Bold statement: A renowned director is turning a popular manga into a live-action film, with a 2026 release that fans won’t want to miss. Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Palme d’Or winner, is deep into post-production on a live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s Look Back, and a late-2026 debut is now anticipated. This project marks Kore-eda’s first major foray into bringing one of Japan’s most talked-about contemporary manga to the screen, following the reveal of two teaser posters this week.
Look Back follows the evolving friendship between two young girls as they dive into the ruthless world of manga creation. When Fujimoto published the one-shot on Shonen Jump+ in 2021, it quickly captured a massive audience, garnering millions of reads in a single day and strong sales in numerous markets, reaching 37 countries.
The film was shot discreetly in Nikaho City, with Daiju Koide producing under the K2 Pictures banner. The company will handle the Japanese release, while distribution has already been secured for Taiwan and South Korea. Goodfellas is handling sales for the rest of the world.
Kore-eda shared his first encounter with the manga: during a return trip from Kyoto to Tokyo, he noticed a figure’s back on a bookstore cover at Shinagawa Station and read the book in one sitting that night. He described feeling the same desperate drive that fueled him during Nobody Knows, likening the manga’s urgency to his own creative compulsion.
Fujimoto, whose breakout works include Fire Punch and Chainsaw Man, welcomed the adaptation with his typical brevity: “If director Kore-eda is going to film Look Back, I have nothing more to say.”
The Look Back story previously inspired an animated feature in 2024, which topped the Japanese box office before moving to Prime Video. Kore-eda is meanwhile preparing his next live-action project, Sheep in the Box, scheduled for release in summer 2026.
