The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Starring Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura, Ayami Kakiuchi

Directed by Mamoru Hosoda

The Story:
Makoto (Riisa Naka), Chiaki (Takuya Ishida) and Kousuke (Mitsutaka Itakura) are friends in high school who spend time playing baseball and discussing plans for summer.  Makoto is a free spirit, someone who doesn't have a clue what she wants to do with her life, and lives a rather carefree lifestyle.  That is, until she stumbles upon a strange person in a science lab and finds a mysterious item, and when she rides home she is hit by a train and dies, but instead of dying she's magically teleported back in time.  Having a new lease on life, Makoto uses her new time travel abilities to help her friends in the most mundane things, as well as try to create a perfect present for herself.  However, as the leaps begin to wind down, can she prevent a tragic event from happening, or will it be too late?

The Synopsis:
Mamoru Hosoda is one of the most prolific Japanese anime directors of our time, having directed the brilliant "The Boy and the Beast," as well as this little gem.  Once again, he lavishes the screen with beautiful visuals and vibrant colors and animation, pulling you into this magical tale of a rather unorthodox version of time travel where there seems to be no paradoxes or insurmountable loops, but rather serve as a love story more passionate and romantic than any Nicholas Sparks novel.

At the heart of this tale is Makoto, who is a free-spirited young girl who doesn't take life too seriously, sleeps in way too much, and is often late to class because of it.  She doesn't have a care in the world - she just likes playing baseball with her two best friends.  That is, until she stumbles across a strange item and as she rides home her bicycle breaks give out and she goes flying in front of a moving train, only to wake up in her bed, facing the same day again.  Unlike "Groundhog Day," this isn't a movie where she re-lives her last day, and it's not like any other time travel movie where she travels to the far past to change major events.  Instead, she uses her newfound ability to perform the most mundane of tasks, ones that she hopes will better the lives of her friends.  While it seems to work, it also sets off a different chain of events that affect her in a way she never thought, and resorts to time travel to change those events as well.

Unlike most time travel movies, this story is a more intimate tale of Makoto and her fears of growing up and seeing her friends change.  Because of this, it leaves something missing in the tale that's very hard to pinpoint, but ultimately it comes down to it being a different sort of time travel movie than we're used to.  While other movies of the like alter history in tremendous ways, here the effects of time travel seem rather minuscule, if not altogether invisible completely.  This leaves a big hole in the story where you expect to see some major action, major consequences for actions taken, or something of the like.  While there is a stunning turn of events near the end, it still leaves something missing to the story, mostly because we're so accustomed to it being there.

Still, Hosoda tells a brilliant story, offers complex, in-depth characters, and keeps you enthralled to the screen from start to finish, wondering how the girl who leaps through time will ultimately change the course of her future, and the futures of her friends as well.

The Summary:
"Time waits for no one" is a major theme expressed in this film, and this is a film you shouldn't wait to see.

The Score: A-