00:01
You mentioned a very interesting thing, which I didn't notice.
Ooh, I did?
You did.
Hey.
You have good eyes.
This was... Yes, can I say this?
I really was so excited about this.
Please, go ahead.
So there's one moment where someone hands someone else a phone information.
There's just like a real split-second thing that shows their email address.
I couldn't figure out the first half, but then it's at...
otaku.com
And I was like, oh my god.
Otaku.
References everywhere.
That one moment, that was my favorite Easter egg.
I mean, like, you know, I get that, like, the Chainsaw Man Easter eggs are probably, like, the bigger ones, honestly, all told.
But, like, just getting a reference in this film, that must be something that only exists in the anime.
I don't think it's in the manga.
I think they don't show, like, that image in the manga anywhere.
『Look Back』の紹介
Konnichiwa! I am your host Mayu for 2AM Otaku.
In this podcast, we talk all about anime, manga, movies, music, and history through our distinct perspectives.
As a born and raised Japanese non-otaku, that's me, and an American anime fan, Cisco.
I am extremely excited about today's manga and anime.
It's because the manga artist from my hometown, Akita, Japan.
His name is Tatsuki Fujimoto.
He is famously known as an author of Chainsaw Man.
I'm gonna go dive into his new one-shot animated film, Look Back.
All right, let's do it.
Look Back reached 2.5 million reads on the first day of publication,
and reached over 4 million reads in two days.
I was one of them.
Oh, really?
Well, assuming they released it on the Shonen Jump app around the same time that it came out in Japan.
Yeah, I read it, like, probably the day or the day after it came out.
Wow, good for you.
Yes.
So yeah, and the adaptation anime film came out yesterday.
In America.
On October 3rd in LA.
There's only one theater in LA we could watch.
It might be in wider release today.
Like, maybe it's in more theaters.
Nationwide.
I mean, nationwide.
It's still probably not in that many theaters.
But yeah, we had, I think we saw it sort of like in advance of the main opening.
And so it was only in one place.
So, Look Back is a Japanese one-shot web manga written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
It was published on Shueisha's Shonen Jump Plus in July 2021.
It tells the story of Ayumu Fujino, a young manga artist who,
driven by rivalry and friendship with reclusive classmates,
strives to improve her craft and finds purpose in creating art.
Anime film adaptation produced by Studio Durian premiered in June 2024 in Japan.
映画の視聴体験
So we watched it yesterday.
I was so excited to watch it.
I want to hear your take.
What was your feeling?
And what did you think about the film?
Well, so it was a very direct adaptation of the manga, which is nice.
They didn't like take a lot of liberties and try to change the story and like mess things up,
which I liked.
And in some ways, it's almost like,
you know, an art movie in that there's like not a ton of dialogue.
It's pretty short. It's only it's a little over one hour,
but it's like it's not even an hour and 15 minutes.
I think I was pretty unsure about whether it made sense to adapt this manga into an anime
because it's a manga about drawing manga
アニメ映画の感情的な影響
and so many of the important like moments in the manga are still images of stuff happening.
We watched a version that had an interview with the director
and some members of the cast at the end
and he talked about that actually in the like, you know, in the interview.
He was like I too was like worried.
Maybe it doesn't make sense to adapt this to animation
and then he found like sort of reasons to do that.
And I think there were a couple of different motifs that worked
because they were animated that like made it a good anime movie also,
but I was struck by it's sort of like arty sensibilities all the way through the movie.
I think maybe the one of the biggest changes is the whole things in color.
It's a very emotional story. So emotional.
And you know people in the theater were just like everyone was crying by the end.
You just hear like everyone in theory.
You know, yeah, it was it was very impactful.
I think it's like it's both a very good movie
and it like brought out a lot of motions and everybody watched it.
So that was cool.
Yeah, definitely colors and some movements and even the music.
Yeah, the music is a real high point of the film.
Yeah, especially towards the end like there was like intense build-up.
Yeah, which I couldn't it was like I mean I was in tears from the very beginning.
Yeah, I think that's there's like emotional moments from very early on especially if you know the story already.
I think if we were going into this movie not having read the original,
I wonder how different it would have been,
you know to see it for the first time in this medium would have been like really interesting
but particularly because we'd already read the manga.
I'd read it both, you know years ago when it first came out
and then again very recently right before going to see it.
