Art is a way for us to express ourselves, and everyone who worked on this movie went beyond an expression that I cannot even fully explain. They expressed themselves through the choice of music, the backgrounds, and the sheer amount of details in every single frame and character; it was to the point that you could pinpoint each brush stroke, and could tell the story each shade and penmanship told.

Look Back seems like just a story about two young girls, Ayumu Fujino and Kyomoto who both draw comic strips for their school's weekly paper. However, it was MUCH more than that. From the beginning, we could see the true love that Ayumu had for drawing, but most of it that positivity stemmed from the attention she would get from her family and friends. When she agrees to have her strip shared with Kyomoto, she realizes something what i think many of us had to experience when we were young and enjoying our then "simple" hobbies: that there is always going to be someone better than you.

For Ayumu, she had to learn that the hard way. You could practically see the love she had for this medium disappear. What was once a love for her became an insurmountable chore, a way to just be "better than someone" rather than bettering her art. After months and years of practicing, she realized that her maximum wasn't even someone's minimum. she finally quit until she had to finally meet Kyomoto where her one drawing set a wave of domino effects that lasted until they were in adulthood.

To be compared was always something that I hated, and that probably many share the same sentiment with. Yet, this story didn't only explore the downfall of comparison, but also the beauty that could come out of it. It showed that rather than being full of hate and jealousy, supporting one another's strengths and filling each other's gaps could create something timeless.

We see the two grow as not only artists, but as friends. They begin to write and draw together, winning competitions and getting recognized. which should be an artist's dream... right? However, it all changes when Kyomoto decides she wants to go to art school, and the ever-insecure and overconfident Ayumu from elementary school reappears, practically telling Kyomoto that she is replaceable and that art school is a waste of time.

This unravels a timeline that one could never have foreseen.

In the end, this movie teaches us so much about art in life, and life in art. It depicts how hard it is to be a mangaka and the blood, sweat, and emotions that go behind even just one panel or frame. But it also depicts the passion that so many young kids have when it comes to art. Not only that, it probably gave many of us a "look back" at how we were as kids as well. Like many, we find something that we like or are good at, and attempt every day to get better at it. When Ayumu looked up "how to be a better drawer", it made me chuckle, making me reminisce on the days I was once obsessed with drawing and wanted to be the best.

The two girls also personify passion, admiration, and excitement. Feelings that not many of us adults might remember in our mundane day-to-day lives. They reveal the creativity and effort that goes behind every splotched ink and blank page.

However, it also shows us one important thing: the impact of a person. One might say this goes "beyond" the world of art, but I think it's the art that makes us realize how important it is in a world that may seem dark and hopeless. I think Tatsuki Fujimoto is trying to tell us to keep going. To pursue a dream that people think is "useless" and to love art the way it was meant to be: with your friends and the people you love.

It shows us to not only look back at the negatives of our lives, but to realize how far one has come, how even the weirdest moments and interactions have come to shape us. And how sometimes, it only takes one person to admire your work for you to love it once more.