Licensed Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time) [Archive]

NeoSam

2005-12-18, 19:19

時をかける少女

A movie.

Kadokawa's site for the movie:
www.kadokawa.co.jp/tokikake/

Originally a juvenile novel.

In 1972 it got a shounen(boy's) drama series.

From Anime News Service (http://www.animenewsservice.com):

With scant details available, it's been revealed Yasutaka Tsutsui's 1972 juvenile sci-fi novel Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo (The Girl Who Conquered Time) will be adapted to animation in 2006. The work has a long and interesting history of past adaptation to live action, although this will be the first animation. Just after the original book's debut, NHK made the plot the basis of the first shonen drama series on it's network in 1972. A live action movie version directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi and staring Tomoyo Harada became a big hit in 1983. Various dramas and films followed through 2002 when TBS produced the last adaptation, a made for TV movie. J-Pop Idol Namie Amuro has a credit in a 1994 live action version. Kadokawa Shoten released a manga illustrated by Tsuga Nogaku in 2004.

A Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo manga started serializing in the shounen manga magazine Shounen Ace.
There are 2 volumes released of this manga (its finished).
Here are the covers:

http://img204.imageshack.us/img204/7846/vol10bp.jpg http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/1992/vol27ez.jpg

Shounen manga
Mangaka: Gaku Tsugano (also the mangaka of the second Suzumiya Haruhi manga)

A new manga called Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo TOKIKAKE started on 26/4/2006 in the shounen manga magazine Shounen Ace.
Here's the cover of the manga:

http://img291.imageshack.us/img291/5351/tokikake3ws.jpg

Shounen manga
Mangaka: Kanori Ranmaru

From AnimeNfo (http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,3594,ralvoq,toki_wo_kakeru_.html):

Yoshiyama Kazuko is in the 3rd grade of junior high. One day, she’s cleaning in the laboratory, she notices of the smell of lavender, and fainted. Since then, she acquires a mysterious power to travel time.

* “Toki wo Kakeru Shojo” is a juvenile novel written by Tsutsui Yasutaka. It became TV drama, movie, and Manga several times

Genre: Shounen, Adventure, Drama, Romance, Science-Fiction

NeoSam

2006-05-08, 07:19

I added the covers of the old manga (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo) to the post above.

The new manga (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo TOKIKAKE) that started on 26/4/2006 in Shounen Ace magazine will be the manga version of the movie.

bicyclerace

2006-05-23, 07:57

Man, I just love Sadamoto´s artwork. It´s looking great, and I´m really looking forward to it.

Don´t forget to checkout the trailer people:
http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/tokikake/index.php?cnts=info#20060404

Also, It would be great if someone could explain anything from their blogposts..!
http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/blog/tokikake/

Thanks!

NeoSam

2006-05-23, 11:05

Man, I just love Sadamoto´s artwork. It´s looking great, and I´m really looking forward to it.

Don´t forget to checkout the trailer people:
http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/tokikake/index.php?cnts=info#20060404

Thanks for the trailer link :)

Yeah, it does look great. now I'm looking forward for this even more :D

Sonhex

2006-05-23, 15:05

Ah, so this is what that is. I keep seeing this in Newtype JP. The trailer looks very promising indeed. I like the character designs. I'm getting a sort of Earth Girl Arjuna vibe off of it and maybe a little Mimi Wo Sumaseba especially in the little details like the ladybird and the the wooden clock/chimes.

Madhouse (http://www.madhouse.co.jp/works/2006-2005/works_movie_tokiwokakeru.html) seem to be pretty busy at the moment with this, Kiba, Yume Tsukai, Black Lagoon and others...

NeoSam

2006-07-14, 18:02

I added the cover of the new shounen manga to the first post :P (it will be released on 26/7/2006)

raphaël

2006-07-24, 11:22

Just saw the movie that just came out last saturday.
I didn't know about the manga, but let me tell you it's awesome. Perfect sets, cute heroin, great plot, great music, and of course good animation and good voices. I'm not sure this would never be licenced for a theater release in Europe or the US but why not in DVD?

Right now I feel like reading the novel. :D

Everyone in Japan, don't even hesitate to have a look at it, this is more than "juvenile", it's moving and funny, nostalgic in a way. Ok, I loved it. I guess it's because I had a real shitty day I wish I could take back. :heh:

Sheba

2006-07-24, 17:47

It was published in France under the title "La Traversée du Temps" (roughly translated as "Cross through Time"), I had the novel from my school when I was ten. I fucking enjoyed it, the ending was kind of bittersweet.
I learnt about its adaptation as animated movie just today, but I didn't know it was that until I saw the name of the author of the original work and figured out I had the book in my belongings all along.

I am so wanting to watch it. Time travel being one of my favorite themes in the science-fiction genre.

So I am hoping that the french import the movie in their ground because of the past publishing of the book here.

raphaël

2006-07-25, 01:28

I checked that after posting. Now I remember my college teacher quoting Tsutsui in a lecture. I'll definitely read it when i have the chance.

And as I said, this is a really good movie, you won't regret it. I'm just wondering if it hasn't been a bit "simplified" to fit in 100 mins format. :confused:

Haohmaru

2006-08-03, 21:41

I read that this got 4.7 out of 5 :D so it must be good. Gedo Senki on the other hand only got 3.2 or something like that (I remember it getting an average point).
You can find a summary for the movie here: http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/tokiwokakeru_1stimpression.html

Does anyone know when the DVD is coming out?

Scab

2007-02-09, 11:16

Does anyone know when the DVD is coming out?
April 20.

We (Saizen) are going to sub it.

Kaoru Chujo

2007-02-11, 16:32

I have the novella. It's good. It's fairly short, and the Japanese is pretty easy. The story was atmospheric and interesting. It's no wonder it has been adapted so many times. I'm looking forward to seeing it animated. I haven't seen the live-action movie, but it's around.

Rion

2007-02-11, 20:07

We (Saizen) are going to sub it.

I love you.

Now where can I get my hands on the novel in a language I can read, hmm... (Oh, Amazon.fr has the french version... arr, but shipping is so costly.)

Jazzrat

2007-03-22, 07:12

I stumble upon this anime when i was browsing about for information on Okami and found out it won the 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival award for the animation category. No idea how acclaim this award is but it beats anime like

a) GITS SAC: Solid State Society
b) Melancholy of Suzumiya Haruhi
c) Mushishi

so it must be something to watch for.

Japan Media Arts Festival 2006 Award website
http://plaza.bunka.go.jp/english/festival/sakuhin/index.html

charizardpal

2007-04-10, 15:13

April 20th?! Wow that's only 10 days from now! (I know that it'll take a while to sub it after it's released, but even so....) Let the countdown begin! :heh:

Haohmaru

2007-04-10, 15:31

Yeah, I know. I hope Saizen subs it fast. Can't believe how long I've waited for this to come out.

Haohmaru

2007-04-21, 18:09

Well the raw has been out in tokyo (*Hint, Hint*). Anyway, anyone got a chance to watch it? I downloaded it just because I'm really curious and exited to watch this. I won't watch the whole thing, I'll probably just skim through it.

Anyone know who's subbing this besides Saizen?

Sakuya

2007-04-22, 02:55

stpehen

2007-04-22, 03:07

I've read plenty of rave reviews about this movie on Japanese blogs. Lots of voices saying it was the best anime of 2006.

Maceart

2007-04-22, 04:20

It is the best anime movie of 2006 in my humble opinion. I give it a 9.6 out of 10 awesome anime points.

wao

2007-04-22, 04:57

I just watched it.

Whoever is reading this and is wondering whether to watch it or not, do yourself a favour and watch it.

Definitely, I would give it a 9/10 even if I was being really strict.

I don't even know where to start listing what I like about the movie. I think there's no need for me to say it. This isn't even the kind of story that I am typically a big fan of but I ended up liking it so, so much.

I can see some people would not like the certain revelation that happens later on. But well, personally (don't come hitting me for this), I liked this a lot more than Byousoku 5 Centimetres.

I'm going to beg my brother to get me the DVD of this.

EDIT: I should calm down...

Jazzrat

2007-04-22, 05:18

.........

i think i ll wait for the sub

eventhough i m itching to just grab the raw and spoil myself silly

Katapan

2007-04-22, 05:53

You sure made me look forward to seeing this now, wao.

Will I be able to wait until its theatrical release in France?... Sigh, no precise date yet, it's still stuck on a "summer" release. :( I suppose I should at least be glad that it's even coming here...

7Th

2007-04-22, 06:40

wao

2007-04-22, 07:58

Yeah, but most people don't know that. I won't be surprised if most in English-speaking circles really recognized the name Hosoda, or if they did check him up my guess is most people would just go all "ugh, a Digimon/One Piece director? He's got to suck", especially since the Digimon film got butchered and spliced for US release... Which is a goddamn pity of course. There's some really nice stuff he's done with CG like in the Spiral OP and the Alice SOS OP, which he did under his pseudonym Katsuyo Hashimoto (which he's denied before, but I think we all know it's a joke, because even in the karaoke scene in this movie he slyly slipped a hint of it in...). And he also did some of the best Utena episodes under that pseudonym but again, people won't notice these things I guess. Not like TokiKake is really like Utena in any way, though.

I was sort of smirking at the part in the movie with that fork in the road because it was exactly like that excellent Doremi Sharp episode of his (was it episode 40?) This movie reminded me of that episode in quite a lot of ways.

I was really hoping this would eventually get released in Singapore - after all, the subject matter would surely go along well with even the average teenager who doesn't watch anime (conversely it might feel weird to people who are too used to anime...), but nope. No point hoping I guess :(

Scab

2007-04-22, 08:01

So I hope Saizen will keep the AC3.
I don't know about that; it's 448Kbps (read: ~315MB per track) and I do plan on including both the stereo and the 5.1 track in our release, so 630MB for just the audio isn't too appealing to me. Transcoding to smaller AAC tracks seems to be the sensible option. We'll see though, I can't say we've decided on a particular format yet. Is there really a demand for the original AC3...?

MrProphet

2007-04-22, 11:38

Mamoru Hosoda was the director that was originally slated to direct Miyazaki's "Howl's Moving Castle".

It didn't pull through due to various reasons, but if Miyazaki and Suzuki were confident enough in Hosoda to let him direct a Ghibli film, then that says quite a lot outright about his talents.

I still haven't watched it, though I'm dying to, because it's based on Tsutsui's story and because of Yoshiyuki Sadamoto.

wao

2007-04-22, 11:49

Ironically enough, this and Gedo Senki came out around the same time but while Gedo Senki did much better commercially, most reviewers and critics seemed to greatly favour TokiKake.

I have no idea why they picked Sadamoto for the character designs though. I like them very much, but other than the character designs Sadamoto has hardly any influence in this film it appears (I don't even see any Gainax buddies around here exactly). His designs were well adapted for animation, anyway. And if anyone is wondering what sections were animated by whom, there's a partial list floating around in Japanese... It doesn't seem to say who did the part with the majo-obasan in the gallery grinning at Makoto while she calls her "majo-obasan". I really liked that part. The movement felt very real and very much like a Japanese female of that age...

Jazzrat

2007-04-22, 11:59

Studio Ghibli is an internationally acclaimed studio. The brand name itself help pushed Gedo Senki not to mention it's an adaptation of an popular fantasy series (Earthsea) that's well known on the other side of this planet.

Where else Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, i m ashamed to say, i didn't learn of it till i accidently saw it on the Japan Media Arts Festival 2006 Award website. While it's pretty popular in Japan, it doesn't have the help that Gedo Senki has unless they push it to Cannes, maybe then, it ll get the exposure it deserves.

manuloz

2007-04-22, 12:33

At least Chikachi Kubota was there to represent Gainax ^^

I gave some thought at the time the staff was announced on why they choosed Sadamoto... Then Yamamoto Nizo was also there, so maybe Mamoru Hosoda wanted to achieve so kind of Ghibli feeling to his movie.

So it occured to me that Sadamoto started at studio Telecom under Yasuo Otsuka... and that's all :p

http://www.pelleas.net/aniTOP/index.php?p=79&more=1&c=1&tb=1&pb=1

...

Here are some original designs from the Notebook

Sadamoto
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook01.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook03.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook04.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook05.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook06.jpg

One of the AD ?
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook02.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook03.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook06.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/notebook07.jpg

...

By the way the movie is good... again great work from Hosoda but i did not expect less than that.
He is got an eye to make good use of his background it's beyond me...

Shinndou

2007-04-22, 18:01

If my connection won't betray me I'll probably get to watch it either tomorrow or during this week. I was really looking forward to this movie since I read the positive opinions of the people who saw it at cinemas last summer in Japan, and I recall being quite impressed even by the trailer itself. And I'm a damn fanboy/sucker for nice urban settings like the ones shown in the movie's posters.

I've already ordered the storyboard artbook. I can't wait. :heh:

Sakuya

2007-04-22, 18:07

I don't know about that; it's 448Kbps (read: ~315MB per track) and I do plan on including both the stereo and the 5.1 track in our release, so 630MB for just the audio isn't too appealing to me. Transcoding to smaller AAC tracks seems to be the sensible option. We'll see though, I can't say we've decided on a particular format yet. Is there really a demand for the original AC3...?

If there's no demand other than mines, then it's okay. Your choice. :)

issei

2007-04-22, 22:38

just finished watching. not sure how i feel about the ending, but overall it's definitely an outstanding film. i might be a little more coherent after some coffee!

I can see some people would not like the certain revelation that happens later on. But well, personally (don't come hitting me for this), I liked this a lot more than Byousoku 5 Centimetres.

i've only seen the first part of b5cm, but certainly toki wo kakeru shoujo accomplishes a depth of poignancy with large measures of subtlety in many of its scenes, something that shinkai either struggles with or doesn't attempt in the first place. up until the ending, at least, where it seems the film decided to drop the subtlety for a more familiar melodramatic process. but i think i'll need some more time to put my thoughts in order.

again, overall, toki wo kakeru shoujo is amazing.

zitch

2007-04-22, 22:58

... Is there really a demand for the original AC3...?

I just went through the effort of registering here to say: Hell yeah! :)

I have a 5.1 audio system hooked up to my TV and my player can play DivX files with AC-3 audio; the player simply passes the AC-3 to the audio system.

Actually, I would just prefer the subtitle file by itself as I can build a high-quality DivX file to play on the setup with that file and the raw that I already have.

kira-sama

2007-04-23, 01:35

i heard from my sis she said this anime so good
i think i'll just wait the subs

stpehen

2007-04-23, 07:37

After watching it for myself, I have no qualms with the statement that it's the best anime of 2006. Truly superb in all facets, from production to acting. Maybe slightly melodramatic at the end, but it's balanced out by the whimsy of the first half, and really, for anime, it's extremely gracefully handled. I could see the same story being completely butchered into a maudlin mess by less skilled hands. It definitely has that "Ghibli touch," in terms of style and poise. Really, really fantastic.

Now we just need someone to license it, so I can actually get a copy and recommend it to people I know...

darkchibi07

2007-04-23, 08:31

Considering the movie is a Kadokawa title, I can imagine that Kadokawa Pictures USA already has R1 rights of it. Of course the question is who's going to distribute it.

TypoGuy

2007-04-24, 10:16

I saw it at a film festival, and I'll certainly buy the DVD when and if they release it, but I don't mind a fansub in the meantime. Great movie. I even tracked down the 1983 live action version (R3):

http://www.shop.com/op/~Kadokawa_Collection:_Girl_Of_Time-prod-35220814-46426986?sourceid=298

A different take on the same basic story, shows how much they updated for the anime (added a lot of humor, more drama, less singing).

Not quite Miyazaki level, but the best of the next-gens I've seen so far, anyway.

Maids! Maids! Maids!

2007-04-26, 02:11

http://img399.imageshack.us/img399/6241/dvd011642x2262zo0.th.jpg (http://img399.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dvd011642x2262zo0.jpg) http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/2766/20060801lp3.th.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20060801lp3.jpg) http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/2982/tokidv3.th.jpg (http://img444.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tokidv3.jpg) http://img250.imageshack.us/img250/5081/3726727hz8.th.jpg (http://img250.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3726727hz8.jpg) http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/5125/tokibasiribigfu3.th.jpg (http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tokibasiribigfu3.jpg)

http://img106.imageshack.us/img106/2610/timewaitsfornooneyo1.th.jpg (http://img106.imageshack.us/my.php?image=timewaitsfornooneyo1.jpg) http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/2557/4144224gq9.th.jpg (http://img248.imageshack.us/my.php?image=4144224gq9.jpg) http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/9249/tokikakeairdoorkm8.th.jpg (http://img45.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tokikakeairdoorkm8.jpg) http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/8536/060808tokikakelu8.th.jpg (http://img410.imageshack.us/my.php?image=060808tokikakelu8.jpg)

http://img248.imageshack.us/img248/3295/tokikake43fd0.th.jpg (http://img248.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tokikake43fd0.jpg) http://img162.imageshack.us/img162/3180/tokikake01pa4.th.jpg (http://img162.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tokikake01pa4.jpg) http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/2342/0064vq2.th.jpg (http://img45.imageshack.us/my.php?image=0064vq2.jpg) http://img45.imageshack.us/img45/1444/tokikakehitujiqa0.th.jpg (http://img45.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tokikakehitujiqa0.jpg) http://img267.imageshack.us/img267/1097/dvd021636x2279jy1.th.jpg (http://img267.imageshack.us/my.php?image=dvd021636x2279jy1.jpg)

http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/201/7330599yd5.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7330599yd5.jpg) http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/7985/7342632pt7.th.jpg (http://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=7342632pt7.jpg) http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/3205/toki01hx6.th.jpg (http://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=toki01hx6.jpg) http://img442.imageshack.us/img442/8246/r137it9.th.jpg (http://img442.imageshack.us/my.php?image=r137it9.jpg) http://img114.imageshack.us/img114/3892/tokihyousioc0.th.jpg (http://img114.imageshack.us/my.php?image=tokihyousioc0.jpg)

http://img265.imageshack.us/img265/5974/makotobpj1.th.jpg (http://img265.imageshack.us/my.php?image=makotobpj1.jpg) http://img252.imageshack.us/img252/1127/bk0610ddp6.th.jpg (http://img252.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bk0610ddp6.jpg) http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/1755/bk0611ced1.th.jpg (http://img474.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bk0611ced1.jpg) http://img474.imageshack.us/img474/1771/20070420rv2.th.jpg (http://img474.imageshack.us/my.php?image=20070420rv2.jpg) http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/3262/rahu308sy2.th.jpg (http://img163.imageshack.us/my.php?image=rahu308sy2.jpg)
http://img464.imageshack.us/img464/1967/illust122mv4.th.png (http://img464.imageshack.us/my.php?image=illust122mv4.png) http://img396.imageshack.us/img396/9513/makotosmacdm3.th.jpg (http://img396.imageshack.us/my.php?image=makotosmacdm3.jpg) http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/3204/makoto2ya9.th.jpg (http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=makoto2ya9.jpg) http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/7932/makodvdyf4.th.jpg (http://img258.imageshack.us/my.php?image=makodvdyf4.jpg)

Sushi-Y

2007-04-26, 16:48

I'll certainly buy the DVD when and if they release it

It has already been out for a few days now:
http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E6%99%82%E3%82%92%E3%81%8B%E3%81%91%E3%82%8B%E5%B 0%91%E5%A5%B3-%E9%80%9A%E5%B8%B8%E7%89%88-%E7%AD%92%E4%BA%95%E5%BA%B7%E9%9A%86/dp/B000MEXAOM/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2/250-6241244-5630655?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1177623637&sr=8-2

Just watched it myself.

