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Red Red Rock and Other Stories: 1967 - 1970
A definitive, career-spanning collection of stories from one of Japan’s most famous alternative cartoonists. Totalling more than 250 pages, Red Red Rock collects over a dozen of Hayashi Seiichi’s most famous stories from his most prolific period, spanning his debut for Garo in 1967 to his adult work for Josei Jishin in 1969-70.
"Discovering Hayashi Seiichi's work was a revelation - it's an astonishing blend of sensibilities, steeped in a graceful melancholy" - David Mazzucchelli
"Discovering Hayashi Seiichi's work was a revelation - it's an astonishing blend of sensibilities, steeped in a graceful melancholy" - David Mazzucchelli
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
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157 people want to read
About the author
Seiichi Hayashi
19 books28 followersBorn in Manchuria in 1945, Seiichi Hayashi is a Japanese visual artist. Hayashi started his career in animation in the 60's, first working for Toei Animation, then co-founding the animation studio Knack Productions.
From 1967 on, he published comics in the alternative manga magazine Garo. His breakthrough came in 1970 with the manga Red Colored Elegy.
Hayashi was an influential figure in the Japanese avant-garde art scene of the 70's. A prolific artist, he has also worked as film and commercial director, children's book author, designer and illustrator.
From 1967 on, he published comics in the alternative manga magazine Garo. His breakthrough came in 1970 with the manga Red Colored Elegy.
Hayashi was an influential figure in the Japanese avant-garde art scene of the 70's. A prolific artist, he has also worked as film and commercial director, children's book author, designer and illustrator.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
July 20, 2019
Rich with contemporaneous pop cultural references from east and west, Hayashi's stories are a must for anyone interested in Japan's take on 60s counterculture. That said, many of the Japanese motifs that feature throughout these stories are meaningless to the Western reader. Thankfully Ryan Holmberg's essay at the back gives vital context, allowing the reader to better understand the significance of certain characters, images and phrases, without going so far as to narrowly spell out the over-arching meaning of these interpretative works. Furthermore, this is a beautifully produced book, I'm in awe of the care and attention to detail from Holmberg and Breakdown Press in publishing these key works of Gekiga manga in English for the first time. This is how comics publishing should be done!
August 20, 2016
A variety of shorter and quite experimental works from Hayashi. Breakdown does a great job of providing these early alternative manga narratives of historical significance. Makes me wonder what it was like to actually experience Garo and similar publications while these narrative experiments were still in their heyday.
April 20, 2024
Red Red Rock and Other Stories collects the experimental short comics by Seiichi Hayashi from 1967-1970 in publications like Garo and A Woman's Self (Josei jishin). Typically, I'll read Ryan Holmberg's accompanying essay after the manga, but here it serves as a strong roadmap into contextualizing Hayashi's approach towards the '60s Tokyo avant-garde scene which is distinctively varied from types of experimentation, antinovel, surrealist, etc. styles of the Western counterparts. Hayashi's influences are clearly tied into the music and cinema scenes of Japan, which means that a lot of the references are lost amongst readers who are unfamiliar with it, but thankfully Holmberg's lengthy essay serves as a strong foundation towards approaching the work presented here. The stories themselves are varied in style, scope and settings, and most are pretty detached from formal narrative structures, but ultimately the level of experimentation implemented here is refreshingly idiosyncratic.
The opening story, "The Devil, His Son and the Uneatable Soul", is perhaps the most straightforward of the bunch in terms of structure, but even then there is a sufficiently experimental quality to the story that makes it subversive enough to be vividly interesting. The following story, "Dawn's Early Light", is a riff on superhero comics that Hayashi had some measure of exposure to, but he brings his own brand of aloof observations to cultivate a substantially varied tone to it. In contrast, stories like "American Born Celluloid" and "Our Mother" take a look at the family dynamic amidst the declining mental health conditions of the postwar Japan, much of which is tied into Hayashi's own experiences with his mother.
The ties into Japan's burgeoning avant-garde movement is really seen in works like "Flower Poem", "Red Enamel Shoes", "Flower Falling Town", "Giant Fish" and the titular "Red Red Rock", which having distinctively cinematic compositions amidst an odd and almost rhythmic style to the narration. The loss of sexual innocence, trauma from war and gender roles are common themes throughout. It's a lot of the late '60s work from Hayashi where the quaintness in the storytelling emerges, as easily seen in works like Flowering Harbour. Stories like "Red Red Rock" and "Flower Poem" in particular are highlights for their incorporation of a musical whimsy into more harrowing stories centered around the dangers of consumerism, greed, work culture and sex. On some level, the stories feel alien because of just how offbeat Hayashi's style is, but somehow they simultaneously strike close to home in terms of the subject matter.
