Look Back is a 2024 animated film directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama and Studio Durian, adapting the manga one shot of the same name by Tatsuki Fujimoto. It tells the story of Fujino, a young and talented elementary school artist, who draws four panel manga strips for her school’s newspaper. Her teacher asks her if it would be fine if another student, named Kyomoto, takes the spot next to her for their own manga strips. Reluctantly, she agrees, and when the next newspaper comes out is shocked to see how much more detailed, and just overall better, Kyomoto’s art is. She feels that she’s found her rival, and tries to get better and does, but doesn’t feel she’s reached the level of Kyomoto, and thus gives up. That is until she meets Kyomoto, after being asked to deliver her diploma to her and accidentally luring her out of her room with a little comic strip, and finds that this rivalry was one sided, and Kyomoto actually looks up to her, even calling her ‘sensei’. This spurs Fujino to draw again, this time with Kyomoto by her side.
As the two grow and become more known through the one shots that they’ve created and published together, Kyomoto feels she’s begun to rely on Fujino too much, and wants to split off from her and grow as an artist. So, she leaves for art school, while Fujino creates her own serialized manga series. What follows is a major plot development that is a huge spoiler for the second half of the film, so if you don’t want spoilers, click off for the time being and go watch it. Fujino’s working on her new manga series, Shark Kick, and hears news of an attack at an art school. Specifically, Kyomoto’s art school, where unfortunately Kyomoto was killed in the attack. She drops everything, goes on a hiatus from her series, and heads back to her hometown to go to Kyomoto’s funeral. She goes back to Kyomoto’s house, and sees the strip she drew for her. She then imagines a world of what would’ve happened if she never got Kyomoto out of her room, before cutting back to reality, and going back home to finish her manga, in honor of Kyomoto.
Tatsuki Fujimoto is one of my favorite writers, and when I heard that Look Back was getting a movie adaptation, I was really hoping that the studio directing it would do it justice, and they gave it every single ounce of it. The animation is incredible, and the art itself looks exactly like Fujimoto’s drawings in the manga. Sometimes the scenes are even better than they were in the manga, like the one of Fujino skipping in the rain after meeting Kyomoto, which perfectly showcases the excitement and joy that she feels after learning that who she thought was her biggest rival was truthfully just her biggest fan. The scenes after the attack on the art schools are amazing, and seeing Fujino develop after the loss of Kyomoto is incredibly touching. Her still going and creating her manga, because it’s what Kyomoto would have wanted her to do hit really hard. Every single scene is done beautifully, and I am feel so incredibly grateful that I was able to watch this in theaters, with how limited of a release it had (it only had two days in theaters!).
Look Back is easily my favorite movie of 2024 thus far. The art, the animation, and the overall story are all incredible, and it’s one of the few movies that have made me cry. I think that this is something that everyone should see, especially if you are an artist of some sort. It’s got a short run time, around 57 minutes, so it’s a short and easy watch. Look Back was released on Amazon Prime on November 7th and is free with the subscription, so if you have one, go and watch it!
