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

Aug 11, 2024

InfinityDude88

Recommended

Well-written

With the monumental success of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Chainsaw Man it is no wonder that studios immediately turned to adapting more of his works. The concern of course then becomes whether there will be a rush to pump something out regardless of the quality. Thankfully, much like Chainsaw Man, Studio Durian was able to uphold and even uplift Fujimoto’s Look Back and, in the process, create a beautiful, heartfelt and devastating movie that will surely leave an impact for years to come.

Clocking in at only a little over an hour Look Back is a very short film, however it absolutely makes the most of that ... runtime. Beautifully sequenced timelapses emphasise the feeling of constant time passage which establishes a real sense of progression for the film. There is also no time wastage, with every scene playing an important role in either the plot or at tugging on your heartstrings. I also wouldn’t say I was left wanting more by the end, rather that it had an entirely satisfactory and fitting conclusion – perfect for a self-contained movie.

Despite being a relatively new studio, Studio Durian took the opportunity to show off their animation skills with some of the most mind-blowingly smooth and fluid animation in the business. For a film about the creation of manga, crazy animation was certainly not necessary, but it does make the overall package that much better. Any scene with movement whether it be running or paper floating about features dynamic action shots with constant flow, employing the common modern technique of 3d environments to stunning effect. This animation style also perfectly reflects Fujimoto’s style of drawing, with realism less important than the impact and emotion behind the scenes. The thinner, sketchier art style of the manga is also reflected in the movie. I think the perfect example of Durian’s desire to go above and beyond is the opening scene, where they fully animate Fujino’s first yon-koma manga in her style creating an exciting opening out of what could otherwise have been a fairly standard scene.

The music in Look Back is another aspect executed flawlessly. Nakamura Haruka crafted a fitting soundscape composed primarily of piano and strings. Whilst it swells up at times, particularly during the montages, it also knows when to remain minimalistic in order to let the raw emotion be displayed in full. The ending theme (played at a brilliant moment I might add) remains in much the same style as the soundtrack with the addition of soothing vocals to encourage reminiscence on the short but moving experience that just occurred.

I finally want to touch on the theme and story. It is clear from the outset that Look Back is largely a distillation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s experience as a mangaka (if you couldn’t figure it out from the premise, the appearance of the Chainsaw Man parody Shark Kick later on will surely suffice to demonstrate that fact). Fujino’s feelings of incompetency, her struggle to maintain friendships, the clashes in her partnership, the choice between art university and becoming a mangaka outright, and on and on. All of these elements feel as though they are coming from Fujimoto’s heart directly which makes them all the more impactful and realistic when they occur in the film. Even when things exit the realm of reality towards the end, they do so to emphasise the need to push forward and move on whilst respecting and building on the events of the past that is central to the overall message.

Tldr; Look Back is a raw, stunning, beautiful and emotional ride all packed into an hour that left me utterly blown away by the level of craftmanship and heart put into it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Oct 9, 2024

Hellother

Mixed Feelings

Fujimoto-San wrote a very personal story that seemed to be a tribute to someone and it is very hard to understand the motive behind it without knowing more details. With that being said, I’m very glad that the movie made the theater and Fujimoto achieved his goal, and now the movie itself will be remembered and honored by the community.

The story itself is rather simple and plain, without much novelty. It would probably be much more touching to someone that knows the backstory of the characters and their relation to Fujimoto himself. As of now, we do not know much detail behind it and ... unfortunately, Fujimoto did not show up during the post-screen interview to explain it. I would like to know more about the backstory and I think it would help us understand Fujimoto more, about his history and personal motive as a mangaka. I think it will remain a mystery for the foreseeable future.

Regarding the production, the animation is beautiful. The music is great and makes the story so touching. The voice actresses did a great job capturing the personalities of the two characters. Compared to the original manga, the animation did a little more elaboration on the later part of the story and made it less confusing. The movie ended with an open question: ‘why do we draw/create?’ Unfortunately, I couldn’t make an inference about what motivated Fujimoto to draw and create following the movie. I think Fujimoto still owes us an answer.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Feb 1, 2025

cynfest456

Not Recommended

Look Back: A Guide on How to Create an Incoherent Product and Still Get People to Consume It

In recent years, a trend has emerged in storytelling: rather than investing effort into crafting meaningful narratives and memorable characters, some creators have adopted a different approach. Their philosophy seems to be, “Let’s rely on shock value as our hook.”

