THIS REVIEW SPOILS THE ENTIRE ONESHOT. Adding a pinch of fantasy to reality or rather blurring the line between the two. Yuuta has a tough time getting through his mothers inevitable death as anyone would and Fujimoto uses a very subtle and poetic way of conveying this through what Yuuta films or more accurately keeps in the final cut he gets a shot of their 3 toothbrushes right next to each other perhaps for the last time. He films a little bug dying something he probably wouldnt even notice if his mind wasnt occupied with death. 660https://i.post.cc/pLwDzH62/1.jpg 660https://i.post.cc/0N77CBT7/2.jpg Filming gives him the power to craft a reality hes comfortable with he doesnt get to live it right now but he gets to go over the footage and choose what everyone including himself will remember more clearly than everything else. The particular reality that he wants to craft though is one with a pinch of fantasy as his father says he likes to add a pinch of fantasy to everything. Perhaps that means he has the soul of an artist and this whole story is about how an artist is born. A huge emotional event happens that leaves a scar on a person Yuutas moms death they find a means of consoling themselves through art as a coping mechanism Yuuta filming everything which leads to them developing a taste for it and creating their first work Yuutas first film which wont turn out very well but mainly works as fuel for their next project where they actually find their footing Yuutas second film. Yeah alright maybe Im just seeing what I want to see lets move on I really appreciated how when Yuuta is running away from the hospital the explosions behind him look fake Fujimoto drew the hospital and then drew some explosions on the intact hospital building theres no debris and the building isnt falling apart this is because Yuutas budget isnt big enough and he cant create realistic looking special effects. 330https://i.post.cc/Tw425Rt0/3.jpg 330https://i.post.cc/gjLzvf5W/4.jpg Think Im reading too much into it? Well this is what the very last panel looks like notice the difference? 660https://i.post.cc/Kc1Bq4hZ/5.jpg Out of all the people who give their opinion on his movie one stands out the only person who doesnt say something ignorant and has gone through similar stuff to Yuuta she seems to be his friend and even she said she couldnt forgive him. And right after this we cut to Yuuta saying he wants to kill himself. Right as Yuuta is about to jump Eri shows up out of nowhere probably to check out the location she just saw in Yuutas film the hospital her voice is heard from the other side of the balcony bars right from here I knew I was going to get bamboozled again with Fujimoto pulling another it was all a movie bro on me. 660https://i.post.cc/BtWqNm91/6.jpg Assuming the finale actually takes place and isnt just a product of Yuutas imagination Which I have enough reasons to debunk one of them being the way the explosion looks in the last panel its real the building is actually collapsing the tangible reality of this universe actually does have a pinch of fantasy in it. Ill list more reasons as we go on we can also assume that Eri is about 200 years old meaning she has witnessed the birth and rise of cinema shes probably been watching movies since the 1900s. Which is why she finds Yuutas film to be super awesome shes seen so many movies good and bad that the only thing that matters to her at this point is uniqueness she wants something that stands out from the crowd and feels like a breath of fresh air compared to what shes been watching for the past century. I didnt think twice about the panel below in my initial read: 660https://i.post.cc/jqBNGKRy/7.jpg But knowing the ending Im pretty sure this is another reason to believe shes an actual vampire as she cant gain calories from food because its not blood. Remember this is before Yuuta comes up with the idea for his next film so it cant be a scripted sentence this is Eris genuine response. After having watched so many films Yuuta knows how to film a truly tense scene which is why we get 3 pages of Yuutas dad and Eri just eating without saying anything. As a writer hes adding tension to this scene by having the characters refuse to speak first or hes conveying that they dont know how to start the conversation which makes for an even tenser scene. 