It tells the story of Ayumu Fujino, a young manga artist who, driven by rivalry and friendship with a reclusive classmate, strives to improve her craft and finds purpose in creating art.

One day, however, her teacher asks for her to give one of her strips over to Kyomoto (京本, Kyōmoto), a shut-in with severe social anxiety who longs to draw manga.

Over the span of a year, in spite of improvements, Fujino fails to meet Kyomoto's standards and eventually quits drawing, rekindling her social life.

Though it becomes very popular, publishing eleven tankōbon and receiving an anime adaptation, the adult Fujino feels unfulfilled without Kyomoto and cycles through assistants as a result.

On January 10, 2016, a man accusing Tohoku of plagiarizing his work commits mass murder there with a pickaxe, with Kyomoto being one of the casualties.

Devastated, Fujino puts Shark Kick on hiatus and returns home to attend the funeral, eventually entering Kyomoto's house alone.

When the killer arrives, however, everyone is saved by this reality's Fujino, who continued to pursue athletics and physically incapacitates the man before he can hurt Kyomoto.

A gust of wind blows the strip out of the room and into the view of Fujino back in the original timeline.

The 143-page one-shot web manga Look Back, written and illustrated by Tatsuki Fujimoto, was published on Shueisha's Shōnen Jump+ online platform on July 19, 2021.

[6][7] On August 2, 2021, it was announced that a scene depicting a man having a "paranoid episode" going into an art school with an axe, claiming plagiarism from a student, was altered post-publication due to reader feedback.

This was due to concerns that portraying a schizophrenic man as a mass murderer could stigmatize the mental illness.

It is produced by Studio Durian and directed by Kiyotaka Oshiyama, who is also in charge of the screenplay and character designs.

Davidson concluded: "Look Back is melancholic, bittersweet and unique, and a great opportunity for Fujimoto to show off his skills.