The film Look Back tells the story of Fujino and Kyomoto, two girls who share a passion for drawing, but attend school differently. Fujino is an outgoing student and confident in her talent, while Kyomoto does not attend classes regularly and works on her drawings from home.
The two do not know each other directly, but Fujino considers Kyomoto a possible rival. When the teacher asks her to deliver her diploma certificate at home at the end of fifth grade, Fujino finds herself face to face for the first time with the girl she had imagined as a fearsome competitor.
However, the meeting takes an unexpected direction. In fact, Kyomoto turns out to be a great admirer of Fujino, coming to consider her a sort of teacher. From that moment a friendship was born that accompanied both of them in their growth and evolution as manga artists.
In Look Back, Fujino and Kyomoto have very different personalities. Fujino is sunny, impulsive, competitive and full of ideas. His talent is also accompanied by a strong ambition and the desire to achieve concrete results through his work.
Kyomoto, on the other hand, is introverted and shy, with difficulties in relationships with others. He spends a lot of time in his room, dedicating himself to drawing and continually trying to improve himself. The two girls thus end up completing each other: one pushes the other to leave her own dimension, while both find in the other a source of stimulus and inspiration.
Their artistic collaboration progressively becomes the center of their lives and allows them both to develop their talent.
Look Back tells above all about the value of a meeting. Fujino and Kyomoto influence each other and their relationship becomes decisive for the artistic and personal path of both.
For the two protagonists, drawing represents much more than a simple creative activity: it is a tool through which to express emotions, build an identity and give shape to their stories. The film thus also reflects on the power of artistic creation and the ability of stories to become a source of joy and, in the most difficult moments, a form of support.
The film Look Back is the live action adaptation of the manga Look Back, published by Tatsuki Fujimoto in 2021. The work had already been transformed into an anime film in 2024.
Kore-eda said he was struck by the manga after seeing its cover at a newsstand in Shinagawa station. The particular image of the protagonist portrayed from behind had intrigued him, pushing him to read the work and recognize a strong personal intensity in it. When he was asked to make a live action adaptation in 2025, the director accepted after also receiving approval from Fujimoto himself.
Playing the two protagonists of the film Look Back are Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita, both previously directed by Kore-eda in the Makanai series. Deguchi plays Ayumu Fujino, while Makita plays Kyomoto.
The child versions of the two protagonists are played by Furi Nanase and Rokka Okada. The cast also includes Masaki Suda as Maeda, Kankurō Kudō as Tamai, Kayo Noro as Akari Fujino, Ryō Ikeda as Hitoshi Fujino, Miyu Sasaki as Megumi Fujino and Maho Yamada as Manabe.
To prepare for their respective roles, Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita practiced manga drawing for four months. The two actresses had already been the protagonists of Makanai, a Netflix series directed by Kore-eda himself.
Kore-eda chose to shoot Look Back on 35mm film. Filming took place in Nikaho, Akita Prefecture, Tatsuki Fujimoto's hometown. The set also involved around 300 locals as extras.
The work was distributed over the different seasons of the year: the winter and spring scenes were shot between February and May 2025, the summer ones in July and the autumn ones in November. Post-production instead took place between December 2025 and June 2026.
