Red Colored Elegy  "Red Colored Elegy" is written and illustrated by Seiichi Hayashi. The manga was serialized in manga magazine, "Garo" from 1970 to 1971. Shogakukan published the manga in 1970/1971. It was republished on July 15, 2000. The manga is licensed in North America by Drawn and Quarterly, which released the manga on July 8, 2008. An eponymous single, performed by Morio Agata, was released on April 25, 1972 and peak ranked 7th in Oricon singles charts with more than 290,000 copies sold. An original video animation was created for "Red Colored Elegy" by Toei Animation on June 21, 2007. The OVA was directed by Seiichi Hayashi and its music was directed by Morio Agata. Music was composed by Keiichi Suzuki and Agata's single for the OVA was played by Matiko Hamada. In a 2008 About.com poll, "Red Colored Elegy" was voted Best "Artsy/Quirky", and 7th best new classic or reissued manga. "Publishers Weekly" named "Red Colored Elegy" as the third best manga of 2008. In 2009, the manga was nominated for the Harvey Award in the Best American Edition of Foreign Material category. "Red Colored Elegy" was selected as part of Paul Gravett's list of "PG Rated Manga". The Comics Reporter's David Welsh commends the manga artist's approach to the story, saying "Hayashi's approach is very restrained and conscientious, particularly in its ability to convey the unspoken. Since communication is the crux of Ichiro and Sachiko's problems, the ability to convey the inability to express is essential." Another The Comics Reporter review comments on how "very simple cartooning can be taken in bold new directions through something other than a prodigious display of old-school craft." "The Japan Times"s David Cozy commends Hayashi's art, commenting "Hayashi shows us Ichiro struggling, but it is the spatters that bring the struggle home." The comics artist and cartoonist Eddie Campbell described it as a good read, "a long strip cartoon about the stuff of life" and back to 1971 context would have been an inspirational work. He also replied to a reviewer complaining not able to make sense of it by linking the "Red Colored Elegy" and the '60s French New Wave cinema movement and describing today's reader as accustomed to linear read, concluding by if readers are occasionally confused then "welcome to 1970".