It’s a touching story that’s also a pleasure to look at thanks to director Oshiyama’s springy, supple use of animation.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 23, 2025

As the credits roll over a beautifully composed shot that mirrors the panels of a manga strip, there’s a sombre but satisfying sense that nothing else needs to be said. Not a minute more needed from this hour-long experience.

| Jan 15, 2025

The movie is meticulously designed, focusing on quiet details like the girls' drawing spaces, the weather, and time passing. It's a small miracle.

| Original Score: 4/4 | Dec 25, 2024

Look Back is a deep, thoughtful examination of the life of artists, and the contradictions they wrestle with.

| Dec 5, 2024

This 2024 Japanese anime movie is immaculately paced and powerful in its simplicity.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 21, 2024

'Look Back' tells you what it wants to tell you, and also leaves you a little broken inside. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 16, 2024

There’s a haiku-like purity to it: Look Back is as neat and yet also as overflowing as the four-panel strips in which its leads once diligently honed their craft.

| Original Score: 5/5 | Nov 12, 2024

Fujimoto’s work seems to open itself up to plenty of misinterpretation, but Look Back still has enough tenderness to make for a touching short story.

| Oct 31, 2024

An emotionally heartbreaking, gorgeously animated, wonderfully scored, incredibly well-written, and acted film that properly adapts its source material while carving out its own identity.

| Original Score: 9/10 | Oct 30, 2024

With lovely artistry and a short running time, this beautiful tragedy is a love letter to anime lovers and creatives alike.

| Oct 23, 2024

Look Back has a lot of surprises in store, even in its short hour-long runtime. The most obvious surprise will come towards the end of the film. But for me, there was another, more subtle surprise. One which really, deeply impressed me.

| Oct 18, 2024

The heady buzz of creation. The stillness of grief. The heart-expanding-five-times-its-size joy of a perfect day with a friend. It’s all there. I just wanted more of it.

| Original Score: 3.5/5 | Oct 17, 2024

Look Back begins brilliantly before falling prey to one of the worst fads of the last decade.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 4, 2024

Look Back exudes love for its source material, this medium, and the very act of creation in every frame. It’s crushing and visually vibrant in equal measure, so much so that it may even help AI art freaks inch back a bit closer to the light.

| Original Score: A- | Oct 3, 2024

This lilting tale’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it brevity proves inseparable from the lasting power of its punch-to-the-gut impact. Life is short, “Look Back” reminds us in both form and content..

| Original Score: B+ | Oct 3, 2024

When one finds their passion, they put their soul into the process. Wisely, Oshiyama shows the toll this takes on Fujino — both for her mental health and her friendships outside of the artistic community.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Oct 2, 2024

A gently moving story about friendship.

| Oct 2, 2024

Exceptional anime accomplishments like Look Back are truly rare, and this is a story that has the power to open hearts and change lives.

| Original Score: 10/10 | Sep 30, 2024

Look Back distinguishes itself with camera movements that are more reminiscent of live-action film techniques than conventional animation.

| Sep 30, 2024

The film Look Back is a moving adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto's manga about creativity and self-improvement. [Full review in Spanish]

| Original Score: 5/5 | Sep 28, 2024