Anime Movie Review - The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

Toki wo Kakeru Shojo

If you were 18 years old and stumbled upon the ability to jump back in time, what would you do? 

Konno Makoto is your average girl in her final year of senior high school. She always wakes up a little too late, has average grades and is having difficulty deciding what to do after graduating. Her teachers are pressuring her but all she wants to do is hang out with her best friends and kill time. All she wants are things to never change and having stumbled upon something that grants her the power to LITERALLY leap back in time... no prizes there for guessing what she does with her newfound ability.

I fell in love with Makoto's character almost immediately. The author, Tsutsui Yasutaka, who wrote the original novel before the movie intended to make us relate with her situation in high school and I believe that he did exactly that.  Also, Madhouse Studios, nuff said.

With a boatload of "yeah, I would have done that" followed by "oh crap, maybe I shouldn't have" moments, it's fun and comedic to see how Makoto develops as she learns to use and abuse her powers and more importantly, learning about oneself and finding direction in life (which is a recurring theme in countless anime). Whether she actually finds direction or not, is questionable. Yes, even the plot can't help her.

Hey, look! It's the like the movie poster!

If you're looking for a relatively simple movie, with romance, comedy, a few surprise feels here and there, some lessons in life, beautiful animation and music... look no further.

Watch it with your friends; your partner; your family. 

Cherish your moments and always remember...

 time waits for no one.

tl;dr: Girl learns to manipulate time and also learns about Murphy's Law.

I rate 5/7.

Writer's note: My job here is to make you watch the movie - that is the first step - no matter how good or bad the movie is (I probably won't review the bad ones unless I really have to). In the end, the decision of whether or not the movie is good should fall solely on your shoulders and no one else.