Tatsuki Fujiumoto’s popular one-shot manga Look Back has been nominated for this year’s Eisner Award in the category of “Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia.” His most popular work, Chainsaw Man, was nominated for the same award last year.
Other series that are currently up for the award are the following:
- Black Paradox, by Junji Ito, translation by Jocelyne Allen (VIZ Media)
- The Hellbound vols. 1-2, by Yeon Sang-ho and Choi Gyu-seok, translation by Danny Lim (Dark Horse)
- PTSD Radio vol. 1, by Masaaki Nakayama, translation by Adam Hirsch (Kodansha)
- Shuna’s Journey, by Hayao Miyazaki; translation by Alex Dudok de Wit (First Second/Macmillan)
- Talk to My Back, by Yamada Murasaki, translation by Ryan Holmberg (Drawn & Quarterly)
Look Back (English translation by Amanda Haley (VIZ Media) could possibly win its second industry award since being published on Shonen Jump+ in July 2021. The controversial one-shot previously won the E-book Manga Award in the “One Complete Volume! One-Shot Manga” category earlier this year. It also won a special prize in 2021 after topping the list for Twitter Japan’s Trend Awards. VIZ Media licensed the manga in February 2022 and released the physical copy in September of the same year. The digital version is currently available to read on the official Shonen Jump app.
Despite receiving over 4 million reads in its first two days of publication making it one of the most popular in Jump+ history, Look Back caused a little bit of controversy a month into its release. Fans demanded the publication to change a certain scene in the manga after it received some heat due to its questionable portrayal of mental illness, specifically schizophrenia, and the scene’s similarity to the Kyoto Animation arson attack. However, the story was altered without a problem. Now, Look Back currently has over 500,000 copies in circulation and is looking to win one of the most prestigious awards in the industry. If Look Back wins, this will make it Fujimoto’s fourth award in three years.
VIZ Media describes the Look Back manga as such:
The overly confident Fujino and the shut-in Kyomoto couldn’t be more different, but a love of drawing manga brings these two small-town girls together. A poignant story of growing up and moving forward that only Tatsuki Fujimoto, the creator of Chainsaw Man, could have crafted.
Source: Official Comic-Con Website
LOOK BACK © 2021 by Tatsuki Fujimoto/SHUEISHA Inc.
