GKIDS has released a new featurette with Hirokazu Koreeda, the director of the live-action Look Back, in which he talks about bringing Tatsuki Fujimoto's one-shot manga from the page to the screen. GKIDS posted the video yesterday along with the film's North American release plan: select theaters on December 30, then theaters nationwide on January 15. Check out the official post down below:
What Koreeda Says About Adapting Look Back
In the 52-second video, Koreeda speaks in Japanese with English subtitles, intercut with shots of storyboards, a fountain pen in an ink bottle and hands drawing manga pages. He explains why a film cannot copy the way a manga reads:
"Manga has its own unique rhythm. It directs your eyes in certain ways. It works around turning the page. You can't recreate that. You have to use different means of creating interest with film. You get to decide how light falls, what sort of wind blows."
He then describes what he took from Fujimoto's story: "Reading Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga, I saw the determination an author must have. The protagonist, Fujino, really acquires that determination by the end of the work. I made sure that core arc was always in mind as I worked through the film."
The Story And Cast
GKIDS' synopsis follows Fujino, a confident grade-schooler who draws comics for her school newspaper and earns the admiration of her classmates. When her artwork is surpassed by her reclusive classmate Kyomoto, she becomes obsessed with improving, burns out and gives up drawing. When the 2 finally meet, Fujino learns that Kyomoto has been her devoted fan all along, and they spend years drawing manga together until a fateful event changes their lives.
Natsuki Deguchi plays Fujino and Aju Makita plays Kyomoto, according to the official site from Japanese studio K2 Pictures. Makita has worked with Koreeda several times before, in Going My Home, After the Storm, The Third Murder, Shoplifters and the series The Makanai. Masaki Suda plays Maeda, a manga editor, in his first Koreeda film, and Kankuro Kudo plays Tamai, an elementary school teacher. Kayo Noro and Ryo Ikeda play Fujino's parents, Miyu Sasaki, who was also in Shoplifters, plays her older sister, and Maho Yamada plays a middle school teacher. 2 child actors play Fujino and Kyomoto in their younger years.
Who Made The Film
Koreeda directed, wrote and edited Look Back. Yuta Bandoh composed the music, Kenshi Yonezu plays guest guitar on the soundtrack, Toko Miura sings a song in the film, and Yoko Kuno directed its rotoscope animation. Daiki Koide produced it for K2 Pictures, which released the film in Japanese theaters on September 11. Photographer Hideaki Hamada spent about 3 months on set shooting stills, and K2 Pictures has scheduled a teach-in screening with Koreeda at Kawagoe Scala-za, a movie theater that was one of the film's shooting locations.
Look Back premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and its UK premiere at the BFI London Film Festival. Its US premiere took place at Beyond Fest. At the Chicago International Film Festival last month, cinematographer Senzo Ueno won the Silver Hugo for Best Cinematography.
Koreeda made his feature debut with Maborosi in 1995, which won the Golden Osella at Venice, and won the Palme d'Or at the 71st Cannes Film Festival in 2018 for Shoplifters. GKIDS calls Look Back the first live-action adaptation of Fujimoto's manga.
From Shonen Jump+ To 2 Films
Fujimoto published Look Back as a one-shot on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ in July 2021. Studio Durian adapted it into an anime film directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama in June 2024, and GKIDS released that version on a 4K Collector's Edition in September. More on Fujimoto's other major series is in Denji's Run Comes To A Halt As The CHAINSAW MAN Manga Ends In June With Chapter 232.
GKIDS posted this video for the North American release in October:
Will you see Koreeda's live-action Look Back in theaters, or does Kiyotaka Oshiyama's anime film stay your favorite version?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.