Image via Studio Durian
The movie is also the 4th highest-rated film of 2024 overall across all genres.
2024 was definitely a great year for animated movies. Films like Wild Robot, IF, Spellbound, Inside Out 2, and Ultraman Rising all came out this year. However, according to the Letterboxd 2024 Year in Review, one animated movie that stuck with audiences worldwide was LOOK BACK. The Japanese animated feature film, based on Chainsaw Man author Tatsuki Fujimoto’s popular one-shot manga, offered a pensive look inside the hearts of two young girls striving to become manga artists.
The manga first came out in July 2021, and despite being vastly different from Fujimoto’s other works such as Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch, received high praise. While the 57-minute-long movie, produced by Studio Durian, was released in Japan on June 28, 2024. Upon its global release, the movie awed the international audience with its depth, emotion, and stunning artwork. According to the Letterboxd Year in Review, the movie affected people so much that they voted for it to become the best animated film of 2024 on the site, beating out other masterpieces such as The Wild Robot, Memoir of a Snail, and Flow. Not only that, with a score of 4.3 out of 5 stars, the movie is the 4th highest-rated film of the year across all genres, only behind Dune: Part Two, I’m Still Here, and How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies. Moreover, Look Back is also eligible for consideration at the 2025 Oscars.
The story of the film focuses on a high-school student Ayumu Fujino, who is a talented artist who wishes to publish her own manga someday. One day, Ayumu is sent to the house of a shut-in loner called Kyomoto, who is also an artist. When Ayumu sees that Kyomoto is a genius illustrator, she runs away feeling inferior and vows to do better. Sometime later, she once again meets Kyomoto and the two strike, an unlikely friendship, drawing manga one-shots together that gain a lot of popularity. However, a cruel turn of fate changes everything between the two. The beautifully introspective coming-of-age drama should be on everyone’s watchlist.
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