[Credits Roll into the Sea] has a lovely high concept, of a woman who believes that she has no story, but really wants to make one happen before she dies. The title of John Tarachine’s manga has a pun concealed within it. The “Umi” could mean ocean, but here it is also the name of our heroine, Umiko, a 65-year-old widow who is seized, after a lifetime of movie-watching, with the inspiration that she wants to make a film before she dies. Tarachine’s manga is a lovely evocation of the creative arts and the creative mind, starting with a woman who has never done anything before, immediately thrown off by the need to actually have an idea. Not even knowing what kind of film she wants to make, she heads off to the cinema to watch The Old Man and the Sea, where she runs into the androgynous and occasionally cross-dressing film student Kai Hamauchi.

The encounter with Kai introduces Umiko to a whole world of people just waiting for success in the arts, and to the fact that nobody is going to hand her a producer’s title on a plate. A producer needs to find the money, have the idea, sort out the script, find the actors, scout the locations… suddenly Umiko’s twilight years are vibrantly busy, and the whole thing is a touching memorial to her late husband, whom she first met on a date to the movies.

Repeatedly, Tarachine pokes around the fine line in media mogulship between getting stuff done and just goofing off. Is Umiko a dabbling dilettante or a producer in waiting? Is she having a cheesecake in a café with her mate, or is she investigating the possibility of a funding proposition? Is she off on a pointless daytrip with Kai, or is she scouting a location? One day, this might all turn into a movie… or nothing. It’s a lovely investigation of the literal glamour of movie magic.

Extracted from my Manga Snapshot article on Mystery Bonita magazine, from NEO #224, 2022. Credits Roll into the Sea will be released as an animated feature in 2027.