Look Back

Plot

The story follows Fujino, a popular and outgoing student, and Kyomoto, a shut-in with severe social anxiety, who bond over their shared love of creating manga. Kyomoto idolizes Fujino for her work drawing manga for their elementary school's newspaper, wishing to befriend her, however Fujino initially resents Kyomoto's natural artistic talents. The pair grow close through their shared love, with the work following their bond as they grow into adulthood.

Production

Development

In December 2025, it was announced that Tatsuki Fujimoto's 2021 one-shot manga Look Back will be adapted into a live-action film, with Hirokazu Kore-eda serving as the director, screenwriter, and editor. The film is the first live-action adaptation of Fujimoto's works and comes after the manga's 2024 anime film adaptation. Kensei Nakayama was announced as the assistant director and Ryōko Taguchi as the script supervisor. Daiju Koide served as the producer under K2 Pictures Production.

Kore-eda discovered Look Back after seeing its cover at a bookstore at Shinagawa Station and being attracted to "a figure's back". He read the manga in one sitting and "felt the desperate resolve" behind it, adding: "I could feel, almost painfully, that Mr. Fujimoto simply couldn't move forward without creating this piece. For me, Nobody Knows was that kind of work". Koide approached Kore-eda with an offer to adapt the manga into a live-action film. After receiving the offer and meeting Fujimoto, Kore-eda said that he "had no choice but to do it". Kore-eda researched about manga creation by watching documentaries on manga artists and reading material about the process.

Casting

Toshie Tabata and Yōko Yamashita were in charge of casting. In June 2026, it was announced that Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita would portray the main characters Fujino and Kyomoto. They had previously co-starred in Kore-eda's Netflix series The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House. Furi Nanase and Rokka Okada were also revealed to be portraying the younger versions of Fujino and Kyomoto. Nanase and Okada are real-life classmates, with Kore-eda stating after auditions that they were the only two who could play the roles. The film serves as Nanase's acting debut. In July 2026, Masaki Suda, Kankurō Kudō, Kayo Noro, Ryō Ikeda, Miyu Sasaki, and Maho Yamada joined the cast. Prior to filming, Deguchi, Makita, Nanase and Okada had practiced drawing manga for months and were given weekly assignments by an instructor. Some of their works are shown in the film.

Filming and post-production

Look Back was shot on 35mm film at Kore-eda's request, with Senzo Ueno serving as the cinematographer. It was primarily filmed in Fujimoto's hometown of Nikaho, Akita, and around 300 local residents participated as extras. The winter and spring scenes were shot from February to May 2025; the summer scenes were filmed in July, and the autumn scenes were filmed in November. Filming also took place at the Tohoku University of Art and Design in Yamagata. The film utilized rotoscoped animation that was directed by Yōko Kuno and produced by Shin-Ei Animation. Studio Ghibli animator Yōichi Nishikawa handled the background art, and Kazuo Oga and Tatsuya Kushida created paintings that appeared in the film. Look Back was in post-production at the time it was officially announced; in July 2026, the film was reported as being completed with a runtime of 99 minutes.

Music

Yuta Bandoh composed the film's music. It is his first project with Kore-eda and was produced in conjunction with the soundtrack of the latter's film Sheep in the Box (2026). The composition process began prior to filming and took about one and a half years. Bandoh stated that the film crew's images of Nikaho served as inspirations for the music. Participating musicians include guitarists Kyuhee Park, Takuya Okamoto, Gensuke Kanki, and Ohzora Kimishima; the Ensemble FOVE; violinist Kyoko Ogawa; violist Rachel Yui Mikuni; percussionist Shun Ishiwaka; and bassist Marty Holoubek. Nippon Columbia released the soundtrack on 12 September 2026. Tōko Miura served as the vocalist for the track "Beyond the Door", and Kenshi Yonezu provided a guitar performance for one of the film's scenes.

Marketing

Along with the film's announcement, two promotional posters photographed by Hideaki Hamada were released, featuring the two leads with their faces obscured in both and their actresses unidentified. A teaser trailer was unveiled at the Jump Festa 2026 event in December 2025. At the 2026 Marché du Film, the Tokyo International Film Festival presented the film as part of the Tokyo Goes to Cannes showcase. A second trailer and two teaser posters were released in June 2026. The film's main trailer was unveiled the following month along with two additional posters. A clip from the film of Kyomoto and Fujino creating manga was released on 4 September.

Release

Look Back premiered in competition at the 83rd Venice International Film Festival on 6 September 2026. It was released in Japan by K2 Pictures on 11 September. The film was exhibited in 358 theaters and included screenings in the Dolby Cinema and Dolby Atmos formats. GKIDS will release the film in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Ireland in 2026, with its North American premiere being held at the Toronto International Film Festival on 10 September. It will also screen in competition at the BFI London Film Festival and the Chicago International Film Festival in October 2026. Goodfellas is handling international sales outside of Asia.

Reception

Box office

In its first three days, Look Back grossed over ¥144 million (US$933,500) from 96,605 admissions, debuting at fifth place in Kōgyō Tsūshinsha's weekend box office rankings.

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 87% of 23 critics' reviews are positive, with rated reviews having an average of 7.2/10. Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 73 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.