220https://i.post.cc/pX88v7d4/8.jpg 220https://i.post.cc/P5jD54px/9.jpg 220https://i.post.cc/0y0wMwDC/10.jpg He finds out Eri is dying and he runs away to his house where his dad shows him his moms last moments. And suddenly he is hit with reality seeing his mom say that all the memories of her treating him badly come rushing back. He realizes that even though all of those bad memories exist he still regrets not being there for her in her last moments he thinks if he was there then his mother wouldnt have been so disappointed in him to say such a thing. This compels him to be there for Eri even more. And after everyone bawls their eyes out watching that ending Yuuta looks down and makes the iconic V sign that she made whenever the characters in a movie scored a win because in succeeding their mission of making everyone cry they did just that. 400https://i.post.cc/s2fZpgJC/11.jpg Now the part that makes this oneshot very confusing: 660https://i.post.cc/XYsv6c9t/12.jpg 660https://i.post.cc/vBV8nJCd/13.jpg We never see her wearing glasses OR a dental retainer was everything a part of their movie then???? Was ALL OF IT scripted? What about when she said she couldnt gain weight from food? Was that not a genuine response and I was wrong when I said that that meant she was an actual vampire? The answer to all of those questions is that I honestly dont fucking know The following pages present a different perspective that girl thanks Yuuta for giving her a fond memory of Eri and we find out they were friends and everything then we get a few random shots which I cant really put into words if youve seen enough movies youve probably seen endings like this and then the panels turn black for 4 pages and the last one reads the end. 164https://i.post.cc/rpbFKVnJ/14.jpg 164https://i.post.cc/zf3Gzbjv/15.jpg 164https://i.post.cc/rpbFKVnJ/14.jpg 164https://i.post.cc/Hn1Y9SC8/17.jpg Soooooooooo was THIS the end of the movie? Was the audience bawling their eyes out also a part of it? Is THIS the true ending and was Yuutas conversation with the girl also scripted? Again I dont know but if you think about it it wouldnt count as blurring the line between reality and fantasy if you could tell what was fantasy and what was reality. Its years later after Yuuta has lost his entire family hes telling us about how his life went after the film hes filming himself talking about the accident and how he looked at everything through the lens of a camera. He doesnt bear any injuries even though the crash was bad enough for everyone else in the car to die so Im not sure if this isnt another scripted scene in another movie but then again we dont know how much time has passed since the accident. Theres not enough evidence to prove anything just to suggest things. I honestly cant exaggerate how cleanly this is done at this point I had started questioning everythings truthfulness like was the whole story a big movie? Was anything genuine? Was anything real? Lets say it wasnt does that matter? I have no idea. This is why I couldnt see this feel good moveonfromeachtragedyalittlebitstrongerkeepingthegoodmemories message everyone was apparently seeing when everythings truth is under question you cant assume Fujimoto means what hes saying. 660https://i.post.cc/MH0WPyWP/18.jpg Is this a fourth wall break? Is she talking about this whole oneshot and by love interest does she mean Yuutas late wife? Or is she talking about the movie Yuuta made? It no longer matters the previous pages have done everything to completely blend fantasy and reality its all mixed up now so lets just sit back and enjoy whatever the fuck happens the disbelief is as suspended as possible anything goes now Yuuta and Eri have a pretty poetic conversation that I believe to be a commentary on film as a whole not on cinema but on the literal ability to record footage and replay them at a later time No matter how many times I forget you Ill remember you again and again. Isnt that beautiful? And as he walks away from the building it explodes is it real? Does it happen just for the sake of looking cool? What about just for the sake of referencing Yuutas first film? Does it happen because theres a pinch of fantasy in this world? By not providing any answers for any of those questions its like all of them are simultaneously true. This last sentence was perhaps the most important sentence in the whole analysis so Ill write it twice. By not providing any answers for any of those questions its like all of them are simultaneously true.... Edit November 3rd 2022: I just found out that this one shot was inspired by this movie: https://letterboxd.com/film/goodbyemovies/ Theres a thread about it as well: https://anilist.co/forum/thread/60106 Havent been able to find it anywhere but if you do know where to find it leave me a message