Anime: Toki o Kakeru Shoujo

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by darmaiad on 2016-01-07 18:29

This overrated movie cements in my eyes Mamoru Hosoda's status as an overrated director, although I really liked Ookami kodomo no ame to yuki (8.0).

I expected more from the animation; the combination of studio Madhouse and the high praise this movie enjoys filled me with expectation, but in the end it was nothing out of the ordinary. Of course ordinary for Madhouse means a cut above the rest. So, great but not spectacular, animation.

The movie begins as a “slice of high-school life” with some time-leaping shenanigans. For the most part the movie does a good job for the first two thirds; the heroine, Makoto, behaves pretty naturally and develops along with the increasingly complex time-leaping machinations.

The movie centers around Makoto, so I will not fault it too much about the underdeveloped side characters, but I have to point out the the strong friendship (or awkward love triangle) between Makoto and the two boys feels forced. I wouldn't reproach that aspect of their relationship if it didn't became so important in the plot later.

The director attempts escape the genre's prose by introducing some stylistic elements: The actual leaps in order to leap through time, showing numerous times the pompous phrase “time awaits for no one”, and gently insinuating the heroine of the source material as the “aunt witch” (Kazuko Yoshiyama). Those tricks work, but they don't offer anything of substance.

In the final third of the movie the problems appear in massive amounts. First of all, have the inevitable plot holes that associate themselves whenever a work of art depicts some form of non linear time line. People don't seem to mind (yes, I am looking at you, Interstellar fans) but a bunch of plot holes really spoils things for me. I will address the major plot hole in parable form in order to avoid spoilers:

Genie: “Congratulations, you have three wishes”
Makoto: “I want to have an infinite amount of wishes”
Genie: “Cool choice sister, infinite wishes it is”

Another problem is the dubious motivations of the characters towards the end. I don't want to spoil anything, but motives are not well established. If you couple that with the also poor established time travel “rules” you have a mess of a third act. And the mess continues to the very end; Gungrave (7.0/10) managed to salvage itself from it's shitty third act by providing a heartfelt ending, here we have a vanilla ending, devoid of any real emotion.

There are more faults I could whine about; like the lack of sufficient stakes or lessons for the heroine, but I think you get the idea: It begins as a calm and sweet movie, but fails to deliver. You could do worse, but you can do so much better. 5.5/10.

If you liked the good aspects of this movie, like the slice of life and coming of age, I would suggest Sakamichi no Apollon (7.5/10), Cross game (9.0/10), and Barakamon (8.0/10).

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by mimikochan on 2014-03-31 09:38

SPOILERS ALLERT!! All my reviews have spoilers!

