The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

is the official international title adopted in 2006 for the release of a Japanese animated film which is an adaptation of a Japanese novel written by Yasutaka Tsutsui in 1965, soon become a youth classic story previously adapted many times in Japan under its original title Toki o Kakeru Shōjo. A short TV series first aired in 1972 under the title Time Traveler starring Atsuko Shimada (aka Mayumi Asano), soon followed by a sequel, Zoku Time Traveler. A live-action film starring Tomoyo Harada was produced in 1983, with a popular theme song which has been covered several times. A TV film was produced in 1985 starring idol Yoko Minamino in her first leading role. A new TV series aired in 1994 starring Yuki Uchida. Another live-action film was produced in 1997 starring Nana Nakamoto. In 2002, it was one of the three segments of the TV film Shinshun! LOVE stories, starring then-Morning Musume idol Natsumi Abe. A manga series illustrated by Gaku Tsugano was produced in 2004 in two volumes, and a second manga was produced in 2006 in one volume as a prologue to the animated film produced that year, a sequel to the original story.

Books

Novel The original novel , written by Yasutaka Tsutsui, was first serialized in the Japanese youth magazines Chu-3 Course and Kō-1 Course, from November 1965 to May 1966, and has been regularly re-edited in Japan ever since, notably in 1976 (ISBN 4-04-130510-1), in 1997 for the release of the second film (ISBN 4-89-456306-1), and in a new version in 2006 for the release of the animated film, including two more stories: Akume no shinsô and Hateshinaki tagen uchû (ISBN 4-04-130521-7). The novel is also published in foreign countries, like France (La Traversée du Temps, 1983).Manga The novel has been adapted in 2004 into a two-volume manga called , illustrated by Gaku Tsugano, and story by Yasutaka Tsutsui (ISBN 4-04-713620-4 & ISBN 4-04-713640-9). The manga will be released in English in September 2008.Story Kazuko Yoshiyama a third-year junior high school student is cleaning the school science lab with her classmates Kazuo Fukamachi and Gorō Asakura, when she smells a lavender-like scent and faints. After three days, strange events transpire around Kazuko, including the burning of Gorō's house after an earthquake. The next morning, at the exact moment of a car accident, Kazuko is transported 24 hours into the past.

She relives the day and relates her strange experience to Kazuo and Gorō. They don't believe her at first, but they are convinced when she accurately predicts the earthquake and ensuing fire. Fukushima, their science teacher, explains Kazuko's new ability is called "teleportation" and "time-leap", and to solve the riddle of her power she must leap back four days.

Finally, Kazuko's determination enables her to make the leap. Back in the science room she meets a mysterious man who has assumed her friend Kazuo's identity. He is really "Ken Sogoru", a time-traveler from AD 2660. His intersection with the girl's life is the accidental effect of a 'time-leaping' drug. Ken remains for a month and Kazuko falls in love with him. When he leaves, he erases all memories of himself from everyone he's met, including Kazuko. As the book ends Kazuko has the faint memory of somebody promising to meet her again every time she smells lavender.

1983 film

The Japanese live-action film is a direct adaptation of the novel, released on July the 16th 1983 in Japan by Toei, directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi, with a screenplay by Wataru Kenmotsu, and starring idol Tomoyo Harada in her first film. It's been since released internationally on DVD, with English sub-titles, under several unofficial English titles (The Little Girl Who Conquered Time, Girl Of Time, The Girl Who Cut Time, among others).Cast

• Tomoyo Harada as Kazuko Yoshiyama
• Ryôichi Takayanagi as Kazuo Fukamachi
• Toshinori Omi as Goroh Asakura
• Yukari Tsuda as Mariko Kanda
• Ittoku Kishibe as Toshimi Fukushima
• Takako Irie as Tatsu
• Wakaba Irie as Noriko
• Toshie Negishi as Namiko Tachibana
• Akiko Kitamura as Sadako Asakura
• Taizoh Masumoto as Takeo Haramichi
• Makoto Naito as Tetsuyo Yoshiyama
• Ken Uehara as Masaharu Fukamachi Theme song

"Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" written by Yumi Matsutoya, sung by the film's lead-actress Tomoyo Harada.

Song

The song was the popular theme-song for the 1983 movie, inspired by the story, written by famous singer Yumi Matsutoya, and originally sung by the film's lead-actress, then-rookie idol Tomoyo Harada. There are several different versions.Harada versions The first version was released in April 1983 as the A-side of Tomoyo Harada's third single (7A0275), with a B-side "Zutto Soba ni" also written by Yumi Matsutoya and two different cover pictures, and was included on the original soundtrack album for the film (C28A0279). A second version of this song was released in 1983 on Harada's first album Birthday album (WTP-40188), and in 1986 on her compilation album (CA30-1326). A third version was recorded in 1987 for her greatest hits album From T (32DH-848), and a fourth one in 2007 for her twenty-fifth anniversary original album Music & Me (XNHL-13001/B).Matsutoya versions Yumi Matsutoya, original author of the song, self-covered it the same year on the B-side of her single and on her album Voyager in 1983. She later rewrote it and renamed it as to be the theme song for the new 1997 "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" film, along with another of her songs: "~We are not alone, forever~", both released on the original soundtrack album for the film (TOCT-9940) and on her album in 1997. Other versions The original song was adapted in a commercial for noodles with then-beginning idol Yuki Kudo parodying the 1983 movie shortly after its release. Voice actress Ai Shimizu also covered the song as the B-side of her first single Angel Fish in 2003 (KICM-1077).

