Customer Reviews

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

5 star:		(46)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I wasn't expecting much from this movie due to its weird title and what I felt was an awkward animation style. Plus I was an avid Hayao Miyazaki fan, and I did not believe any anime movie could overcome the feel-goodness of his movies in general. I was very wrong.

"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" (or "Toki wa Kakeru Shoujo") is about a girl named Makoto Konno who, after a strange encounter in a lab after school discovers she has the power to "jump" through time. Literally.

Although it started off slow, the pace made the hackneyed concept of time jumping much more original. Not to mention the main characters were all extremely likable and realistic. I couldn't help but root for Makoto in whatever crazy things she wound up doing in the past. The things she went back to change were trivial things, like a test she failed, or when her friend Chiaki confessed to her. They are all things that ordinary, idiotic people like ourselves would do if we had that power. This story is only something the Japanese could come up with, and I commemorate director Mamoru Hosoda for blending mundane Japanese life with such a fantastical concept like time travel. It's warm, funny, and touching. That is, for the first half.

The second half of the film takes a hugely dramatic turn. It's almost mind-blowing in the way things played out. For spoiler fans, it has something to do with Chiaki (You know, the friend who confessed to her?). Anyways, I loved this shift in the plot, even though it lost some of its precious feel-good elements along the way. Makoto still managed to keep some humor in her crazy ventures, and her personality is not lost in the plot twist. Chiaki's transformation though, I'm still a bit iffy about.

I think this movie is way up there with Miyazaki's films. The perfect blend of fantasy and feel-goodness, along with some dry humor as well makes for an excellent film. I also felt myself warming up to the animation style as well, which was very contemporary, so I wasn't used to it, but I'm now completely in love with it. "Time waits for no one" so go watch this movie!

When I put The Girl Who Leapt Through Time into my DVD player, I expected a very good albeit light anime movie. What I got instead was an emotional experience which might be the most moving anime movie I've seen so far.

Makoto Konno is a slightly clumsy tomboy on the verge of the age right when teens start looking at the opposite sex differently whose priority is hanging out with her two best buddies - cheeky but endearing Chiaki Mamiya and evenheaded, gentlemanly Kosuke Tsuda. One day, her bicycle brakes won't work, and she finds herself about to be killed by crashing into a train passing her lane. Fortunately, a miracle occurs - and she finds herself having time-jumped backwards safe and sound.

After talking to her aunt, who had a similar experience, she experiments and finds that she can do it again, begining with small things like preventing the poaching of a snack by her sister. But when things start progressing to slightly more serious matters and she takes a series of jumps in a panic when she realizes that one of her best guys is about to say something to her privately that will take them to a place from which they can't come back that she isn't sure she's ready to go, things take a dark turn and spiral out of control - and she finds that this time, she might not be able to fix what she's done...

Part sci-fi with a neat twist that anyone who isn't familiar with the source material probably won't see coming and part teen drama with an achingly accurate depiction of that critical time in life and personal development, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a warm, poignant work that should be in the collection of any anime fan.

Length:: 3:14 Mins

This is one of my favorites now. Good story, great plot twist, not something you would expect to like at first. Highly recommended.

The story about a girl who conquered time was first made popular by the much-revered novel by now legendary author Yasutaka Tsutsui. Since then, it has seen many other variations and adaptations including one television series and a couple feature-length live action films. Now this story has finally found its way to the world of animation. And the results are fantastic.

One school day, an ordinary girl unknowingly gains the ability to "leap through time", enabling her to travel to different stages from her memory. After learning how to control this power she has discovered, she begins to realize the responsibilities and consequences that result from using it and how it begins to affect her and those around her. It really is a unique blend of melodrama, romance, comedy, and science fiction, but you will hardly notice any genre while you are watching. The voice-acting and sound are quality, and the character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto (Wings of Honneamise, Evangelion) are superb. The movie's artistry is remarkably subtle for an animated feature even without much impeccable detail, making the whole visual presentation very fitting for a story of its kind.

Believe me when I say you don't have to be familiar with the story in order to enjoy it, and for those who have already seen previous incarnations of Tsutsui's novel this will be yet another take on a classic that will be very much to your liking. Overall, this was terrific and I recommend it to anyone who wants to treat themselves to a good movie that will keep you interested from beginning to end. It managed to capture the Japan Academy Prize for Best Animation of 2006, and it did so for good reasons. See it now!

