Hirokazu Kore-eda takes on live-action Look Back, set for 2026 release

Palme d’Or–winning filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda is deep into post-production on a live-action adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s manga Look Back, with a late-2026 release now in sight. The project marks Kore-eda’s foray into bringing one of Japan’s most talked-about contemporary manga to life, with the reveal of two teaser posters this week.

Look Back traces the shifting friendship between two young girls who throw themselves into the unforgiving world of manga creation. When Fujimoto published the one-shot on Shonen Jump+ in 2021, it generated immediate traction with millions of reads within a day, and strong domestic and international sales that carried it into 37 markets.

Kore-eda’s adaptation was filmed discreetly in Nikaho City, with Daiju Koide producing under the K2 Pictures banner. The company will also release the film in Japan, while distribution is already secured in Taiwan and South Korea. Goodfellas is handling sales across the rest of the world.

Speaking about his first encounter with the manga, Kore-eda said: “On a return trip from Kyoto to Tokyo, I was drawn to a figure’s back on the cover of a book in a bookstore at Shinagawa Station… That night, I read it in one sitting.” He described sensing “the desperate resolve behind this work,” comparing it to the creative urgency that once drove him while making Nobody Knows.

Fujimoto, whose breakout titles include Fire Punch and Chainsaw Man, welcomed the adaptation with characteristic brevity: “If director Kore-eda is going to film Look Back, I have nothing more to say.”

The manga previously inspired an animated feature in 2024, which topped the Japanese box office and later moved to Prime Video. Kore-eda, meanwhile, is preparing for his next film Sheep in the Box, slated for summer 2026.