Manga 'Look Back' Gets Live-Action Movie in 2026

by DatRandomDude
Dec 2, 2025 7:22 PM | 16 Comments

Shueisha and K2 Pictures announced a live-action movie adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's Look Back manga on Tuesday, revealing two teaser visuals (pictured). The movie—directed, written, and edited by acclaimed director Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters, Kaibutsu)—will open in Japanese theaters in 2026.

Fujimoto published the one-shot manga on the Shounen Jump+ website in July 2021. Shueisha published the manga in a single volume in September that year.

An anime movie adaptation directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama at Studio DURIAN opened in Japan in June 2024, before its worldwide release on Amazon Prime Video later that year.

VIZ Media licensed the manga in English under its VIZ Signature imprint in February 2022 and released it in September that year. Shueisha's Manga Plus platform also published the one-shot in English.

Look Back placed first in the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! 2022 rankings in the Male Readers category. The manga was also nominated for the Manga Taisho Awards in 2022.

Synopsis

Fourth-grader Ayumu Fujino regularly draws four-panel manga for her school newspaper and is lauded as having the best artwork in her class. One day, she is asked by her teacher to turn over one of her manga slots in the school newspaper to a truant student named Kyomoto. When Kyomoto's manga pops up alongside Fujino's, it receives high praises for its detailed artwork, making Fujino furiously jealous.

Refusing to be beaten by someone who barely attends school, Fujino devotes herself to learning to create manga. As time goes on though, her goal of outshining Kyomoto seems to only get further and further away, and Fujino, now in sixth grade, eventually gives up and quits making manga.

Graduation day arrives, and Fujino is asked to deliver Kyomoto's graduation certificate to her. Through chance, the two end up coming face to face, and their unexpected meeting will end up having consequences far beyond what either of them could ever predict. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Source: Eiga.com

Live Action

16 Comments Recent Comments

To be honest, I expected a live-action adaptation to be released BEFORE the anime, or even without any anime at all. At this point, after the anime's huge success, I think it's kind of pointless to make a live-action movie not that long after the animated movie's premiere.

Dec 9, 2025 4:15 AM by Adnash

Seems kinda pointless, but I'll probably end up watching anyway.

Dec 8, 2025 3:36 PM by malvarez1

I don't know the full reasons for this, but I'm increasingly starting to think that if this continues for another couple of years at this rate, Fujimoto will become the most popular and fastest-growing author in the industry in recent years.

@3inPunisher He's a very well-known Japanese director, known for his profound and meaningful films in the slice-of-life genre. But lately, his films have seemed more sensational. Look Back is quite in his style, although I don't know if he'll change the plot or narrative in any way.

Dec 7, 2025 6:59 AM by RobertBobert

@meowmeow12 Cool, im going to start watching his movies too see whats up.

Dec 4, 2025 11:58 AM by 3inPunisher

O very epic indeed this is.

I rarely watched Japanese live action movies nowadays but all ik is that the director is a talented piece of gem with many awards on his back so I have faith that this will be a modern fantastic work.

Dec 4, 2025 7:27 AM by TheMockingTown

And still not a single thing about a Fire Punch adaptation...

Dec 3, 2025 4:16 PM by AcD4c

When I first heard this news I initially thought "is this even necessary" but then I realized you know what fuck it, another Look Back adaptation won't hurt anybody. I don't expect it to be just a live-action version of the anime adaptation, I'm sure it'll have (and I'm hoping it'll have) extra content to flesh it out more.

Dec 3, 2025 3:42 PM by thebrentinator24

I cannot believe that my favorite One Shot manga is getting a movie adaptation by my favorite director on the planet...
I'm a hardcore cinemaphile and Kore-eda is my favorite director, he made my favorite movie of all time Afterlife, a heartbreaking and one of the hardest movies ever to watch Nobody Knows, the briliant and beautiful Shoplifters and many other beautiful films like Monster, Still Walking, Like Fater Like Son, I Wish, Maborosi and so on...

This is beyond insane how good the potential of this movie is, because his directing style SOOOO beautifully aligns with the tone of Look Back, I can already see traces of Afterlife and Shoplifters in how he will handle Look Back.

Fujimoto is probably the most respected mangaka of all time considering how he is being treated with the adaptations of his works. Chainsaw Man's insane adaptation by Mappa, Look Back by studio DURIAN, Tatsuki Fujimoto 17-26 amazing studio collab, and now this...
If Goodbye Eri gets a similar adaptation like Look Back (DURIAN has already shown interest in it) and Fire Punch gets something good, Fujimoto will be the most stacked mangaka in terms of adaptation under his belt.

Dec 3, 2025 10:41 AM by Tendo_GM

@3inPunisher I've only seen three of his films: Monster, Broker, and The Third Man. All three were really well directed. Monster was my favorite. He is really great at character drama and seems like a perfect choice for a live action adaptation of look back since the story focuses' on character drama which is his wheelhouse. I highly recommend his film monster, was one of my favorite films of 2024. He has a sequence in it where the characters are running outside which would be a great reference for the running crying sequence in look back as well. Seems like a perfect match for this material. He's one of japan's top working directors today!

https://letterboxd.com/director/hirokazu-kore-eda/

Dec 3, 2025 8:11 AM by meowmeow12

Hirokazu Kore-eda?!?! Dude, I'm really excited for this adaptation, he is a really great director and I can't wait to see what he comes up with!

Dec 3, 2025 5:51 AM by leaud

@3inPunisher he is possibly the greatest living Japanese film maker of our times. He won Palme D'Or at Cannes for Shoplifters.

Dec 3, 2025 1:36 AM by AbhiCh123

The high bar to cross is already through the ceiling, but I'm excited for this anyways. More adaptations!!

Dec 3, 2025 12:43 AM by detarameMAL

@meowmeow12 Is he a good director? Ive never heard of him

Dec 2, 2025 10:48 PM by 3inPunisher

Hirokazu Kore-eda!!! no way!

Dec 2, 2025 10:39 PM by meowmeow12

Cried once already. It won't hurt to do it twice, I suppose lol.