Info in Movie News | The Japanese Palme d'Or director Hirokazu Kore-eda is expected to reveal a new live-action movie called Look Back towards the end of 2026. For the first time, this will be the non-animated aartistation of Fujimoto Tatsuki's widely praised one-shot manga. Kore-eda, a director whose works are celebrated for their deep and personal nature, plans to present Look Back again but this time through a realistic and heartfelt perspective highlighting the psychological conflicts and the development of the friendship of his two protagonists.
According to Deadline, the movie is in the post-production stage after a secret shooting in Nikaho City, Akita Prefecture. The plot revolves around the lives of Ayumu Fujino and Kyoumoto, two girls who not only shared a dream but also planned to make that dream a profession of becoming manga artists. Their story is one of rivalry at the outset but through the course of the story, it becomes mutual admiration, emotional connection through art, and a deep dive into ambition, self-esteem, and the heaviness of being passionately in love with an art form.
Kore-eda revealed that his connection to Look Back began unexpectedly. During a trip from Kyoto to Tokyo, he saw the book's cover at a Shinagawa Station bookstore, grabbed it on impulse, and finished it in a single night. He called Fujimoto's way of writing "desperate in its honesty" and revealed that he could feel a very strong emotional force in the manga which made him resonate with it very much because he is a filmmaker," he added. This personal resonance ultimately led him to accept the offer from producer Daiju Koide to direct the live-action adaptation.
The movie follows Fujino, a confident child manga prodigy whose world shifts dramatically when she is asked to share a school comic space with Kyoumoto—an introverted classmate blessed with extraordinary artistic skill. After witnessing Kyoumoto's talent, Fujino becomes confused with self-doubt and forces himself to undergo a rigorous training. And only later, after meeting the person behind the genius, does he form a friendship with the unexpected bond of mutual respect and creative synergy.
The original Look Back manga was first published on Shonen Jump+ in 2021 and in the very first 24 hours, it received more than 2.5 million views. The crowd was so positively minded towards it that it was published in 37 different languages and the total international sales exceeded 750,000 copies. Besides, Chainsaw Man and Fire Punch creator, Fujimoto, also reacted positively to the announcement of the movie project and said: "If director Kore-eda is filming Look Back, then I have nothing more to say. I am looking forward to it."
Look Back was turned into an animated movie in 2024 with Kiyotaka Oshiyama as the director and Studio Durian as the producer. The short movie, which was only 40 minutes long, made a good impression on the local audience and was the number one box office in Japan for two weeks in a row, with the total ticket sales exceeding US$ 12.8 million. Later on, it got the exclusive global streaming rights with Prime Video and won various awards, including Best Animated Work at the Japan Academy Film Prize, and accolades from Tokyo Anime Award Festival and Japan Film Critics Association. The remarkable history of the movie sets the bar high for Kore-eda's live-action adaptation that is said to employ the director's typical realism to not only make the story more touching but also to increase the emotional layer of the story.
K2 Pictures is handling the production and distribution of the movie in Japan. The distribution rights for Taiwan and South Korea have already been sealed. Goodfellas will oversee international sales outside Asia, strengthening the movie’s potential reach in global markets—particularly among fans of both Kore-eda and Fujimoto.
Kore-eda's hand in this is a big deal. His movies, such as Shoplifters, Monster, After Life, Broker, and Like Father, Like Son, are pretty much about human relationships, gentle emotional touches, and complex characters. Such features are very much in tune with the ideas presented in Look Back which is a story about the delicate side of talent, self-doubt, and the empowering, creative, and friendly nature of the relationship.
Apart from his work on Look Back, Kore-eda is also producing another movie titled Sheep in the Box, which will be released in the early part of summer 2026. Produced by Fuji Television Network, Gaga, Toho, and Aoi Pro., the title has already secured distribution partnerships across multiple regions, with Goodfellas handling global sales.
With its heartfelt core, powerful source material, and Kore-eda’s humanistic cinematic style, the Look Back live-action movie is poised to become one of Japan’s most anticipated releases of 2026. Fans of the manga, the anime, and the director’s body of work alike are waiting to see how this delicate story of two young artists will be translated onto the big screen.
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