1994 drama

The drama is a five-episode Japanese television live-action TV series broadcast on Fuji TV between February 19 and March 19 1994, directed by Masayuki Ochiai and Yûichi Satô, with screenplay by Ryôichi Kimizuka and music by Joe Hisaishi. It is starring then-rookie idol Yuki Uchida in the main role, and also features the writer of the original book, Yasutaka Tsutsui, and then-unknown idols Miho Kanno (the first Tomie), Ranran Suzuki and her then-rabbit-cosplayed-partner in the children TV show Ponkikies: future J-pop star Namie Amuro. Cast

• Yuki Uchida as Kazuko Yoshiyama
• Yoshihiko Hakamada as Kazuo Fukamachi
• Gamon Kaai as Gorō Asakura
• Ranran Suzuki as Mariko Kanda
• Miho Kanno
• Leo Morimoto
• Namie Amuro
• Yasutaka Tsutsui
• Kyoko Yoshizawa
• B-saku Sato
• Yoko MoriguchiTheme song

"Ningyo" (mermaid) by Nokko (her fourth solo single, on her fourth solo album Colored).

1997 film

A second Japanese live-action film was released in Japan on November 8 1997, directed by Haruki Kadokawa, with a screenplay by Ryôji Itō, Chiho Katsura and Haruki Kadokawa, starring beginner Nana Nakamoto in the main role. The film is narrated by the previous 1983 film's lead-actress Tomoyo Harada, and is set in 1965, when the novel was published for the first time. The film poster was used as the new cover for the 1997 edition of the novel.Cast

• Nana Nakamoto as Kazuko Yoshiyama
• Shunsuke Nakamura as Kazuo Fukamachi
• Mitsuko Baisho
• Takaaki Enoki
• Mariko Hamatani
• Yu Hayami
• Masatô Ibu
• Yoshiko Kuga
• Hironobu Nomura
• Tsunehiko Watase
• Itsumi Yamamura Theme songs

"Yume no Naka de ~We are not alone, forever~" and "Toki no Canzone", a remake of the 1983 film's theme song, written and sung by Yumi Matsutoya.

2002 TV film

is the last of the three different stories that aired on January 2 2002 on the Japanese channel TBS as part of the 130 minute anthological TV film starring the then-members of popular Japanese J-pop band Morning Musume. The three segments are adaptations of popular romantic stories, each of them featuring some of the idols from the band.First part

The first story of the film is Izu no Odoriko, adapted from the 1926 novel The Dancing Girl of Izu by Nobel Prize for Literature Yasunari Kawabata, and is starring band members Maki Goto along with Kei Yasuda and Nozomi Tsuji.Second part

The second story is Haikara-san ga Tōru, adapted from the shōjo manga series by Waki Yamato, and is starring band members Rika Ishikawa along with Hitomi Yoshizawa, Mari Yaguchi, Ai Takahashi, Risa Niigaki, Makoto Ogawa and Asami Konno.Third part

The third story of the film is Toki o Kakeru Shōjo, directed by Kazuhiro Onohara, screenplay by Toshio Terada, and is starring band members Natsumi Abe as Kazuko Yoshiyama, Kaori Iida as her friend, Ai Kago as her sister, and actors Takashi Nagayama and Asahi Uchida.

2006 animated film

, also referred as TokiKake for short, is an animated Japanese film produced by the animation studio Madhouse and distributed through Kadokawa Herald Pictures, first released in theaters in Japan on July 15 2006. The film was later released on DVD on April 20 2007 in Japan in regular and limited editions. A German RC2 DVD (with German and Japanese dub and German and Polish subtitles) was released on September 24 2007 by Anime Virtual/AV Visionen. A manga story, set as a prelude to the film, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Shōnen Ace manga magazine between April 26 2006 and June 26 2006; the chapters were later collected into a single bound volume which went on sale on July 26 2006.

On December 9 2007, Bandai Entertainment announced that the anime film will be released as a region 1 DVD in the United States for the first time. The scheduled release date will be November 18 2008. Bandai released it theatrically in New York City on June 13 2008.

Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel is used as the basis of the film, but it is not a direct adaptation. Instead, the film is set as a continuation of the book in the same setting some twenty years later. Tsutsui Yasutaka praised the film as being "a true second-generation" of his book at the Tokyo International Anime Fair on March 24 2006.

