Fujino, a countryside girl who effortlessly sketched four-panel mangas for the school newspaper with brilliant talent and pride, is deeply shaken by the overwhelming drawing skills of Kyomoto, a shut-in recluse who doesn’t even attend school. Connected solely by their shared passion for manga, the two become irreplaceable companions running toward their dreams together, only to face unexpected crossroads in life. In this live-action adaptation of Fujimoto Tatsuki’s manga Look Back, master director Koreeda Hirokazu teams up with rising stars Deguchi Natsuki and Makita Aju to craft an aching narrative. The spatial direction, delicately preserving the distinct sensibility of the original work, along with the passage of time captured in the transition from analog pen lines to graphics tablets, breathes realistic vitality into the film. In particular, the parallel-world sequence in the climactic second half leaves an overwhelming afterimage and emotional resonance that surpasses the original. It stands as a delicate, weighty coming-of-age chronicle that embraces radiant friendship, the joy of creation, and the bittersweet pain of tender parting. (Karen PARK)