‘Discarded by the World’—Hirokazu Koreeda on the Manga That Saved His Career

Even one of modern cinema’s most celebrated auteurs is not immune to crippling self-doubt and creative despair. For visionary director Hirokazu Koreeda, the global disruptions of the pandemic not only halted production, but they pushed him into the darkest professional slump of his entire career.

How a Pandemic Bookstore Find Saved Hirokazu Koreeda’s Career

Speaking at the Toronto International Film Festival during the premiere of his adaptation of Look Back, Koreeda revealed that a spontaneous bookstore purchase during the pandemic pulled him out of the darkest professional slump of his life. With global lockdowns halting every production he had in development, Koreeda admitted he was gripped by the terrifying sensation that his art was no longer relevant.

“When I bought the book, this would have been around the period of the pandemic where all of my film projects that were in production had stopped,” Koreeda shared. “I remember feeling as though my work that I had spent my whole career on film was being discarded by the world. Being told as if it wasn’t needed.”

Browsing shelves, Koreeda was immediately arrested by the cover illustration of a young girl hunched over a desk drawing. Written by Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, Look Back follows two young manga artists, Fujino and Kyomoto, tracing the intense bond they forge through art, an unspeakable tragedy that causes one to abandon creation entirely, and the painful path to finding the courage to pick up a pen again.

The narrative mirrored Koreeda’s own paralyzed spirit.

“This film and the story is about a young protagonist who stops drawing manga after a specific incident and then how they regain the courage to return to drawing manga,” Koreeda explained. “I was very moved by this and I felt very encouraged.”

The emotional resonance was so profound that Koreeda felt compelled to step behind the camera once more. While Fujimoto split his own persona across the two leads to tell a deeply autobiographical tale, Koreeda discovered that channeling their fierce creative passion allowed him to rediscover his own purpose as a filmmaker.

Look Back officially hit the U.S. theaters on September 11, 2026,