Hayashi Seiichi (1945 - )

Seiichi Hayashi was born on March 7th, 1945, in Manchuria. He started to work in animation in 1962, before he began drawing comics. Hayashi started to draw for the magazine Garo in 1967 and soon became very well-known thanks to his comic Red Colored Elegy (赤色エレジー Sekishoku Erejii), which became something of a social phenomenon. Its main question is: "Is it possible to become an adult without being utterly compromised?". Depicting the daily life of a couple that is not married (an arrangement that is nothing new now, but was not nearly as acceptable in 1970), Hayashi shows their feelings in a metaphorical but accurate way that still reverberates decades later. Its influence in Japan was so large that Morio Agata, a prominent Japanese folk musician and singer songwriter, debuted with a love song written and named after it. In 2007, it was made into an animation. He still works today.