Kind of knowing what's going to come later in the in the film makes it easy to get emotional right at the beginning.
I was in tears already in like two or three minutes.
三分で泣ける天才女優
Yeah, exactly.
Except I'm not actress.
That's true.
So there like I enjoyed like a lots of like the differences between manga and anime
and even in like differences between English and Japanese guys
because I read the original manga in English.
But like you can read some parts online for free for Japanese version.
So I did that.
So I saw some differences too, which was interesting.
If you already know Chainsaw Man, you could see the Chainsaw Man references.
Yep.
Which was like very interesting.
Oh, this is definitely shark kick.
Right.
Yeah, there are a lot of different Easter eggs throughout the whole film that are kind of fun.
I really liked the story and I enjoyed and I cried it.
But like I was watching this film from a very different perspective
because I'm basically from the, you know, same place as authors.
Right.
I know where he grew up like.
Right.
Pretty much the same as mine because like his hometown.
I actually went to his hometown this summer not knowing about it,
but I went for fun, like, you know, travel.
So like it's not that difference like one hour away from my hometown.
Looking at the film and then thinking about how author grew up,
reflecting kind of his life, I think.
Right, sure.
アニメと故郷の風景
And like all the like beautiful sceneries and like four different seasons
and the mountain I, you know, used to see and grew up with was in the film.
Right.
So like there's lots of different kind of emotion for me.
Sure.
Which hit me really hard.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Looking at those like scenes in animation in LA and like far away from like my hometown.
Sure.
Brought me kind of close feeling to homesick,
like realization of how pretty where I was born.
Yeah, yeah.
It was also weird for me because although I, you know, I didn't grow up in that part of Japan,
I didn't grow up in Japan at all.
But having lived there, I also sort of got that sense of like, wow,
like I really know this place that this is depicting.
Yeah, I think there's a certain amount of like emotional weight that goes together with knowing a place
and having sort of roots there or I assume we're going to talk about sort of the meaning of look back later.
But one of the main plot points in the film is about a character who wants to get better at drawing background art.
And so the backgrounds are a hugely important part of the film and having those backgrounds be like a place that is,
you know, really important to us and that both of us have lived before was was really powerful.
You know, you've seen that those like rice paddies like filled with water.
Yeah, that's your favorite time of the year.
Yeah, and like all the like rice fields in summer, right?
And then like after harvested rice field, like I know exactly what they like.
Yeah, so that was really good in English and Japanese manga.
There's no dialect. Interesting.
But in the film, Kyomoto, one of the main characters had kind of direct.
Yeah, a little bit, not like huge, but a little bit.
So I was happy to hear that somebody tried to do it.
It was a dialogue coach listed in the credits.
So that was good. It's not as I don't know.
Well, it was good enough. It was good. It was good enough.
It wasn't like super hardcore, but they clearly tried and good for them.
Right, right. So I like that part.
I can talk about my hometown the whole time, but the location is not in my hometown.
Akita, not Akita. It's Yamagata for sure.
Right. Which is right next to Akita. Yeah.
So like because there's a part like introducing like middle schoolers from Yamagata like won the contest.
Right, right, right. So they're clearly from Yamagata.
But they're like parts of like, like my hometown references here and there.
Yeah, I think that's right.
Yeah. Also when I was watching this, especially the part that Fujino saw the news on TV and then like murder happens.
I was like, this is unlikely in Japan, like considering how many people die in America.
Unfortunate, but like you see like more than 10 people killed, which is like not unusual to hear.
But in Japan, there's no guns, right?
So like I was like, hmm, then what is it?
And then like I had a like quick connection about Kyoto animation murder case.
The fire. Fire. Yeah.
So for people who doesn't know Kyoto animation murder case, can you explain about it?
A little bit at least. There was a man who alleged that Kyoto animation had stolen some of his ideas or his art and broke into the Kyoto animation offices with like a gasoline tank and started a fire.
事件の影響と藤本辰季のつながり
Like, you know, committed arson and lit like the entire studio on fire and killed like 40 people.
36 people. 36 people.
That is a huge death toll for Japan.
And, you know, it was a really heinous crime.
You know, that's probably one of like the biggest just incidents resulting in death that I can think of for Japan.
It's not a natural disaster.
So it was a very big deal when it happened.
