Look Back
After “Fire Punch” and “Chainsaw Man,” you’d think you have a good idea about what to expect from a manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto. A tragically dumb protagonist with an incredible ability born out of body horror. Outrageously violent and over-the-top action scenes. Series that give the impression they’re going to be about one thing before the status quo is smashed and it becomes about something else instead. Of these things, only the last applies to “Look Back.” This was a 144-page one-shot published in Shonen Jump that is unlike anything the mangaka has done yet, and also not much like anything you’d expect to see in the magazine it was published in.
Fujimoto is a fourth-grade student who loves drawing manga. She does four-panel strips for her school newspaper and she’s become popular among her classmates as a result. Then her teacher asks if she’d give up one of the slots on the paper for Kyomoto. She’s a shut-in who doesn’t attend school, but wanted to give drawing manga a try. Fujimoto reluctantly agrees, only to see that Kyomoto’s artistic ability greatly outstrip hers. This only serves to compel Fujimoto to improve her own skills and take back the title of best fourth-grade mangaka!
After that… all I’ll say is that Fujimoto and Kyomoto eventually meet. What happens in that initial meeting is unexpected. As is a lot of what happens afterward. I’ve said before that it’s rare these days when a story manages to surprise me with where it goes. Just when I think I’ve reached a point when all I can expect is to see familiar story elements and tropes done well, along comes something like “Look Back” to show me that there’s a new way of doing things.
The way this story goes takes us through solitude, through connection, heartbreak, success, grief, and resignation – with a little determination mixed in for good measure. Fujimoto manages to essay these feelings impressively well over the course of the story, dwelling on them only long enough to make his point before moving the story forward. Mostly forward. The story is called “Look Back” after all, and there may just be the tiniest bit of magical realism involved in its telling. Or maybe it’s one of the characters trying to help herself out of a dark moment without realizing she did it. There’s some room for interpretation there.
What it takes to make manga is also a big part of this story as well. While there are the expected nods to the actual physical effort that’s required to do it, “Look Back” ultimately aims a bit higher than merely showcasing it. “Why do you draw, Fujino?” is something that’s asked of the main character at a certain point. It’s something that you can imagine the character asking herself throughout the story, in the good times and bad. A better way to phrase it would be, “Why do you create?” with the answer coming in a series of wordless pictures that follow. It feels like the story is asking this of the reader and then trying to provide its own answer. I don’t expect to see big questions like this asked in Shonen Jump titles (spoiler: the answer is “friendship” 99.9% of the time), but this series does it and the answer here is affecting.
Much as I love the storytelling in this series, there are a few things that make it feel rough around the edges. Fujimoto’s art has a roughness that’s well-suited for the gnarly violence he likes to indulge in, but feels out of place here. I’m under the impression he worked on this story while he was churning out chapters of “Chainsaw Man,” so I can understand why it looks the way it does. Still, it’s disappointing to imagine people skipping this title just because the get a look at the characters and don’t find them aesthetically pleasing.
There’s also the fact that you can only read this in English (legitimately) as part of Viz’s Shonen Jump subscription service. It’s dirt cheap at $1.99 a month, but I’d much rather see a proper digital release of this volume. Viz’s online reader is serviceable and the resolution on the comic isn’t as sharp as what I’ve seen delivered on ComiXology. There’s no indication on Amazon that a print volume is coming anytime soon, so a digital subscription to Jump is your only choice here.
That being said, it’s absolutely worth $1.99 just to read this story and nothing else. I would’ve been perfectly fine reading another violent, horror-tinged action series from Fujimoto after what he’s delivered so far. That he decided to try something different was completely unexpected, yet wholly successful. I know that he’s busy with the “School Arc” of “Chainsaw Man,” but after “Look Back,” I’ll be here for whatever he wants to give us in the meantime.
Oh, and in case anyone was wondering why I’m writing about this story now, as opposed to when it was released over the summer, the “Best of 2021” list is coming this Wednesday…