Tatsuki Fujimoto is a well-known name in manga right now. Chainsaw Man is a popular Shonen Jump manga and the anime for the series was one of the most anticipated this year. And, honestly, I think the manga is pretty darn good, myself. I’ve been reading it on Shueisha’s official Manga Plus app for free, completely legitimately.

At the end of last year, the Mangasplaining crew took a look at this one-shot by Fujimoto-sensei and, as I had it on my to-read pile at the time, I bumped it up, and cried my way through it. Now Look Back by Tatsuki Fujimoto is out in print in English and I nabbed a copy at my local Kinokuniya when I saw it.

This is still a fantastic manga that you really ought to read. Read it slowly. Pay attention to the details. It’s a slim volume, and not terribly complicated in terms of concept. In fact, I’d call this a very typical “the second story a manga artist does after their series goes mega-hit and they need to write about creating manga” manga. But it is loaded to the gills with feels.

Fujino has always been told that she’s a great artist. But there is another girl in her school who is better. Look Back is a beautifully crafted tale about creating manga. It’s not a beautiful book, but is so stunningly rendered that it will hit you solidly in the gut time after time. As I mentioned in my review of the Japanese volume, there is a scene at the beginning where Fujino ugly cries that is so powerful, it will live with me for a very long time.

Content note: There is some violence at the end. It is pretty clear that this was, at least in part, written as a reaction to the Kyoto Anime tragedy. Yet another punch to the gut in a book full of them. 

I’m reviewing it, so you might expect there to be Yuri. There is not. But the relationship between Fujino and Kyomoto is lovely and heartbreaking. Just read it.

Ratings:

Art – 9 Outstanding
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – 0
Yuri – 0 The story is about a life-changing relationship between two girls

Overall – 9

I mean this with absolute sincerity – you really should read this volume. Just bring some hankies.