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1wingedbalrog's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Ever since Tatsuki Fujimoto took over the world with Chainsaw Man, his back catalog has seen a sudden burst of interest. But now he's gone back to his roots and offered up this gorgeous one-shot, which might be the best thing he's made in his whole career.
It's not uncommon to have manga about making manga, but Look Back is heads and shoulders above the rest. In just short of 200 pages, Fujimoto captures what it means to feel drive as an artist as well as how to live with pain. Without spoiling too much, a great deal of this book is about pain and suffering. Art is pain for feeling like you're always behind something, whether that's your peers or your self-imposed goals. Life is pain when truly terrible things happen for no reason and any order you try to impose only hurts you. Fujino's struggle to find satisfaction in art while continuously improving should be relatable to any serious artist in whatever field.
One thing I want to highlight is that if you're familiar with other popular Japanese works about making art, like the manga Bakuman or movie Whisper of the Heart, you'll notice a different philosophy on display. In Japan, while people do recognize art as something transcendent, there's a much greater focus on skill and hard work. In America, we tend to think of art as something created through inspiration or coming from special individuals who have led uniquely enlightened lives. Personally, I feel like the Japanese version is more accurate. As sad as this book is, it is ultimately hopeful because it reminds us that we can encounter pain in life and in art, but ultimately overcome it by putting our pencil to paper and creating happy memories along the way.
It's not uncommon to have manga about making manga, but Look Back is heads and shoulders above the rest. In just short of 200 pages, Fujimoto captures what it means to feel drive as an artist as well as how to live with pain. Without spoiling too much, a great deal of this book is about pain and suffering. Art is pain for feeling like you're always behind something, whether that's your peers or your self-imposed goals. Life is pain when truly terrible things happen for no reason and any order you try to impose only hurts you. Fujino's struggle to find satisfaction in art while continuously improving should be relatable to any serious artist in whatever field.
One thing I want to highlight is that if you're familiar with other popular Japanese works about making art, like the manga Bakuman or movie Whisper of the Heart, you'll notice a different philosophy on display. In Japan, while people do recognize art as something transcendent, there's a much greater focus on skill and hard work. In America, we tend to think of art as something created through inspiration or coming from special individuals who have led uniquely enlightened lives. Personally, I feel like the Japanese version is more accurate. As sad as this book is, it is ultimately hopeful because it reminds us that we can encounter pain in life and in art, but ultimately overcome it by putting our pencil to paper and creating happy memories along the way.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Gun violence, Mental illness, Grief, Mass/school shootings, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis
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