I have heard nothing but good reviews for this movie ever since it aired in theatres last year, and after watching it I can only say it deserves them all. This movie is simply beautiful to watch on so many levels.

The plot catches you first by immersing you into Makoto's life, and then throws you into a wild ride just when you think you have everything figured out. For me, I think the twist near the end is what really delivered.

For a 1 hour and 30 minute movie, that was probably one of the most meaningful films I have ever watched.

The soundtrack is top-notch as well, very well delivered on the dramatic sections.

Miyuki is a moe-trap. ^^;

Shinndou

2007-04-26, 17:47

I am going to watch this tomorrow, and I'll probably get my hands on the DVD as well. All these positive reviews and opinions are prompting me to consider this option, as I am sure that it won't be a waste of money anyway. :)

Kaoru Chujo

2007-04-26, 22:34

I just watched it and enjoyed it, but it didn't totally overwhelm me. There is incredible detail in the movement, but sometimes maybe too much for me. Like showing off for no aesthetic purpose. And sometimes distant figures seemed boneless. A field full of people doing various things could sometimes look to me like a plate of wriggling maggots. But when the motion worked, it really worked.

As for the story, I've read the original novella, so although there are a lot of differences between this and that, it wasn't so easy to surprise me. And I wasn't thrilled with the VAs, really. It took me a long time to get used to the lead's voice and delivery, as well as to some of the ways they animated her expressions.

But none of these cavils negates the fact that it is a technical triumph and a very enjoyable movie. Some of the backgrounds (the fork in the road, for example) were wonderful. And the romance elements of the story were interestingly done.

wao

2007-04-27, 00:52

Well that's strange. One of the things I liked the best about this movie is how the VAs managed to sound much more like high-school girls (we've had some Japanese ones visit our school and I've seen videos of them taken by friends) than most anime VAs could ever come close to. The speech patterns, the delivery, the way it fits so well with the animation... I wasn't so won over by Kousuke but I loved Makoto, especially her "eh?"s and extremely teenage-like utterences. It wasn't perfect - I felt the crying didn't really work - but it came across as much more refreshing and genuine to me than the typical anime voice nowadays. :/

I also felt it succeded where some Ghibli films didn't in that the voice + imagery combination left a much deeper impression despite both types of films utilizing non-typical voice actors (live-action actors etc.)

But that's just my opinion.

stpehen

2007-04-27, 01:19

...it came across as much more refreshing and genuine to me than the typical anime voice nowadays.

This basically hit it on the head for me. I really can't enjoy 95% of anime nowadays because I can't stand the actors. I don't know if it's they themselves or just uninspired voice direction in general, but there are NO big-time seiyu that I enjoy listening to. Makoto was really fun to listen to because she sounded like a teenager, not an actor.

Kaoru Chujo

2007-04-27, 03:16

I tend to like amateur and stage-actor voices myself. These just didn't do it for me somehow, at least on one viewing. I somehow couldn't feel them as personalities. As accurate as their speech might have been, it felt artificial or intentional to me, rather than fresh. But I'm overjoyed to have a more positive view to try to assimilate myself to. I much prefer liking a show to finding fault with it.

It's kind of cool to find myself on the other side of an argument I sometimes have with others, since I find many top seiyuus too smooth, so smooth that the emotion is under too much control (this doesn't apply to Hirano Aya, who is somewhat out of control as Layla, or to Paku Romi, who is in the right kind of control as Nana).

To tell the truth, the crying was one thing I thought worked, at least a lot better than most anime crying does, for me.

serenade_beta

2007-04-29, 02:14

So in the last parts of the movie, Chiaki reveals that he's from the future and says that he says that he can't meet with Makoto anymore and leaves somewhere. Later, she realizes she can still time leap one time and goes all the way to the beginning in the lab. She rushes off (after telling her friend that she likes Chiaki) and finds Chiaki. Then she tells him that she knows everything. Later, near the river (or somewhere like that), they talk for a while. Then he leaves. While Makoto is crying, he comes back and tells her that he'll be waiting in the future. She says something like she'll be there. Afterwards, we see Makoto playing baseball with Kousuke and those three girls. She says that she's decided on what to do.

Some questions to sort up my feelings:
So Chiaki came to this time to see a painting/or something like that, the movie never told why, did it?

So the end was kind of bittersweet? That Chiaki and Makoto couldn't end up together, since she couldn't leap through time anymore (I don't think she could go forward in time) and he went back to his time.

Any guess to what she decided?

By the way, is the "Tokikake" manga ongoing or is it only one volume?

bakavic

2007-04-29, 13:17

Disclaimer: What I understand so far might be wrong, as I don't think I understand much (if any) jap...so don't take it as the truth.

Near the river, Chiaki was saying that he has to go back to his time. Makoto gets all tsudere'd up, and asks him to just go. Then she cries. When Chiaki comes back, he tells her to look out for a time traveller. Makoto says she will wait for him now, tomorrow, as long as it takes.

Ok, to your questions:

About the painting, Chiaki said that during his time, the arts (had something wrong with them) and he very much wanted to see the works of masters from this time, thus he came to this location, this time to see them. But alas, the one he wanted to see (No.12 or something) seemed like it had been taken down from the viewing gallery, as it had to be protected or something.

Yup, the ending was possibly meant to be bittersweet, with a tinge of hope mixed in. I'm thinking that she will wait for him :D

Talking about Makoto not being able to leap forward in time - maybe it affects all users? Chiaki could go to Makoto's time because it was in his past?

About the manga, gotta ask NeoSam ;)

Ya, the voice acting was really good - especially the students, as they really did sound like students.

Nice backgrounds and 3D effects (and to a lesser extent character animation), coupled with the VAs, and most of all the storyline, have made this one of the better anime movies.

I kinda got a bit hyped up about the whole show for the last few days, that I tried my hand at subbing it. However, 10 hours later, and lots of cursing and swearing, I can only present the first 5 mins:

http://www.mediafire.com/?82mk2gj2gwm

I really take my hat off to all subbers - the whole process is certainly not easy. A lot of the dialog seemed like it wasn't pure standard japanese - like slurs of certain words and short forms were used. Makes for hell when trying to decipher bursts of words.

BTW, I fully expect "Mass Naked Events"-level type of errors in the sub. Hell, some sentences were even left out since I could understand a word.

I think I had better leave the subbing to the pros at Saizen ;)

Kuroba

2007-05-01, 20:00

I love this movie. I saw at the NY Children's film festival and I thought it was excellent. The characters, the story, even the ending...beautiful. I'd love to see it again. I really like the VA's too...they sounded totally believable as students.

Will Saizen make an .avi format of this movie? Because MKV's don't work on my computer... ^^;

Scab

2007-05-02, 01:04

Sorry, we won't. I know at least one more group is subbing this though, two if you want to go by rumors, so I guess one of those might release an AVI.

miaka

2007-05-02, 10:47

watched it and loved it. The background music is nice. i like the ending of this anime movie version than the live action dorama. Although the story is little different but still follow same patterns

Killerattacks

2007-05-02, 13:22

@Scab

I'd love to see your version with AC3. Some reasons:

- AC3 is already a lossy compression. So it won't be the best result transcoding it once again.
- Not all people watch their anime on a PC. And if you don't you have almost no possibility to decode 5.1 AAC with a HiFi System
- It will be unnecessary to include a stereo stream since if somebody only has a 2.0 or 2.1 system the stream will be downmixed most likely, if they didn't mess up their codec settings
- If you include more than one audio stream (and it seems that way) my guess would be that the majority would simply go with the first one (which would be the stereo stream I guess) simply because they aren't aware that they can switch streams or don't know how or think it is too much effort.

Just what I'm thinking about this. I'm really not trying to force you to anything.

If that was the case (only AC3) the audio stream would be ~300Mb. How about a 1,4 or 2 gigabyte h.264 encode? :)

Kai1

2007-05-03, 16:06

I saw on Tokyotosho that there is subbed version of it out by roxfan.

Isochroma

2007-05-03, 17:12

The subbed version by roxfan looks quite nice, just about as good as the 1.3gb raw. It only has 192k stereo 48khz mp3 audio, but it sounds good. I deleted the raw, it was that good.

Both (!) the OP and ED are softsubbed as well as main dialogue :) NO Hardsubs.

Kai1

2007-05-03, 17:32

I concur the quality. by the way, how come there are russian subs too?

martino

2007-05-03, 17:46

Maybe roxfan comes from Russia or knows Russian as a language as well, you never know...

BluWacky

2007-05-03, 18:21

roxfan is indeed Russian.

He's also an absolute legend, and if he happens to be reading this I can only say thank you very much! (and if it's never gone on public record, also thank you for subbing Princess Arete a couple of years back, which is literally the only fansub I have burnt on CD). I literally came home tonight intending to sit down and watch this unsubbed to discover your subtitled version (so I'll be watching it at the weekend instead!); I watched the first five minutes and I can tell this is going to be a very special film indeed.

So... yeah, thanks. Now I'm just annoyed I have to go to work tomorrow...

HeadlessCow

2007-05-03, 18:59

Roxfan is awesome :) <3

With no filtering on the DVD source, xvid quant 2 was 784 meg so there's not really much reason to go with anything larger than that. You could turn off b-frames and such... but the quality difference at even double the filesize should be negligible. We (roxfan) originally planned on 1.4 GiB, but since 700 was so easy, it was an easy choice to go with that instead. h264 could have probably squeezed out a bit more quality at that size, but it probably would have maxed out the codec at about the same filesize.

Since I was going on vacation as soon as I uploaded the encode (literally the last thing I did before leaving my house for the airport was to resume uploading the raw after our FTP ran out of space), I left the encode a few meg short of 700 so that any non-standard fonts that were used could be added in while I was gone.

AC3 audio just tends to be a pain since often it's mixed at a lower volume than a PCM/MPA track. I boosted it either 6 or 9 dB before I encoded it to MP3. Either people complain that it's quiet, or they expect a louder reencode of it... both are kinda annoying and 192kbit mp3 is pretty darned decent sounding when using LAME to encode it. Basically, there's no reason to add an audio track with half the bitrate of the video ;)

You can mux the original AC3 track yourself if you really want it (I think there's a 5.1 track as well). There's no shift between the raw audio track and my reencode.

Sadly, since I went on vacation and I'm leeching crappy wireless from a sketchy hotel in Paris, I don't get to watch the movie until I get home next week :'(

Vertago

2007-05-03, 22:14

Anyone know if the novel has been translated to English? And if so whats it called?

I just watched the subbed version and I loved it. Though like people have been saying the end is quite bittersweet but it didn't change how great this movie was. Like it would of been nice if they had a scene at the end showing her in the future meeting up with Chiaki. IMO it was sorta depressing how he said he'd be waiting in the future. But wouldn't she be a lot older than him? Or will he travel back again? Ahhhh the ending makes me want more.

bakavic

2007-05-04, 00:17

The novel goes by the same name (Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo), but the official english translation seems to be different (The Little Girl Who Conquered Time (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Girl_Who_Conquered_Time)). Probably not translated by anyone yet. (It's pretty old)

EDIT: Ok, a quick google brings up this page - http://honyaku.livejournal.com/profile. Apparently he/she has plans to translate tokikake, and has started translating another novel. Unfortunately, her last journal post was in Jan :/

Look at 1st post for more details.

Btw, Kagami from Lucky Star was reading it in ep 4 lol.

@HeadlessCow: Any chance the sub by itself would be release for us raw d/lers? It's going to be painful re-d/ling the whole movie again lol. Also a chance to see how badly my translation screwed up ;)

DragoonKain3

2007-05-04, 04:36

Unlike most people, I actually didn't like it that much. Oh sure, it kept me interested throughout the entire movie, but the enjoyability factor wasn't there for me. Kousuke was bland, and I really wasn't interested in Chiaki's character period. Saving grace was the time travel stuff (I'm a big sucker for those kind of stories) and of course, Makoto, of who was wonderfully done.

The ending in particular was the killer for me...
mainly because I really wanted to strangle Chiaki when he said that he's waiting in the future, and can only shake my head when Makoto said she'll go. I think this was meant to be a tearjerker, but IMO the movie would've been much better off cutting it out altogether.

Why? Admittedly, the main reason is that because that scene is there, she can't move on and so will dedicate her life to reuniting with Chiaki. Coupled with the fact of her aunt's situation, the movie is giving off the message that love begins and ends with the first one. Something of which I terribly disagree on.

But another reason is logically. Thinking about it, chances are Makoto won't ever see him again. Chiaki will never come back, because even Makoto's aunt's lover from the future (missed the clues, didn't you?) hasn't come back ever since high school. And even if I'm wrong about that, if its forbidden for people from the past from knowing about time travel, I think its not a stretch to think that they would ever send someone back just to have relations with them. (The ramifications of that is humongous to say the least)

So the other solutions include that Makoto develops time travel herself. Which in itself is a paradox, since her motivation is to be reunited with someone who met her using the time travel machine she's supposed to develop in the first place. Or she could hope that Chiaki is born within her lifetime, though that denotes that someone else will perfect time travel in the near future, which is not a bet one would like to make.

The only way she can be reunited with Chiaki is if, within her lifetime, she not only develops but actually perfect the means of keeping people in suspended animation. The possiblity exists, but man, that is ever so small. If she fails, she would've wasted all her life for no reason at all, and that saddens me greatly to see such a fate befall upon Makoto.

IMO, nowhere near as good as people claim to be. I find Brave Story to be the better movie, but then again that's just one person's opinion.

Mez

2007-05-04, 06:34

watched this with high expectations and was not disappointed at all. an amazingly charming piece of animation.

Iwanihana

2007-05-04, 07:04

Here (http:/http://www.iwanihana.info/2007/04/toki_wo_kakeru_.html#comments/) is a break-down analysis of the finer points of the film in case anyone is interested. It's filled with spoilers, of course.

Solace

2007-05-04, 07:05

Overall I liked the movie but I do agree with DragoonKain3 on the ending.

It was bittersweet but you know the chances she'll reunite with him are slim at best. I thought the last line was just too much false hope, but Makoto seems strong enough to move on, which I think is what the whole idea was. Time waits for no one. Everything moves on, even if you want a moment to last forever. Alot of people wish they could go back and change some event, but even the most well intentioned change can have devastating effects. I think the aunt was just saying that you should take opportunities when you can, or you might find yourself regretting what could have been. I don't think it was a first love theme so much as a live life to the fullest theme. Enjoy what you can because you never know when it's gone, that kind of thing.

However, the movie could have ended perfectly fine without Chiaki's last line and probably been better off for it.

Nice article Iwanihana. That's a perspective I hadn't considered. Also, whoever wrote that reply to your article made my head hurt with his theories. :heh:

domino

2007-05-04, 18:27

Was excited to see the sub but... technical issues.

Windows Media player wont play the subtitles (it says they are on but they are not appearing), and when I try to play the subtitle in VLC player, I get a crappy barely-readable font for normal text and frequent text overlapping. And when characters' lines are too long, the subtitles trail off the screen AND stack and are basically unreadable.

Softsubs are so nice in theory, but since 80% of the time they have issues like this that make it take an hour just to get it to play, I think I'm gonna wait for someone to hardsub it.

Unless anyone has any tips? Is it just me having this problem with this file?

Mez

2007-05-04, 19:43

Samatarou

2007-05-04, 21:31

Wow, what a marvelous story about time travel! Unlike a lot of anime I've seen recently it really held my attention from start to finish. Very nice to look at, good natural acting by the seiyuu, a moving story, brilliantly conceived plot.

Now here's a thought: imagine Chiaki is really Doctor Who, and Makoto one of his assistants...

domino

2007-05-04, 21:36

media player classic with the codec pack

I had CCCP but I guess it was having a bad day. Re-installed it and now it works perfectly. Thanks. :)

So if anyone who stumbles across this thread has trouble like I did, do a fresh install of this: http://www.cccp-project.net/

Asai

2007-05-04, 22:56

I just finished watching it, and have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. For a random movie I grabbed on a whim, it was quite a surprise. Now I'm recommending it to all my friends. ^^; I liked every aspect, really. Overall story was quite good, the voices were well done, the animation was very nice and all-round, it was excellent. I wouldn't give it full 10/10 since I reserve that for really exceptional things, but this is definitely a 9 or even 9.5, given the overall quality. ^^

darkchibi07

2007-05-04, 23:17

C'mon Kadokawa Pictures USA!!! Choose your R1 DVD distributor so I pimp this awesome movie to lots of people! :D

Sakuyakun

2007-05-05, 01:54

The movie is awesome and really moved my imagination. Go watch it now

Samatarou

2007-05-05, 15:52

After being bowled over by Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo yesterday, I just spent today making a Girl Who Leapt Through Time / Lucky Star crossover as a sort of homage to both series: The Girl Who Slept Through Time (http://files.myopera.com/infinity-1/anime/time.htm) (toki wo neru shoujo)

KholdStare

2007-05-05, 17:12

Well my first impression of this movie wasn't that great. I'm not into science fiction and all of this fantasy stuff so I thought that this movie was just some generic anime movie. I only downloaded it because a friend said he read it that it was good, so I did. I haven't read this thread so my expectations were low, and this movie proved me wrong.

About its greatness it didn't really have a deeper meaning or top-notched background (although the background was made well-above average). Overall, it was just fun to watch, to the point where it became my favorite anime movie of all time. And what did I think about the ending? I don't think any ending could've spoiled it unless it really sucks. I disagree that Chiaki shouldn't have said that last line. It's still kinda bad, but why are we interpreting things technically in a science fiction movie? How far in the future is Chiaki? What makes you think in Makoto's lifetime this technology won't exist? And most important and most obvious of all, there's nothing wrong with making us think. Elfen Lied is one of my favorite anime and the ending can be interpreted however we want.

Ending the movie without Chiaki's line would make the movie bitter, not bittersweet. There has to be something; and even though I do agree that it wasn't the best line, I think that it's better than saying nothing. In my opinion the line is there give us a happy feeling about the ending and not extreme analysis about how it is possible.