And I wonder, I mean, I don't know whether you've looked this up or not, but I wonder whether Tatsuki Fujimoto had people he knew who died in that accident.
I tried it, but there was nothing about it.
I don't know. This is what I thought immediately, because there's like a scene and, you know, the case of like people killed in a like art college.
So I had a like quick connection about it, which was a little bit scary.
Yeah. Yeah.
The author of Look Back actually went to the same college.
In his real life? In his real life.
Yeah. So there's some like connection about it.
言葉の意味と文化的解釈
Let's talk about lots of lookbacks here and there.
For me, lookbacks are like look back.
I mean, it's probably different in English and how Japanese people take those words.
The title? Yeah.
Yeah. Because like look back sounds like 後ろを見る.
Yeah. Yeah. Look backwards.
Backwards.
Look behind you.
Yeah. Totally.
So it could be like meaning of like backgrounds.
It could be like look at the backgrounds.
Right.
Look my back.
Like look at my back.
Look at my back.
Like it like Kyomoto and then like Fujino talks about like, oh, yeah, you look at my back and grow.
Yeah.
So this is like definitely a Japanese saying that doesn't translate well to English.
So I think we need to like break that down a little bit more.
The actually, you know, the animation does it better than I can.
There's one of the things that's done really well in the animated version of this story is there are many scenes where Fujino is running ahead of
Kyomoto and they're holding hands.
But Kyomoto is physically behind Fujino and is, you know, looking at her back because she's being sort of dragged forward by the hand.
And that's some of the most like effective use of movement in the whole film.
So I think the look at my back thing.
I mean, I think it's sort of like follow me, right?
Or like I think that's what we would say more commonly in English is like I'll be like a role model.
Like follow my footsteps or something rather than like a look at my back, like doesn't translate into English.
But follow in my footsteps would probably be the way or, you know, or like come with me as like we go.
I think also I don't I don't think Americans like the idea of being like physically behind someone and being like dragged along.
Like America is like about equality.
You know, let's walk together hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder, like not like you're behind me, you know?
And so like there's that whole thing in Asian cultures, right?
If like this is like a very much older thing that's like deeply rooted in patriarchy, right?
But like the idea that like the man walks ahead of the woman and, you know, you should stay three steps behind.
Like that's like I think that's like very hard for Americans to understand as like an ideal, right?
To be like, well, that's like so sexist.
映画『Look Back』のテーマ
Like everyone should be equal.
So in that sense, I think like the look at my back is sort of like I don't know that like Americans like can get down with that very easily.
But, you know, follow the path that I've laid for you or something.
Anyway, I do think that's an important message in this film or an important connection in this film of like what is happening with the characters and an important way to think about the title look back.
But it's also one because, you know, English has so many more prepositions, basically, that like look at my back.
What is not something a lot of English speakers will generate as the meaning of look back, right?
I think for for Americans or for, you know, look back really just means like look back like at your own life.
Look back at like the history of the time you've spent together.
Re-evaluate what the time you spent together meant.
That's the meaning of look back that I think English speakers will most easily understand.
The pivotal moment of the movie is the main character looking back on her own life and her time with Kiyomoto.
And so I think like it's it's almost difficult for English speakers to appreciate any of the other possible meanings of look back other than that one because of like English's structure.
Like that's the only one that grammatically makes sense and follows from the title.
And so things like look at the background like I think that meaning is definitely in there, but it's not like it's not a thing that an American or an English speaker would like immediately be like, oh, yeah, that could be part of what the meaning is trying to say.
Yeah, yeah. Also jacket Kiyomoto was wearing.
Right.
And then she asked Fujino to get autograph on her back.
Yeah.
And towards the end like she looks at the jacket.
I have to say it's called donbuku in my language.
Interesting.
Yeah.
I've never heard that word before.
Nobody says it besides Akita, I think.
Anyway, that's like a thing you wear in winter when it's cold.
Sure.
So I think that has a meaning to like look.
Of the coat?
Coat, yeah.
Yeah, I think that's true that it's that sort of part of it too.
And the last Yonkoma manga's title Kiyomoto wrote to Fujino was look back.
Right.
And the gag at the end is someone with a pickaxe sticking out of their back that they clearly haven't seen.
