Reviews #10--The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

I haven't seen anything new in ages--mostly I've been catching up on The Office from the EIGHT WEEKS that I missed it--and so will be reviewing a movie I saw a few months ago.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is loosely based on a novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui. Instead of being a straight adaptation, it's more like a sequel. The author is very happy with the film version, so in that respect, it is a success. It didn't make a whole lot of money, but it wasn't released many places, either, and was overshadowed by more advertised films like Goro Miyazaki's (not to be confused with his father, Hayao) Tales from Earthsea film.

The titular girl, Makoto, discovers her power when she avoids a train accident. She can "leap" through time when she, literally, leaps and wants or needs to time-leap. She uses her powers at first for things like getting a good test grade and reliving karaoke. Her best friend, Chiaki, tries to confess his love, but she time-leaps to avoid it. Her other friend, Kosuke, has his own love troubles with another girl in the class, and Makoto tries to help them. Though all this, she seeks the advice of her aunt, implied to be the protagonist of the original novel.

It's got romance, comedy, high school, and some science-fiction. The animation is very good, and the dub voice acting isn't too bad. I didn't watch it subbed, sad to say, so I can't comment on the original actors. I spent the entire movie wondering where I knew Andrew Francis, who voices Chiaki. He does some other voice-acting work, including Megaman from the old series than ran on KidsWB way back when. Emily Hirst (Makoto) and Alex Zahara (Kosuke), I've never heard before, but all the actors were well-suited for their roles.

I don't usually watch anime movies that aren't based on a series or come out of Studio Ghibli. Watching this movie was a good way to break that habit, and I will probably watch more movies now because of it.

Reasons for: Nice animation, interesting story, cute romance, good direction.
Reasons against: Is slow at times, slightly confusing, romance may not be your thing.
Overall Rating: A