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

Nagano, Yuuki Producer

Shinozaki, Shinya Producer

Matsumura, Kazuto Producer

Kawaji, Yukino Assistant Producer

Reviews

Dec 4, 2025

javalipelado

Recommended

ENG:

Personally, I hadn't read Look Back: my entry into the screening of this film, therefore, was marked by already knowing Tatsuki Fujimoto and by the excruciating anguish of even thinking about missing the chance to see a adapted work that this man had any relation to in a movie theater. And, as expected, the way the mangaka synthesizes overwhelming images, but somehow filled with a naive imagination – even in more acidic and/or immature works, such as Fire Punch – in relation to the media itself and in the construction of his characters is very well translated into a new cinematic dimension by director Kiyotaka ... Oshiyama and his team.

Such characteristic permeates Fujino and Myomoto's story, and it's impossible not to be moved by the trajectory of their friendship, by their disagreements and encounters, by the sensational audiovisual sensitivity of everyone involved, by the more than captivating commentary on (the creation of) art... by everything, actually.

TL;DR: it had been a long time since I'd cried like a little girl watching a movie.

PT-BR:

Particularmente, não li Look Back: minha entrada na sessão, então, foi marcada por já conhecer Fujimoto e pela angústia excruciante de mesmo sequer pensar em deixar passar a chance de ver um filme que este moço tenha posto o dedo dentro duma sala de cinema. E, como era de se esperar, a maneira como o mangaká sintetiza imagens avassaladoras, mas lotadas de um imaginário ingênuo - mesmo em obras mais ácidas e/ou imaturas, tal qual Fire Punch - em relação ao próprio meio midiático e na construção de suas personagens é muito bem traduzida para uma nova dimensão fílmica pelo diretor Kiyotaka Oshiyama e sua equipe.

Tal característica inunda a trama de Fujino e Myomoto, e é difícil não se emocionar com a trajetória de tal amizade, com suas desavenças e reuniões, com a sensibilidade audiovisual sensacional de todos os envolvidos, com o comentário mais do que cativante sobre (criação de) arte... com tudo, enfim.

Em resumo: fazia um bom tempo que eu não chorava como uma garotinha vendo um filme.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Aug 2, 2025

relevant-info27

Mixed Feelings

Excess lessens the potency of quieter moments. I can't shake this thought after my second viewing of Look Back, a movie adaptation of Fujimoto's one-shot of the same name. While the source material is often reflective of this sentiment in its own right, I am left feeling that the creative direction for the adaptation should have had more restraint.

The cinematic form greatly benefits from some level of restraint, particularly regarding the affect(s) a piece aims to capture. In the cinema of Ozu, for example, we are pulled between the ways of the old generation and of the new generation. Through this, Ozu captures an affect ... that is, at the same time, forward and backward-looking – quietly mourning the old customs while acknowledging the slow march of the future. This is not only communicated through the characters and thematic material of the work at hand, but also through the aesthetics and rhythm of nature. The most potent moments in Ozu's oeuvre arrive when these forces clash – often culminating in some degree of flourish reflected in the scenery (which, for Ozu, almost always held the camera stationary, allowing the score pick up the slack). Regardless – Ozu was quite restrained in portraying such cinematic moments. The most intense sequences in Ozu are calm and understated when compared with the tendencies of popular media. Ozu recognizes that a cinematic moment doesn't always benefit from displaying a concrete affect, or otherwise imparting a sentiment to the viewer. Allowing scenes to breathe, to ebb and flow from focus, brings the cinema closer to the rhythm of life. The saccharine tendencies so often characteristic of anime can run counter to this notion, at their worst negating it altogether. Instead of restraint, the field overflows with emotion, with feeling, and with creativity. I find myself enjoying this aspect when it's expressed through the aesthetic tendencies of a work. However, I am left wanting when this tendency is concentrated into a character's denouement.

