Mamoru Hosoda's film is based on Yasutaka's Tsutsui's 1960s novel, which gained cult popularity in Japan. In the film, Hosoda makes Tsutsui's heroine Makoto's "witch aunt". So there are two time-travelling girls, one who used to travel through it in the past, the other who travels through it in the present. Therein lies the thrust of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, in which the director explores the things that change from one era to another and the things that stay constant. That is why The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, which has been adapted several times, can be told in different ways in different eras using the words and styles of the age in question. Mamoru Hosoda's film is embedded in very realistic high school and urban setting, with the artwork featuring a multitude of details that magnify the beauty of day-to-day life. But the film's sense of time subtly shifts owing to the effects of a magic capsule that transplants an invisible part of the protagonists' life into the most fantastic supernatural world. This deft fusion of realism and fantasy is one of the film's chief strengths. The film is also enhanced by a range of melancholic and slapstick tones, a blend that makes it all the more satisfying for viewers. Impressions and atmospheres are crafted specifically to generate a feeling of time being stretched, moving on ceaselessly. We see and feel with summer landscapes, seasonal sensations and memories of summer. Makoto pulls out all the stops to try to suspend time. But the film is also very funny and offers slapstick larks, as the power bestowed on Makoto leads to outlandish sequences of repetitions. The humour in these is increased by the fact that to use her power, Makoto has to perform extravagant acrobatic feats that flirt with the entertainingly absurd. Above all, this is a story about a carefree teenager who comes to realise the importance of the decisions she makes when choosing the direction to give her life.

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