Story

Makoto Konno (Riisa Naka/Emily Hirst), a girl attending high school in Tokyo's Tokyo#Old Tokyo .28Shitamachi.29, realises she has the power to go back in time and re-do things (called a "time-leap") when she impossibly avoids a fatal accident at a train crossing one day.

Bewildered, she consults with her aunt (Sachie Hara/Saffron Henderson) throughout the film, who then implies that she is the protagonist (Kazuko Yoshiyama) from the original novel. At first, Makoto uses her power extravagantly to avoid being tardy and to get perfect grades on tests, and even relive a single karaoke session for about ten hours. However, things begin to turn bad as she discovers how her actions can adversely affect others.

Makoto ends up using up more of her leaps to recklessly prevent undesirable situations from happening, including an awkward confession of love from her best friend Chiaki Mamiya (Takuya Ishida/Andrew Francis). Eventually she discovers a numbered tattoo on her arm which counts down with each leap. She determines that the tattoo indicates that she can only leap through time a limited number of times. With only a few time leaps left, she attempts to make things right for everyone, but impulsively uses her final leap to prevent a phone call from Chiaki asking if she knows about time-leaping. As a result, she is unable to prevent her friend Kōsuke Tsuda (Mitsutaka Itakura/Alex Zahara) and his girlfriend from being killed in the accident at the train crossing that Makoto was originally involved in. Devastated, time suddenly stops.

Chiaki reveals that he is a traveller from the future and leapt through time in order to see a painting being restored by Makoto's aunt, as it has been destroyed in the future. While walking in the frozen city, Chiaki hints that his original era occurs after a world wide catastrophe decimates mankind. He then reveals that he has used his final leap to prevent Kōsuke's accident and has stopped time only to explain to Makoto what the consequences will be. By revealing his origins and the source of the item that allowed Makoto to leap through time, and being unable to return to his time period, Chiaki must disappear. Makoto realizes too late that she loves him as well.

True to his words, Chiaki disappears when time begins again and Makoto is upset. As she tries to come to terms with losing him, she discovers that Chiaki's time-leap had inadvertently restored one time-leap to her - Chiaki had leapt back to before Makoto used her last leap. Makoto uses her last leap to the exact time she gained her powers and at which point Chiaki still has one reamining team-leap. She reveals everything that he told her in the future concerning who he is, the ability to leap through time, and his reasons for extending his stay in her time frame. Shortly before returning to his time period, Chiaki says he will wait for her in the future and Makoto replies that she will run towards it.

Theatrical run

TokiKake was released to a small number of theaters in Japan, taking in approximately 300 million yen (US$~3 million). The film wasn't advertised as frequently as other animation features from 2006 (such as "Tales from Earthsea"), but word of mouth and glowing reviews generated interest. At Theatre Shinjuku for days in a row, filmgoers would fill the theater, some even standing to watch the film. Following this, distribution company Kadokawa Herald Pictures took unprecedented measures to increase the number of theaters showing the film across Japan, and sent the film to several international festivals.

TokiKake, translated as The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, premiered in Canada on November 19 2006 at the Waterloo Festival for Animated Cinema and went onto premiere in US on March 3 2007 at the 2007 New York International Children's Film Festival. The movie received a limited theatrical run in the USA, being shown subtitled in Los Angeles in June, and in Seattle in September. Also a dubbed version was shown in New York City in July. Its Boston area showings in August were subtitled. The film has also premiered in the UK as part of the Leeds Young People Film Festival on April 2 2008. More US showings are planned in other cities.

Awards

Even though it was not a massive hit at the box office, the film did exceptionally well at the various festivals it was entered in. TokiKake took home the Gertie Award for the best animated feature film at the thirty-ninth Sitges International Film Festival of Catalonia. It won the Animation Grand Award, given to the year's most entertaining animated film, at the prestigious sixty-first Annual Mainichi Film Awards. It was also awarded the first annual Animation of the Year prize at the thirtieth Japan Academy Prize. It was nominated for, but did not win, the twenty-seventh Nihon SF Taisho Award. It received the Grand Prize in the animation division at the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival. At the sixth annual Tokyo International Anime Fair, which opened on March 22 2007, TokiKake was recognized as "Animation of the Year" and won several awards. It won the Special Distinction for Feature Film at France's thirty-first Annecy International Animated Film Festival on June 16 2007. It played to full-house theatres during a screening in August 2007 at the ninth Cinemanila International Film Festival in Manila, Philippines.

Theme songs

The theme song to the film is , and the insert song used in the film is . Both songs were written, composed, and sung by singer-songwriter Hanako Oku, however the latter song was arranged by Jun Satō.

References

External links

Books

• See fifth Japanese interwiki link for the related books article.1983 film
• See fourth Japanese interwiki link for the related film article.Song
• See first Japanese interwiki link for the related song article.Drama
• Article on D-addicts
• Article on Jdorama
• See second Japanese interwiki link for the related drama article.

Animated film

• Kadokawa Shoten's official TokiKake website
• Kadokawa Pictures official TokiKake website
• See third Japanese interwiki link for the related anime article.