Fujino and Kyomoto by AnimationFan15 on DeviantArt (original) (raw)

Mangaka at heart.

Earlier this week, on Monday, October 7, my friend and I saw the anime film Look Back, based on the one-shot of the same name by Chainsaw Man creator, Tatsuki Fujimoto. The film follows two girls: Ayumu Fujino, an artist who loves to create manga, and Kyomoto, an aspiring artist with agoraphobia (the fear of being outside) who admires Fujino.

The story is about Fujino feeling upstaged when Kyomoto, a sheltered girl, reveals her artistic talent in the school's newspaper and strives to better herself, only to quit drawing when she thinks she'll never improve. Several years later, Fujino is tasked with dropping off Kyomoto's middle graduation diploma to her house, and when she gets there, the two meet for the first time and Kymoto expresses how much she admires Fujino as an artist, prompting Fujino to rekindle her love of art and create new manga with Kyomoto, changing their lives forever.

When the film concluded, an interview with the film's director, Kiyotaka Oshiyama, and the voice actresses of the two characters, gave their insight into how the film was made and how they reacted when it premiered in other countries outside of Japan. Once it was over, it really struck a chord with me because, as an artist, this film really taps into the ups and downs of what it's like to be one, and how it's possible to overcome them. It's also extremely heartbreaking, because they really tried to paint this film as being feel-good, but then something tragic would come in and just rip all the good feelings out of you. I think the thing that shocked me the most about it is the fact that it only has a runtime of 57 minutes; that means in just less than an hour, it managed to invoke a ton of emotions out of me, something I thought only mainstream American animated films, especially from Pixar or DreamWorks, could do. This film truly is a marvel, and I'm praying to the high heavens that GKIDS, the distributors of the film for the American release, will put this film on DVD and Blu-ray, because seeing this film was truly an experience, and I want to experience it all over again.

Now onto the artwork!

I figured that, to show more of my love for this film, I would draw the two lead characters: Fujino and Kyomoto. As this is an anime artwork, it took me quite a while to sketch out and finalize the overall look of the characters, as well as other elements like the colors and background. The thing I had the most fun making in this artwork are the little pencil scribbles surrounding the characters. Because these two are artists who create manga, I thought it only made sense to decorate the background with funny little sketches. Most of the sketches were taken from actual sketches shown in the film, while some were completely original by me. I also wrote the characters' names above them, so you know who's who. If you can't speak or read Japanese, Fujino is on the right, and Kyomoto is on the left.

That's honestly all I have to say about this artwork. Hope you like it, and if you're an artist, or if you need your fix of anime films for this year, I highly recommend you see Look Back. Trust me, you will not be disappointed by it.