Growing Pains - Look Back

 

It only takes a small spark to start a fire. Look Back is a story about finding inspiration and, at the same time, losing all that motivation in the blink of an eye. It’s not a story of giving up; it’s a story of moving forward for yourself and in memory of others.

Look Back opens with Ayumu Fujino, an elementary school student who writes manga comic strips for the school newspaper. She enjoys drawing, telling stories, and the attention she receives from her classmates. Fujino isn’t shy in the slightest, boldly showing her work. When she’s asked to relinquish a manga slot to another girl, Kyomoto, Fujino begrudgingly gives in. Kyomoto is good—professionally good—at backgrounds. This sparks a one-sided rivalry for Fujino, who throws herself into art, aiming to be just as good as or better than Kyomoto.

I felt like Fujino’s art montage was very authentic to anyone who has a creative passion. There’s an explosion of ideas; you just want to work on a project all the time, and it consumes you. You’re always thinking about what you’re going to make next. Fujino was inspired by another artist she hadn’t even met, which happens all the time, especially with social media. With how accessible art in an overwhelming number of styles and mediums is, ideas sometimes hit like a flood that never stops.

As you get older, people seem to expect you to grow out of those hobbies, much like Fujino, who’s pressured by family and friends to give up on drawing and focus on school. Giving in to that pressure, Fujino packs her drawings away for a while. In a way, she took a break, which every artist needs to avoid burning out. I know I do better after stepping away from a project, grabbing a snack, and trying again.

Luckily, Fujino finally meets Kyomoto, and there’s a click. Together, they complete two halves of the manga process: Fujino handles story and character designs, while Kyomoto draws the backgrounds. Things seem to line up perfectly until life sets them on different paths. When Fujino lashes out at Kyomoto for wanting to go to art school, I knew it wasn’t her intention. Fujino was about to start making a real serialized manga, and Kyomoto had been by her side for all the one-shot stories that had made it into the magazines previously. I know Fujino was afraid to walk further down her path without Kyomoto by her side. Kyomoto was Fujino’s safety net, and now she would lose the person she depended on. There’s an irony in the fact that Fujino is the one who helped Kyomoto gain her confidence and then tried to tear her down. It was heartbreaking watching them fight, and even more so watching time march on with them no longer speaking.

The full, somewhat secret title of this film is Don’t Look Back in Anger, which I didn’t know at first, but I think it’s a statement on regrets. We all have that moment when we’re lying in bed and remember something embarrassing we said years ago. It haunts us, but we can’t change it. You can’t look back and be angry with yourself for what you said or didn’t say. Fujino and Kyomoto never reconcile over what happened; their fight will always be their last words. However, Kyomoto stayed Fujino’s fan through it all.

Look Back is gorgeous. The characters are full of movement and life. In each close-up scene, the characters’ eyes are filled to the brim with emotion. The emotion doesn’t stop in the eyes and bleeds into the scenery, especially with the lighting choices. If you’re looking for a beautiful hour-long experience about reaching dreams and continuing to live through loss, I highly recommend Look Back. You’re in for a treat.