Look Back
Director: Kiyotaka
Oshiyama
Year: 2024
Rating: 7.5
This Japanese animation is a gem. Only 58-minutes
in length, it packs an emotional punch above its weight. The simplicity of
the very human story makes it all the more poignant and bittersweet. The
purity of the animation just reinforces this. Nothing fancy, no robots, speaking
animals or fantasy - just two girls who become fast friends over their love
of manga and their ability to draw. Not that the animation is simple - it
is quite wonderful with a lovely eye for detail. I loved the polish of the
wooden floorboards or all the books on the shelves each with their own title.
Or the mangas the girls create within the animation. It is based on a web
manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto that I am unfamiliar with as I am with all manga.
It is directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, one of the new class of animators in
Japan.
Fujino is in fourth grade with an obsession
to draw and create her own stories. The weekly school newspaper prints her
four-panel strips for which she gets immense praise from her classmates.
As she gets older and continues her efforts though, the classmates have moved
on to other activities in which Fujino is too busy to participate. Then the
paper prints another four-panel from a student recluse named Kyomoto. Fujino
is taken aback - it's brilliant - more artistic and striking - and eventually
she puts her pencil down knowing she can never be as good. But events transpire
to bring these two girls together - a slip of paper that accidentally floats
down and goes under Kyomoto's door - and they become close friends and collaborators.
But if not for that slip of paper everything would be different. Regrets
compound regrets. If only.