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was directed by Mamoru Hosoda and written by Satoko Okudera, and despite being based in Yasutaka Tsuitui's novel (also known for Paprika) the story in the movie diverges from the original since the protagonist, Kazumo Yoshiyama, in here is actually the "Witch Aunt" of our main protagonist, Makoto Konno. And we still don't know if we're supposed to assume that in this story she actually passed for the "leaping" thing too, or is just a tribute that the director made for the original story.
So, we all, once in life, thought about the opportunity to go back in time and change our past: for something wrong you made; a word of a phrase that you forgot to say in the right time; or even an opportunity lost forever because of the choices you made. This is not exactly a new thematic since parallel worlds and time-traveling has been very explored through the literature, but I like the way Hosoda picks up stories and turn them into something fresh.
The story starts very slow in a high school scenery (Japanese do love it because this themes reaches the younger audiences!) and our protagonist, the 17 years-old Makoto Konno appears in her daily life going to school and playing with her two friends, Chiaki and Kousuke. But in this particular day Makoto seemed to be upon an unlucky star - she woke up late; almost get in the way of the train; got a surprise test with a failure result; burned her dish in cooking class almost setting fire to the whole room; got hit by a guy who was throw; and, she's on duty today!
When she reaches the lab, she hears a strange sound and sees a vulture, trying to get closer she slips on the floor and touches a walnut. Going back home she forgets that her bike has a brake malfunction and almost experience death - in the very last moment she's teleported to a weird place where time seems to reign. Next, she's alive and back in time without knowing why until her aunt explains to her that she had a time "leapt".
Since this discover she starts to use the leapt in an extravagant way, just trying to turn her unlucky day into a good one, although this change seem to affect others, and she decides to use it to prevent "undesirable" situations, when suddenly she's caught with a love confession from her dear friend Chiaki.
After leaping constantly she sees that the uses were frivolous since the tattoo in her arms shows that she has few more uses. She desperately tries to do the right thing in the last time - letting things happen normally but hiding the leapt story from Chiaki, that starts to wonder about, but she forgot an important thing: Kousuke and Kaho borrowed her faulty bike and they end up having the accident she had in the beginning with the train.
Chiaki sees that she's desperate and confesses that he came from the future to be able to see a painting, that is being restored, because in his time the painting is gone, destroyed by a fire. Since she used all of his chances given by the walnut device, Chiaki can't go back to his time so he needs to disappear.
When he's gone Makoto understand that she has feelings for him and still has a last leapt to use, and traces a path for her future.
The story is imaginative and magic but has some issues that are worth notice, one of them is a necessary one - the repeated frames - she leaps so constantly during the movie, rolling and knocking into things, that you start to wonder when she's going to have a nosebleed for brain damage; but the main issue is the ending - it doesn't feel like a proper one and I've figure that this is a constant problem with Hosoda's work - either they are rush, or a loss tie, or a some kind of happy-end with many questions answered - because when Chiaki confesses that he came from the future you start to make some questions about sense. First of all, I never truly understood how this "leapt" thing works, and how do they control it... I mean, he's from the future that came to the past to see a painting, and he's being waiting for the past 5 months to see it... Why haven't he leaped 3 or 4 months instead of being waiting? And why go to school during that time? The future must be a pretty damn bad and boring place for him to prefer to stay here and go to school!!
The fact that he disappears is another awkward scene, since, supposedly, he didn't have more attempts to go forward to his time. And he disappears like The Great Odini, never explaining how!!
Let's move to the characters: we have the energetic, high-spirit, tomboy Makoto - she's the main character and the only to gain any development when she understand that changing the past can have side effects; Chiaki is the fun-loving slacker that has a secret crush for Makoto; and Kousuke is the strong, smart and dependable guy. The rest are all minor characters that supports the plot, although I would like to point out Kazumo for her mature view that will help a lot our protagonist. In the English sub you'll see Makoto calling her "Witch Aunt" but it's actually a joke word made with the characters real name (Majo) that never got an explanation in the subs.
The animation is good when it comes to the characters but the backgrounds can feel a bit sloppy and not much detailed. There's this constant grey tones in the whole movie that I didn't enjoy much. Music is forgettable too! I even missed some background sounds in important scenes that could emphasize the climax.
Overall, it’s an award-winning movie with a good amount of drama and a bit of romance. The sci-fiction surprises can produce funny moments, and serves well the entertainment.

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by FullmetalCowboy on 2014-03-25 10:23

Critic’s Log - Earthdate: October 17, 2013. Review #60: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

In the realms of imagination. Time Travel can be quite amusing. In a fictional sense, it is a creative trope. There have been some fictional stories that use time travel pretty well and show the consequences of altering events whether it be good or bad, and Great Scott! The possibilities of time travel stories is pretty close to infinite. This movie is sort of like this. This is the tale of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Makoto Konno is a 17 year old high school girl and she somehow gained the ability to "leap" through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realises that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of herself and her friends. But regardless of intentions, these actions do have consequences.

May I go back in time and just avoid giving you that brief sypnosis? I would rather just let you see the movie for yourself. Then again. My style is a bit formulaic but that’s just how I do things with all the wibbly wobbly timey-wimey...stuff that’s going around on my daily schedule. Anyway. This is a Madhouse production and this studio has a high reputation and a good resume for having good production values in whatever projects they work on. The animation is pretty high-quality in this movie and it looks really good. An interesting note is that the character design is by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto. Who is known for the character design of Neon Genesis Evangelion as well as being the artist and writer for the manga counterpart. Mamoru Hasoda did have him do the character design in his following movie Summer Wars as well as Wolf Children. I think Hasoda-san likes to have Sadamoto-san do the character designs I guess. Anyway, the animation’s pretty good but I can’t say it’s perfect either.

