[Analysis] Toki o Kakeru Shōjo – The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (時 を か け る 少女 Toki wo kakeru shōjo) is a feature film written and directed by Mamoru Hosoda (細 田 守; Kamiichi, September 19, 1967) released in Japanese cinemas on July 15, 2006.

Hosoda began his artistic career as a painter, having studied oil painting at Kanazawa College of Art. After realizing he had no future as a painter, Hosoda found another form of art to vent his creativity: animation. After a long apprenticeship as an animator, working on anime such as Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and Digimon Adventure, thanks to the latter Hosoda made his directorial debut in 2000 with Digimon: The Movie, a film of excellent workmanship, so as to attract attention by Studio Ghibli, who decides to propose to Hosoda the direction for Howl’s Moving Castle (Hauru no Ugoku Shiro), an offer that is however rejected by the director due to insurmountable artistic differences. His second directing work is One Piece: Baron Omatsuri and the Secret Island (One Piece Omatsuri Danshaku to Himitsu no Shima) which brings him even more to the attention of the public.

Plot

At Kuranose High School in Tokyo, Japan, 17 year old Makoto Konno discovers a message written on a blackboard and ends up inadvertently falling upon a walnut-shaped object. On her way home, she is ejected into a railroad crossing when the brakes on her bicycle fail and is hit by an oncoming train, but finds herself transported back to the point in time when she was riding her bicycle right before the accident. After entering the Tokyo National Museum to meet with Kazuko Yoshiyama, she explains to Makoto after hearing her story that clearly, she now has the power to “time-leap”, to literally leap through time. At first, Makoto uses her powers to avoid being late, getting perfect grades, and even relive a single karaoke session for several hours, but soon discovers her actions can adversely affect others.

Consequently, Makoto uses most of her leaps frivolously, to prevent undesirable situations from happening, including an awkward love confession from her best friend Chiaki Mamiya. Makoto realizes that she has a numbered tattoo on her arm indicating the limited number of times she can time leap. Using her remaining time leaps, Makoto attempts to make things right for everyone. When Chiaki calls Makoto to ask if she has been time-leaping, she uses her final time leap to prevent Chiaki’s call. In the meantime, Makoto’s friend Kōsuke Tsuda and his new girlfriend, Kaho Fujitani, borrow her faulty bike. Makoto attempts to stop them, but because she had just used her final leap, she is unable to rescue them from the train.

A moment later, Chiaki freezes time, telling Makoto that he is from the future. He explains that the walnut-shaped object is a time-traveling device, and he used it to leap through time hoping to see a painting that is being restored by Kazuko, as it has been destroyed in the future. While walking with Makoto in the frozen city, Chiaki also explains why he stayed longer in her time frame than he originally planned. Consequently, he has used his final leap to ensure Kōsuke’s existence and has stopped time only to explain to Makoto now that he is unable to return to his own time period, and having revealed his origins and the nature of the item that allowed Makoto to leap through time, Chiaki must leave. Makoto then realizes she loves him.

True to his words, Chiaki disappears once time resumes. Initially distraught by Chiaki’s disappearance, Makoto discovers that Chiaki’s time-leap inadvertently restored her final time-leap: Chiaki had leaped back to the time before Makoto used it. Makoto uses it to safely leap back to the moment right after she originally gained her powers, when Chiaki still had his remaining time-leap. Recovering the used up time-travel device, she explains her knowledge of everything as she shows the device to Chiaki. Makoto vows to ensure the painting’s existence so Chiaki can see it in his era. Before Chiaki departs, he tells Makoto he will be waiting for her in the future. When Kōsuke asks her where Chiaki went, she says he went to study abroad, and she has made a decision about her own future.

(from wikipedia.org)

Critical Review

After the success with the “commissioned” films, Hosoda finally decides to make his first feature film where, in addition to directing, he also writes the screenplay. Not feeling ready for an original story yet, the director takes inspiration from the book by Yasutaka Tsutsui, namely Toki or Kakeru Shōjo. However, Hosoda tries not to make his first work a mere re-adaptation of the original, but instead to create what can be considered a “spiritual sequel” of it. In fact, in Hosoda‘s film the protagonists of the story change, however the basic plot remains almost identical, and obviously there are many references to the original subject of Tsutsui.

A little curiosity. Probably the name of Yasutaka Tsutsui will not come new to someone. In addition to the extraordinary fame he still enjoys in the Japan, it was probably Satoshi Kon who brought him to the attention of Western audiences with his latest feature film, Paprika. The latter, like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, is also based on and inspired by a Tsutsui novel.

Knowing the source of inspiration for the film, and consequently knowing a minimum of Tsutsui‘s writing style, allows the viewer to have an understanding, a clearer vision of Hosoda‘s film. It is in fact known how Tsutsui uses the science fiction element only to give color to his works, while the psychology of the protagonists is the heart of his works. And even in Hosoda‘s film this aspect remains intact.

Leaping into escapism

As I have already explained previously, or as it becomes obvious after watching the film, in Toki or Kakeru Shōjo the science fiction element of time travel only serves as a background to the story, in fact it is never deepened or explained in detail.

This is one of the shortcomings of the narrative that leaves the viewer with several unanswered questions: what is the nut-shaped device, and how exactly does it work? Why does Makoto have to “jump” to travel through time? With what criteria does the protagonist return to specific moments of the past instead of others? Obviously there is no answer to all of this, and there is no need for there to be.

