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Kenshi Yonezu, Tōko Miura, Yōko Kuno Join Live-Action Look Back Film as Special Guest Staff

The official website for the live-action film of Tatsuki Fujimoto's "Look Back" one-shot manga announced on Thursday that musician Kenshi Yonezu, actress and singer Tōko Miura, and animator and director Yōko Kuno will have special guest staff roles in the film. Yonezu will perform guitar for the film, credited under the "Shark Kick Guitar" moniker, while Miura will perform vocals for an insert song in the film. Kuno will direct a rotoscoped animation sequence based on their performance, with Shinei Animation producing the animation.

Yonezu has previously performed theme songs for the Chainsaw Man and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc anime, both based on Fujimoto's manga. His "Shark Kick Guitar" credit is a reference to an in-story manga in the film titled "Shark Kick," itself an apparent reference to Fujimoto's Fire Punch manga. Miura previously collaborated with the band RADWIMPS on the soundtrack to Makoto Shinkai's Weathering With You. Kuno was animation director on Shunji Iwai's The Case of Hana & Alice anime film, and directed the Ghost Cat Anzu film, both of which use rotoscoping extensively.

The film will open on September 11 in Japan. GKIDS will release the film in theaters in 2026 in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Ireland. The 79th Cannes International Film Festival showcased the film on May 15. The London Film Festival will screen the film in October. 

The festival describes the film:

Spanning more than a decade, Hirokazu Kore-eda's tender coming-of-age story follows two girls who bond over their passion for and dream of becoming manga artists. Fujino, a gifted artist and aspiring manga artist, meets Kymoto, a shy admirer of her work. Seemingly opposites, they create the perfect team with their shared love of the form. But as their work draws praise and attention, they find themselves confronted with decisions that threaten their artistic collaboration. Koreeda's beautiful love letter to friendship and the creative process offers keen insight into the craft. 

Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters, Our Little Sister, Air Doll) is directing and editing the film, and is also writing the screenplay. Yūta Bandō (BELLE, Kaiju No. 8, also known as Taku Matsushiba) is composing the music.

The staff also includes:

• Photography: Senzo Ueno
• Lighting: Masachio Nishida
• Sound: Kazuhiko Tomita
• Art Direction: Shinsuke Kojima
• Costume Design: Sachiko Ito
• Hair and Makeup Supervision: Katsuhiko Yūmi
• Assistant Director: Kensei Nakayama
• Scripter: Ryōko Taguchi
• Casting: Toshie Tabata, Yōko Yamashita
• VFX Supervisor: Rinto Ueda
• Line Producer: Shinichi Muraoka

Fujimoto debuted the one-shot manga on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ in July 2021. The manga had over 2.5 million views on its first day. Viz Media and MANGA Plus launched the manga digitally in English. Viz Media published the manga in print in September 2022.

The anime film adaptation of Fujimoto's "Look Back" one-shot manga opened in theaters in Japan in June 2024. It ranked at #2 in terms of ticket sales (but #1 in weekend earnings) in its opening weekend. The film sold 135,000 tickets and earned 227 million (about US$1.40 million) in its first three days.

GKIDS screened the anime film in October 2024 in North America. The film earned US$688,253 at the U.S. box office in its opening weekend.

Fujimoto (Fire Punch) debuted the Chainsaw Man manga in Weekly Shonen Jump in December 2018 and ended its "first part," the "Kōan" (Public Safety) arc, in December 2020. The manga's second part, titled "Gakkō-hen" (School Arc), started on Shueisha's Shonen Jump+ service in July 2022, and it ended on March 24 (March 25 in Japan).

Sources: Look Back live-action film's website, Comic Natalie