In 1969, Seiichi Hayashi, a renowned artist, realizes that his comics lack emotional depth and turns to the melancholic visuals of old kashihon gekiga and the sentiments of Japanese enka blues. In search of more heart and soul, he creates Flowering Harbour, a classic piece in the legendary alternative manga magazine, Garo. The heartbroken bar hostess mourns, "Our love... because of you, my long life will be withered with frost. This fading shadow of an empty shell."