Animation fans were eating good in 2024: This was the year of “The Wild Robot”, “Flow”, “The War of the Rohirrim”, “Inside Out 2”, and another Wallace & Gromit feature, among many other standouts. But by far the one that tugged at our heartstrings and made us bawl our eyes out the most was Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s 58-minute weeper, a fantastic little gem about two middle-school budding manga artists developing a close friendship and successful creative partnership.
The next time some meathead tells you that feeding a bunch of prompts into a generative AI tool entitles one to call themselves an artist, point them to this film so they can grasp the amount of effort, dedication, sleepless hours, sweat, and tears behind authentic creative work. Practically anyone who’s ever picked up a pencil, brush, instrument, or simply pursued their passion in any form to create meaningful art that’ll resonate with others will find “Look Back” deeply relatable. Be warned — this film will also shatter your heart into a million pieces and destroy you into a sobbing mess.