Instead of building compelling stories or well-rounded characters, these works lean heavily on unexpected twists, bizarre plot developments, and sensational moments designed to grab attention. Coherence is often sacrificed, as the primary goal isn’t to tell a cohesive story but to generate enough noise to keep people consuming. ... This type of writting is called misery porn—a style of storytelling that replaces cohesion, character development, and emotional depth with a relentless barrage of traumatic events, only to end them abruptly and then we are left in shock. This is a high. This isn't meaningful.

Imagine attending a college theater production where the students prioritize shock value over substance, desperately trying to draw in crowds because they have nothing meaningful to say. They lack a basic understanding of writing or character arcs, yet they exploit raw emotions and expect applause for their efforts. This is the essence of the incoherent product we’re discussing.

Let’s break it down:

-The Story? It skips over crucial details, making it painfully obvious that the author was rushing to reach the next shocking moment before viewers could even question what the story was about.
- Character Growth? It’s been entirely replaced by cheap shock tactics, leaving no room for meaningful development.
- Memorability? You won’t remember these characters a year from now—or even sooner. And if you do, it’ll only be to realize that this is yet another shock-value story flooding the market since the 2010s.

So, why do authors write like this now? Because it’s easier nowadays. Instead of investing time and effort into crafting a solid narrative, they rely on sensationalism to grab attention. They’re creating stories in the fastest, laziest way possible, hoping that shock alone will distract audiences from how hollow everything else is.

The director pushed this to hit theaters in what many consider one of the driest years in modern cinema history so it gathers noise with content creators, desperate for clicks praising this product despite its glaring flaws and without earning it.

It’s becoming increasingly obvious that the industry is pushing anime toward a more corporate direction copying Netflix/Amazon/HBO-style shock value, rather than fostering innovative storytelling. This is why we saw more marketing for this film than for The Boy and the Heron, which executives seemed to actively push down its release just so theaters demand it gets shown everywhere. LOL

The box office results in Japan speak for themselves: The Boy and the Heron earned $60 million with virtually no marketing, while Look Back—despite its Rolling Stone cover and aggressive promotion and even using the great Kojima—grossed just over a billion yen (around $7 million). LOOOL. Bro, even the Bocchi the Rock! films of a 2 YEAR OLD ANIME available in streaming and that offer absolutely nothing new made a billion yen because there was nothing to see in theaters last year.. LOL

Its becoming obvious that there's a corporate push to elevate Fujimoto as the next big author is transparent because reddit hyped him as a storytelling genius, but the actual Japanese audience isn’t buying into the hype. Corporate executives are trying to steer audiences and anime in a direction that contradicts what has worked since the 1980s, prioritizing internet hype over creativity. The result? A growing divide between what audiences truly want and what the industry is forcing upon them and it's very obvious Look back is being forced. That's why unexpected stories like Frieren are becoming big hits and having more cultural impact than what corporate execs are obviously trying to push...

In the end, shock value might grab attention momentarily, but it’s no substitute for genuine storytelling. Without coherence, character development, and emotional depth, these products are destined to be forgotten—no matter how much noise they make. Japan better learn this lesson because streaming services ran out of shock value stories to hook people in and most are bleeding subscribers andfor anime it will end up bleeding the customers it took over 20 years to have

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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	best anime movie of the tokyo anime award festival 2025 deg - Feb 1	8 replies	by SNgKrv »» Feb 4, 7:26 AM
	CSM references in Look Back Greentreefrog - Oct 12, 2024	5 replies	by Merve2Love »» Feb 3, 1:39 PM
	Poll: Look Back Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) IzanaSolos - Jun 14, 2024	176 replies	by AuthorMx »» Jan 29, 6:50 PM
	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