So Don’t Look Back In Anger
A Film Review of Look Back (2024) — Written by Ardel (Kru’23)
Oh, the neck is too long. She doesn’t look like a girl, maybe try to fix her eyes? It’s not realistic enough!
But is it fun?
I sat and dazed for minutes after I first read Look Back. It’s unfamiliar, the feeling of being understood for the first time in my life through this piece. “Is this the best version of me?” I said, and Look Back answered, “Does it really matter?”
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Directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama and birthed from the same man who created Chainsaw Man, Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back tells a story about the journey of two girls that desperately want to put a meaning to their art. There’s Fujino, the wannabe-manga-artist that filled laughter in her classroom with her weekly four comic strips. One day, the sudden appearance of Kyomoto’s majestic background art next to her ‘childish’ comic threatened her. Because of it, she’ll spend her remaining years in grade school to sharpen her technique — just to make her classmate say, “Fujino’s drawing is ridiculous compared to Kyomoto’s.”
Heartbroken, Fujino left her pen and graduated with something missing. What she’s missing is the very existence of Kyomoto — the shy girl who she competes with for years — that turns out to be a big fan of her works. United by their passion for art, Fujino and Kyomoto start chasing their dreams while holding hands, unknowing what the future holds for them.
To read it is one thing; to watch Fujino and Kyomoto actually laughing on a big screen is another. Look Back is crafted with much love and it shows from the way it’s animated. Every artist I know that has seen the movie will go out of the cinema studio and say, “I need to draw.” I think it tells you just enough how wonderful the production is. Kiyotaka Oshiyama really nailed it with this one.
Look Back seemed like an ordinary coming of age movie to some, but when you’ve spent endless nights fighting with I’ll never be enough-s… well, those 58 minutes is an excellent choice to self-reflect. A movie so delicate, tender, and poetic while simultaneously being subtle about it. Because Look Back touched a room inside your heart that you never dared to visit — your childhood dreams.
It’s hard to make it not personal, because as soon as Fujino showed up with drawing tutorial books — hunched on her desk, not minding a single thing about the world if she could be the best at what she’s most proud of, I went back to memory lane. The young me whose sole purpose on earth is to paint my sketchbooks. Yet, once people like Kyomoto who probably spent more hours working on their art the right way and the others will start thinking because it’s right then it’s better — I’d start to crumble behind my blanket, feeling like a joke. Because to draw means to put a piece of my soul in it.
Then, why did you draw?
But now that I am past that age, I just want to hug my little self. I wish she knew that it’s okay if she wants to draw anime girls as much as she likes if she’s happy to do so. If she wants to forever draw ridiculously shimmering eyes and hide the hand because she doesn’t like to draw it, that’s fine. For there will always be someone who smiles at her works. Fujino and Kyomoto are the ones who make me realize it. Who cares about being the best, if Fujino enjoys drawing shark-man wearing a suit and creating havoc around the city, and by doing that she makes millions out of people who love her piece? Who cares what’s wrong or right, if Kyomoto wants to be better at background art because she likes to draw it, even daring to pursue an art degree despite her lack of social skills?
No matter what you call that blazing fire, we do it all for love at the end of the day.
So even though Kyomoto’s hand slipped through her fingers, Fujino won’t look back in anger anymore. Because their story was never a tragedy. For if Fujino gave her life, then Kyomoto gave Fujino a reason to continue it. The time they spent together with inked hands, bagged eyes, and tightened hugs — Fujino will forever be engulfed by its warmth.
Now Fujino has stepped outside ’cause summertime’s here — no regrets left on her face — with a steady grip on her stylus pen, and a heart that will always bloom for Kyomoto.
