“All you gotta do is look at my back as I lead the way.”
Ayumi Fujino
Adapted from the manga by Chainsaw Man-creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, Look Back begins as a simple tale about two girls who bond over a love of manga its focus broadens into how people affect each other’s lives and why we create art. There is evidently a level of autobiography — the central characters Fujino and Kyomoto are derived from Fujimoto’s name — but the pair have very different personalities, one gregarious and one a recluse, each inspiring the other to improve. There is a deliberate roughness to the art style of Look Back, particularly the character designs which often bear the hallmarks of initial sketches rather than final inks. Much is told through body language, like the artist slumped over a desk. The writing is simple, and trusts the audience to pick up on time shifts and the magical realism that enters later on. Look Back introduces more nuanced themes in its second half but, at just under an hour, it lacks the the time to explore these ideas. This slight morsel is satisfying yet one is left with a sense that delving deeper could have been more rewarding.
7/10
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