The music by Kiyoshi Yoshida is something I would like to address. the soundtrack compliments this movie pretty well. There is a mix between orchestral and piano and they are used very effectively for the most part. It’s too bad Yoshida-san did not compose much for anime, but I guess it’s nothing to worry about. The music’s great.

When it comes to voice acting, there are not a lot of big names in the Japanese cast. Riisa Naka is great as Makoto for her debut role. Takuya Ishida is also great as Chiaki, and Mitsutaka Itakura plays his role well as Kousuke. If there is a big name in the Japanese cast of the movie, it would be Fumihiko Tachiki as the teacher. I do like to compliment this movie for having a cast that sounds natural and not having to resort in using extremely professional seiyus. The Japanese cast is mostly good in this movie. However, with the English dub, it almost has the same approach. Emily Hirst is actually pretty decent as Makoto and this is her only role so far, Andrew Francis was great as Chiaki, and Alex Zahara was pretty generic as Kousuke but still filled the part just right. There are some supporting characters that are voiced by some people you may know if you know who “The Ocean Group” is. The dub is actually a decent listen, but it is also a somewhat natural dub to listen to as well, but there are some little hiccups in the dub that could have been acted a little better. Both the Sub and Dub is listenable in this movie, but if I had to pick one over the other, I’d pick the Subtitled Version.

In terms of characters. Makoto is the character you definitely should pay attention to in this movie. Her personality is fitting in this movie and once the movie progresses, you’ll see why. Chiaki is another interesting case, enough said. Kousuke is…a normal guy. The one character that was interesting was Makoto’s aunt Miyuki. Anyway, the characters are believable and nice to watch in the long run.

In terms of the story, it is mostly great. The movie has a typical first act, the second act is pretty damn good. The third act may not hold up to some people’s expectations. Allow me to explain, Some things in this movie aren’t really answered in this movie and did not leave a possibility for much interpretation. I will say that this shouldn’t hinder the movie at all because even though the unexplained questions are not answered. Most of this movie is pretty good. Even though the first two acts are pretty good, that third act can be seen as disappointing to some. I actually liked the third act for the most part. It could have been better, but I did like the end result to it. Why? Because there is a running motif of consequence. If you like time-travel stories, this won’t disappoint you all that much. This is a thought provoking movie that has time travel. I wonder when we’ll get another thought provoking time travel story in the future. I guess time can only tell...

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was available by Bandai Entertainment, meaning… it is out of print. a manga adaptation of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui and Illustrated by Ranmaru Kotone was available by Bandai Entertainment, and it is also out of print. That adaptation’s sequel with the subtitle “After” is also by Yasutaka Tsutsui but illustrated by Minoru Hashiguchi was never released stateside.

With all that said, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a rewarding treat if you like thought-provoking time travel stories. It does hold up pretty well with it’s quality of animation, believable characters, a fitting soundtrack, and a very enjoyable experience. The plot is mostly good, but the last third could have been spruced up a bit if going back in time was possible. Then again, even with its flaws, The last third is still good. This movie is definitely worth your time.

I give The Girl Who Leapt Through Time a 8.7 out of 10. it is VERY GOOD!

Feel free to comment, and I suggest you make an appointment to see The Doctor.

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by Alen_Starkly on 2012-08-29 19:04

The backgrounds (scenery etc.) are drawn really pretty. Character designs are pretty good. I have noticed that there is often (or always?) absence of shading on characters, which I found weird. I think that shading is necessary.



Voice acting is awesome - or even more than that. Characters sound better than in most animes.
I can't really remember the songs or the soundtrack, so I guess it didn't make much impact on me. However, it must have been okay since I didn't feel that it was out of place at any time.



The concept is really cool, a girl accidentally finds a way to jump through time, yet she is kind of the only one to know that secret. Thanks to her ability, we get some nice comedy and drama.

However, I am kind of disappointed by the end.




All in all, the end of the movie left a hole, and felt unsatisfying. Too bad. It was fun until the last moments.



Characters are really interesting. There are many secondary characters that do have lines and do make an impact on the overall movie, which I am very glad about. Makoto is kind of immature at many occasions, but especially thanks to that we get nice comedy moments. Characters are portrayed and behave very realistically, which is a big plus. Thank goodness that there are no tsundere, moe and such crap in here.



