My reviews so far feel impersonal and a bit fractured, I’m trying to make this one a little more personal and connected.
Basics
Known as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time to English speaking audiences, Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo is a slice of life movie with dashes of adventure and science fiction. It has a PG-13 rating, which works well because it appeals to teenagers more than anyone else. It clocks in at 1 hour, 37 minutes.
The Story
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is about Makoto Konno, a girl who suddenly gains the ability to literally leap through time. As anybody would(especially a teenager), she at first uses this power for pretty much anything and everything. Realizing all the implications of the power and what she’s done, Makoto decides to use the power to undo what she’s has done while trying to learn how she gained the ability in the first place.
The idea of a story about time travel and it’s effects is about as old as modern science fiction and fantasy. You’ve probably seen most of the themes in this movie before. Even so, the story is excellent. It uses surprisingly jarring(not graphic, just jarring) scenes to change the tone from lighthearted fun to serious business. The end ties together all the lose threads in a fairly pleasant and fulfilling way.
As stated before, you’ve probably seen these themes somewhere else, but perhaps not in a combination like this. Bringing together the common time travel story and even more common teenage maturing story types, this movie delivers a movie with several lessons tied in. By learning of the ripples time travel can send through her world, Konno learns that she must take responsibility for her actions. She also learns that she should consider the thoughts and situations of other people, instead of acting solely for her own gain.
The characters are designed well enough for a movie. Makoto of course matures as the movie progresses and she learns her lessons. All the named and fleshed out characters play a proper role in the story. Not much to say about characters in a movie.
Production Value
I watched the Japanese audio, and I don’t even speak Japanese, so I don’t know how well I judge Japanese voice actors. In my opinion, the voice actors weren’t great, but they weren’t hard on the ears. The main character’s lines were delivered in a way that sounded a little forced, but not too bad. The supporting characters were of decent quality.
The art style was nothing particularly impressive, but it was just fine. There weren’t any inconsistencies in the art. It was about what you’d expect from an average budget anime.
The musical pieces used were nice and fitting to the movie. Nothing particularly stands out.
Value
Movies are generally something you can stand to watch a few times, and this is no exception. I don’t think you’ll feel bored showing it to your friends or anything. However, I wouldn’t say it’s deep enough that you’ll catch some new pieces of info the second time, unless you missed something.
You should feel happy at the end of the movie. It should also leave you with at least a bit of a sense of fulfillment. You definitely shouldn’t feel like you wasted time on this movie. All and all worth the watch.
I’d recommend The Girl Who Leapt Through Time for anyone, besides the really young. It’s one of those pieces that doesn’t just appeal to anime lovers. It’s not particularly action packed, but it does have a bit of excitement going on. If you’re a fan of energetic slice of life shows, you should enjoy this.
This movie is a good example of how something will only decent production values can still be a fantastic piece of work.
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