A review by lapingveno
Good-Bye by Yoshihiro Tatsumi
5.0
Another banger! I'm just going to dump my notes-while-reading below:
"Hell" - Murder. "Be sure your sin will find you out."
"Just a Man" - Retiree wants revenge on his wife. Tries adultery. Settles for living to spite her. Urinates on cannon (male symbol) to reduce its virility to his own pitiful level.
"Sky Burial" - [Imagined(?)] vultures haunt protag as symbol of looming death. His neighbor has died, summoning these vultures. He feels alive, but death still looms. As mentioned in opening, dead must be consumed for spirit to attain the sky.
"Rash" - Man (another retiree) bathes in poison ivy water (accidental?) to relieve p.ivy rash. Self-perpetuating cycle. Feels his life has been a waste. Rescues girl who attempted suicide. He gives her a mushroom as an invitation for coitus(?). Or has he simply "become a man" for the first time?
"Woman in the Mirror" - Only son in family of sisters and widow crossdresses after school as a way of escaping all the pressures put on him as the only man who "must be successful" for the sake of the family.
"Night Falls Again" - Loner/ly man in Osaka feeds lust to the EXTREME as a surrogate for having any kind of social/love life.
"Life Is So Sad" - Hostess's bf is in prison. She is faithful to him the whole time. On a visit, he doesn't believe her. She sleeps w/ her most devoted patron the night of her bf's release. Release? Declaration of independence? They do it on the very sheets bf deflowered her on--the night of his arrest 4 years prior.
"Click, Click, Click" - Man w/ SERIOUS foot/leg fetish (part-time volunteer barber) secretly wishes he could die during sex, or even better, he dreams of being stampeded to death by beautiful women's legs. Title refers to last panels: woman in heels walks by while he fondles leather boots he has prostitute wear as she steps on him.
"Good-Bye" - Japanese prostitute has regular GI who promises he'll marry her and take her back to USA. Psych! Dude's married in US (wife and kids). Leaves. Prostitute's father swings by occasionally for money. Feeling betrayed by all men after GI leaves, prostitute gets roaring drunk and sleeps with (semi-rapes even) he father on his next visit so that he'll be "just another man" she can hate and be failed by. Father looks over a scene of post-war Japan, thinking of it (and likely his permanently damaged relationship with his daughter) as a hell which will never end.
"Hell" - Murder. "Be sure your sin will find you out."
"Just a Man" - Retiree wants revenge on his wife. Tries adultery. Settles for living to spite her. Urinates on cannon (male symbol) to reduce its virility to his own pitiful level.
"Sky Burial" - [Imagined(?)] vultures haunt protag as symbol of looming death. His neighbor has died, summoning these vultures. He feels alive, but death still looms. As mentioned in opening, dead must be consumed for spirit to attain the sky.
"Rash" - Man (another retiree) bathes in poison ivy water (accidental?) to relieve p.ivy rash. Self-perpetuating cycle. Feels his life has been a waste. Rescues girl who attempted suicide. He gives her a mushroom as an invitation for coitus(?). Or has he simply "become a man" for the first time?
"Woman in the Mirror" - Only son in family of sisters and widow crossdresses after school as a way of escaping all the pressures put on him as the only man who "must be successful" for the sake of the family.
"Night Falls Again" - Loner/ly man in Osaka feeds lust to the EXTREME as a surrogate for having any kind of social/love life.
"Life Is So Sad" - Hostess's bf is in prison. She is faithful to him the whole time. On a visit, he doesn't believe her. She sleeps w/ her most devoted patron the night of her bf's release. Release? Declaration of independence? They do it on the very sheets bf deflowered her on--the night of his arrest 4 years prior.
"Click, Click, Click" - Man w/ SERIOUS foot/leg fetish (part-time volunteer barber) secretly wishes he could die during sex, or even better, he dreams of being stampeded to death by beautiful women's legs. Title refers to last panels: woman in heels walks by while he fondles leather boots he has prostitute wear as she steps on him.
"Good-Bye" - Japanese prostitute has regular GI who promises he'll marry her and take her back to USA. Psych! Dude's married in US (wife and kids). Leaves. Prostitute's father swings by occasionally for money. Feeling betrayed by all men after GI leaves, prostitute gets roaring drunk and sleeps with (semi-rapes even) he father on his next visit so that he'll be "just another man" she can hate and be failed by. Father looks over a scene of post-war Japan, thinking of it (and likely his permanently damaged relationship with his daughter) as a hell which will never end.