Look Back

Ayumu Fujino may only be in the fourth grade, but she already basks in high praise for her hand-drawn four-panel comics featured in the school's newspaper. However, when she is asked to share the page with Kyoumoto—a reclusive student she has never met—Fujino feels inadequate for the first time: her free-spirited drawings look embarrassingly amateurish next to Kyoumoto's breathtakingly detailed art.

For a year, Fujino shuts out the world, obsessively studying manga creation and drawing tirelessly to catch up to her faceless competition. But Kyoumoto's talent far exceeds hers, and Fujino quits it all. Another year passes, and on the day of their graduation, Fujino finally meets Kyoumoto. This unkempt, shy, and stuttering girl has actually been Fujino's biggest fan all along. Their encounter reignites Fujino's passion for art and sparks the beginning of a years-long friendship built on rivalry, admiration, and their shared love of manga.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kyoumoto Main

Yoshida, Mizuki Japanese

Fujino, Ayumu Main

Kawai, Yuumi Japanese

Man Supporting

Oka, Kouta Japanese

Man from 4-frame Manga Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Woman from 4-frame Manga Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Caster Supporting

Miyajima, Takeshi Japanese

Classmate Boy Supporting

Teacher Supporting

Itou, Jun Japanese

Fujino's Grandmother Supporting

Taira, Masumi Japanese

Classmate Supporting

Endou, Rina Japanese

Matsumura, Kazuto Producer

Shinozaki, Shinya Producer

Nagano, Yuuki Producer

Shiga, Yurie Assistant Producer

Reviews

Jan 17, 2025

Kranst

Recommended

A celebration of artists everywhere. Look Back conveys the complex feeling of one desperately expressing their very personal emotions through an art form. The minor imperfections and display of raw passion enhance the material. This is real. Appreciation for this experience will grow with reflection, encouraging the viewer to engage in thought-provoking meditation and interpretation. The animation is expressive, and there is beauty in sound both present and removed. The story is told with sincerity. Regret and happiness. Apathy and passion. Endurance and ambition. Everything is laid bare with no hesitation. Please consider taking a short amount of time to engage with this heartfelt story.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Nov 28, 2024

Halcyon13

Mixed Feelings

Well-written

Tatsuki Fujmoto's one-shot Look Back serves as a love letter to the creative artistry behind manga. The short story follows two middle schoolers, Kyomoto and Fujino, two names that form a portmanteau in Fujimoto’s own surname when split. Fujino is a popular kid and happens to draw 4-koma manga strips for the school newspaper, and this success bolsters her ego through the roof. Until she sees Kyomoto's work published in the same paper and is in awe of her rival's artistic talent, an obsession to be better grows. As the saying goes, comparison is the thief of joy, but in this case, competition is directly ... correlated to improving her skills. The film shows her hard work as taxing, harming her studies, and such, but ultimately, it is clear to the viewer that she had fun. It's exciting to have a goal, something to chase. This contrasts Kyomoto, an agrophobe yet incredibly skilled at background design. Look Back essentially chronicles their unlikely partnership, then subsequently a friendship.

The film is narratively thin, although that's not inherently a downside, just a mere fact. There isn't much to work with given the nature of the concept and the emotion-centric storytelling. Whatever material director Kiyotaka Oshiyama has, he presents with fidelity. A large segment of the film is montages, probably one too many. It mostly works though, typically characterizing the two girls as well as the shift in their dynamic. Each of these sequences depicts various facets of the craft as well, showing them putting months upon months of work into a manga. While the combinations of successive shots condense time, the backgrounds show the sun rising and falling as the seasons change. The layout of Fujino's room becomes increasingly cramped, but as long as they have a desk to work on, the drawings continue. A number of the montages parallel each other in the same timeframe but characterize different aspects of the two girls' relationship. Evidently, the connection they develop is the central focus, particularly how attachments should be avoided by professionals. The only thing constant is change, and it is inevitable that a creator will want to hone their abilities, thus creating distance from those around them.

Look Back is studio Duran's first feature-length project since being founded in 2017, and while Oshiyama (co-founder) has a plethora of experience under his belt, he hasn't been at the helm in years. It's important that we address the quality of the film because it becomes an indispensable part of the experience. The color grading in the film bears a tremendous weight in shaping the mood of a scene. Take something as simple as Fujino grabbing Kyomoto's hand and running down a street, for instance. A moment as simple as this has the backgrounds muted out in slow motion as Fujino and Kyomoto happily jog. This is standard for most films with scenes of that nature, but the innate inclusion of peripheral movement allows the mise en scène of the rising action to stand out. We see this during montage sequences often, such as light refraction, or a potent example would be the first shot of Fujino brainstorming at her desk. The body language shows an acute attention to detail like ticks that mangaka may have, and something as trivial as pen spinning adds a bit more personality. Oshiyama opts for rotoscoped character animation, leveraging the technique in prolonged shots where facial expressions sell the emotion.

