ANIME
The Girl Who Leapt through Time 12A
screened with English subtitles
Japan | 2006 98 minutes
DIRECTED BY
Mamoru Hosoda
This anime is derived from a 1967 novel with the same title written by Yasutaka Tsutsui. He was the very same author who, in 1993, wrote a story called Paprika, which Satoshi Kon adapted into an anime in 2006. The Girl Who Leapt through Time was also released in 2006, but the director is Mamoru Hosoda and the visual style is rather different.
The narrative involves a teenage girl, Makoto, who finds she has the ability to travel through time, but gets into a time loop in which she repeatedly relives the same day. It is a story that seems to have fascinated Japanese film-makers because it has also appeared, with some variations, in three Japanese live-action films from 1983, 1997 and 2010. This is apart from a number of TV adaptations and a stage play.
The Eclectic Cinema's anime series has featured different directors with different styles. There was the cyberpunk aesthetic in Mamoru Oshii's Ghost in the Shell (1995), the nightmarish fantasies of Satoshi Kon's Paprika (2006) and now we have Mamoru Hosoda whose style is perhaps softer and more realistic. It does bear comparison with Miyazaki's hallmark style at Studio Ghibli, and it is worth noting that in 2001 Hosoda was lined up by Studio Ghibli to direct Howl's Moving Castle. In fact, Hosoda fell out with the studio over creative differences on this project, and he eventually went on to set up his own studio.
19 February 2024 MONDAY 19:30
Playhouse Main Screen
Tickets £8.00|£5.00 (up to age 25)