Amazon.com
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time scored a big hit in Japan in 2006, and has been eagerly awaited by American otaku. Makoto Konno regards herself as a normal high-school student. She’s smart, but not brilliant; a little clumsy, but not a klutz; well-liked, but not a social star. Her favorite pastime is playing baseball with her best friends: handsome, studious Kosuke Tsuda and shaggy, offbeat Chiaki Mamiya. When Makoto nearly loses her life in a bicycle accident, she escapes by moving back through time. Her aunt tells her the talent isn’t unusual in girls her age, and Makoto begins exploiting her ability. But her efforts to improve the present backfire, making school, friendship, and romance even more complicated and difficult–until she discovers a surprising secret about Chiaki. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo) has remained a popular property in Japan since Yasutaka Tsutsui’s novel appeared in 1967: It’s been filmed repeatedly in live action and adapted to a manga. Mamoru Hosoda’s animated prequel to the original story blends warmth and fantasy in ways usually associated with Studio Ghibli films. The relationship Makoto, Kosuke, and Chiaki share is exceptionally well-drawn, and nicely balances the fantastic elements of the story. (Rated 13 and older: minor violence and risque humor) –Charles Solomon
Product Description
Something strange has happened to Makoto Konno. Time has suddenly stopped and moved her backwards. With her newly discovered ability to literally leap backwards in time Makoto finds that tests become a piece of cake, embarrassing situations are corrected and she can have her favorite food anytime she wants. Unfortunately her carefree time traveling has adverse effects on the people she cares for. With every successful leap Makoto somehow alters the fate of those around her. This was not supposed to happen and as she races back in time to fix everything, she notices that her abilities are not limitless but with every successful jump she is one step closer to discovering the most wonderful secret in her young adult life.
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!
3.0 out of 5 stars
Leapin’ lizards!
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Yet another movie about sensitive girls and time travel, the story is exactly like the title describes.
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.
2.0 out of 5 stars
the girl who leapt through time
i bought this movie from the 5 star reviews it got here.after watching this movie i gave it 2 stars .
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.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Something for the collection
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…
5.0 out of 5 stars
One Of The Best!
When I ordered this movie I didn’t know what to expect, but now I see it’s going to be on my favorite’s list.
4.0 out of 5 stars
The FASTEST service…..
This movie came extremely fast! The fastest that I’ve ever seen on here, but when the package arrived it had many BIG holes & I guess the upside was it played just fine.
5.0 out of 5 stars
What a Wonderful Movie
To tell you the truth, the title caught my eyes and got me interested, but for a while it wasn’t available.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Simply Brilliant
This story is brilliant. At first I was a little reluctant about it, but by the end I was in love. I really liked the animation and the story.
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wow better than I expected
Customer Video Review Length:: 3:14 Mins
5.0 out of 5 stars
Let’s Do the Time Warp Again
This is one of the best damn anime films ever made, if not the best.
I haven’t heard about Yasutaka Tsutsui’s original novel on which this movie is based on.
5.0 out of 5 stars
I truly enjoyed this movie.
Wow. It’s rare that I can say that I enjoyed a movie all the way through, but that was certainly the case here.