I think that the movie surely can be rewatched many times, and still be enjoyed. Relations among characters really give the viewers some good feeling, which is important. The setting is also really nice.



I really enjoyed interactions of characters, their personalities and realistic behavior. The story is solid, although the end kind of leaves a hole. Comedy is pretty good, soundtrack is light, if I remember correctly. I wish the soundtrack were more serious in some parts. All in all, a really nice watch!

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by 8thsin on 2010-06-19 18:48

There are about 10 Japanese films that I re-watch almost every year since their releases. "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" is one of only three such animated films for me.

"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" is based on a 1967 hit novel of the same title. The original work has been used in numerous film and dorama adaptations, most famous ones being the 1983 film directed by Oobayashi Nobuhiko. Instead of making just another anime adaptation and possibly becoming just another adaptation shadowed by the 1983 film, the producers took a risk by creating a spin-off movie with the setting of about 20 years after the original story. The gamble paid off big time, as the animated film went on to win at least 23 awards worldwide.

The underlying theme in this movie was "the importance of living the moment". Our protagonist was given the power to leap back into time to correct her mistakes, only to realize later that the short-term gains only lead to greater losses that followed. The story was extremely well-constructed to teach the lesson of embracing things the way they are, and never run from confrontations, because once that moment gone, you'll never get it back.

The director for this film did a phenomenal job of pacing and creating many memorable moments, but it was the live-action film screenwriter Okudera Satoko, who really made a difference for this movie by composing a story out of number of time leaps that slowly developed the main characters and made so many epic scenes possible. Many anime screenwriters fail in movies because they incorporate too many characters, as it is common practice in series, into the limited 100 minute time-frame. What's remarkable about this piece of work is that it focuses on only three main characters. Even counting the secondary cast, there are only 8 characters in total who we are given the names of. The limited number of characters not only improved character development, it also allowed the story to focus on the underlying theme.

I was actually very uncertain about the viewing this year because I started watching a lot of TV anime again since the last viewing. However, the only new flaws I've noticed was the excessive still motion in some scenes and most backgrounds, and that the protagonist was being a bit overly insensitive in few instances, which made her character a bit unrealistic. Animation is years ahead of its time, and it still is an excellent example of what happens when music is in harmony with the story/animation.
The insert song by Oku Hanako, IMO, is still the best selection ever made among hundreds of Japanese films, anime, and live-action doramas I've encountered. Ending theme is a truly poignant one that really captured the mood and made the story sink in, and the music score throughout the movie has been used perfectly to enhance the drama.

"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" is a timeless masterpiece that made me want to cherish every moment, and it's a movie I expect myself to be re-watching for many more years to come.

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by sandip on 2009-07-07 00:24

Visuals
There was only ever one scene in the entire movie which 'impressed' me, and that was when the main character Makoto trips over for the first time in the school lab and visions flash before her eyes. That one scene had some very good animation and concepts behind its brief appearance, and was completely set apart from the rest of the movie (as it no doubt was intended).

The rest of the movie doesn't really have the right environments to particularly "wow" you with visuals, and as such is handled adequately, but nothing more. The majority of the movie is spent around a highschool environment, with various degrees of bright and sunny settings within which the story takes place. The lighting is very conducive to the intended atmosphere, and the overall style of the presentation is quite standard but pretty.

The animation isn't massively smooth, and sometimes I felt as though it had the budget of a tv series rather than a movie, but occasionally the shots of large crowd scenes can make it seem somewhat more impressive than what you first thought. The character artwork doesn't have a particularly original style, but it's by no means bad, and the characters' looks seem to fit their personalities well.

Sound
If you ever really get caught up in the movie's romantic theme, the character voices will most definitely allure you to them. There weren't any characters that sounded obnoxious, and almost all of them had a sweet or sophisticated voice. There was a small scene where Makoto's (the main character) younger sister thought that Makoto was about to jump out of her window and commit suicide, and the absolutely sweet and innocent voice she uses to beg her sister not to do it just made me melt. Makoto herself, who's character carries the film, is not the usual stereotypical female lead voice either - she has plenty of definition and gives her character more unique depth with her voice.

