Crunchyroll and other outlets reports a live-action film version of Look Back, directed by Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda (Monster, Shoplifters), will be released in Japan next year. The original Eisner Award-winning manga, created by Tatsuki Fujimoto (Chainsaw Man) in 2021, told the story of Fujino and Kyomoto, two girls who bond over a shared love of comics, and a tragedy that eventually reunites them as adults.
It was previously adapted into an anime film in 2024, which went on to win the Japan Academy Film Prize for Best Animated Picture, and earn an Annie Award nomination for Best Independent Animated Feature. A press release from producer/distributor K2 Pictures doesn’t provide the names of the cast in the live-action version, but states it was shot earlier this year in Nikaho, Akita, and is currently in post-production.
Screen Daily quotes Kore-eda as saying he learned about the source material while at a bookstore in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Station, when he became drawn to the cover image of Fujino at work, her face obscured from view (as recreated on the teaser image above).
“Without thinking, I picked a copy up,” he says. “That was my first encounter with Look Back. That night, I read it in one sitting. Though manga and film are different genres, as a fellow creator, I felt the desperate resolve behind this work. I could feel, almost painfully, that Mr. Fujimoto simply couldn’t move forward without creating this piece. For me, [my 2004 film] Nobody Knows was that kind of work.”
Fujimoto adds, “If director Kore-eda is going to film Look Back, I have nothing more to say. I’m looking forward to it.” Look Back will premiere in late 2026, and Goodfellas will handle sales of the film to distributors outside Asia. In the meantime, you can also check out a second teaser visual below, featuring Fujino and Kyomoto during winter:
