“Look Back”: Film Director Koreeda’s Live

“Look Back”: Film Director Koreeda’s Live-Action Take on Girlhood Dreams

CultureCinemaOct 12, 2026
Director Koreeda Hirokazu’s latest film is a live-action adaptation of the hit manga , previously animated as a feature in 2024. We explore the unique appeal of Koreeda’s outing, which won three awards at the Venice Film Festival in 2026.

• English
• 日本語
• 简体字
• 繁體字
• Français
• Español
• العربية
• Русский

The Journey from Manga to Film

Koreeda’s 2026 take on Look Back is based on a manga by Fujimoto Tatsuki. First published online on July 19, 2021, it proved an instant success, gaining over 5 million views in less than a fortnight. That September, it was published as a physical manga, selling over a million copies. Director Oshiyama Kiyotaka adapted it as an anime in June 2024. This earned over ¥2 billion at the box office in Japan, and the film went on to a broader overseas release after that, including on streaming services from November that year.

The impact of the anime was itself impressive, and while some might think this inspired the latest live-action adaptation, this was not the case. According to the film’s producer, Koide Daiki, shortly after the manga was released, he set his mind on having Koreeda—who had taught him at university—film the story, and immediately arranged a meeting between the manga creator Fujimoto and the director to discuss it.

Koreeda recalls being intrigued by the cover of the manga, depicting the main character from behind, seated at her desk, when it first hit the shelves, even before Koide contacted him. It was around the same time the Japanese government declared a state of emergency due to the spread of COVID-19. Koreeda’s work came to a halt, as did most cultural endeavors across Japan. Koreeda recalls that his first encounter with the manga provided him with a sense of encouragement, a “push from behind.”

The idea of a person’s back takes on special significance in the manga, with thought-provoking depictions of characters from behind. Inclusion of the word “back” in the title contains a message from the author that becomes apparent by the end. Koreeda admits he also was deeply moved by that sentiment.

Director Koreeda Hirokazu (center) with (left to right) Nanase Fūri and Deguchi Natsuki (who both played Fujino at different ages), and Makita Aju and Okada Rokka (who both played Kyōmoto), at the eighty-third Venice Film Festival, September 7, 2026. (© Kazuko Wakayama)

The Extrovert and the Wallflower

The movie and the anime both follow the storyline of the original manga.

At the outset, protagonist Fujino is a fourth grader in rural Japan. She is adept at cartooning, and her four-panel cartoon strips appear in the school newspaper. She revels in the praise of her classmates, but does her best to appear indifferent. One day, her teacher asks her to share her cartoon slot with Kyōmoto, a girl who refuses to attend school. Seeing Kyōmoto’s powerful art, going beyond what might be expected of a grade-schooler, alongside her own punctures Fujino’s confidence.

Unwilling to accept defeat, Fujino revisits the basics of drawing, and continues cartooning with greater zeal. In sixth grade, when fellow students and family urge her to focus on reality, she ignores them, but as the contrast between her work and Kyōmoto’s becomes starker, Fujino abruptly quits studying the art of manga and publishing her own work.

After some time, she rediscovers the joy of cartooning after an making an unexpected visit to Kyōmoto at her home. In junior high, the latter still refuses to go to school. The pair submits a cartoon to a publisher’s contest, securing second prize. In senior high, under the alias “Fujino Kyō,” they publish collaborative work in a manga magazine whose publisher suggests they should serialize their work after graduation.

Kyōmoto (foreground, played by Makita Aju) and Fujino (Deguchi Natsuki) work on their manga. (© Fujimoto Tatsuki/Shūeisha Inc;

Growing Up to Become Manga Artists

This first half of the story depicts the time from when the girls first meet until the fledgling cartoonists turn professional. To Japanese viewers, the idea of a cartoonist starting with comic strips in their school newspaper is easy to imagine. The world of manga has examples of this “Japanese Dream,” where an artist wins a magazine contest, opening the door to a professional career. Japan’s manga culture extends from childhood drawing right up through the massive manga industry.

