A Beautiful Letter To Aspiring Creators!
During everyone’s youth, they’d meet with someone who’d tell them to chase their dreams and never yield. While the journey isn’t easy, the result will likely be worth it. Look Back is a new anime film that delves into that concept and more.
It’s based on a one-shot created by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the gentleman who made Chainsaw Man. Unlike Chainsaw Man, Look Back is set in a world free of devils, gore, and suggestive material. While Chainsan Man requires a certain taste to enjoy, Look Back offers a tale that’ll please and inspire many for ages.
Look Back follows Fujino. Fujino is an athletic fourth-grader with artistic talent. She loves drawing comics for her school newspaper and receiving kudos. However, when Fujino’s truant classmate Kyomoto submits her comics to the newspaper, many start praising Kyomoto more than Fujino.
This inspires and demotivates Fujino to pursue art. The two girls meet and a beautiful partnership blossoms before their eyes. Look Back’s storytelling is marvelous and will resonate with many who watch it.
However, it’s safe to assume fans who dabble in the fine arts will love it the most. This is thanks to the story’s realistic and emotional scenarios. From artwork comparisons to forging connections through shared passions, from the jump Fujimoto makes it clear he’s speaking to passionate creators.
Yet, with any journey comes internal and external complications. Look Back features several montages. Some feature our leads enjoying life while others depict them struggling and working hard. These scenarios don’t include much dialogue either.
Many will adore this approach as it helps to immerse in Fujino and Kyomoto’s rough and rewarding adventure. The anime tackles themes like tragedy, loneliness, and redemption to a great extent.
While Look Back offers a tale that’ll strike audiences’ core, it isn’t perfect. For instance, some may have gripes with the story’s logistics. Kyomoto’s living situation comes to mind. Many will question where her parents are, why the story didn’t elaborate more on her educational situation, etc.
Additionally, there’s a moment when the story presents audiences with an alternate timeline of events. Some scenarios that occur could confuse first-time audiences. Clear indicators of some kind would’ve been preferable. However, some fans may pick up on the reality shift during their initial viewing.
Moreover, Look Back doesn’t analyze Fujino and Kyomoto’s manga-making and publishing journey too much. While many won’t mind, others may have wanted the story to throw more hurdles in Fujino and Kyomoto’s way. Some examples include having the company reject their one-shots or having Fujino fail to meet a deadline.
While seeing Fujino and Kyomoto dispute over their differing career paths later on is fine, something akin to those suggestions would’ve been fantastic. Besides that, Look Back delivers a story many people will cherish and revisit for decades.
Fujino and Kyomoto are the only characters fans will remember. Fujino is a friendly, calm, and confident girl. Her work ethic and strive to improve will hit home with many hard-working viewers. However, Fujino slowly reveals her negative side over time. From her spiteful comments to her jealousy, Fujino isn’t pure of heart.
Even when Kyomoto enters Fujino’s life, Fujino belittles Kyomoto when she inevitably chooses to walk a different life path. It’d been fantastic if Fujimoto built upon his protagonist’s relationship’s end with more scenes. Nevertheless, the scene or two we receive decently leads to that outcome.
Nonetheless, Fujino is a memorable and flawed protagonist. Kyomoto is a lovable deuteragonist. She is Fujino’s opposite in many ways. While Fujino is confident and occasionally rude, Kyomoto is shy and uplifting. It isn’t until the story’s latter half that we see Kyomoto want to improve.
Unfortunately, Look Back doesn’t address Kyomoto’s life much. However, Kyomoto’s goals, personality, and actions in Look Back should be enough to entice viewers to “look past” the lack of information we received about her.
Durian Studios may not be popular, but viewers will keep them on their radar after watching Look Back. Compared to Mappa Studio’s work on Chainsaw Man, Look Back’s visuals won’t disappoint. Some notable examples include Fujino’s sprint down the rice field and her and Kyomoto running around a tree.
Where the former feels motivational, the latter feels nostalgic. The tragic scenes in this will be remembered most though. Fujino reflects on a certain individual’s passing and the montage we receive of her and this individual hanging out is depressing yet lovely.
Next to the visuals, the soundtrack is also great. Many fans will love the scores played during the upsetting moments and the songs implemented during the joyous set pieces. The same can be said for the voice acting too.
Ultimately, Look Back is a fantastic feast for the eyes and mind. It leaves audiences with really compelling life messages. It reminds folks that dreams come with a price. That price can result in failed expectations, losing a loved one, etc. Yet, it prompts everyone who watches it to “look back” on what they did to obtain their desired outcome, for better or worse.
Read More: Look Back Ending Explained
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Verdict - 9/10
9/10