Live-action adaptation of Chainsaw Man creator's Look Back will escape Japanese cinemas and come to the west

Good news anime fans, not only is one of 2024's best movies getting the live-action treatment, but it has also locked in a US release ahead of hitting Japan.

Based on the highly popular manga of the same name by Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, a live-action version of Look Back is heading to the big screen, and GKIDS has acquired distribution rights for the US, Canada, UK, and Ireland. The movie is currently in post-production and is set for a 2026 release in Japan, with a western theatrical release to follow.

Usually, fans overseas have to wait a long time for a release date after a movie has hit the big screen in Japan. For instance, anime fans had to wait four months for 2024's Look Back to hit the US. Hopefully, with distribution rights already locked in, oversees audineces will get to see the upcoming movie around the same time as Japanese viewers do.

Directed and adapted for the screen by acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters, Still Walking), Look Back is a coming-of-age story following two very different teenage girls. One girl is popular and outgoing, whereas the other is a shut-in with severe social anxiety. However, the two bond over their shared passion and dream of becoming manga artists, which follows them into their adulthood.

Fujimoto’s story was first brought to the screen in 2024 with Kiyotaka Oshiyama's anime movie, which earned a perfect Rotten Tomatoes score and big praise from game developer Hideo Kojima. The live-action version is said to follow the same premise as the anime.

In a statement, Kore-eda revealed that as soon as he read Look Back, he "painfully" had to adapt it. "On a return trip from Kyoto to Tokyo, I was drawn to a figure’s back on the cover of a book in a bookstore at Shinagawa Station. Without thinking, I picked a copy up – that was my first encounter with Look Back. That night, I read it in one sitting."

For more, check out our list of the best anime movies, and keep up with new anime releases coming soon.