The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

This last Wednesday I, along with my geek club, watched an interesting Japanese animated movie, called (read the title of the blog post).

One thing I like about movies like this is how they blend mundane with fantasy, while not letting one overpower the other. This was true for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (never ones for the concise titles the Japanese, eh?). Apparently it’s a pseudo-sequel to a book I’ve never read, and it deviated in some parts, so really, the movie can be enjoyed on its own very easily.

For those of you expecting an action heavy anime title, for which the “genre” is famous for, such as DBZ, Naruto and Bleach (wait…aren’t most of those just extended scenes of people standing around? Never mind, this is right up your alley). Nah, not really.

There’s plenty of laughs, but more than anything else, strong, strong character development. While not the most likable at first, the main character is a teenage girl, with all the quirks of teenage girls. When she discovers that she can jump back in time (yeah, I know, big surprise there), she uses it to have all the fun she can.

Things get more serious as she realizes the effect her actions have on others, her friends, and herself. There are some heart-wrenching moments (well, for people with hearts, I’ve been methodically killing off my heart in regards to drama), and you will truly care about the characters (not an easy thing for a writer to do to me).

The ending is, like so many Japanese movie endings, ambiguous at best, and somewhat confusing. But, like many other Japanese movie endings, it leaves you feeling fulfilled, if not completely satisfied.

Just don’t watch it in a room full of geeks, the discussions about time paradoxes would have gone on for hours if we didn’t have a club president to mediate.