spoilers

Welp, that's 2 for 2 on Fujimoto anime adaptations that are comparatively more disappointing than their manga counterparts.

I'll just be 100% honest when I say I do not get the hype around this film, and it suffers in many more ways than the Chainsaw Man anime (which still has it's own problems). First off, this would've been a million times better if it was live action film. Fujimoto's work literally pay homage to that medium in a million different ways, but it has rarely gotten it's homage's in return. Here's an anime opening with a bunch of forced references so redditors can point at the screen with mouths aghast. How about introducing camera angles into the anime that simply do not translate the character designs accurately. There's paying homage and then there's copying, they are two different things. There are dozens of films adapted from manga that turn their source material into something entirely new and entirely beautiful, Blue Spring, Helter Skelter, and Blue (2002) are a couple examples. How many more of his works need to be shoved into the circle hole? THEY'RE FUCKING SQUARE. HEY PUT GOODBYE ERI DOWN FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

What's left is a film that struggles to find it's own identity, it succeeds at points, but fails in others, leading to a largely inconsistent and overwrought viewing experience.

I guess I'll start with this, Fujimoto's one shot is not perfect, in fact I find it to be one of his weaker works, but is still bursting with charm of it's own. There's a quiet solemnity to his panels of the japanese countryside, and the ability to just put Fujino and Kyomoto's manga strips on the page puts the reader in the story in a blunt way, Fujino's face in reaction to Kyomoto's art has it's tragicomic value because we know exactly how out classed she is as an artist. Speaking of panels, that one panel of Fujino in the rain has something earnest about it. It's not the movement, but rather the lack there of, you can just see the chaos of her run contrasted by the tranquility of a cloudy Spring (idk) rain. This continues as the story goes on, each panel is meant to imply a snapshot of these two girl's lives, enjoying each other's company, yet pursuing their art in their own ways. I don't have much else to say about the story itself, since I'm not an artist and it's impact is obviously meant for those who can relate to either Kyomoto and Fujino.

With all this presented, it's obvious to see why this was a tall task to properly adapt this story into animation. As a medium of moving images, so much of Look Back's core ethos is lost in converting scenes of melancholy into burst of sakuga. I think they started off really good with the anime adaptation of Fujino's strips that really bring their unique charm to life. And then there's that stupid running scene, yes I wrote this review just to complain about it, is a SHIT LOAD OF FUCK. The animation is disjointed, moving completely irregularly to how the film was before, and there's barely any speed to it, isn't she trying to get out of the rain, she should be fucking sprinting with her arms flailing in circles like what kids actually do! But the worst, oh my lord, the obnoxious piano. God fuck me, why does every anime film need a stupid piano in the background? It's fucking tacky, and all the somberness of the rain is taken out by some stupid OST that everyone will forget in a month. And no, I did NOT cry.

This essentially extends to every time lapse section of the film. This only worked in the manga because the reader has the ability to soak in the artwork and imagine the scenes taking place. Not all bunched together, but each as their singular event worthy of their panel space. The correct way to adapt this is to add some much needed run time and give the duo some extra dialogue to flesh out the reality of what is in the panels, not just the panels themselves. They, of course, don't do that for the express goal of faithfulness, turning a moment of character bonding into a slideshow presentation of a photo album.

I'll lay off the polemics for a bit, but I say all this mainly because the sections outside of this are really good. You know, when the music isn't playing. I love anime backgrounds and this film uses it's space really well in the beginning, and you can even get a feel for every season in this slow rural part of japan. They could've easily laid off the soundtrack more, as they were able to let the characters have a conversation when the dialogue was being adapted. This is the kind of adaptation that accurately fits, while adding to the work in a way that is substantive and beautiful. It is no surprise that my favorite scene from the Chainsaw Man anime, the one where Aki does his morning routine, can be seen in many parts of this film. I mean is that not what film is? Showing the audience an window into the lives of the characters. Not through bombast and sentimentality, but through tranquility and honesty.

Speaking of which, I think this film does one thing really well, I guess you could call it pearls among swine, or another pearl amongst a sea of pearls. Kyomoto's performance was brilliant, and you really get the feeling she's going out of her comfort zone. The way she twiddles her fingers and messes with her hair, and the way she smiles when Fujino says shes writing a manga. As an autistic man I have my own memories of acting just like her, the self consciousness and anxiety, and the bright eyed enthusiasm of finding someone who shares that same wavelength with you. I can't speak for her, but there's some pretty heavy coding going on here, and I think it's great that we're getting characters in popular media that little me would've needed at that time. I don't know, maybe someone else feels heard by her in this movie, that's awesome.

All put together, we have a very inconsistent package. There's moments of beauty and then there's too much of it. It's like, yeah lets do a food analogy. You got a nice honeydew melon parfait, oh it's nice, a subtle with the fluffy whipped cream at the top and the juicy fruit, it's sweet but not too sweet, and the texture combines nice and well, and then in the middle, JAM? What's this doing here? It's literally fruit puree dumped full of sugar, I mean it's fine on toast but I don't really want to finish this. Oh I guess they added some yogurt at the bottom, let's stir it around, now it's alright, a decent finish, but I would've liked more fruit, I mean that's why I ordered a Honeydew Melon parfait. Oh well, maybe I'll get the Strawberry one next time.

Thanks for reading