The thing I like most about this is the romance. Romance anime nowadays are too ecchi/corny/mushy/harem-y for me. This provides the best mix of comedy and romance with an interesting plot that immediately absorbs the viewer into the story. Romance comedy series don't have the seriousness that is present in this anime and while they can be fun to watch, they don't give a romantic feeling at all. I never get bored once while watching this movie.

7Th

2007-05-06, 08:48

Just finished watching TokiKake… and I found no problem with the movie at all, other than the melodramatic overstated mood they went with for the ending considering the natural and low-key presentation they used for most of the running time, although at least they left the science fiction concepts as a subtle wink and kept it as just a medium to the true story of character interaction. It’s amazing how entertaining and delightful the overall product was, and with my words here I am doing no justice to the real feeling behind my statement but want to avoid needless hyperboles and keep this the more down-to-earth I can for now. Safely can be said that as a whole, be it for artistic attributes, good story telling or the really lovable protagonist and those charismatic characters surrounding her, this is seriously one of the most enjoyable films in recent years, animated or not.

As a “time-traveling” tale the script does has it share of faults but even so I can’t find any as idiotic as what we could already see in “Back to the Future 2”, which even when finding itself in the middle of such paradoxes managed to keep itself a classic thanks to the fact that it can be resumed as juvenile yet somewhat meaningful fun from beginning to end, and by the finale the point of the plot wasn’t really to develop the whole physical mechanics of moving in a temporal plane but rather how such an ability, in a metaphorical sense, affects the life of a young girl, who is by the way one of the most wonderfully done and likeable female teenagers in the medium.

Interesting was also to see how the directorial maturity of Hosoda is much more firm now, the melancholic stylishness is still here but for some reason with a major focus when compared to his still brilliant Digimon movies. He remains both trendy and lyrical but perhaps now he turns out even more restrained and introspectively social than before, probably a reflection of the natural movement beyond Tai and his pubescent friends, or the Superflat Monogram girl, towards a state that borders adulthood.

Besides Hosoda’s firm commandment the other incredibly remarkable technical aspect was the graphical design, which turns up as pure urban magic achieved through visuals, a thoroughly endearing representation of youthfulness, with simplistic and amazingly humane movement that retains a cartoon-like expressiveness that helps it in going beyond the representation of reality and achieving much more aliveness through un-noticeable and at the same time deeply underlying exaggeration. The team went with a very modern interpretation of what “old-school” signifies and they did a brilliant job at that approach.

As a whole TokiKake is as a film unpretentious and sincere, eradiating enchantment in every minute it is shown on the screen. Besides, even if you can’t empathically sympathize with the characters you can’t deny their charisma, the entirely believable naturality of the presence they represent as individuals. Go watch this now, at worse you'll be entertained.

Zishi

2007-05-06, 12:07

Well first off I had some expectations, and it was met with something that overexceeded my expectations. The word awesome got a new meaning in my dictionary. 10/10 one of the best anime movies I have seen.

Everyone should watch this.

BluWacky

2007-05-06, 16:19

Now here's a thought: imagine Chiaki is really Doctor Who, and Makoto one of his assistants...

Both have far too much personality to be put in Who...

Anyway, finally watched it. One of the best films I've seen in a long time, and certainly one of the best anime films I've seen full stop (I'm not a huge Ghibli fan, unfortunately). Sure, the ending is slightly melodramatic, but I'm a sucker for cheese like that, and the whole thing was utterly beautiful from start to finish.

Who is Kiyoshi Yoshida? The bleebily bloobily piano music was gorgeous, and I'd be interested in tracking down any more of his stuff.

sabot99

2007-05-06, 22:28

Who is Kiyoshi Yoshida? The bleebily bloobily piano music was gorgeous, and I'd be interested in tracking down any more of his stuff.

Don't give Yoshida too much credit. Some of the piano music in the movie is from the Goldberg Variations by J.S. Bach.

ShadowVlican

2007-05-06, 23:09

from a wallpaper at 4chan that led to an anidb search that led to a google for torrent that led to one satisfied otaku

as with the previous poster, one of the best anime films i've ever watched

Xeiros

2007-05-07, 06:24

I just finished watching this and I have to agree that this is the best anime Film of 2006 and one of the best anime films I have seen in a long time. 10/10.

Everything from the characters, voice work and music was superbly done. It felt so real in many way. I liked the message that in life we have many regrets and that even if we go back and change the outcome the feelings that we experienced during these moments were real and will stay with us forever.

Fevvers

2007-05-07, 19:42

This is a good anime, I have to admit, but I honestly can't say that this is stellar by far. The first half was exquisite, the atmosphere was quiet and serves as a perfect backdrop for the honest and subtle dialogues and emotions the characters were trying to convey. I liked how the sci-fi part was purposely toned down so that the movie can focus on the characters themselves. The voice acting sounds natural, something which most voice actors/actresses seem to lack today.

The second half of the film though, I feel, just wasn't for me. It lacked the grace and subtlety the first half had, particularly the scene where Chiaki was saying goodbye to Makoto in the middle of the road, it seemed forced, as if a completely different person made that part. As for the ending scene, well, let's just say, silence speaks volumes; I think it would have been better if Chiaki didn't say anything, the hug and the headpat would have been enough accompaniment for the mood that scene was trying to deliver.

Ah, well. I suppose you can't have them all. Still, not bad. Could have been better, but not bad.

WanderingKnight

2007-05-08, 09:02

One of the things I liked the best about this movie is how the VAs managed to sound much more like high-school girls (we've had some Japanese ones visit our school and I've seen videos of them taken by friends) than most anime VAs could ever come close to.

Cookie for you for voicing my feelings exactly on the voice acting. In fact, the dialog was awesome all over the movie, with all its funny twists that made us 3 people watching it laugh very hard during the whole movie (I'm surprised no one mentioned the intrinsic comedic stance of the whole development, even with the bittersweet ending). It was quite noticeable that they tried to sound like regular people, not like anime characters.

As for the story itself, technically analyzing it, it does have its inconsistencies (the aunt witch, what is exactly her role into the matter? And there are some unclear spots regarding time/space, too), however I don't feel they are determining when it comes to analyzing the core of the subject. Overall it was a very enjoyable movie, and the likening of it all with a single day and the event of the 4 PM train was pretty good.

It felt kind of lacking, however, given all the praise it has received. Oh well. 8.5/10.

PS: It'd been great if the Aunt Witch was actually the protagonist who came back in time just to restore the painting, but... it'd conflict with other parts of the movie, I guess :p

wao

2007-05-08, 09:16

If you like the witch aunt a lot then you might be interested in the original Toki wo Kakeru book or the live-action show because if I'm not wrong those were based on the aunt witch's story. You might say TokiKake is like a profesional fan-movie (since the original writer didn't write this or anything).

Also my copy of the DVD came in the mail today yay~
It's such a lovely white and blue... the insert has a short message from the director, and as expected an intro of the story and characters. Oh well, I might as well mention that both the guys' designs are so loveable. Not saying Makoto's not cute of course...

I really wonder what's Hosoda going to do now, I haven't really checked up much on him except hear a rumour that he's going to work with Gonzo next...

7Th

2007-05-08, 09:32

WanderingKnight

2007-05-08, 09:35

Completely off topic:

He's doing Peggy Sue, an adaptation from a French children's fantasy book, with Gonzo.

What the hell's gotten into Gonzo and their book adaptations? First Gankutsuou, then Romeo x Juliet (well technically a theater piece but a book anyways), and now this...

wao

2007-05-08, 09:39

Thanks for the info. Ooh, designs by Okama too. I'm definitely looking forward to that, I wonder if we'll see the funkiness of Superflat Monogram back again. Gonzo would certainly be a great studio to work with something in that line (if it's a one-shot). Which reminds me, in this film there were those sequences of Makoto jumping through that white area which reprsented time or something, right? It reminded me sooo much of that girl from SF jumping through the space to get her mobile back.

I would be so happy if Hosoda did something dealing with that theme of young children and technology again (not necessarily in the Dennou Coil sense, but in the how-do-young-children-relate-to-a-hightech world sense). Not that I mind him working with older characters but that appears not to be the case for this.

7Th

2007-05-08, 09:42

waffo

2007-05-08, 16:34

I watched Tokikake on Sunday with my mom and loved it. It was either Tokikake or Spiderman 3 and I'm glad I chose the first.

I interpreted Chiaki's line of seeing her in the future as that the future he's from, which seems pretty bleak, will come very soon. I hope not though. It's both wishful and not wishful thinking.

Samatarou

2007-05-08, 17:33

I'm surprised no one mentioned the intrinsic comedic stance of the whole development, even with the bittersweet ending
I think it's like yFantGirl said: "But now my opinion totally biased cause i just closed the zoom player window and it seems that the sadness of the ending still didn't leave me."

I found that the last half hour of the film totally wiped out the preceding comedy for quite some time afterwards, it was so dramatic a twist. However on watching the film again I began to re-appreciate all the comic moments, especially the time leaping and how things fall on her head etc, one of the classics being the second time she tries to get the pudding, her landing is identical except for a box braining her, her pained expression with the glaring whites of her eyes was a classic.

I found I needed to watch the film through twice to fully appreciate the precise details of what was happening and exactly when she was jumping to, on first viewing it became something of a blur and I failed to spot how in fact everything meshes together absolutely perfectly. There are some plot weaknesses but they are forgivable as artistic licence so that the narrative works better. However some events that seemed like plot holes on first viewing turned out not to be when I thought about them more carefully.