Yeah, at the beginning I noticed the background that like Fujino's like bookshelf was filled with like Shonen Jump and Nakayoshi Ribbon, which like all I read when I was a kid.
Yeah.
I was not really into manga, but I read those things anyway.
And then that's very nostalgic.
And I think it's still true for young people.
Yeah.
You mentioned a very interesting thing, which I didn't notice.
Ooh, I did?
You did.
Hey.
You have good eyes.
This was, yes.
Can I say this?
I really was so excited about this.
Go ahead.
So there's one moment where someone hands someone else a business card and on the business card is like the person's email address.
Business card?
Right?
Or something like that, right?
Cell phone.
Oh, cell phone.
They're exchanging cell phone information.
And so like there's just like a real split second thing that shows their email address.
アニメと映画の参照
And I'm sure there's a joke in the first half of the email address also.
It's like M-O-T-T-O-N or something like that.
I can't remember what it was.
Oh, just name.
No, it's not just the name.
It's like, it's like, I'm sure it's also an Easter egg or a joke, but I couldn't figure out the first half.
But then it's at dmail.com.
And I was like, oh my God, Steins Gate references everywhere.
That one moment, that was my favorite Easter egg.
I mean, like, you know, I get that like the Chainsaw Man Easter eggs are probably like the bigger ones, honestly, all told.
But like just getting a Steins Gate reference in this film, I was, because that's, that's an, I think also that must be something that only exists in the anime.
I don't think it's in the manga.
I think they don't show like that image in the manga anywhere.
And maybe I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure it's anime only.
Yeah.
And so like the dmail thing, like, especially because they do play around a little bit with like some of like, you know, the what if scenarios of like what if things were different.
And the moment where that comes out is in the middle of one of those like what if scenarios.
And so the idea of like the dmail just like really got me and made me super excited.
You have a really good eyes.
I didn't notice that.
The only thing I noticed was like, you know, Kyomoto holding iPhone, but it's instead of iPhone.
It's a durian.
Instead of the Apple.
It's a durian.
Yeah.
Yeah.
I thought it was a bomb when I first saw it because it was super spiky.
But then I was like, oh, you're right.
It's a durian.
Yeah, that was funny.
So that was good.
I think not anime on manga last page of manga has a picture of DVD or blu-ray of once upon a time in Hollywood, right?
Lying down on the floor.
Yeah, and I didn't understand the meaning of it, even though I watched it.
Well, yeah, once upon a time on Hollywood is a tricky movie to understand.
Well, no, no, no.
I mean, yeah, it was kind of tricky and it's kind of weird at the same time.
I feel like you have to know the history of the events that are being portrayed in once upon a time in Hollywood order like fully appreciate the movie and I don't know that they're like, I mean, I think we're too young to like remember that those events happening.
So can you break it breaking down?
Sure.
So once upon a time in Hollywood, it like doesn't seem to have like a clear plot point for most of the film and then at the very end, you realize it's about the Charles Manson people.
It's about like those teenagers who like killed some people in Hollywood at like, you know, who broke into this house and like killed some people and in the film, it's like a what if scenario?
What if like this actor had been like present and like had stopped like some of the killings from taking place by like being around and like, you know, and stepping in.
And so that's a direct parallel to what's happening and look back where a portion of the story is a sort of like a what if things had transpired differently story.
So that seems to be the connection.
Okay.
キャストと役者
So let's talk about the cast.
Fujino was acted by Yumi Kawai.
We watched her like TV drama and the movie.
I first saw her on Plant 75.
Do you remember?
Plant 75.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Who was she in that?
She was the telephone.
Oh, right, right, right, right, right.
We watched her on Plant 75 and then later we watched her on Extremely Inappropriate, which was hilarious.
So good.
It was so good.
I really, really enjoyed that series.
It's one of my favorites.
Yeah, even in the English, right?
Yeah.
I mean, we watched it subtitled rather than dubbed, but that was a hilarious, hilarious show.
I really, really, really am glad we watched that and she was really good in that too.
Yeah, she was great.
And then Kyomoto was by Mizuki Yoshida, who like in the interview, the director was like, she had a like natural like voice.
For a shut-in.
Yeah, for a shut-in.
Yeah.
So don't practice, you know.
Anything.
Don't change it.
Don't change it.
Yeah, that seemed like a pretty backhanded compliment, honestly.