Koreeda explains that he studied the manga production process in-depth to accurately portray it in his film. Before shooting, the actors also spent many hours practicing to draw. Fujino and Kyōmoto are shown in the act of cartooning throughout the movie. Even the sounds of their pens evolve as they gain competence, giving an aural aspect to the passage of time in their artistic journeys.

The pair, still in junior high, are ecstatic at winning the ¥1 million second prize in the Shōnen Jump magazine contest. (© Fujimoto Tatsuki/Shūeisha Inc;

Unique Cinematic Moments

Manga can skip through time in a few pages, or even a couple panels. Indeed, the original written work is short, at just 143 pages. The passage of time is significantly truncated, allowing the story to evolve rapidly with maximum impact. At just 58 minutes long, the anime version was similarly fast-paced.

The dramatization is 99 minutes long, affording viewers a very different experience. Koreeda considered the significance of each panel in the manga and endeavored to portray that with cinematic logic, presenting individual scenes in his work with a view to presenting them as explorations of the single frames from the mangaogether, adding greater depth to their relationship

But movies can also skip through time. The pair spend over a decade together, but each is portrayed by just two actors. Child actors Nanase Fūri and Okada Rokka play the girls from elementary school . Films often replace actors as the characters age, but this was a novel endeavor for Koreeda, for whom the timing was crucial. He uses the changeover to leap into the future, using it to engineer a significant shift in tone in the later acts of his film.

The younger Fujino (left) and Kyōmoto (played by Nanase Fūri and Okada Rokka, respectively). (© Fujimoto Tatsuki/Shūeisha Inc;

Light, Sounds, and the Shifting Seasons

Live-action films excel at depicting the changing seasons with passage of time. Comparing the film version of Look Back with the manga and anime that came before it drives this home. For shooting, Koreeda chose the city of Nikaho in Akita Prefecture, where Fujimoto Tatsuki was born and raised. From the planning stage, Koreeda had a strong desire to take advantage of its varied seasonal scenery. His initial plan included his vision of shooting the variance in light of the four seasons.

Filming took place from February through November of 2025, specifically timed to align with each season, starting with the snow melting with the approach of spring. This film shows Akita’s cherry blossoms, rice planting and growing in the summer, and the final golden maturity of the grain in the fall. The shifting seasons are captured exquisitely on 35-millimeter film, shot against the backdrop of majestic Mount Chōkai.

But it is not just the scenery, light, and clothing that express the passage of time. Koreeda also deftly incorporates seasonal foods—the sakura mochi rice cakes of spring, the sōmen chilled noodles of summer, the hot pots of the colder months—alongside the sounds of windchimes, insects, and more that Japanese people associate with each season.

Filming amid the scenic beauty of Nikaho, Akita. (© Fujimoto Tatsuki/Shūeisha Inc;

An Illustration of Girlhood Dreams

The story reaches its climax as Fujino and Kyōmoto approach high school graduation, focusing on the girls’ maturation. Adulthood brings a realization of the need for self-reliance. Despite their close collaboration as teenagers, the next stage is drawing near. But as the two set out on their chosen paths, a fate awaits that neither could have foreseen.

The last panel of the manga shows Fujino from behind, drawing at her desk after she has grown up and become a professional manga artist. Both the anime and the film finish with this shot. But the distinct portrayals of Fujimoto in the original manga, Oshiyama in the anime, and Koreeda in his film reveal their differing perspectives on the journey to that point.

Koreeda consciously strived to realize the narrative as only a live-action film can. Paradoxically, he chooses animation for the final scene. Strictly speaking, he utilizes rotoscoping, where animators trace over real footage to produce realistic animation. Viewers are transported to a cinematic space that shifts from recollection of when the two girls were together to an imagined future. Koreeda’s characteristic sensitivity and attention to detail shine through in this touching illustration of girlhood dreams.

Koreeda and Deguchi on location during the filming of Look Back. (© Fujimoto Tatsuki/Shūeisha Inc;

(Originally published in Japanese. Banner photo: © Fujimoto Tatsuki/Shūeisha Inc;