2024's Best Anime is Getting an Official Follow-up, But It's Not Coming to Crunchyroll

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Published Mar 9, 2026, 1:38 PM EDT

Hannah is a senior writer and self-publisher for the anime section at ScreenRant. There, she focuses on writing news, features, and list-style articles about all things anime and manga. She works as a freelance writer in the entertainment industry, focusing on video games, anime, and literature.

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Few anime films in recent years have made an impact quite like Look Back. The emotional adaptation of Tatsuki Fujimoto’s one-shot manga became one of the most celebrated anime releases of 2024, earning major awards and widespread praise for its heartfelt story about creativity, friendship, and artistic ambition. For many fans, it quickly became one of the most powerful anime films of the decade.

Now, the beloved story is continuing in an unexpected way, according to CBR. Rather than another anime project arriving on Crunchyroll, the next chapter of Look Back will come as a live-action film directed by acclaimed filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. Even more surprising, the film’s North American distribution will be handled by GKIDS, marking another major anime-related acquisition that bypasses the world’s biggest anime streaming service.

A Critically Acclaimed Anime Gets an Unexpected Next Chapter

The original anime film adaptation of Look Back debuted in 2024 and quickly became a critical favorite. Produced by Studio Durian and directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, the movie captured the quiet emotional depth of Fujimoto’s story about two aspiring manga artists whose lives become intertwined through creativity and tragedy.

The film’s success was undeniable. It won Best Animated Feature at the Japan Academy Film Prize and later earned Anime Film of the Year at the Crunchyroll Anime Awards in 2025. Those accolades solidified Look Back as one of the most respected anime films of the decade.

Instead of another animated project, the story’s next evolution will arrive in live-action form. Kore-eda, widely known for films such as Nobody Knows and Shoplifters, will direct the new adaptation. His reputation for emotionally grounded storytelling makes him an intriguing choice to reinterpret Fujimoto’s deeply personal narrative for live-action audiences.

The live-action Look Back will be distributed in North America by GKIDS, continuing the company’s growing streak of high-profile anime-related releases. While Crunchyroll dominates streaming anime worldwide, GKIDS has quietly built an impressive reputation for bringing prestigious Japanese animation and film to international audiences.

The company is best known as the North American distributor for Studio Ghibli, but its catalog extends far beyond that legendary studio. GKIDS has also handled releases tied to popular anime properties like Neon Genesis Evangelion and newer hits such as Dandadan, giving it strong credibility among dedicated anime fans.

This isn’t the first time GKIDS has beaten Crunchyroll to a major anime-related release either. The company previously secured distribution rights for the theatrical preview film Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution, tied to the upcoming continuation of Jujutsu Kaisen. Meanwhile, Crunchyroll focused on other major titles like Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc and Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle.

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For Look Back, Kore-eda has revealed that the project was deeply personal from the beginning. The director first encountered Fujimoto’s manga in a bookstore during a train trip and read it in a single sitting that same night. The story’s emotional honesty left a strong impression on him as a fellow creator.

Production on the live-action film has already finished, and the movie is currently in post-production. Kore-eda reportedly chose to shoot the film on traditional film stock rather than digital cameras, a decision intended to mirror the tactile, hands-on artistic process at the heart of the story’s protagonists.

Although the film’s cast and exact release date remain under wraps, it is expected to premiere sometime in 2026. For fans of Fujimoto’s work, the project represents a rare moment where manga, anime, and cinema converge, bringing Look Back full circle in a way few stories ever achieve.