Animehouse

Yes, that’s correct, a Look Back movie was announced (and here’s a link to the trailer, or you can click here to go directly to it in this post). Certainly holding more popularity and infamy in the English speaking sphere than Goodbye, Eri, this titular Tatsuki Fujimoto one-shot is being animated- but not by Mappa. That’s big in and of itself, but there’s more to talk about. The information was originally shared by Fujimoto’s editor, Shihei Lin, on Twitter. Here they provide a link to the official website for the movie, as well as a link to the Shonen Jump Plus website, where you can read Look Back. Of course, an official Twitter account for Look Back has appeared- which you can find via this link. It was created at the same time as Lin’s announcement, but interestingly enough is not directly mentioned there. To find the first mention of it, you have to navigate to the website to find the link. Regardless, let’s cover a bit of the background of Look Back, in case you’ve missed it.

Staff

Bigger than staff though, this movie is not produced by Mappa

Yes, you read that right. This movie (though it’s more like a short) is not being done by Mappa- the studio where its CEO stated that they wanted to adapt all of Fujimoto’s works. Now, there’s no point reading into that further than the fact that the statement is now rendered incorrect, but there is more to do with the studio behind the Look Back movie: Studio Durian. This will be Durian’s very first anime production as well. It definitely feels like something that should be something of concern, but it really isn’t. Durian may not have been around for very long, but their work speaks in place of history.

Heikousen is a song, a song by Eve to be particular. Fans of the ever famous artist will immediately understand the value in being a part of an Eve music video production, but for those that don’t quite grasp it- it’s kinda a big deal. This is the sort of place where staff end up becoming very popular and well known. Yes, the music video is now over 3 years old so the views should be taken with a grain of salt. Even still though, twenty million views isn’t something that many can accomplish. More than the popularity of individual staff members though, this music video (even though it’s a collaboration with 10 Gauge) speaks to the quality and refinement of Durian as a studio. Though that’s as if their production assistance wasn’t enough to do so.

In the majority of cases, studios do not simply appear out of thin air and begin creating anime. This season’s example, Studio Massket, followed a similar trajectory to that of Durian. Initially, they started with work assistance on various series, migrated to producing some music videos (specifically the one for Cyberpunk Edgerunners), and have now started their very first solo production in The Weakest Tamer Began a Journey To Pick Up Trash.

Regardless, moving on, Durian has proved themselves a force even when exclusively looking at the productions they’ve supported. The two largest contributors to producing an air of confidence with Durian are The First Slam Dunk, and The Boy and The Heron. Very very big movie productions that you don’t walk into without having earned it. For example, alongside Durian in the “Animation Assistance” role for The Boy and The Heron is: Studio Khara, Production I.G., Ufotable, and Yostar Pictures.

So yes, Studio Durian is unproven when working on a solo production, and yes, Oshiyama Kiyataka may be unproven as a series director. However, if you piece together the smaller aspects of their works, it’s hard to find a reason to not be confident in their ability to deliver an incredibly memorable adaptation of Look Back. Just take a look at the teaser, and ask yourself the question, “Am I worried that this won’t be good?”. You’ll have a hard time saying yes.