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

Woman from 4-frame Manga Supporting

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Man from 4-frame Manga Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Caster Supporting

Miyajima, Takeshi Japanese

Classmate Boy Supporting

Fujino's Older Sister Supporting

Maki, Kureha Japanese

Fujino's Grandmother Supporting

Taira, Masumi Japanese

Classmate Supporting

Endou, Rina Japanese

Matsumura, Kazuhito Producer

Shinozaki, Shinya Producer

Nagano, Yuuki Producer

Kawaji, Yukino 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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Oct 21, 2024

KIDNAMEFINGER

Not Recommended

Aggressively unimpressive. Character development and chemistry was incredibly lacking and was mostly relegated to montages instead of actual writing that requires them to have an on-screen chemistry and characterization. Music was incredibly overbearing and overly-sentimental for characters with very little tangible development. We barely even know anything about these characters by the end of the story. Why does Kyomoto draw? Why is she a recluse? How does Fujino’s drawing aspire her so much? (They had a comedy bit about this when they met but it’s not expound upon any further other than that one moment), Why does Fujino have the drive to outdo Kyomoto? Out ... of sense of competitiveness or spite? Does Fujino only use Kyomoto so she could ride her fame via their collaboration?
Does Fujino berates Kyomoto from going to university in order to prevent her from becoming better? It would make sense considering how harshly she treats Kyomoto when she professes wanting to go to the university and the scenes after it shows that despite achieving success, none of the people she worked with are as synergistic as her with Kyomoto. It feels like the movie is trying to make Fujino a selfish person but at same time they are too afraid to do so, worrying she will be hated by the audience.

The lack of character interaction and drama cannot be understated. Somehow the socially recluse Kyomoto has no problem socializing with, in her view, the prestigiously genius Fujino. No further depiction of her struggling with social interactions. The immediate next scene after her coming out of the house is in Fujino’s home like she’s a socially adept person, a jarring characterization coupled with the fact that she sleeps in someone else’s house. There was no conflict after their first scene together. They act all buddy happy as if they’ve known each other for years. All the hate and anger Fujino felt before was suddenly thrown out the window, big missed opportunity in drama and character development. This all results into a finale that’s very hard to be emotionally invested.

The artsyle is certainly unique but the animation and direction as a whole is largely unimpressive with only a moment or two of decent sakuga. References that has nothing to do with the story like chainsaw-man does no real service to the story and only serve as a distraction that takes the viewer out of the movie, ruining the immersion. As stated before, there are too many montages of STILL IMAGES of them interacting which makes it feels rushed and cheap.
The real problem of the movie was that it was too short, and it did too little for us to able to care about the characters. When the score’s incessant piano plays accompanying what is basically a slideshow presentation, it all screams crunch and lack of time.

I never read the manga, but I did read the prototype book that was given to me and it seems that the direction the filmmakers took is more towards adapting the book one-to-one with very little deviation. Honestly, this is a logical fallacy in filmmaking. When adapting anything, what’s most important is not to accurately adapting the original source to the big screen, but to expound on the ideas, correcting the flaws and missed opportunities of the original work.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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