Look Back is certainly a treat for the senses. Studio Durian has left a substantial impact with this adaptation and there's no denying that. The artistic achievements of Look Back stand out in comparison with the mega-popular Chainsaw Man anime adaptation, which admittedly had a very different set of intentions backing it. Purely on its formal axis, Look Back excels and consistently excites with its stylistic force of expression. To this end, affect becomes channeled through formalism and amplified according to the aspects of a given cell. It is through this aspect that Look Back becomes a piece of marked intensity. Fujimoto's one-shot was already a pretty saccharine piece and, in adapting the source material, Studio Durian chose to amplify rather than temper these qualities. The animation is active, even messy at times; both extreme close-ups and long shots are common (the camera being very sporadic – but inventive, expressive); Haruka Nakamura's score is ever-present, frequently zigzagging in and out of focus to remind you of how you ought to feel. There is little question regarding what Look Back aims to convey for any given cell. Though, at crucial moments, the film elects to restrain itself. The most notable example is with the ending sequence in Fujino's apartment, the camera stationary and the diegetic ambiance left to simmer. This ending sequence is very much in classical cinematic form, and I must say it was my favorite part of Look Back. However, upon reflection, this moment was only as potent as it was due to the relentless affect of everything prior to it. One certainly cannot step away from Look Back and say they were unaffected, or that the film did not at least try to leave its mark.

During Look Back's credits sequence, I am left exhausted. Almost nothing about this work aims to affect its audience subtly; it is very clear and straightforward about what it aims to be. Unfortunately, this quality is channeled into a consistently overwhelming affect which is so frequently a pitfall of anime. Anime that employ and acknowledge this saccharine quality (the anime and live-action works of Anno Hideaki coming to mind) – putting it into play, rather than taking it as a given – are better equipped to rebound off of it and extend themselves beyond the trappings of sentimentality. The melodrama (to which this tendency can be compared) becomes dull / lifeless when its narrative premise is lacking or its affect is singular and relentless. Look Back is certainly guilty of the latter, and often guilty of the former. Ultimately, I cannot say the work overstayed its welcome, though 57 mins nearly exceeded my patience...

In the cinema of Ozu, the viewer is conditioned to reflect upon the diurnal being of its subjects. And tempered through Ozu's characteristic restraint, affects extend beyond the local subject, reaching out to the whole. Struggle is never isolated; it is never just the quiet drama of the local subject. Despite Look Back's energy, the enthusiasm to make itself known, its ending sequence feels all too quiet and hollow. When left to reflect on what preceded, all one is left with is character – isolated struggle. Instead of affirming being, Look Back persists despite it. This rejection is perhaps admirable, but ultimately – for me – washes out any quiet moment that preceded it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 9, 2025

1stDecame4Danime

Not Recommended

Oh look, another artist's anime-girl self-insert by this guy. Oh look, it's just like that other one-shot he did about the artistic Sisters' rivalry... Yay

It has a decent start with actual purpose, an actual story. But after that little cloyingly overblown initial rivalry 'conflict' gets resolved (almost handwaved away) in preference for instant enemies-to-lovers gaybaiting via montage in-lieu of any actual character interaction... yeah the story starts spinning its wheels and sputtering as nearly the exact same overblown insecurity (non)conflict recurs on the other foot to fill the screentime and with even more bizarre nonsense about how 'you can't get better by practicing art, you ... have to go to school to do that.' Very weird nonsense from an artist.

By this point it could've been an average 5/10, but unfortunately, as we fast-forward with even more time-skipping montages, the story falls off a cliff as, in signature fashion, Fujimoto decides to scrap everything by flipping the board, and now decides he's writing a KyoAni fanfic with his anime-girl self-inserts instead and just never actually does anything further, just spinning in circles to reminisce with untimely juvenile wish-fulfillment rehashing dream-sequences and flashbacks to even more montages in-lieu of any actual character interaction between these now noncharacters, and finally ends it after spinning its wheels for so long having done nothing with it, ending on nothing. Trash. "It's supposed to be trash because its thematic of trash." Yeah, le big sad, I'm aware. It's still trash.

Themes and depth were extremely shallow. Depression/insecurity. Why? Because. That's all, you're not going to do anything with it? No.
Almost nothing even happens in this artist's self-fellating story about reminiscing about its story. Barely any of it has any narrative purpose. The entire story and every piece therein is merely superficially connected by nature of its (self)-reminiscence theme. Reminds me of Only Yesterday.

The art/animation looks mediocre most of the time. It's often difficult to tell the girls apart because of how their overly simple models are almost identical. The few bits of actual effort put in were absurdly overdone artsy cringe.

The direction is extremely overindulgent, they're really stretching this little oneshot out as much as they can to just barely get to 1 hour for a full movie-length production.

The music would be best described as background noise.

Shallow references to Chainsawman door and Goodbye Eri action-hero 'splosion theater. "Ermagerd that's from the thing!"

All the 4 panel 'comics' by the other girl were literally just landscape background art, that's not even a comic, "SO GOOD" my ass. Why? Because she's the perfect background artist for this artist's self-insert to show manga with story by X and art by Y team! Ermegerd!

2/10 (where 5/10 is average)

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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