This is a fabulous movie that really touched me. The story is quite brilliant. It gets more and more interesting as you watch the plot unfold. I cried during it, but not because it was a sad movie. It leaves you with a positive feeling.
The animation is an interesting style. Not like many other anime I've seen.

I really tried NOT to give this a 10 but after thinking about it, I just couldn't find a flaw in the movie.
This movie is EXQUISITELY animated, the story is original and the musical score is breathtaking!
Even the English dub is great!! Best of all, this anime can be enjoyed by all ages, much like Hayao Miyazaki's works.

I'm very glad to have this fine addition in my collection-an example of how seriously the Japanese take the anime art form.

Before watching this anime I had thought only works by Disney and Miyazaki can bring me a deep sense of comfort and joy as this animation did, but Studio Madhouse ceirtainly pulled a winner. Traditionaly works by this particular studio include Vampire Hunter D, Ninja Scroll, Trigun, Texhonolyze, and more recently Deathnote id have to say this is quite a transition for them,with character designs by Yoshiyuki Sadamoto which character designs include Neon Genesis Evangelion, Foly Coly, Nadia:secret of the blue water, and various others. This animation turned out well, it beat out another animation by studio Ghibli, it won various awards,it also won special distinction for feature film at France's Annecy International Animated Film Festival. While to me this animation feels underated it dosent take a genius to figure out that this is a fine work, if you like what you see and what you hear, give it your time and it will be worth it.

Putting in my two cents:

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time has been on my to-watch list for awhile, but I never took the time to check it out until yesterday. I (like most of the other reviewers) wasn't expecting too much, but after viewing their newer film "Summer Wars" I decided to give it a go. I have to say that despite being a slightly older film, this exceeds Summer Wars in almost every aspect (except maybe computer animation).

There are literally no weaknesses in this film. The animation quality remains high throughout. The characters are beautifully hand drawn and the backgrounds painstakingly rendered (mostly hand drawn as well). The use of computer animation is kept to a minimum and mainly occurs when we view a 'leap'.

The characters are strong and likable. Makoto is your typical clumsy teenager. A chance encounter followed by a (nearly) horrific accident enable her to 'leap' through time. Rather than use this ability for so called 'evil' (I would be leaping back and investing heavily in certain stocks...), Makoto uses the ability to make her life and the lives of her friends better. However, this begins to cause unforeseen and dire circumstances.

And this is about the point where the movie shifts from lighthearted and somewhat comedic to fully dramatic and saddening. I won't divulge any events or spoil any plots for you, but let's say that I was moved by the end of the film (though not quite teary eyed!).

The Japanese voice acting is strong, especially considering at least 2/3 main characters are voiced by a first time voice actor. It goes to show you how in Japan, they take the voice acting seriously and cast well (rather than the majority of American dubbing firms which have a core of 5 or 6 full time actors that they HAVE to match to a main character in each series or film - often not getting the best match to the character).

So the story is strong with a little sci-fi edge, the characters are likable and well portrayed, the voice acting is wonderful, the animation is gorgeous... why haven't you seen this yet? If you are not a fan of anime, this might be a good film to help change your mind.

The film starts off simply with a fairly normal bad day in the life of a school girl. However, there is an identifiable place where the mysterious intrudes, and from that point the story changes. Beginning with a near-death experience, she enters a new phase in her life that audiences will find immensely hilarious before the events that culminate in the climax of the movie. The film specializes in slap-stick humor, social comedy, and laughs that comes from understanding life's experiences. This comedy emotionally links the viewer strongly with the protagonist and, when the conflict occurs, it creates extremely powerful suspense and tension that is more involving than that which occurs in many suspense films. This movie may seem to resemble Donnie Darko near the beginning but it is, in my opinion, much better for many reasons. The animation is beautiful, the characters are memorable, the comedy is hilarious, and the action is intense. There is one point at which you will want to turn off the dvd player and stop watching, but it is imperative that you continue past this point and watch until the credits roll.

For those of us who watch anime and are of many different opinions as to what is and isn't good, I must say that GWLTT was one of the few anime feature films in a while that can hold itself up without the typical anime movie formula to grab as many people as possible. What grabbed me the most about GWLTT was its lack of being the typical anime and simply being a movie, which is something few can claim. I'd consider GWLTT to be a breath of fresh air to an industry that seems to need it. But for the non-anime watcher I would say this is a good choice to start off with if you haven't seen much or have just got started. For the anime fan this is a flick to add to the collection.