Eg. After my first viewing, one of the thoughts I had was, why wasn't her time leaping noticed earlier, but on rewatching I realised that in fact it is noticed "earlier" because although an hour into the film, she has just leapt right back to the very first day (July 13th), so all her other (rather obvious) leaps have now never happened, so really it's actually fairly surprising that her leaping has been noticed, even by a fellow time traveller.

As to the "classic" status or otherwise of the film, after watching the whole thing for a third time I find the glossiness has faded quite a lot, and I'm no longer inclined to say that it was "better than Spirited Away", though I think it's in the same league. It's hard to compare them though, almost every classic anime film seems to occupy a slot of its own which makes comparative judgements a somewhat futile exercise. Eg. how to rank Nausicaa, Spirited Away, Metropolis, Akira, Tokikake ... personally I don't think I can, and given that anyone if free to watch them all I don't know if there's even a point to it.

Maceart

2007-05-08, 17:43

If marketed well, Tokikake can sweep the 2007 Oscars for animation award.

Not like that means a lot, but it'll give a lot more exposure to something way under popularized anime movie of 2006.

Samatarou

2007-05-08, 19:58

If marketed well, Tokikake can sweep the 2007 Oscars for animation award.
It would be a shoo in, but given how little exposure it got even in Japan (acc. to Wikipedia) with poor distribution and promotion, I wonder if it will even get nominated for an Oscar.

The subject of Oscar eligibility was discussed at some length in the 5cm/second thread a couple of months ago. Bearing in mind that it was released in Japan in 2006, Tokikake must have a theatrical release of at least 7 days in LA County sometime during 2007 or it will not be eligible for an Oscar. Moreover it must not get a non-theatrical showing in the US prior to the LA County showing, i.e no R1 DVD release or TV screening until after the cinema run. (The Japanese DVDs are not an issue.)

In principle the film could also have been submitted in the "best foreign language film" category, but it was released in Japan too long ago for the 2007 awards (July 2006) -- it would only have been eligible for the 2006 Oscars. (This is a peculiarity of the foreign language category rules.)

TypoGuy

2007-05-09, 09:53

I see someone's now fansubbed the live action movie from the 80s. It's fun to check out. Not a classic like the anime, more akin to a good Doctor Who episode! ;)

BBOvenGuy

2007-05-09, 14:33

I see someone's now fansubbed the live action movie from the 80s. It's fun to check out.

I was wondering what that was. What's the story behind it? Is it another adaptation of the same novel or what?

7Th

2007-05-09, 14:39

I was wondering what that was. What's the story behind it? Is it another adaptation of the same novel or what?

TokiKake animation isn't an adaptation of the novel and rather a sequel/spin-off, the live-action movie is straight from the original book.

manuloz

2007-05-09, 14:55

About Hosoda next movie... We are now not so sure about what he will come next.
There was someone else who informed Tsuka that Gonzo stopped producing feature films for the time being... but take this has a rumor. He added that he might work again with Madhouse...

But then ANS came in and here what they wrote :

4-18-07 (3:57PM EDT)---- Mamoru Hosoda Directorial Future

At The Tokyo Anime Fair 2007 a Madhouse representative gave us a rather wry smile when we asked if Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujo "Anime Director Of The Year" Mamoru Hosoda would be directing with the studio again in the future (Tokikake 2?). They wouldn't deny the possibility. Likewise, through some back channels we learned other anime studios have projects in the works with Hosoda, including TMS (their project has been ongoing for more than 6 months).

We just have to wait and see...

DragoonKain3

2007-05-09, 15:26

How far in the future is Chiaki? What makes you think in Makoto's lifetime this technology won't exist?
Now that I saw the live-action prequel, it seems that even in 2660 AD, Time travel still isn't perfected in this universe. Which in turn means there's no chance at all Makoto 'would run to the future' towards Chiaki using time travel. So there goes that theory.

And most important and most obvious of all, there's nothing wrong with making us think. Elfen Lied is one of my favorite anime and the ending can be interpreted however we want.
I never said anything about making us think is wrong. In fact, I had to do a lot of that thinking to come to the conclusion that MakotoXChiaki is very bleak considering the circumstances.

The only way Makoto and Chiaki would be together is if Makoto (or someone else) develops technology that allows a state of suspended animation for a very long time (cryostasis, etc.). And even if they did, what are the odds its already been perfected in her lifetime? Makoto, after all, probably wants to go to the future without having deal with the risk of say, a lost limb or (God forbid!) an accidental memory wipe because the process is still imperfect.

Ending the movie without Chiaki's line would make the movie bitter, not bittersweet. There has to be something; and even though I do agree that it wasn't the best line, I think that it's better than saying nothing.
I still stand by the fact that it would've been better to say nothing. Chiaki is very harsh (or maybe naive?) giving hope to Makoto when the odds is very low of that hope of being fulfilled. Sure saying nothing makes the movie bitter in terms of MakotoXChiaki, but at least Makoto's future would still be brighter because otherwise she'll probably end up just like her aunt.

In my opinion the line is there give us a happy feeling about the ending and not extreme analysis about how it is possible.
Just a few lines before you said that there's nothing wrong with the movie making us think, but extreme analysis is forbidden? Double standards, much?

I think the opening of the live action movie said it best. I forgot exactly how it goes, but it said something along the lines of, 'When one finds an idealistic love rather than a realistic love, it only brings one sadness.'

Samatarou

2007-05-09, 16:00

I think the ending is actually very similar to the Spirited Away one. In both cases the boy promises that they will meet again, but in both cases we know that the promise is impossible to fulfil. I think it's just a way of expressing their love; also making such a promise is an act of defiance against reality, an insistence that love is more important than the laws of physics, that love can conquer fate.

We hear a similar sentiment in 5 centimetres per second where Takaki says he knows that their lives are being overwhelmed by the huge vastness of time which stretches hopelessly before them, and yet despite this they promise each other their love instead of ending their relationshop as logic dictates they should.

TypoGuy

2007-05-10, 07:45

Perhaps he will come back to her. He doesn't seem all that happy with the future. He's already broken the rules. But they are awfully young for a lasting relationship. They both have things to do before they're ready for that.

At least, that was how I interpreted the last line.

roxfan

2007-05-10, 16:40

Director's comment on Chiaki's last words (thanks to EclipseZeta for correcting my translation):

Chiaki's words, "I'll be waiting in the future". In Ms. Okudera's script this line is supposed to be inaudible. Originally, I wrote the storyboard just like that, without any words. However, when I went back through the script, I realized that this wouldn't be good. I thought that this must be a challenge for me from Ms. Okudera. The story itself had been wrapped up in the previous scene. But I thought that after it all ended, what's said during the final farewell will actually set the tone & conclusion for the entire movie. Man... it really was tough.
I once asked Okudera-san, "I wonder what is he saying?". "I wonder too.", she responded.

charizardpal

2007-05-10, 17:10

I used to drill lots of holes into anime-(inconsitiancies and improbabillties..) but then I learned not to hold this sub-genre of fiction up to the same accuracy as other stories I read. Since the anime I tend to watch is fantastical, I can't hold it to be any more likely than the possibillity that most nearly every villian in the Marvel Comics world of Superman happens to possess the one (supposedly rare) element that can kill him.

wao

2007-05-10, 17:13

Thanks for the clarification, roxfan (and of course for subbing it as well, major props to you). It's interesting to see how they pondered oer the decision. But I think it would have been so much more poignant and powerful if the last line was left inaudible... then again I guess Hosoda wanted to leave something definite (despite the prospects of it actually happening being uncertain) and something to put your heart to rest at. In some way it very vaguely reminds me of the ending of Mimi wo Sumaseba...

In other news, I found out from someone that something that I had been wishing for all this while FINALLY CAME TRUE OMGZ@)$!@($!)$!)!!1!!asfsaksr;!12t (etc.)

TOKIKAKE IS SCREENING IN SINGAPORE (http://sg.movies.yahoo.com/The+Girl+Who+Leapt+Through+Time/movie/14012/). HALLELUJAH, PRAISE THE CINEMA $DEITY.

14th June, guys. If you live in Singapore PLEASE GO AND WATCH THIS. Even if you've already watched it. Crap, I have the R2 DVD but I don't care, I have to watch this on the big screen.

*goes off to squee excitedly for a while*

waffo

2007-05-10, 21:20

Is it possible for someone to find the lyrics of Kawara nai Mono? I love it more than the actual theme song of the movie...

bakavic

2007-05-10, 23:50

@wao: That's wonderful news! Hopefully this is the first of many anime movies to be screened here; I believe we only had Ghibli movies shown in mainstream theaters before this? Interestingly, Gedo Senki is nowhere to be found (bad reviews?)

Also, NANA2 is (finally) going to released on the same day? I'm like completely in fanboy mode now man...now, if only they would announce that 5cm/s will be shown...sadly, I'm entering the army that day - but I'll make sure watching it is the first thing I'll do when I can get out.

I think a fair bit of credit can be given to the Death Note franchise - it has really shown the higher-ups in the cinema industry that there is a demand for jap (manga/anime-related) movies locally. It's like all of a sudden they're bringing in all the major titles for the past few months.

Ok, just looked further down the line, and there's Brave Story on 9th Aug, and Udon (haven't heard much about it) on 17th May.

@waffo: Garten from Memento has a present for you - http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/okuhanako_garnet.html ;)

Codex

2007-05-11, 21:09

The ending in particular was the killer for me...
mainly because I really wanted to strangle Chiaki when he said that he's waiting in the future, and can only shake my head when Makoto said she'll go. I think this was meant to be a tearjerker, but IMO the movie would've been much better off cutting it out altogether.