The sound effects and ambiance of the movie should also be highly praised. Everything is thought out to be clear and believable, and place you within this city and amongst these people where the movie is set. My only sonic criticism would be the music in the movie, which wasn't really to my taste and made some scenes feel a bit cheap by being a bit too corny at times.

Story
The story is about a highschool girl called Makoto, who enjoys spending time with her 2 male friends Kousuke and Chiaki playing baseball (actually just a game of "catch" between the 3 of them) in their spare time after school. After a long day at school where Makoto goes through a few minor calamities, she ends up alone in the school lab, and after walking around a bit, trips over a strange small object. Images flash before her eyes and when she regains her senses, she accidentally discovers that she can "leap" back in time. After re-doing her most current day over again, this time avoiding the mistakes from before, Makoto discovers that all her actions have repercussions for those around her. What ensues is a story of self discovery and love, which ends up being surprisingly entertaining.

The concept of time leaping could have many different outcomes depending on what the creators want to show. Something on a large scale I would imagine may involve altering the entire world to a massively physical or political degree depending on what someone "changes" in the past. How would the world be for example, if someone went back in time and killed Hitler before he came to power? Or negatively, what if they killed the leaders of the countries that fought against Hitler? These major reality changes would have engrossing stories of their own, but to some degree seem like the obvious choice of subject matter.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time however, focuses on the small environment and number of people that surround one young girl Makoto, and as a result, make the plot instantly quite fun to watch unfold. There is plenty of humour in the movie, and coupled with a strong, likeable lead character, you do become very engrossed with the trials and tribulations that this young character faces, and what could be considered "unimportant highschool issues" actually become subtly much much more.

I suppose that the only negatives in the plot were firstly, that the story seems slow to grip you for the first half of the movie, and secondly the conclusion and the major revelation at the end which told the viewer exactly how the mystery worked was a bit of a let down. To a certain point, I think it would have been better to have a mystique to the plot and let the viewer make their own mind up about exactly how the time leaping worked, because whatever answer the movie was going to give was just never going to live up to the expectations or theories.

Characters
The characters deserve some worthy praise in this anime. The lead character Makoto first off, is very engrossing and watchable. She keeps the movie plodding along at a decent pace (after a slow beginning), and you can see her developing into a more mature and loving person throughout the movie which to this extent is a great feat. The next two characters, Makoto's best friends Kousuke and Chiaki, are also characters we see a lot because Makoto sees them a lot. They are who she holds most dear, and the bond and relationship between the three is something that sucks you in especially because you can't help but wonder if there's some underlying romantic feeling between Makoto and one of the other two.

Cleverly, the rest of the surrounding characters at Makoto's school are brought into the foreground as the movie progresses, because we see how Makoto's time-altering actions effect them. People who Makoto wouldn't think twice about are being radically affected all the time when Makoto alters the past, and I thought it was very interesting to watch Makoto learn from her actions by the way she interacted with these characters.

Something that bugged me however was the somewhat unresolved character development between two of the characters towards the end of the anime. I've never been a fan of these types of "open-endings" when applied to a character relationship, and this is no different.

Value
Would I buy the DVD? Would I even watch this again? Hmmm it's not massively likely. Where anime is concerned I prefer to watch something again that has more bang for its buck. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is quite a small-scale affair, which definitely had me wrapped up in it's plot, but ultimately would be a pleasant memory rather than a repeat occurrence. I would most likely watch this again if someone else was watching it for the first time and invited me to watch it with them.

Enjoyment
I definitely liked this anime. As many others have commented, it has a slightly Studio Ghibli feel to it, and reminded me to some degree of "Whisper of the Heart" (but with an actual plot and a point to it). As long as you're able to overcome the slow opening third of the movie, it gives its rewards in a smart plot and very humorous character designs. If you're a fan of some of the more gentle Studio Ghibli offerings, you really HAVE to check this out because not only is very reminiscent of a couple of them, but it also blows movies like "Whisper of the Heart" and "KiKi's Delivery Service" right out of the water. (Although, I'll admit I was never a fan of those particular two movies; but I know many others are, which is more my point.)