you only find in his work while the hatching he uses to bring his objects to life in place of the line art allows him to give them more weight depending on the mood of the scene, which is something he does really well in this one shot

Spoiler, click to view

(i.e lsd off my rocker hammer man) Towards the last pages after the friend dies He goes ham on the hatching making everything really dark and gritty. Giving emotional and visual weight to Fujino who is going through shit and I just couldnt help but be completely enamored by his use of tone.

Sure a lot of artists do this with exaggerated angles and really darkened tones but it usually goes one of two ways, either the character is given a shadow on their face or their background goes dark but fujimoto completely pulls the light out of both his character and the background emphasizing the emotions he wants to get through. This is also something he uses for the more mundane emotions like surprise during the first few pages very effectively. Its ridiculous what this man is doing relatively early on in his career with his art. This man is a national treasure.

The use of silence is another trait thats seen in the one shot. He creates these really easy to understand panels with the stark contrast created with smart use of silence in his art. The scenes in the later timelapse shots with the almost sanitary looking white tile floor is a great example of this. It makes the panels very easy to understand and almost makes the panels move on their own. Another cool thing I noticed was how barebones he kept the hallways in Kyomoto's house. These sorts of backgrounds really just pull the focus into the characters and makes the world feel lived in. Like the shot with the

Spoiler, click to view

two girls crossing the road.

You know there a other people there and you feel the scale of the city yet every fiber of your being is focused on the two girls at the center because of his use of contrast. He frames these characters to fit the mood and tone of the scenes especially well in the scene where Fujino and Kyomoto are arguing and the camera shows this from behind dark foliage and when we shift perspectives to Kyomoto where she is looking up at the hammer maniac.The shots where he frames only the back of Fujino instead of perhaps showing her working through some other angle is also a genius creative freedom he's taken. And the framing of the flashbacks to Fujino and Kyomoto working on their manga and just chilling together just goes to show how close the two characters were.

The paneling for the one shot was absolutely insane. Using his very easy to grasp art with his great understanding of the flow of an image he manages to make me feel like the panels are moving on their own without me having to press an arrow key every now and then. Your eyes move on to the next panel almost automatically as if its second nature and I personally had to think to slow myself down and really observe the panels like I would do when pausing a film to look at the details in the set. Speaking of movies I have never seen anything in the form of still images feel this cinematic in my life ever. Ive read a fair share of stuff but never has a story especially a one shot progressed as if it was living and breathing on its own. This is what people mean when they say giving life to art. Fujimoto with every meaning of the sentence really just breathes life into his art. There are quite a few pages of just 2 frames a page but the staggering amount of attention and consistency in these panels especially the timelapsey ones is really something you need to go back and look at while giving your full attention. How the bookstacks grow,the paraphernalia change in the room. How her desk changes appearances and how she shifts her topic of study are all little details that the people working on this put a lot of work into and deserve to be seen.

All that said the best part for me about this whole one shot has to be the motif of us looking at Fujino's back as she works. Her timelapse through her early years as she grows, feels motivated to draw and sets out to learn, putting in years of her life to her gaining a friend and working together.Growing off of each others company, to the fight and her going back to working alone really puts into effect the passing of time and the course of happenings. And the punchline with one final back shot and one final visit to the motif just ties it all together. Piecing all the events and Fujino's growth over the one shot. Just an amazing device that just punches you in the gut.

Conclusion:This one shot is something I feel any long time fan of the medium has to read. Its something that fully deserves your time and attention because my god will this have you thinking and feeling things. A masterful display of artistic skill and creative prowess Fujimoto shows how to do everything right with a 140 page long oneshot. This is a must read for a Fujimoto fan and something I see myself visiting every now and again.