This article includes spoilers for the “Look Back” manga. Reader discretion is advised.
When Tatsuki Fujimoto public “Look Back” in July 2021, the work attracted a large amount of criticism due to the one-shot including a depiction of an attack on a building motivated by accusations of plagiarism. This was taken as a clear reference to the 2019 Kyoto Animation Arson Attackand it didn’t help much that Fujimoto published this one-shot right on the second anniversary of said tragedy.
As was the case with the one-shot manga three years ago, The criticism has arrived again now that the animated film adaptation will arrive from Studio Durian on June 28 in theaters in Japan. But before we review these criticisms, why do they exist in the first place?
>>SPOILERS BEGIN
The story follows the intertwined destinies of Fujino and Kyomoto, two aspiring manga authors we met when they were high school students. Both artists pursue ambitions together, and then separately, in a heartbreaking story of rivalry, jealousy, creative passion and friendship.
In a climactic scene, the art school where Kyomoto was studying is attacked by a man armed with an ax who kills twelve students, including Kyomoto. As he attacks her, he accuses her of having plagiarized his art, an echo of the accusations the Kyoto Animation arsonist made against the studio.
>> SPOILERS END
Although the original manga was edited by Shueisha to evade accusations, the original drafts displayed in an exhibition of Tatsuki Fujimoto in France confirmed that the attack in the “Look Back” story occurs on July 18, 2019, the same day as the attack on Kyoto Animation. Now, it is evident that criticism arose, don’t you think?
But now that “Look Back” will be adapted to animation, the story will reach many more people and it is evident that the reference will be more recognized. Or perhaps the feature film version will also be edited so as not to offend sensitivities?
- «On a day when many people were murdered in a case that had not yet gone to trial, the editors of Shonen Jump were very enthusiastic about the “biggest stir in history” without any kind of shame. Numerous problems and criticisms at work. Secondary damage caused by the messy apologies and corrections. Look Back is still treated as a masterpiece uncritically by most, and now that it’s being made into a movie, it’s very hard!».
- «I had a friend who worked at Kyoto Animation, and she was safe, but until I contacted her, I was very afraid that she had died. I couldn’t read the rest of Look Back».
- «The retrospective is about the Kyoto Animation arson case (not explicitly stated, but I can only assume from the content), and publishing it on the two-year anniversary of the incident is crazy. The author who drew it also decided when to publish it, although the trial had not concluded at the time of publication. Both the author who drew it and the editor who published it are crazy».
- «In contrast to “Sayonara Eri,” which consciously reflects the author’s ego, “Look Back” is an emotional depiction of a real-life incident, and reveals Tatsuki Fujimoto’s true intentions. “Sayonara, Eri”, which is like a response to the criticism and open reviews after the release of “Look Back”, is also unpleasant as a whole. A manga that I hate».
- «As good a manga artist as Tatsuki Fujimoto is, I get the impression that he’s just a man of bad taste, and I feel like he should at least stick to Chainsaw Man. I’m not going to go see the movie either.».
- «I think Look Back is a good manga, but I can’t help but criticize it because it won’t have enough “changes” in the adaptation so that it doesn’t remind me of the first version that referenced the real incident. The problem is that after they published it, they edited it, as if they had already planned it. I think I’ve said it before, but don’t do it in Shonen Jump, do it in doujinshi».
- «I thought the tweets I made when I criticized Shonen Jump about Look Back were good, but I haven’t changed my mind. I think some remember that the work was criticized at the time, but I still think that the problem is not the quality of the work, but the fact that it was published on July 19, or late at night on July 18, when the incident occurred, and that “referenced” the incident».
- «Look Back, I think the work itself has strength, but the way it was accepted and consumed by readers was very bad due to its “bad craftsmanship”, so it is natural to be depressed by the storm of “consumption” that will come when becomes animation and goes out to the large commercial market».
Fountain: Yaraon!
