Anime The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

[affection]

[FONT=Georgia][SIZE=1][B][center]Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (Movie)[/B][/center]
This movie came out last year around summertime but I wasn't sure if anyone had seen it. I didn't see anything in the forums about it...

[center][IMG]http://img117.imageshack.us/img117/4443/girlleaptoc5.jpg[/IMG][/center]

[u]Genres[/u]: Adventure, Drama, Romance, Science Fiction, Slice of Life

[u]Plot Summary[/u]: When 17-year-old Makoto Konno gains the ability to, quite literally, "leap" backwards through time, she immediately sets about improving her grades and preventing personal mishaps. However, she soon realizes that changing the past isn't as simple as it seems, and eventually, will have to rely on her new powers to shape the future of her and her friends.

Taken From: [u][URL="http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=6733"]anime news network[/URL][/u]

[u]My personal opinion[/u]:
I think this movie was one of my favorites. It's a pretty good plot line and I really enjoyed watching it. I wanted even more after it was over. It made my one eye water up a bit, so it's not too emotional... unlike a few movies/animes I have watched. (If you've ever seen Heavenly Forest, that's really a tear jerker.. and so was Fruits Basket haha) I really recommend it. Well, unless you only like shōnen :| and fighting. It's cute, I promise.[/SIZE][/FONT]

[Dagger]

I loved Tokikake as well (I watched it at some point after seeing Fasteriskhead recommend it). It's really a jewel; I don't get along great with movie length productions in general, much less anime, but this had exactly the right running time. When the credits rolled, I felt as if I had just sat down.

~Dagger~

[2010DigitalBoy]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]I had seen this in an acuiantance's [B]Anime Seen [/B] and almost checked it out, but forgot about it too quickly. When I saw this thread, I absolutely had to go for it. I also was sure to take screenshots troughout ^_^.

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Two things were immediately brought to my attention as soon as the movie began. The art and the animation are absolutely beautiful! Everythig about the art, from the landscapes to the lovable character designs were awesome. Makoto was so well-animated it was fun just watching her, and her emotive faces were all perfectly orchestrated. These styles really drew me into the characters and made me care about it, which brought the movie to a whole new level of cool.

[CENTER][IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b269/MetalSonic700/tokiwocut2.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

Another thing was the cutesy parts and cartoonish nature of the whole thing. Makoto's mouth wasn't afraid to expans to the size of her entire head and I can appretiate that, especially when it is done so well. Unlike something like Spirited Away, it wasn't done in a way that made the characters too childish, and it was very subtle; not like some AzuDai thing where the mouths have minds of their own. the characters looked human while exhibiting features beyond humanity - for that I love it to death.

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Now, let's get to the actual story itself. First of all, I am a huge fan of the movie [B]Groundhog's Day[/B]. that is one of my alltime favorite movies, so seeing a sort of Groundhog's Day gone anime is of course nice. It really didn't take me long at all to fall in love with this movie. By this scene...

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[IMG]http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b269/MetalSonic700/tokiwocut4.jpg[/IMG][/CENTER]

...less than 20 minutes in I knew I was going to love this, and I loved every minute of it. What's interesting is, this movie actually follows the same kind of format as Groundhog's Day (I wonder if that inspired the creators.) At first, Makoto was just using her power to do whatever she wanted and having fun - then it becomes about the people she's close to, and eventually things turn complicated.

What's interesting about this movie is that ther were a lot of plot-points floating around at once. The thing about how if she makes things good for herself, bad things happen to others - all the relationships evolving, desolving, and being twisted every which way, and of course the fact that you had to keep track of which things hadn't happened yet. Honestly, I for sure thought the movie was about to end at around 3/4 of the way through, but then as it would turn out we get an immense plot-twist.

Addmittedly, the whole thing about Chiaki being a [spoiler]time traveler[/spoiler] didn't sit entirely well with me. While it did lead to an interesting explanations as well as interesting scenarios, i still wonder if it could have been something better. It still turned out well though and the scene near the end where [spoiler]Makoto is bawling her eyes out[/spoiler] brought tears to my eyes. If that doesn't show you just how much I liked her character, i don't know what would XD. While the ending still had me a little sad, I think I can live with the way it turned out. It's the sort of story where i'd like to seek out a fanfiction that tells how it all sorts out in a way I agree with, heh ^_^.

In any event, this definitely joins the ranks of cool anime movies. I think I might even like it more than Groundhog's Day if for no reason other than Groundhog's Day had a really cheesy ending XD Plus Makoto > guy from Ghostbusters.

