Monday, December 20, 2010

THE GIRL WHO LEAPT THROUGH TIME (2006)

[Update 01/10/2021: Going to rewatch this and fix the review and replace the screenshots with better ones.]

Makoto is an average teenage girl until one day she accidentally gains the power to literally jump back in time. The farther she jumps, the further she goes back. At first she's very confused, but then starts to have fun and does all kinds of wacky stuff (ace the math test, sing karaoke with her friends for 10 hours, etc.) but then she realizes that all the jumping through time can mess stuff up so now it kinda gets like GROUNDHOG DAY where she has to get everything right. Things get even more complicated when...well, I ain't gonna tell you and ruin it for you, but I'll just say there's some romance shit involved and it's awesome.

Overall a very enjoyable time travel movie. Not as great as say BACK TO THE FUTURE, MY SASSY GIRL or CYBORG GIRL, but still a lot of fun to watch. I especially enjoyed the montage where she first gets her power. All the wrecking she does when she lands was hilarious: "How does somebody even fall like that?!"

In a strange turn of events I actually liked the English language audio better than the original Japanese one. Whoever did the English voice of Makoto did a amazing job. I also liked the music a lot. Very low key, but still moving.

Could have been a few minutes shorter to streamline things a bit, but still very much worth watching if you like anime or time travel.

Live-action version - Time Traveler: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010)