When it comes to Fujimoto’s work, his stories and characters never fail to resonate with me like in Chainsaw Man with Denji and Asa for various reasons and Look Back being no exception with both Kyomoto and especially Fujino with their love for drawing and their reasons for drawing.
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When it comes to Fujino, she is a person who tries to act nonchalant when it comes to drawing, it’s not shown in the manga however in the movie you see that she’s at her desk late at night drawing her manga strips for the school newspaper showing she actually puts a lot of effort into her drawing, and in order to get the most praise possible she acts as though it’s no big deal which is something I’ve done myself many times at a similar age lol and when she gets asked to share the spotlight with someone she acts all high and mighty but then get’s absolutely blown away by how good their art is.
Once again this happened to me at that age when the class had to do a drawing competition for a logo that would be used for our made-up company at the time, in the end, I also lost by a vote which crushed me and was probably put me off drawing for a while cause I thought why bother if there’s someone better than me and it’s a shame I had the mindset for the longest time until I was around 14 or 15 where I realised I shouldn’t be like that which is quite sad but getting off track here, unlike me, Fujino didn’t back down straight away cause she liked receiving the praise from those around her and pushed her to try harder but it led to her becoming distant from her family and even friends and in the end it didn’t even help, she did it all for “nothing” because fujino and those around her believed she didn’t hold a candle to the truant student so she just simply gives up on drawing entirely and goes her life as the average student until graduating.
When Fujino gets the chance to meet Kyomoto when she visits her home to deliver her graduation certificate and stumbles across a blank manga strip and unconsciously takes out her pen to fill it in when she realises what she’s doing the paper slips out of her hand going under the door into Kyomoto’s room and out of embarrassment she runs out the house to go home but is stopped and to Fujino’s complete shock is told that she has a fan and that she is a manga genius, once again she tries to act nonchalant when talking to Kyomoto.
However, as soon as she’s out of sight Fujino does a funny skip and dance on the way home after being praised so highly which encourages her to start drawing again not wanting to disappoint her fan and I really love that Fujino drawing out of jealousy of Kyomoto turned into a love for her. After the tragedy in the story, Funjino sees that even after they drifted apart Kyomoto never stopped being a fan, no a mega fan even of Fujino with the multiple copies of volumes which helped encouraged her to continue drawing when she probably felt like giving up once again, it’s so beautiful but tragic, classic Fujimoto.
Kyomoto’s question of “Why do you draw?” really hit deep with me because originally as a kid I did it mostly cause I thought I was naturally gifted and liked the praise but as I grew older it changed to something like “Oh I like this it’s fun!” to now I want things I want to draw to reach all kinds of people and make them feel something from it whether that be happiness, awe or even sadness with the added feeling of wanting to be praised at the same time hehe. It’s probably one of the reasons why I’m studying Film and Media as it’s another way I can do it!
Speaking of this movie this isn’t just about the story and characters is that it’s flawless when it comes to being an adaptation it’s such an improvement of the already amazing manga it’s crazy. Haruka Nakamura composed all the OST for this movie and it’s so so sooooo good I’ve had the whole track on repeat for hours and even listening to it rn as I’m writing this. I was shocked to see the VAs for Fujino and Kyomoto are new in the industry cause they knocked it out of the park. Director Kiyotaka Oshiyama worked so hard on this project and it really shows especially with the character designs it really brings Fujimoto’s artsyle to life, I couldn't be happier with how this movie turned out and I hope to see more of Fujimoto's one-shots adapted in the future
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