Friday, September 15, 2017

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)


The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a slice-of-life animation following Makoto and her two friends, Chiaki and Kousuke in their high school years.  Makoto accidentally discovers that she has the ability to leap back in time, literally by leaping, which results in some humourous scenarios where she tumbles into objects.  The film starts off slow as Makoto uses her newly found ability frequently to change various outcomes, from getting perfect grades to repeating a karaoke session time after time.  Of course, eventually things catch up to her and the drama begins.  It is at this point that the film demonstrates the heavier consequences of Makoto recklessly leaping back in time.  As her aunt had said, Makoto benefits but someone else suffers before of her.  The tension escalates until the climax as the more Makoto tries to fix things up, the more it spirals out of control.  The pacing was excellent at this point and it hammers in the fact that maybe, things cannot go back to the way they were despite Makoto's best efforts, you will start to think about the moments lost that you'll never regain.  While the explanation of where the ability came from in the first place was fairly predictable and the ending a bit melancholy, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is an excellent and thought-provoking film.

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