Much of what Look Back offers points to a capable adaptation, and I would identify it in that light for the better part of the film. To put it bluntly, it could have been shorter. That includes accounting for all the material and not cutting corners. A shorter runtime doesn't solve a great deal, but there would be less thematic elongation and would subsequently create slightly more interpretation. Then again, if we zoom into the root of the narrative's bewilderment, it is clearly the third act. That style of incorporating a brutal turn of events has become the norm lately, so it has now become exactly what it opposed: a derivative plot device. Personally, I'm neutral on the storytelling pathing in that direction, but I fail to see any level of effectiveness in it. The story can operate without that act or even mimic the same sentiments with a vastly divergent conclusion. This trend of tearing down reality has felt increasingly cheap to me, a method of forcing the viewer to cherish the past. It doesn't help that the film's foreshadowing is extremely heavy-handed, which again is generally fine if it were content with introspecting the lives of young girls vying to be mangaka.

Criticism aside, Look Back does have genuine watch value. There's one specific part of the writing that stands out, a thread that I would assume Fujimoto intentionally overlooked. Kyomoto is established as an artist, a visionary desperate to grow her skills. Fujino is never given that title, and it's consistently ambiguous as to why she draws manga at all. Originally, it was for recognition, maybe money, then jealousy, and lastly, perhaps for Kyomoto. Naturally, these are all perfectly valid reasons, and it's just as fine if none were true. Drawing because she doesn't know what else to do or isn't talented at anything else. Fujimoto's angle here hints at the universality of a job being just that, a job. And that is okay. In that same vein, the film has many feel-good messages to offer, painted in bright, warm hues. Composer Haruka Nakamura, who I've been familiar with for a long time now, is proficient at building up a string and piannisimo crescendo. He performs well here, and Oshiyama appropriately uses the score or douses a shot in silence. Look Back, even with its ups and downs, especially for a debut project, puts studio Durian on the map. If anything, it's a testament to Oshiyama needing longer original work. The opening shaky rotating shot is almost out of a Gaspar Noe film; similarly, the technical virtues positively overshadow narrative gaps. Art is cruel, and humans are like water in the face of it, moving whichever way the flow takes us.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 27, 2024

Slyfer1208

Not Recommended

Funny

I cant believe this rating. A portion of society must have become so weak-minded that they feel compelled to follow the collective lies of the internet just to fit into a group and remain accepted. This is where Look Back comes in. It starts receiving praise, and soon, a flock of people blindly agree, parroting phrases like "Fujimoto is a visionary."

Fujimoto is a trend chaser not a trend setter. This one shot was written when autobiographical-esque stories were catching people's eyes a few years back. Disney beat them to this... with Luca & then Turning Red. Yup. Coming of age stories that feature ... pre-teens going through an emotional and grounded struggle.... but failed.... why? they because they were pointless just like this one...

This is why there are reports that anime insiders are having tough conversations about how anime will slowly lose its mainstream appeal in the coming months and years. Since products like Look Back offer nothing new, it meant to suck up the free money and nothing more.

It lacks cohesion, or point and feels like something a first-year CalArts student could write without much effort. It’s reminiscent of theater students who craft scenes solely to shock their audience to be different without delving into meaningful details. The characters are barely developed, and we’re fast-tracked through months of their lives with little explanation. But Before we can even question the story’s direction, it ends.

If you felt emotionally shaken by the film, it’s likely because you wanted to feel that way—not because the movie earned it. The anime industry seems to be leaning toward this "CalArts pretentiousness"—prioritizing surface-level shock value over substance. This approach might sell in the short term, but it risks alienating audiences who have grown tired of hollow narratives. Instead of calling these stories out for being subpar, some fans pity them or convince themselves they’re profound when they’re not.

And sure, the sleazy strategy of the free manga promotions to get people to buy a ticket might have helped Look Back break even, but the reception in the U.S. wasn’t stellar. Even the animated Lord of the Rings film made more money while being hated and criticized while featuring a character no one knows. Think about that. If this is the direction anime studios want to take—believing such shallow content is the future—then expect studios and distribution companies to face mounting losses and be forced to be bought just GD Kids had to be bought....

I honestly think, that Fujimoto is someone who benefited of the golden era of anime—series like Naruto, Bleach, Demon Slayer etc set the foundation through hard work. But instead of building on that legacy, he churns out forgettable projects based on trends(autobiographical stories trend) and shock value to cash in on easy profits. Honestly, do you think people will still be talking about this film next year? It’s a forgettable, borderline scammy cash grab.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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'Look Back' Unveils Additional Staff, Trailer

The official website of the Look Back anime movie unveiled additional staff, the theme song, a trailer, and the key visual (pictured) on Wednesday. The movie is sche...read more

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The official website of the anime movie adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's Look Back manga announced the main cast on Thursday. The movie is scheduled to open in...read more

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	Poll: Look Back Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) IzanaSolos - Jun 14, 2024	172 replies	by HostKal »» Jan 21, 12:17 PM
	CSM references in Look Back Greentreefrog - Oct 12, 2024	4 replies	by Terry-Sensei »» Dec 29, 2024 9:18 AM
	Look Back and Kyoto Animation incident Bagus_Resol - Nov 11, 2024	16 replies	by Zarutaku »» Dec 7, 2024 7:25 AM
	Amazing performance of Mizuki Yoshida as Kyoumoto celebes - Nov 8, 2024	2 replies	by Aragane »» Nov 22, 2024 7:11 PM
	I didn’t enjoy it as much as everyone else, am I stupid? ( 1 2 ) someguy - Nov 8, 2024	61 replies	by fitzthefast »» Nov 14, 2024 7:51 AM