Tatsumi celebrates the life of Japanese comic artist, Yoshihiro Tatsumi. Growing up as a young boy in occupied Japan, his family was poor. Comics were, at first, an outlet for young Tatsumi but later drawing them became a passion and a means of supporting his family. His zeal for comics was further heightened after he managed to meet his idol, the famed Osamu Tezuka, in his teens through the publications of his comics. But Tatsumi started to question the works that he was producing. He began to explore deeper into the meaning of his drawings. Eventually, he established an alternative style of comics called Gegika. Tatsumi's life story is intercut with some of his well-known stories such as "Hell" and "Goodbye."