The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

GENRE: Adventure, Romance, Drama
Parental Guidance Recommended
2006 Yasutaka Tsutsui (author), Mamoru Hosoda (director), Satoko Okudera (screenplay), Kiyoshi Yoshida (scoring), Madhouse Studios, Fuji TV, Kadokawa Shoten

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Amazon.Com 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.

Time travel stories are tricky. >>> by skysenshi
For a high school thing, the pacing is really slow. I wonder if this would appeal to our information desensitized teenagers who are so used to getting everything instantly.

As the story progresses, Makoto's life gets interesting. Although I don't really want to be in her shoes. It's hella confusing, not to mention, she always ends up getting physically hurt since she just pops in the middle of things. It later becomes evident, however, how an impulsive teenage girl can abuse the ability to leap through time. There are a lot of situations to undo. But you cannot actually have a reset button without repercussions, neh?

I like the way the mystery unravels near the end of the anime despite my problems with plot holes. Like many time travel stories, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time opens so many paradoxes that plot holes can hardly be avoided. I appreciate the storytelling though. Despite having only three pivotal characters, these three are very effective in delivering highly inspiring scenarios. Furthermore, it weaves a good moral lesson without getting preachy.

I wish someone from my circle of friends had watched this. I so want to discuss the paradoxes herein. Truly, this is an interesting piece for long conversations.

Individual Rating: Art/Animation 9; Story 8; Characters 9; Sounds 9