Two Japanese legends are coming together for what is now my most anticipated movie of 2026 (after Greenland 2). Revealed in the pages of Shonen Jump Plus on Tuesday, K2 Pictures announced that none other than Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters, After Life) will write and direct a live-action adaptation of Chainsaw Man mangaka Tatsuki Fujimoto’s one-shot Look Back.
Rumors of Kore-eda’s potential involvement in the manga adaptation leaked earlier this year, when casting notices suggested that work was underway on the film. Now it’s official, and the impossible —a live-action adaptation delivering even a fraction of the emotion of Kiyotaka Oshiyama’s transcendent anime adaptation of Look Back from last year — actually looks possible.
Though Fujimoto is best known for the raging violence of Chainsaw Man, his 140-page one-shot is a complete 180 in terms of character and pace. Look Back follows Fujino, an outgoing grade-school manga prodigy, and Kyomoto, a reclusive but extraordinarily skilled classmate, as they butt heads and ultimately shape each other’s lives in ways neither could imagine. The story evolves from light rivalry into a meditation on artistic ambition, collaboration, and grief (but no spoilers here). How Kore-eda might expand on the story, or simply thread it carefully through his live-action lens, is an exciting prospect; Oshiyama’s anime only ran 40 minutes, yet absolutely walloped me, making my top 10 of the year.
Key art from Look Back (2026)Image: K2 Pictures
Anyone who knows Kore-eda’s work is probably flipping out. The celebrated Japanese filmmaker, known for his intimate family stories and Ozu-esque stillness, started as a documentarian before turning to narrative storytelling. His 1998 film After Life is a personal favorite around here, but he hit mainstream success after nabbing the Jury Prize at Cannes for 2013’s Like Father, Like Son and later the Palme d’Or for 2018’s Shoplifters, a film that also earned him an Academy Award nomination. In recent years, Kore-eda turned to TV, directing the Netflix series Asura which seems to have gone sorely underseen. Look Back should, if we’re all lucky, open up his quiet auteurship to a whole new generation.
No release plans were announced with the reveal of Kore-eda’s Look Back, but if his track record and the production status is any indication, a May premiere at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival seems entirely possible. While we wait: the first key art for the film, which should hit the hearts of anyone familiar with the source material.
Key art from Look Back (2026)Image: K2 Pictures