Why? Admittedly, the main reason is that because that scene is there, she can't move on and so will dedicate her life to reuniting with Chiaki. Coupled with the fact of her aunt's situation, the movie is giving off the message that love begins and ends with the first one. Something of which I terribly disagree on.

Actually, you may want to sit through the ending credits once more and keep an eye on the lyrics. Starting around 1:34:47,

"I will store the days I spent with you in my heart
So I won't have to remember them;
Even if one day I'll fall in love with someone else
You will always be special and dear to me"

Like some of the others have said, it's simply an expression of their feelings -- and something hopeless romantics like myself need, probably. And from the scenes you see after the farewell, you do get the sense that Makoto isn't lingering in the past, and is ready to move forward to whatever the future brings.

Furthermore, I think the most important thing in that scene is that their hearts connected and they expressed it. It doesn't really matter that they probably won't ever see each other again; they didn't waste the last opportunity to make their feelings known.

kira-sama

2007-05-11, 22:27

OMG!!! this anime so good
but when chiaki said he waited makoto at the future If they met,
chiaki will be more older right??? (i mean like 30 or 40 years old because chiaki in makoto world they at the same age)
too bad they don't tell us the differences between makoto world and chiaki world
but funny to see makoto want to go to the past she must rolling or jump

Jazzrat

2007-05-12, 02:11

It didn't win an Oscar but it did won an award in
Japan Media Arts Festival 2006 in the Animation category.
http://plaza.bunka.go.jp/english/fes...hin/index.html

Mez

2007-05-12, 06:05

Actually, you may want to sit through the ending credits once more and keep an eye on the lyrics. Starting around 1:34:47,

"I will store the days I spent with you in my heart
So I won't have to remember them;
Even if one day I'll fall in love with someone else
You will always be special and dear to me"

Like some of the others have said, it's simply an expression of their feelings -- and something hopeless romantics like myself need, probably. And from the scenes you see after the farewell, you do get the sense that Makoto isn't lingering in the past, and is ready to move forward to whatever the future brings.

Furthermore, I think the most important thing in that scene is that their hearts connected and they expressed it. It doesn't really matter that they probably won't ever see each other again; they didn't waste the last opportunity to make their feelings known.

very nicely put, i like that interpretation, and it makes alot of sense with the lyrics. i thought the bittersweat ending fitted perfectly, as it matched the themes of the film, and i also thought there was enough closure given in the ending.

definitely think some people are unnecessarly over-analysing what he said at the end. i mean we were shown makoto's character pretty well throughout the movie and her reaction to his words weren't one of confusion or hesitation. she didn't ask any how, when or whys, because deep down she would have known it wasn't realistic, she was satisfied with his words and what he expressed with them. infact that entire ending scene was a huge build up of her anticipating him expressing his feelings to her, and when he had left without doing so she burst into tears. when he came back to whisper those words, she was finally satisfied and had no more regrets. the exact words which he used to express his feelings weren't important, nor should be the focus of attention, the film had already given closure and the words themselves are just an after thought, maybe they will meet in the future, maybe not, anythings possible, it was a flicker of hope saying anything is possible, but not to be taken with extreme seriousness.

negativeone

2007-05-13, 18:14

wow this is the first i watch an anime movie and i totally loved it. i was not expecting it to be this good and i was surprisse by the bittersweet ending, i never thought that the film would turn out the way it did. in my point of view the words chiaki said were symbolic, as well as the painting. makoto says that she will make sure chiaki sees the paiting in the future and chiaki says that he will be waiting for her(the paiting, which is her, get it???).

my english is bad and i think that im not making sense, so to put it in short, the way i see it is that the paiting is like a memento of their friendship and chiaki will be waiting for it.

Samatarou

2007-05-13, 19:10

Also my copy of the DVD came in the mail today yay
Does the DVD have any subtitles (Japanese? English?)
I was looking at the Amazon page but couldn't tell, but the price was no more than I'd pay for an anime DVD in the shops here, so I was thinking I may as well order the original Japanese one.

Cal-Reflector

2007-05-13, 19:11

Just saw this at a friend's behest. Overall, I am of the camp/faction/side that feels that the show was enjoyable, but not amazing/godly/stellar. B/B+.

The art was above average, the voice acting was fitting, character development was... mixed, the music was average to above average. The incidental details and the heroine's antiques was where the true charm of the show lay (the heroine's sisters to attempt to save her from suicide was very nice). However, the romance and sci-fi element failed to latch on to me, and as a result the impression the show made on me was not as deep as it made for some people (my friend included). I was compelled to go back and rewatch/listen to 5cm several times after the first time, but once was enough for Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo; that is absolutely not to say that one is better than the other, for this is one instance where I think preference has a great deal to do with enjoyment. (Mushishi and H&C, on the otherhand, seem to have achieved much greater consensus amongst its reviewers).

Didn't realize that Chiaki's last lines were a major sticking point until I read about other's opinions on the matter. I think it could've done better without; clean break, conveys a (not THE) theme of heart break as part of learning and growing up and moving on... others have interpreted it differently of course, and I respect that. A good way to view the resolution though, as a previous forumer has mentioned, would to think of the theme as along the lines of "Living life to the fullest, their feelings made known and thus no regrets..."

It all depends on whether Chiaki's line was interpreted literally or not; the above interpretation, which I like myself, precludes their meeting up in the future as a viable option: They've conveyed their feelings and our heroine is satisfied and free to move on.

Sounds like I'm talking myself into liking this show and its ending... but I suppose if any show deserves this benefit of the doubt (heh) its Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo.

Imma write some fanfic now, while I'm still on the mood. A three years later sort of story, with Kousuke and Makoto, now in university.

wao

2007-05-13, 20:41

Does the DVD have any subtitles (Japanese? English?)
I was looking at the Amazon page but couldn't tell, but the price was no more than I'd pay for an anime DVD in the shops here, so I was thinking I may as well order the original Japanese one.

Nope, no subtitles afaik (I can go check again when I'm back at home but I don't think there were even closed captions). Actually if there were English subititles you'd think roxfan wouldn't have had to go through the trouble of translating it :p

It's definitely a worthy buy though, and I'm so glad I got it (though ahem it was my brother who paid for it >_> <_<). Whereas if it was Byousoku 5cm I don't think I'd have gotten the DVD unless I had a gift voucher or oodles of money lying around...

Anime movies in general are so much easier to get than series though, it's just a one-time purchase and it's obviously so much cheaper...

waffo

2007-05-13, 20:47

@waffo: Garten from Memento has a present for you - http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/okuhanako_garnet.html ;)

Actually, that is the main theme of the movie. The song I'm talking about plays from before and during her last jump. I guess there's part of the lyrics in the movie but not all... ;_;

kira-sama

2007-05-14, 02:33

do you mean
hanako oku-kawaranai mono???

waffo

2007-05-15, 17:10

Yeah. Are there lyrics anywhere?

Soshen

2007-05-15, 19:06

Italian version have lyrics

kira-sama

2007-05-16, 01:14

Yeah. Are there lyrics anywhere?

sorry i have already searched it but i don't find it

gaguri

2007-05-16, 09:01

A great movie.

If I had to sum it up in one sentence, a charming and heart-warming story of a girl who learns to run forward to her true feelings with honesty, without fearing uncertainties. I found it ironic that she was more confused about her feelings when she had ability to time leap and afraid of making wrong choices. She becomes obsessed with her desire of creating the most ideal and effective outcomes, such as trying to maintain friendship with Chiaki and matching Kousuke with a girl. Blinded by this obsession, she forgets herself. She forgets feelings of her and others. Only after nearly losing Kousuke and Chiaki she learns to learn to act in a way that is honest with her feelings. This might not produce an ideal situation in her mind, but accepting that there doesn't really exist a perfect situation anyway, she is content with the fact that it is at least a right way. She only needs to run forward in that feelings of hers, and the scene where she huffs and puffs endlessly in my opinion, highlights her development as a character.

The story however is a mixed bag. The movie did use the time leap element in a story to effectively develop Makoto's character, which I am touched by. Yet there are some plot holes the movie forgot to fill in properly, which greatly hurt the impact the very last scene had on me. Just some of my unanswered questions are,

-how did Chiaki freeze the time relative to himself and Makoto only? Well, this is not really my concern, because of this time freeze I enjoyed some really beautiful images of birds, water, things in motion still in life. I also enjoyed the heavy-hearted atmosphere between Chiaki and Makoto as a result, which served greatly as a part of character development, helped by soft diminishing piano playing in background.

-Where did Chiaki disappear to? He can't return to future, so he simply vanished by violating this rule? He explains that it's because of letting Makoto learn time leap, so why didn't he vanish the moment Makoto touch the nut? Maybe he vanishes sometime after he becomes aware of the fact that someone is using time leap, which would explain how he had to return to the future soon after Makoto told him everything at the very end. Still something that feels bit forced to me.

-My biggest problem is, Chiaki saying 'I'll be waiting for you in the future' to Makoto. I can't for the life of me, accept the notion that there is the slightest chance of Makoto seeing Chiaki in the future. Assuming Makoto is unable to use any time leap, and there won't be any time leap abilities for a long time to come, just how is Chiaki planning to see Makoto again. Wait for Makoto to be 80 years old when he's in a high school? Obvious answer is, having Chiaki charge his time leap and come back to Makoto's time again. This makes everything messy for me, because there's not much consequence in time leaps. You spam charge, refill them in the future, and spam them again. Not to mention the fact that if Chiaki chooses to return, Makoto will already be aware of time leap, so wouldn't he vanish as someone who violated the rule, or coming back and forth in time nullifies that rule?

