Hirokazu Koreeda brings a human element to Look Back, delivering a poignant story about growing up, artistic creation, and overcoming grief that feels like a manga coming alive on the screen.
Director: Hirokazu Koreeda
Genre: Drama, Coming of Age
Run Time: 100′
Venice World Premiere: September 7, 2026 (In Competition)
Japan Release Date: September 11, 2026
U.S. Release Date: TBA
U.K. Release Date: TBA
There’s a scene at the end of Look Back when one of the film’s protagonists looks looks at a certain signature on the back of a jacket – one that those who’ve read the manga from which it was adapted know all too well – and comes to an important realization. In Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga, that scene occupies a single, poignant frame, but in Hirokazu Koreeda’s movie, the moment comes alive, prolonged over multiple shots that place us right there with the character, making us feel as though we could stretch out a hand and touch that jacket too.
It’s when I watched that scene that I truly understood the brilliance of Koreeda’s adaptation, and why the director’s quiet, understated filmmaking style was the perfect way to approach this specific story. We already have a great film adaptation of “Look Back” from 2024, when Kiyotaka Oshiyama turned the manga into a stunning animated movie that was both faithful to its source material and a joy to sit through. But what Koreeda brings to this story is a visceral humanity that fills in the gaps in our characters’ story, making them more well-rounded and the worldbuilding more vibrant and affecting.
Look Back tells the story of a fourth-grader named Fujino (played by the 12-year-old Furi Nanase, in her debut role) whose talent for drawing manga has earned her comic strips a slot in the school’s paper, and the admiration of her fellow schoolmates. One day, her teacher asks her to give up one of her strips so that a reclusive classmate named Kyomoto (Rokka Okada, of Inu-Oh) can contribute too. Fujino complies, but when she sees Kyomoto’s manga, she immediately realizes that the newcomer is more skilled at drawing manga than she is. This sends her down an emotional spiral as she becomes determined to become a better artist, and completely isolates herself from the world in the process.
Just when Fujino has accepted that she’s never going to beat her competition and decided to quit drawing altogether, her teacher asks her to deliver Kyomoto’s diploma to her, since she hardly ever leaves her house. To Fujino’s surprise, this rivalry soon turns into a very special friendship, and eventually into a creative partnership that will accompany both girls into key phases of their lives. Just like the manga, the film follows our characters into young adulthood – with Natsuki Deguchi (The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House) as Fujino and Aju Makita (Shoplifters) as Kyomoto – focusing on both their friendship and their professional achievements together.
Look Back works not only as a beautiful coming-of-age tale but also as an insightful, mature analysis of artistic creation, seen as something that can both connect people and help them overcome trauma and grief when the unimaginable takes place. On top of this, the film also explores both protagonists’ inner worlds, offering an in-depth look at the pressure to achieve that young people face in our society, the dangers of leaving things unsaid, and the anxieties that can prevent us from truly living.
Just like the previous versions of this story before it, Koreeda’s Look Back does justice to all these ideas, with a clever, original narrative that will surprise viewers more than once and stay with them for a long time. But this new adaptation also brings in an intimate, lived-in element that will have your eyes glued to the screen, thanks to stunning locations and compositions, fantastic production design, and a screenplay that gives each moment more time to breathe, making us more attached to these characters. Shot on location in the Akita Prefecture on 35mm film that makes everything feel more textured and alive, the movie feels like a manga that’s being drawn on the screen in real time, with a very strong sense of place that also grounds it in reality.
Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita deliver fantastic work here, showing us multi-layered characters that always feel like real people, and whose lives you’ll be invested in from the moment you meet them. As Fujino and Kyomoto’s friendship blossoms, it’s simply a joy to watch the two stars share the screen, and there’s an authenticity in their portrayals that makes both characters so special. Makita has several scenes on her own, and there’s one in particular where she comes to a realization, in the second half of the movie, which will hit you like a wave of emotions as you suddenly understand what the movie itself is ultimately about. The younger cast isn’t always as convincing, but the transition between the younger and older versions of these characters feels very natural nonetheless.
Just like its source material, Look Back cleverly subverts genre expectations to turn a coming-of-age story into something much deeper, tackling themes that some may find hard to relate to or painful to explore. But if you are willing to fully immerse yourself in this tale and let it surprise you, you’ll find a one-of-a-kind gem, which Koreeda makes even more stunningly human. Not to be missed.
Look Back (2026): Movie Plot & Recap
Synopsis:
Fourth-grader Fujino’s passion for drawing leads to an unexpected friendship and creative partnership with the reclusive Kyomoto, as the two aspiring manga artists grow up together and face the joys and hardships of life and artistic creation.
Pros:
- A poignant, beautifully human adaptation that only Koreeda could have made
- Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita are fantastic
- Stunning 35mm cinematography and production design
- Insightful exploration of creativity, friendship, grief, and anxiety
- Gives its characters and key moments more room to breathe than the manga
Cons:
- The younger cast isn’t always as convincing as the older actors
Look Back had its World Premiere at the 2026 Venice Film Festival on September 7, 2026.