Yeah, she was like, is that a good thing or bad thing?
Yeah.
Which was funny.
Okay, let's do word of the day.
All right.
I want to do Yonkoma Manga.
All right, I think that's a good one.
I think Yonkoma Manga is a-
Plot point?
Yeah.
Yeah, it is.
In this film.
For sure.
So Yonkoma Manga is a comic strip.
And I think, I don't know whether you know this or not, but like, okay, this is something that's going to date me a little bit.
But as a kid growing up on Sunday, we used to get the LA Times.
And the LA Times on Sunday always had a comics page that was, I guess there were comics actually every day.
I think they're usually in the calendar section at the end.
But Sunday there would be like full color, like two, you know, I guess it's like a four to eight page spread of just comics.
And almost all American comic strips that are published in newspapers are Yonkoma Manga.
Like America has comic books, right?
Like superheroes and Marvel and that kind of thing.
But the type that appears in newspapers almost always a Yonkoma Manga.
So it's a form that's very familiar to Americans.
They don't associate manga with Yonkoma Manga.
And I think they think of it as sort of, but it's very much the same thing as like American comic strips.
On Japanese like newspaper too.
Like there was like Yonkoma Manga on, and I liked reading that part of newspaper as a kid.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So Yonkoma, koma means like square.
So like there are four squares.
Like I think we say kishotenketsu, kishotenketsu, that's how the story goes.
Yeah.
Interesting.
Yeah.
So that's that.
Anything else you would like to add?
I mean, I would just promote this film and be like, it's really worth going to see.
It's very emotional.
The music is great.
The actress did a phenomenal job.
And it's weird in that it's a movie that like about manga, and there's a lot of stills in the film.
Like there's a lot of parts that aren't even animated really.
They're just like still pictures one after another.
But it's very affecting and very sweet.
I recommend it.
Apparently the city, Nikaho City, where the author Tatsuki Fujimoto was born, having like a moment right now.
No doubt.
Since Chainsaw Man.
Since Chainsaw Man became popular, sure.
After Look Back release, Nikaho City made a special Look Back holy ground map.
Wow.
Okay.
So you can go, we can go visit.
Oh, for sure.
Yeah, it'd be really convenient for us.
映画「Look Back」とNikaho
I mean, I've been there many times, but we can check the bookstore from Look Back, which actually exists in Nikaho.
Hey.
Yeah.
And other places like Rice Fields, Patties, I feel like we don't have to do it because it's in front of my dad's house.
Right.
Yeah.
I mean, we can go see the ones from the movie, but they look like the ones everywhere else in that part of Japan.
Yeah.
Nikaho is having a blast celebrating the amazing worldwide famous author.
You go, Nikaho.
So yeah, Nikaho is a great place.
Also, Nikaho is famous for TDK.
Right, right, right, right.
TDK.
And Chainsaw Man.
And Chainsaw Man, yes.
Yeah, actually lots of stuff to see in Nikaho.
Yeah, like the Explorer, the Polar Explorer Museum or whatever, the Antarctic Explorer.
The Antarctic Expedition Memorial Museum, Ferrite Science Museum, Kids Museum.
Hey.
Yeah, it's more developed than where I grew up for sure.
That's a very low bar, but yes.
Okay.
Yeah, like I personally love it.
And then I recommend everyone, like my friends and the family to go watch, especially from my hometown.
Yeah, I bet.
It's super emotional.
And then like, I like the fact like people in the theater were like sobbing and then tearing up.
Yeah.
It was just amazing.
It might be a best movie of the year for me.
Yeah.
Well, given that this is the first movie you've seen in a theater in 11 years.
I mean, the reason is I'm not an English native speaker.
So when I go watch English speaking movie, it's hard.
Yeah.
It's hard.
Like I need subtitles.
I mean, look, as someone who's tried to watch Japanese movies in Japanese with no subtitles,
I absolutely understand your pain.
Yeah.
Still, never in 11 years is like, that's pretty a formidable achievement of not going to the movies.
映画の影響と観客の反応
So this movie moved, physically moved myself.
That's right.
Yes.
To go see a movie again.
So it's worth it.
Well, here's hoping it's just the beginning of you seeing more films in theaters.
Check your local library.
If you're interested in reading this week's manga for free and take advantage of this opportunity with your library card.
Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode.
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Peace.
