The Girl Who Leapt Through Time



"Time waits for no one."

Original Title: 時をかける少女 (transliterated Toki o Kakeru Shoujo or variants thereof; variously translated as "The Girl Who Cuts Through Time", "A Girl Who Runs Through Time", etc)

Poor Makoto. She's officially having her worst day ever! It's not enough that she overslept and barely made it into school on time, she also flunked a math quiz, got flattened by two rambunctious boys at lunchtime, accidentally set the home economics room on fire, and then had this really weird accident while cleaning the science lab. Then to top it all off, she just had to crash her bike into this really crabby lady on her way home... and that wasn't until after she'd already been hit and killed by the train!

Wait... What?

With a little experimentation, Makoto discovers that she has somehow developed the ability to leap backwards in time, allowing her to re-do events whenever she likes, from preventing her little sister from eating her favorite snack to re-living a karaoke session ten times in a row. But the more changes Makoto makes, the more she begins to realize the effect her time-leaping is having on other people - especially her relationships with her best friends Kousuke and Chiaki. And the source of her ability might not be as limitless as she first assumed...

An award-winning 2006 animated Japanese film produced by the animation studio Madhouse and distributed through Kadokawa Herald Pictures, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is an adaptation of/sequel to a very popular 1966 novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui (previously adapted into two live action films (1983 and 1997), a five-episode TV series (1994), a 2002 TV film and a 2004 manga title (A Girl Who Cut Through Time), none of which received wide distribution in the West). Familiarity with the previous material is not necessary in order to understand or enjoy the film, although it is implied that Makoto's "Aunt Witch" is the protagonist of the original story, helping to explain some of the comments that she makes.

No relation to Sora wo Kakeru Shoujo ("The Girl Who Leapt Through Space"), whose title was inspired by and a reference to this work.


 * Adults Are Useless: Subverted by Makoto's "Aunt Witch."
 * Airplane of Love
 * Arc Words: "Time waits for no one."
 * Artificial Riverbank: Where Makoto makes her first deliberate time leap.
 * Bokukko: Makoto.
 * Bad Future:
 * Never outright stated, but possibly implied.
 * What makes it worse is that by the end,.
 * Bittersweet Ending:


 * Betty and Veronica: Kousuke (Betty) and Chiaki (Veronica) for Makoto.
 * But Now I Must Go:
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * Chew Toy: Poor, poor Takase...
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Makoto starts falling into this trope when her friend Yuri starts getting a little too friendly with Chiaki about midway through the film. She displays it subtly though, such as eating all the rice their family was supposed to have for dinner, and sulking about it. To be fair, she was totally at fault here, constantly trying to change the subject when he did try asking her out, and then her constant avoidance of him gave signs that she wasn't interested in him.
 * Crashing Dreams: The opening scene.
 * Crash Into Hello: Makoto arranges one for Kousuke and Kaho.
 * Deranged Animation: Especially the first time-leap sequence. It's deranged in a very pretty way, at least.
 * Did Not Get the Guy:
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: This movie is about a girl. She leaps. Through time, no less.
 * Fish Out of Temporal Water:
 * Four Is Death: At 4:00, Makoto nearly gets hit by the train before time leaping.
 * Furo Scene: Makoto is often depicted brooding in the bathtub. Fanservice free. Or free Fanservice. If you're into that sort of thing.
 * Genre Savvy: Makoto's aunt, who was either trolling her with her advice, or giving the best she could given the circumstances, such as if she ever considered that maybe her time traveling is ruining someone else's life in the process of her trying to fix something else.
 * Going to the Store: Going out in the evening to test her time-leap power, Makoto claims she's "going to the konbini".
 * Gratuitous English: "Time leap." and "Time waits for no one."
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Or heroines, in this case.
 * I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship: How Makoto feels about, though she doesn't have the courage to say so. The end result's still no better than if she had,.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Makoto's teacher is Gendo Ikari.
 * Inelegant Blubbering: Makoto, twice. Possibly slightly narmy.
 * Interrupted Suicide: Subverted for comedy; Makoto, testing this whole "time jump" business, prepares to leap from her bedroom window only to be stopped by her horrified little sister.
 * Which also leads to a very sweet display of sisterly concern. "Was it because I ate your pudding?" Awww...
 * I Will Find You/I Will Wait for You:
 * Interrupted Suicide: Subverted for comedy; Makoto, testing this whole "time jump" business, prepares to leap from her bedroom window only to be stopped by her horrified little sister.
 * Which also leads to a very sweet display of sisterly concern. "Was it because I ate your pudding?" Awww...
 * I Will Find You/I Will Wait for You:


 * Joshikousei
 * Karaoke Box
 * Late for School: Makoto and Chiaki both.
 * Lost in Translation: The origin of "Aunt Witch" is actually a pun on the character's real name using "majo," the Japanese word for witch. The joke didn't translate so a literal translation was chosen instead.
 * Love Dodecahedron: Yuri has feelings for Chiaki, who has feelings for Makoto. Kaho has feelings for Kousuke, who may or may not have feelings for Makoto. Makoto initially ignores both triangles, preferring to stay friends with both Chiaki and Kousuke,
 * Magic Skirt
 * Meet Cute: Makoto arranges one for Kousuke and Kaho. It takes her at least four tries to get it right, and ultimately results in . After, she gives up on the idea and takes a much more direct approach.
 * Megane: Occasionally Kousuke.
 * Misapplied Phlebotinum: Both the heroine and the person who provided it in the first place misused theirs--one to sing karaoke repeatedly, the other to view a painting.
 * Motif: The ever-changing Time line, the ladybug.
 * Mundane Utility: As mentioned above, Makoto finds many trivial uses for the ability to time jump, including going back two nights to have a dinner she likes instead of one she doesn't.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Makoto does this multiple times, sometimes breaking something else while undoing something she broke.
 * Oblivious to Love:
 * Aunt Witch points out that Makoto has always said she would never date either Kousuke or Chiaki as she sees them only as friends but subtle feelings for both of them emerge. With Chiaki, she dodges all his attempts to upgrade their relationship
 * This can be applied to Kaho as well, in her attempts to get close to Kousuke.
 * There's also Kousuke to consider with his subconscious romantic feelings for Makoto, creating a sort of unintentional and unsuspecting love triangle between the trio.
 * Also, for a great portion of the film, Chiaki was oblivious to Yuri's feelings for him.
 * Oh Crap:
 * Panty Shot: Surprisingly averted. Makoto goes tumbling a lot, but the viewer never gets a shot of her undergarments. The movie in general does not concern itself with Fan Service.
 * Phlebotinum Breakdown: The Time Leaping technology works only so many times.
 * Poor Communication Kills:
 * Makoto has to learn this the hard way.
 * Also almost literally.
 * Portmanteau Series Nickname: TokiKake.
 * Power Trio: Makoto, Chiaki, and Kousuke.
 * Railroad Tracks of Doom: At precisely 4:00 no less.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: At first, Kousuke (blue) and Chiaki (red), although Chiaki later drops his facade.
 * Reset Button: The heroine pushes this until it breaks.
 * Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory:
 * Justified, as it's the heroine bouncing around through time, and nobody else.
 * It gets a bit fuzzier near the ending:.
 * Sarcastic Confession: Makoto, "after" spending 10 hours at the karaoke and asked why her voice is sore.
 * Slapstick: Makoto gets hurt. A lot.
 * Scenery Porn: Especially at one point when time is frozen
 * Set Right What Once Went Wrong: On many levels, from retaking a quiz to introducing Kousuke and Kaho to
 * Subtext: Before he, most of the hints that Chiaki and Makoto were really into each other could be hard to pick on during the first viewing, especially if you're more used to anime where the signs of a relationship are far less subtle. But they ARE there.
 * Shipper on Deck: Makoto, and to a lesser extent, Kaho's two friends, does this for Kousuke and Kaho, with mixed results till the end.
 * Shrinking Violet: Kaho.
 * Six Is Nine:
 * Slow-Motion Pass-By: Kousuke and Kaho on Makoto's bike,
 * Tempting Fate: Makoto desires that Chiaki, Kousuke, and she will be friends forever and nothing will ever change. Unfortunately, things do change.
 * That Didn't Happen: Possibly a subversion. Even when Makoto goes back in time to make sure that didn't happen, her relationship with him is still changed because of it.
 * Three Amigos: Chiaki, Kousuke, and Makoto.
 * Throw the Dog a Bone: Makoto eventually gets hers.
 * Time Stands Still: Near the end of the film, when.
 * Time Travel Romance: A potential one.
 * Tomato Surprise:
 * Tomboy: Makoto. Big time. She still has a very girlish charm though, especially with respect to Chiaki.
 * Together Umbrella: Makoto has a flashback to herself, Chiaki, and Kousuke under a red umbrella.
 * Troubled but Cute: Chiaki.
 * Tsundere: Makoto towards Chiaki, subverted and played for drama. This film shows the heartbreaking consequences of not being able to express your feelings to your loved ones before it's too late.
 * Wham! Line:


 * You Already Changed the Past: Sometimes Makoto forgets about the changes she made.
 * You Can See Me?: A variation. Needless to say, this massively freaks her out.