The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

Title: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Original Title: Toki o kakeru shôjo
Rating: 3.5/5
Genre: Animé, Romantic, Drama, Sci-Fi
Starring: Riisa Naka, Takuya Ishida, Mitsutaka Itakura
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Language: Japanese

Continuing my return to excessive film watching pleasures comes another one of those animé films that has remained on the shelf for far too long; with the chaos theory at its core, it is a theory that has long since fascinated me for the sheer implications it can impose. But not only is there this notion of creating ripples through time, but there are further amendments to this theory; one can liken time to the gentle flow of a river, and no matter how many rocks you place in the streams path the river will simply glide around it, reaching the same location. Another is rather more morbid; that every action occurs for a reason; time is almost a caring entity, and that every action that occurs happens as it is the most pain free solution.

With fate an inevitable consequence whenever time travel is considered, it is the tom-boy character of Makoto that literally discovers she is able to leap backwards in time. Thrilled at her new discovery she frivolously uses her new found ability to avoid accidents in classes, wake herself up earlier and spend all night in the karaoke café until she can no longer sing, blissfully unaware of the repercussions of such innocent and innocuous changes in events. As the future unfolds she learns of the consequences of her actions and desperately sets to work using her powers to correct all the problems she’s caused, each new action setting in motion a new line of consequences to be resolved.

The sci-fi element is just a means to an end, a way of exploring this concept without becoming entwined with tangibility and scientific dilemma’s. If you want an in depth study you should be looking for a book or documentary, but that does nothing to diminish the inherent possibilities from such a theory, and the story-telling here is slow paced and relatively light-hearted but remains rooted in plausibility, creating realistic multi-dimensional characters that behave as you would expect from them. The piece as such remains fascinating to watch unfold, but never feels as though it pushes for anything deeper; it remains interesting but fully involves the viewer on neither an emotional level nor an intellectual one, and this for me was the films stumbling block.

The animation was beautifully fluid and detailed enough to conjure memories of ‘haibane renmei,’ which for those who missed that review places it amongst those evocative enough to transcend the derogatory ‘cartoon’ title and approach that of paintings; literally artwork that has been animated – very high praise, especially by my standards – and the use of sound was done to immerse itself in the background, contributing but in a manner that worked more on a sub-conscious level than anything more overt. There was even a heartfelt moral that emerged by the end about the value of life, seizing each moment before it becomes lost in time, and it never felt forced or tacked on. There is a lot here that was done well, I was simply hoping for something more involving, a greater emotional investment that twists and contorts your heart strings, and this was just a little bit too consistently warm for that.