Amazon Prime Video announced on Tuesday that it will add anime film of Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto‘s “Look Back” one-shot manga worldwide on November 7 (or November 8 in Asia due to timezone differences). The film’s director Kiyotaka Oshiyama drew the below visual for the announcement
© 藤本タツキ／集英社 © 2024「ルックバック」製作委員会
© 藤本タツキ／集英社 © 2024「ルックバック」製作委員会
The film opened in theaters in Japan on June 28. It ranked at #2 in terms of ticket sales (but #1 in weekend earnings) in its opening weekend. The film sold 135,000 tickets and earned 227 million (about US$1.40 million) in its first three days.
GKIDS screened the film on October 4 in New York and Los Angeles, and then on October 6 and 7 more widely in North America. The film earned US$688,253 at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend.
Yūmi Kawai and Mizuki Yoshida star in the film. Kawai plays Fujino, a fourth grader who draws four-panel comics in the school newspaper. Yoshida plays Kyomoto, Fujino’s classmate who has been skipping school.
Kiyotaka Oshiyama (Flip Flappers) directed the anime, and was also in charge of the screenplay and character designs. Oshiyama’s Studio Durian produced the work. Kiyoshi Sameshima (The Boy and The Beast) served as the art director with Yoshio Harisaki (Haikyu!!) and Takashi Omori (Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea) as the art director assistants. Maya Kusumoto (Utawarerumono: Mask of Truth) was the color key artist. Kazuto Izumita (Great Pretender) was the compositing director of photography. Kiyoshi Hirose (Afro Samurai) was in charge of editing. Eriko Kimura (My Oni Girl) was the sound director and haruka nakamura composed the music. Singer urara performed the film’s theme “Light song” by haruka nakamura.
Fujimoto debuted the one-shot manga on Shueisha‘s Shonen Jump+ in July 2021. The manga had over 2.5 million views on its first day. Viz Media and MANGA Plus launched the manga digitally in English. Viz Media published the manga in print in September 2022. The company describes the story:
The overly confident Fujino and the shut-in Kyomoto couldn’t be more different, but a love of drawing manga brings these two small-town girls together. A poignant story of growing up and moving forward that only Tatsuki Fujimoto, the creator of Chainsaw Man, could have crafted.
The manga won the first Rakuten Kobo E-book Awards in May 2023, and it ranked at #1 in the 2022 edition of Takarajimasha‘s Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook. It was also nominated for last year’s Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, and was second place at the 15th Manga Taisho awards.
Fujimoto (Fire Punch) debuted the Chainsaw Man manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in December 2018 and ended its “first part,” the “Kōan” (Public Safety) arc, in December 2020. The manga’s second part, titled “Gakkō-hen” (School Arc), started on Shueisha‘s Shonen Jump+ service in July 2022. The manga has won the Best Manga award at The Harvey Awards for the last three years.
The manga inspired an anime that premiered on TV Tokyo and five other affiliated channels, as well as on Amazon Prime Video in October 2022. Crunchyroll is streaming the anime in over 200 countries and territories around the world. The series is getting an anime film adapting the “Reze-hen” (Reze Arc) of the manga titled Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc.
Sources: Amazon Prime Video‘s X/Twitter account, Comic Natalie
