Look Back: KORE-EDA Hirokazu’s re-adaptation of FUJIMOTO Tatsuki’s manga tells the story of two friends; united by their love for creating manga, they meet in high school and complement each other in their art and in their lives throughout the years. It’s a gentle, beautiful story, until it isn’t, with a turn to the sad and a bit of magical realism. The casting and the performances are excellent; the transition from the young cast to the older cast is so seamless that one needs to double-check if it really occurred: NANASE Furi and DEGUCHI Natsuki play, respectively, the younger and older versions of the most outgoing and ambitious of the two, while OKADA Rokka and MAKITA Aju play the two versions of the recluse, highly talented one. The film’s serene aesthetics come from a great location and from the effective, unshowy camera work by cinematographer UENO Senzoo. The animation and the manga drawings used often in the film are beautiful and add quite a bit of charm. Composer BANDOO Yuuta’s music is beautiful.

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