Seiichi Hayashi is a Japanese mangaka and illustrator, born in Manchuria. He began his career working in animation for Toei Studios in 1963. He participated in the studio's first short film and its productions for TV. He additionally made record covers and theater posters for the alternative scene of the time, and started a collaboration with Garo magazine in 1967. His claim to fame as a manga artist came in 1971 with the publication of the much appraised 'Red Colored Elegy'. An English edition was published by Drawn & Quarterly in 2008, followed by a French edition in 2010. Toei Animation made a video animation of it in 2007. Besides his work as an author, he pursued a career in advertising, becoming one of the most famous illustrators in Japan.