時をかける少女

もし時をかければ、あなたはどうする？


何が変えていきたい？何が変えていきたくない？
誰が向かっていきたい？誰が向かっていきたくない？
何の話をしていきたい？何の話をしていきたくない？
どんな事をやりたい？どんな事をやりたくない？

時をかければ、日々で選んだせんたくを何にひとつ変えて欲しい？
なのに、変わったらいいでしょうか。変わらなかったらいいでしょうか。

大切な思いは何ですか。
忘れたい、忘れたくない気持ちは何ですか。

時をかければ、過去を変える？
時をかければ、現在を変える？
時をかければ、未来を変える？

時をかける少女
-The Girl Who Leapt Through Time-

If you could leap through time, what would you do?

I haven't watched too many anime movies, and while I'd safely say at anytime I would prefer animation series over one-time movies, there are certain works which I find fascinating and entertaining. It's as if they take you to the forbidden world of fantasy that only exists in the realm of imagination (think Totoro, Howl's Moving Castle, Byousoku 5 cm). These films give me a surreal feeling.

Until I watched 「時をかける少女」 (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) that is. Madhouse Animation Studios scored with this piece of production because it delivered what the previous movies I watched didn't: it engaged the audience.

時をかける少女, also affectionately known as TokiKake, is a very simple, straight-forward yet thought-provoking story. It tells about a bubbly and naive high school girl, Konno Makoto, who by accident, gained the ability to leap through time. Once she realized how to use her new time-reversing/forwarding abilities, Makoto didn't hesitate to use it to her advantage on routine things, such as leaping back again and again so that she could do better in her quiz, or to have unlimited karaoke sessions, or to set up her good friend Kousuke with his fangirl. However, when faced with a situation she would rather avoid, such as when her best friend Mamiya Chiaki confessed he liked her, Makoto used her time-leaping power to wield her out of facing the circumstances. In other words, she is manipulating her ability to avoid problems, which consequently produces messier problems. At one point of time, Makoto realized the number of times she could leap through time is limited, and in a turn of events, she used her last jump to reset time back to the point before she gained the ability to time-leap in order to rescue the existence of Chiaki, whom she came to accept and reciprocate his feelings for her.

I'm not keen to review the entire movie here, because I feel that you have to watch it to feel the impact. While the movie didn't seem to have any extraordinary appeal (animation designs are simple and plain, no stupendous visual effects), the slice-of-life feel delivered by the movie is incredibly real. I find myself relating to Makoto; it's like you can understand her honest emotions and straight-forward thinking. Her character is very well-written because it engages the audience.

For instance, it makes you think: What would you do if you gained the ability to leap through time at your own liberty?

• Would you use it to leap back to yesterday, so that you would wake up on time and not miss the bus, which had led to your being late for meeting?
• Would you use it to leap back to several hours earlier, so that you would be in the queue for the last ticket to the concert you were dying to attend?
• Would you use it to leap back a few seconds earlier, so that you would take a different turn and prevented the traffic accident led to your premature death?
• Would you use it to leap forward a few seconds later, so that you will avoid the pressure of replying the confessions of your best friend?
• Would you use it to leap forward to tomorrow, so that you will not have to face the pain of losing someone or something important to you?

To me, the writers are trying to convey the message that everything in life, the good and the bad, we need to face them. We cannot run away from them, deny them, or refuse to take them at face value, because regardless how joyful or painful they are, it is everything in life that we experience everyday that will shape us and help us grow. The joy and the pain will make up the precious memories that give meaning to our existence. The people that we meet, the things that we do in company, the sadness that drowns us, the happiness that lifts us, the anger that rips us, the warmth that envelopes us... we just have to accept all the things life have to give us.

It didn't take a complicated plot, or elaborate designs, or sophisticated music to captivate me in TokiKake. All it had was a simple story, a flowing story-telling, a gentle combination of subtle color scenes, a line of expressive voice actors and straight-forward direction. And with these, TokiKake had me overflowing with emotions. It didn't need to fly me to the forbidden realm of fantasy to captivate my interest. I'm already taken by the simplicity and honest reality portrayed.

Seriously, everyone should watch TokiKake at least once.
If you are to watch an animation movie, it can only be 時をかける少女.

「千昭：　未来で待って。
　真琴：　うん。すぐいく。走っていく。」


Here's the trailer from Kadokawa.




～みはる～