The stories themselves aren't much without Hayashi's fine line to breath life into them. Breakdown Press' reprints of Hayashi's work are particularly alluring because of the risograph printing that makes the already thin lines more expressive than one might enjoy from the fading pages of old reader copies of Garo. It's a sublime presentation of comprehensive work from one of the all time gekiga greats.
The opening story, "The Devil, His Son and the Uneatable Soul", is perhaps the most straightforward of the bunch in terms of structure, but even then there is a sufficiently experimental quality to the story that makes it subversive enough to be vividly interesting. The following story, "Dawn's Early Light", is a riff on superhero comics that Hayashi had some measure of exposure to, but he brings his own brand of aloof observations to cultivate a substantially varied tone to it. In contrast, stories like "American Born Celluloid" and "Our Mother" take a look at the family dynamic amidst the declining mental health conditions of the postwar Japan, much of which is tied into Hayashi's own experiences with his mother.
The ties into Japan's burgeoning avant-garde movement is really seen in works like "Flower Poem", "Red Enamel Shoes", "Flower Falling Town", "Giant Fish" and the titular "Red Red Rock", which having distinctively cinematic compositions amidst an odd and almost rhythmic style to the narration. The loss of sexual innocence, trauma from war and gender roles are common themes throughout. It's a lot of the late '60s work from Hayashi where the quaintness in the storytelling emerges, as easily seen in works like Flowering Harbour. Stories like "Red Red Rock" and "Flower Poem" in particular are highlights for their incorporation of a musical whimsy into more harrowing stories centered around the dangers of consumerism, greed, work culture and sex. On some level, the stories feel alien because of just how offbeat Hayashi's style is, but somehow they simultaneously strike close to home in terms of the subject matter.
The stories themselves aren't much without Hayashi's fine line to breath life into them. Breakdown Press' reprints of Hayashi's work are particularly alluring because of the risograph printing that makes the already thin lines more expressive than one might enjoy from the fading pages of old reader copies of Garo. It's a sublime presentation of comprehensive work from one of the all time gekiga greats.
April 2, 2020
Another wonderful collection of Garo works from Breakdown. Seiichi has a much more refined style, an obvious draftsman, and packs his works with (US) pop culture. The reoccurring Marilyn Monroe, the logos, the Elvis character (!), it all creates a very surreal space for his poetic (lyric-borrowing) stories. Once again, Ryan Holmberg fantastically contextualizes the work with a nice long essay.
March 27, 2023
2.5 stars rounded up. These are creepy, transgressive stories with culturally-specific psychosexual meltdowns, rapey Batmen and a winking Lady Liberty-Marylin Monroe. The stories are oblique and melancholy, while ranting against the US and postwar Japan in equal measure. Cultural icons from both are repeatedly presented and reworked until they are exposed as sterile propaganda, which reminded me of similar techniques in J.G Ballard's The Atrocity Exhibition. I can't really recommend this as anything more than high concept, 1960s reactionary, thriller manga. Most of the stories needed to be explained by the long essay on the flipside of this edition. Given that the manga is so idiosyncratic that it has be contextually located and explained by its unique place and time by an enamored and thoughtful translator (e.g., Ryan Holmberg is a gem), I don't think the manga was successful other than making me feel vaguely uneasy.
April 19, 2019
Provided an interesting look into experimental manga of the late 60s. While I can appreciate the form and ambition, the content did feel just a bit lacking.
March 29, 2018
A fantastic collection of late 60's Japanese avant-garde comics with an accompanying essay, putting each piece into perspective for those less acquainted with Japan's underground art scenes, that's well worth the read. For those interested in very minimal, socially & politically charged commentaries on Japan's postwar art & consumer culture.
FFO: Film - Seijun Suzuki's bonkers Yakuza movies, Comics - Garo magazine, & Music - Any 20 c. Kayokyoku.
On the book itself:
Seeing 'Breakdown Press' on a book spine is a sign of quality. Why don't all publishers, who use large trim sizes, of manga use the binding method offered with this volume?
FFO: Film - Seijun Suzuki's bonkers Yakuza movies, Comics - Garo magazine, & Music - Any 20 c. Kayokyoku.
On the book itself:
Seeing 'Breakdown Press' on a book spine is a sign of quality. Why don't all publishers, who use large trim sizes, of manga use the binding method offered with this volume?
September 1, 2016
For fans of experimental comics, this is a must.
Review TK.
Review TK.
March 12, 2018
I really enjoyed being introduced to Hayashi Seiichi's work through this book focused on late 60s early 70s pieces. His style is so rich in psychological and shared-dream material, tossed in specific and timeless pop figuration, I was bowled over. His style feels unique, enigmatic and strangely commonplace. I loved it!
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews