The days are dark, and filled with a mostly wayward collection of cartoons, ranging from the mundane to the predictable and generic. Very rarely do I come upon something of Haruhi- or Furi Kuri-quality, but I have just finished watching an anime movie of just such a high-caliber. I was introduced to it–The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (aka: Toki wo kakeru shôjo)–a few hours ago by school friend Amy, who had just finished watching it. She called it sentimental, but in my words I’d call it touching more than anything. I immediately fell for the main character, a clumsy, feisty girl by the name of Makoto. She’s someone that I think a lot of people can sympathize with. She has good intentions and, when she gets the chance, tries to run things the way she thinks best, but we find that things don’t ever go as smoothly as planned. What starts off as a harmless “fixing” of the world around her soon turns into something much more serious with huge consequences to bear.
I really like animes such as this, which are short, motivated, and meaningful. I have watched series before, like Bleach and yeah, even Naruto, but their weak (IMO) attempts at establishing a deeper plot or meaning to the whole show never got to me. I’d much rather simple stories with intelligent and worthwhile comings and goings.
The artwork and musical score of this movie is really quite amazing and I think well worth the watch if only for these. It is quite easy to spot where the animators of some animes cut corners an/or reused footage out of laziness, but I don’t think that that was a problem with this piece. Sure, there will be repeats of certain backdrops or scenes when dealing with time travel (which is what the movie uses as the main device to convey its message) but it’s done in a way to maximize dramatic effect rather than minimize project costs. I suggest any fan of the genre to watch this movie and any aspiring fans to try it out. Maybe (i.e. most likely) you’ll really enjoy it.
