Look Back received the Best Animation Award at the Japan Movie Critics Awards today, joining a long line of prestigious anime films. The Kiyotaka Oshiyama-directed film joins the highly decorated ranks of now classic anime films, Wolf Children, A Silent Voice, Night Is Short, and Walk On Girl. Alongside Look Back, actors from the live-action adaptations of Let’s Go Karaoke! and Sayuri also won awards.
Here is the full list of winners of the 34th Japan Movie Critic Awards:
Best Picture – Living in Two Worlds
Best Director – Yu Irie for A Girl Named Ann
Best Actor (Male) – Ryo Yoshizawa in Living in Two Worlds
Best Actor (Female) – Yumi Kawai in A Girl Named Ann
Best Supporting Actor (Male) – Go Ayano in Maru, Yusaku Mori in Missing
Best Supporting Actor (Female) – Akiko Oshidari in Living in Two Worlds
Best Documentary – Big Home
Best Animation – Look Back
New Director Award – Yoko Yamanaka for Desert of Namibia
Best New Actor (Male) – Jun Saito in Let’s Go Karaoke!, Chikara Motoyama in 11 Rebels
Best New Actor (Female) – Itsuki Nagasawa in Where Love Goes
Screenplay Award – Sayaka Kai for adabana
Matsunaga Bunko Award (Special Award) – Toei Tsurugikai
Golden Glory Award (Haruo Mizuno Award) – Toshie Negishi for Sayuri
Diamond Grand Prize (Nagaharu Yodogawa Prize) – Mitsuko Kusabue for 90 Years Old – So What?
This is not the first win for Look Back, with the film also taking the Best Animated Picture award at the Hochi Film Awards, Tokyo Anime Award Festival and Japan Academy Film Prize. It has also been nominated for Film of the Year at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. The ceremony for this year’s Japan Movie Critics Awards will be held on June 9.
Kiyotaka Oshiyama (FLIP FLAPPERS) directs Look Back at Studio Durian. Oshiyama also wrote the script and provided the character designs. Kiyoshi Sameshima is the art director with haruka nakamura providing the music and Avex Pictures distributing the film, which was released in Japan on June 28, 2024. Mantan Web reports that the short film made over 2 billion yen (US$13.31 million) in Japan on the back of 1.17 million tickets sold.
GKIDS released Look Back in North America on October 4, 2024, describing the film as such:
Popular, outgoing Fujino is celebrated by her classmates for her funny comics in the class newspaper. One day, her teacher asks her to share the space with Kyomoto, a truant recluse whose beautiful artwork sparks a competitive fervor in Fujino. What starts as jealousy transforms when Fujino realizes their shared passion for drawing.
Based on the acclaimed manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto, the creator of “Chainsaw Man”, Look Back captures the highs and lows of pursuing artistic excellence and the special bonds formed through creative collaboration. The heart-wrenching story is the stunning feature-length directorial debut from Kiyotaka Oshiyama that will leave you in tears and inspire you to chase your own artistic dreams.
Source: Comic Natalie
