Have you ever ever watched a film that you just type of knew can be one in all your favorite movies of all time, earlier than you even noticed it? That is how I felt the day that the anime adaptation of Look Again was revealed in February of this 12 months, however it wasn’t till not too long ago that I used to be in a position to really get to the cinema and test it out (perpetually adore you, distributing corporations that take perpetually to announce releases of anime films in UK cinemas). At the moment, you can verify the movie out your self even when it isn’t exhibiting in a cinema close to you, because it’s arrived on Prime Video globally – and in case you’re a fan of Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto’s work, it is actually one you should not miss out on.
Based mostly on the one-shot manga of the identical identify, Look Again follows the lives of two younger manga artists, Ayumu Fujino and Kyomoto, as they bond over drawing comics collectively, pushing one another to be higher. Or, at the least, that is the place it finally ends up going, provided that Fujino type of provides up drawing after seeing how good Kyomoto is initially of all of it. However Kyomoto, regardless of being an anxious shut-in that actually by no means goes to high school, manages to pluck up the braveness to inform Fujino how a lot she admires her work (regardless of its apparent amateurness), serving to to create a extremely attention-grabbing steadiness between the 2 of them.
Watch on YouTube
You see, I do fear that my opening paragraph would possibly overhype it for a few of you. This is not some thoughts blowing, bombastic piece of animation like, say, Akira, neither is it notably motion packed. It is so much quieter than that. In spite of everything, it is an anime about drawing manga, there’s solely a lot wow issue you possibly can put into one thing like this. And but it is that quietness that director Kiyotaka Oshiyama actually hones in on that makes the movie really feel actually particular.
Take the opening shot for instance – it is a shot that will be easy if filmed in actual life, beginning means up within the sky, slowly heading downwards to ultimately land on Fujino’s home. Hell, it might be lots easy to do it in 3D, however not, the entire thing is finished in 2D, body by body. You may argue it is pointless, however it units the tone for the movie, making it clear that even these delicate moments the place you are simply getting a personality’s response can be given as a lot love as doable in these handful of frames they’re on the display screen for.
What’s most spectacular is how a lot of that love is packed into the very brief runtime of round 58 minutes, nonetheless technically characteristic size, however clearly so much shorter than your typical cinema expertise. Begin to end I could not discover a fault in it although, and to be sincere I felt like my eyes weren’t glued to it sufficient. There are such a lot of small particulars to understand, references to Fujimoto’s personal profession to smile at (Fuji-no? Kyo-moto? Fuji…moto?), and even when it appears a little bit tough and scratchy, you possibly can really feel that the intention was to prioritise the sensation of a scene quite than technical proficiency.
I simply assume that this movie is an actual particular train in pushing your self, to do issues a little bit in another way, which is the entire thesis of the unique story, actually, so how higher an adaptation are you able to handle? It is also an awesome entryway into Fujimoto’s works if Chainsaw Man did not fairly click on with you to start out, as it is a clear instance of how considerate his work is today, regardless of a few of his earlier one pictures veering a lot too closely on the aspect of edgy.
You additionally haven’t got a lot of an excuse to not watch it, given its aforementioned brief run time and its availability on Prime Video – so please, go and test it out, have a little bit cry (you nearly undoubtedly will), and luxuriate in one of the best anime film of the 12 months.