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XD![/COLOR]

[Drifting soul]

Sounds like a very interesting move. And that promotional poster (I'm assuming that's what it is) is very beautiful too. Thanks very much for bringing it to my attention. I'll be keeping an eye out for it now! :catgirl:

[Fasteriskhead]

I guess I'll kick this one back up to the top. I don't know if I can say much; the movie's just incredibly, incredibly good. The folks involved managed to find the hearts at the center of both romantic comedy anime and the grand old tradition of sci-fi time travel yarns, and somehow mashed them together. The weirdest thing is how [I]effortless[/I] it seems (Dagger also seems to be pointing to this). An enormous amount of care and thought went into pulling all the little details together and having the whole make sense, yet the movie comes off as light as a Mozart concerto (kind of a bad analogy, sorry). It works not only as a serious piece of speculative fiction, but also as just a good flick to enjoy for an hour and a half. Of course, I suspect that its simplicity and willingness to sell itself as just a good piece of entertainment also means it probably won't get much of an international audience - it's a better film than, say, Innocence, but it's also not the kind of movie that's going to get to the finals at Cannes (too approachable, too little storm and stress, no looming sense of "importance" - basically, not European enough).

No current plans to release the thing domestically, so torrenting is pretty much your only option (man, is it just me or do anime movies get released really sporadically in the US? unless they're Miyazaki or connected to a major license, movies almost always get skipped over). Anyways, it's good, go and see it asap.

[Dagger]

It's been in at least a few North American film festivals, so hopefully that ups its chances. I could have sworn that the name of a less active (in anime, anyway) company was attached to it--like Sony, except that's probably wrong.

Kind of a tangent, but the art director for Tokikake will be the main director of [url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=7921][u]Miyori no Mori[/u][/url]. The two projects also share the same screenplay writer.

~Dagger~

[Shinmaru]

[quote name='Fasteriskhead'](too approachable, too little storm and stress, no looming sense of "importance" - basically, not European enough).[/QUOTE]

Haha, +1 to you, my friend.

Anyway, I watched this a few weeks ago, and I enjoyed it quite a bit. I'm a total sucker for time travel stories, whether it's a Heinlein logical mindbender or something more lighthearted and emotional like this. I think one of my favorite aspects of time travel stories is seeing what certain characters do when given the ability to travel through time, and those scenes did not disappoint here, haha. The way Makoto just throws herself through time and rolls around everywhere like a little ball of energy is really adorable. And, come on, who wouldn't use time travel to ace a few tests? :)

I also liked how the story emphasized the responsibility Makoto had to take for her actions. If you could just jump through time whenever something didn't go your way, then life would be way too easy lol. Making choices and dealing with those choices is a big part of life; running away from the decisions you've made and their consequences completely defeats the purpose of choice. By avoiding taking responsibility for her choices, Makoto just ended up hurting herself and the people around her.

Aside from that fun stuff, though, the movie's also well worth watching for the karaoke scene, haha. I had a good laugh watching Makoto roll into that cramped room over and over again, jumping up and shouting into the microphone, with Chiaki and Kousuke watching her, utterly bewildered. lol

[Fremere]

[LIST]
[*]Recently on my day off I decided to watch an Anime movie known as [I]The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, [/I]while watching the movie I thought it was going to be another one of those predictable movies where the ending was pretty much going to be a boner-kill but it was nothing expected.

I don't want to spoil any of you who have not watched it but I highly suggest you do since it is beautifully done and really has a soild plot to it IMO.

[B]Have you seen T.G.W.L.T.T? What are your thoughts on the movie?[/B]

If you haven't seen it or heard of it (which I doubt) you can take a look at what it's about here:
[URL]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Who_Leapt_Through_Time[/URL][/LIST]

[pax et agape]

I saw that movie a couple months ago. I didn't have huge expectations but I ended up really liking it.

Like you said, it went in a pretty different direction than I expected it to. A very nice turn on a tried and true formula.

[Kaze]

I've owned the movie for a while now. I wasn't pleasantly surprised by how good it was, since I'd already heard plenty of positive feedback. I like the characters, and it's a pretty simple, and heartwarming story, with a solid ending.

I'm definitely satisfied with my purchase. It's kinda funny though, on the day I bought this film, my friend ended up buying it for me as well and presented it to me on the same night. Simultaneous face palm.

[pax et agape]

[quote name='Kaze']I've owned the movie for a while now. I wasn't pleasantly surprised by how good it was, since I'd already heard plenty of positive feedback. I like the characters, and it's a pretty simple, and heartwarming story, with a solid ending.

I'm definitely satisfied with my purchase. It's kinda funny though, on the day I bought this film, my friend ended up buying it for me as well and presented it to me on the same night. Simultaneous face palm.[/quote]

That is quite the coincidence. Did you keep both of them?

[Kaze]

I wanted to, but he refused to give it to me. I don't think he found it as funny as me, ohhhhh well.