In fact, both in Hosoda‘s film and in the original novel, the theme of time travel is deliberately treated in a superficial way, just think of how they are used by the film’s protagonist. Makoto, more than time travel for the sense of adventure, seems more to escape from her life, from her responsibilities and from the near future that awaits her. Time travel is needed for Makoto to grow as a woman, as a human being. The protagonist learns to understand the meaning of responsibility, to feel the weight of her actions, and that running away from a certain problem only serves to postpone it, and not to eliminate it.

In short, time travel in Toki or Kakeru Shōjo is nothing more than a form of escapism. The science fiction element that lends itself to the message of the work.

Artistic bond

With the character of Kazuko, Makoto’s aunt, Hosoda gives full display of his skills as a writer, in addition to those already acclaimed as a director. Kazuko is in fact a key character in the work, and I am not referring only to the feature film.

Kazuko is the protagonist of the novel from which the film is based, Hosoda first of all tries to link, and legitimize his movie to the original work of Tsutsui that inspired him, and at the same time he wisely exploits the role of Kazuko to give depth to the protagonist of his film, Makoto.

I’ll explain. Hosoda shapes the character of Makoto on that of Kazuko, in fact both have had experiences with time jumps, both have fallen in love with a time traveler, and have felt the same fear about what they would have done as adults.

The director almost seems to indicate that Makoto and Kazuko are actually the same person. Wonderful is the scene in which the protagonist of the film confesses her feelings and fears to her aunt, however it seems that Makoto rather than talking to a close relative seems to converse with her conscience.

The aforementioned scene takes place in the museum where Kazuko works. A place outside the normal flow of time. For Hosoda it is enough to add a melancholic light of vespers that penetrates and colors the entire window of Kazuko’s studio with orange, a series of photographs that give a strong sense of déjà-vu, and here it creates what turns out to be the real time jump of the feature film.

Makoto as Kazuko, a journey back in time that takes the viewer to the distant 1967, which is the year of publication of the novel Toki or Kakeru Shōjo.

The painting of passion

Another strong reference to Tsutsui‘s novel is the figure of the time traveler. As I have already illustrated in the previous paragraphs, Hosoda wanted to reproduce the same story told in the original work, consequently Chiaki also faithfully plays the role of Ken Sogoru, the time traveler who preceded him.

The differences between the latter and Chiaki are almost non-existent. They are both time travelers, both have a sentimental relationship with the protagonists of their respective works, and both end up becoming their raison d’etre.

Kazuko in fact lives in the hope of being able to meet Ken again, alienating herself in her work, making a sort of vow towards her beloved. Makoto decides to become a restorer too in order to keep the promise made to Chiaki in the film’s finale: to preserve that painting so that it arrives in the future. Both therefore choose to pursue a platonic, surreal, ethereal, spiritual love. Makoto, and the same goes for Kazuko, is perfectly aware that the probability of meeting Chiaki again is close to zero. The protagonist knows that years of loneliness, anguish and uncertainty will await her; but this does not affect her will in the least.

A synonym of love is “passion”, and this is precisely the meaning of what has just been explained. You have to live for what you love, this is the only way to be decisive and resourceful in life, the only way not to hesitate in the face of the many choices that life reserves.

However, Hosoda does not fail to describe his personal life experience. Makoto, for the love of Chiaki, decides to dedicate her entire life to a painting which, according to the time traveler, is capable of saving humanity from ruin. Obviously the meaning of this is purely symbolic. The importance of art, and of painting in particular. Hosoda wants to show that it is only thanks to his unconditional love for art that he has managed to become a successful director. Again, you have to live off your passions, for what you love, regardless of the difficulties you may encounter along the way.

The crossroads of adolescence

As I have already written previously, there are several shortcomings in the plot of Toki or Kakeru Shōjo, deliberately not dealt with by the director for the simple fact that they are of no relevance for the understanding of his work. Hosoda immediately shows the main theme on which he wants to focus the attention of his audience.

In fact, in the first minutes of the film, we find Kousuke asking Makoto a specific question: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” . Makoto is, however, undecided, so much so that she immediately turns the question to Chiaki, who, unable to answer for obvious reasons, in turn finds a way to not answer Kousuke’s question by taking a baseball in the face.

Furthermore, Hosoda places the protagonist of the film in front of a rather emblematic choice, that of the future school career to undertake. In the Japanese school system, after having graduated, students must choose whether to continue their studies in the artistic or scientific fields, a choice that represents a real existential “crossroads” for every Japanese student (I specifically chose the paragraph image).

Makoto is initially confused, indecisive, so much so that she feels uncomfortable with her classmates who, unlike her, already have clear ideas about the choice to make. Not even her professors (the responsible adults par excellence) are able to clarify the protagonist’s mind. In the end, however, with the promise made to Chiaki, the choice becomes suddenly obvious for Makoto. And this is exactly the message that Hosoda wants to express through Toki or Kakeru Shōjo: to find a passion that allows you to overcome the fear of becoming an adult.

It is for this reason that Hosoda decides to bring his very personal life experience into the film, filling the latter with references to his first love: painting. It is no coincidence that Makoto, like the director, chooses the artistic path, that his aunt is a restorer of paintings, and that at the center of the work there is a painting.

Afterword

Mamoru Hosoda‘s first “semi-original” work is undoubtedly a success. Visually, the author shows all his experience and all his talent in the field of animation, also daring on some choices such as the often minimal character design. The same thing cannot be said for the plot and the themes addressed in the film, as they are taken from the aforementioned Tsutsui novel. Even the message of the work is not really something revolutionary or unprecedented, adolescence is one of the most addressed issues ever. Despite this, Hosoda still manages to give his personal touch to the film thanks to his passion for painting, making the story much more interesting.