Modern anime classic Look Back gets its first live-action trailer – and I'm ready to have my heart broken all over again
Look Back hits cinemas later this year
Get the tissues ready. The first trailer for the live-action adaptation of Look Back is here, and it looks just as gut-wrenching as its anime movie and Tatsuki Fujimoto's acclaimed manga.
The dreamy trailer for Kore-eda's Look Back charts the friendship between budding mangaka Fujino and Kyomoto, a shut-in generational artist who is gently coaxed back out to the wider world. As their careers begin to develop, they are suddenly hit by personal tragedy.
The Look Back synopsis reads: "Fujino, a young girl with complete confidence in her talent for drawing manga, and Kyomoto, a reclusive classmate whose artistic ability far surpasses her own, are brought together by their shared passion for creating manga. As in the original work, the film follows the thirteen-year journey of the two characters from their elementary school days onward, portraying it with remarkable sensitivity and a vivid sense of youth."
While it does recreate some panels shot-for-shot, the live-action actors Natsuki Deguchi and Aju Makita add plenty of heart-wrenching realism to a story that's often marked as one of the most bittersweet of the past few decades. Furi Nanase and Rokka Okada play the younger versions of Fujino and Kyomoto.
Look Back is set to release in theaters in Japan on September 11. It marks another achievement for Tatsuki Fujimoto, whose early one-shot work was adapted into an anthology titled 17-26.
Of course, the author is best known for Chainsaw Man. A second season of the anime, adapting the International Assassins arc, has been announced.
Need something to watch? Here are the new anime coming your way this summer, plus our selection of the best anime movies ever made.
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I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.
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