Obviously the movie's focus was on slice-of-life aspect and developing Makoto as a character. To maintain that slice-of-life aspect, I understand that they avoided going into too much details of time leaping, which I think was wise. However, good writing in my opinion doesn't leave essential parts unexplained. It should be subtle and give us hints, and make us imagine future outcomes. In this case, lot of plot elements are unexplained and seems to me, they are forced as a means to develop Makoto as a character (which they did very well). As a result, that makes me question whether some key scenes really were meaningful, therefore taking away some of the values I had for the characters and the themes they displayed.

Overall, a great movie with one of the more memorable heroine in anime. Some problems with some plots being forced but that's because I'm a bit hard to please. If I had to give it a rating, it'd be 8 out of 10 (or somewhere between B+ and A-).

roxfan

2007-05-16, 12:40

You should rewatch it more carefully :)
Regarding frozen time, my guess is that the device is capable of more than simple leaps and Chiaki knows how to use those features unlike Makoto, who only learned it by trial and error. Or maybe the time stop didn't affect Makoto because she had been in contact with the device.
And Chiaki can return to the future. Makoto went back to before he used up his last charge for saving Kousuke, so he still has that charge.
As for his last words, read the last few pages, there've been a few theories proposed. Some of them could even be right :)

MrProphet

2007-05-16, 13:08

Samatarou

2007-05-16, 16:10

-how did Chiaki freeze the time relative to himself and Makoto only? Well, this is not really my concern, because of this time freeze I enjoyed some really beautiful images of birds, water, things in motion still in life.
As Roxfan said, it may be that he knows how to use the time manipulation ability properly, e.g. he may have jumped to some timeless limbo between the two timelines. But it could also just be an artistic device to give a stupendous backdrop to his revelations. In terms of the plot, it wouldn't really make any difference whether time is frozen or continued normally whilst they talked, so my own feeling is that it's just creative licence to make the film more beautiful.

-Where did Chiaki disappear to? He can't return to future, so he simply vanished by violating this rule? He explains that it's because of letting Makoto learn time leap
I take it you mean when he disappears at the end of the time freeze. I think the reason he is leaving is that if people find out about the time leaping, he will end up being interrogated about the future and time travel and he must at all costs avoid such a thing which might have untold consequences. My assumption was that he was simply going to disappear in the regular manner - leave the country perhaps. It seemed he felt the risk of being caught too great even to wait one day to see the painting in case someone might already have cottoned on to who he was. It is a bit of a weak point though, since by disappearing he naturally draws attention to himself, and unless he plans to kill himself might actually make him more likely to be identified and hunted down.

-My biggest problem is, Chiaki saying 'I'll be waiting for you in the future' to Makoto.
As per the previous discussions, this part of the conversation is probably just a metaphor for how they feel about each other. It's probably easier to talk like that on parting than to say "well, this is it, we'll never meet again"

good writing in my opinion doesn't leave essential parts unexplained. It should be subtle and give us hints, and make us imagine future outcomes.
It's certainly not perfect from a logical point of view, but I think it's ok for a story to be evocative and not ulitimately make total sense. Lots of movies get away with huge plot holes, or characters defying the laws of physics in otherwise realistic stories. If there were to be a sequel, then the less than fully worked out story might be a problem, but I doubt there will be one, it feels like a one off. I think the story makes emotional sense even though aspects of it defy rationality.

gaguri

2007-05-16, 19:49

You should rewatch it more carefully

I know you mean no offence, but after carefully reading what has been said here, I still conclude that I've watched as carefully as anyone here, if not more careful than your average viewer. What I've mentioned in my first post still stands.

And Chiaki can return to the future. Makoto went back to before he used up his last charge for saving Kousuke, so he still has that charge.

I know that, I think you have misinterpreted me. I was talking about Chiaki who used up all his charge to save Makoto, Chiaki even says himself that he couldn't return to the future because of that. But at least with this I hope we now both know that we both know :)

As for his last words, read the last few pages, there've been a few theories proposed. Some of them could even be right
Basically what they've said is what I've said; that the chance is very slim if not impossible. And someone mentioned this,
However, the movie could have ended perfectly fine without Chiaki's last line and probably been better off for it.
and I think that is what I believe too. It could've ended perfectly with Makoto content with having enjoyed friendship with Chiaki and move on. Time waits for no one. It's another sign that she has developed as a character. To me, like the person I'm quoting have said, it is more of a girl coming to develop a new philosophy on living her life to the fullest than a love story. To end the movie like that with what I consider to be a delusional nonsense just to make it 'bittersweet', is another sign of weak writing. I can see lots of possibilities to make it feel bittersweet even without resorting to such an ending.

As per the previous discussions, this part of the conversation is probably just a metaphor for how they feel about each other. It's probably easier to talk like that on parting than to say "well, this is it, we'll never meet again"

I feel that their feelings are communicated even without such a metaphor. In other words, unnecessary except making majority of viewers feel good about the possibility of them meeting together. Which I think is slim, therefore stupid way to end. I don't necessary mean that they have end it in 'well that's it, cya later dude' way. There are always other ways and I believe with a team creative enough to produce such a great film, I am disappointed that they could not do better.

It's certainly not perfect from a logical point of view, but I think it's ok for a story to be evocative and not ulitimately make total sense.
That's why it didn't matter much, until the very ending. 'See you in the future' just didn't make too much sense to me. And reason for that is, haha, you can read it above...

wao

2007-05-17, 00:55

I've forsaken this thread for the longest time and didn't really read through it (sorry!), so this is mostly a reply to wao's comment somewhere in the beginning where she's commenting on Tokikake being last year's best film.

Personally, I can't decide whether this or Paprika is last year's best film. Certainly both are superior to Miyazaki's amateurish, though honest, creation, but there are certain qualities to Kon's work that appealed to me more that Hosoda's.

Since they are both based on Tsutsui's short stories, I felt like this was a valid comparison.

I felt like Tokikake was more human and coherent, while Paprika was more creative, better storyboarded, with better score and coloring. Certainly, Kon has a lot more experience and (forgive me, Hosoda fans) more talent in these things, but Hosoda's film also felt childishly fresh and happy. This is the same exact emotion I got from Goro's Earthsea movie plus the actual knowhow of how to make good stories (which Earthsea lacked).

I know I'm rambling here a bit, but Tokikake really felt like a newcomer's work, albeit a really-really talented one's with a great support team. A newcomer who isn't really burdened by conventions. With Kon's "Paprika" it was all about conventions. Kon was being Kon with a heavy dose of Cronenberg and Lynch. Tokikake felt like nothing else, it felt like a fresh take on how anime characters should behave, what their sensibilities and reactions should be.

So yeah, in my opinion, Paprika was a better produced and scripted movie when you put them toe to toe, but Tokikake was one of the best big debuts I've seen in a long-long while. And, anyway, anytime you seriously compare a relative unknown (Mamoru Hosoda) to an absolute grandmaster (Satoshi Kon), I feel like this is a compliment to the former. 8)

I still haven't watched Paprika (oh blasphemy), but I think one additional thing might be how Kon is experienced with working with Madhouse - IIRC this is Hosoda's first film at Madhouse (all this while he's been mostly a Toei person). And also, this isn't exactly based so much on Tsutsui's work since it's more like a continuation of his story (as I read elsewhere, a professional fanfic perhaps?). I think in Paprika's case it was an actual adaptation of the novel, wasn't it?

I guess that might have definitely factored into the amount of money and production support given to the film; after all Paprika's prelicensed and Kon is known even overseas but - if I am not mistaken - you tell some snobby anime critic "Hosoda" and chances are he'd go "What?" or "Oh, a One Piece movie director?" and brush him off...

I remember there was a lot of PR done by WEB Anime Style (http://www.style.fm/) (setup an RSS feed, please!) as well as its editor Yuichiro Oguro (http://animesama.cocolog-nifty.com/) when the movie first came out. I might be mistaken here but I think it was so much to the point that he sounded annoying to some people :heh: The parent company even published the storyboard for TokiKake (and now one of Hosoda's other well-remembered films, Digimon Adventure (Bokura no War Game) (http://style.fm/digimon/) as well as episode 21 of the TV show).

This has been mentioned here before, but has anyone (other than roxfan and whoever else) watched that episode 40 of Ojamajo Doremi Dokka~n which was directed by Hosoda? I rewatched it not so long ago, and some of the visual similarities to TokiKake are interesting to watch, but it's an excellent episode in itself (I would never have thought a sparkly pink mahou shoujo show was capable of having such an episode).
I wonder if anyone has a good clean file of it because I might be interested in subtitling it so I can share it with more people... >_>

manuloz

2007-05-17, 01:38

Yeah his episode on Doremi was a great one. He made two of them but the second was not as good at the first which he made after droping from Hawl's Moving Castle.
That might be the place where he worked for the first time with Kubota and Sushio, those two Gainax animators he worked later on One Piece and then Tokikake (only Kubota this time)...

I had taken sreenshots of the episode at the time i first saw it :

http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_00.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_01.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_02.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_03.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_04.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_05.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_06.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_07.jpg
http://manuloz.free.fr/Images/forum/doremi_08.jpg

On that new artbook with the digimon storyboard, there might be the one from the first movie as well
http://style.fm/digimon/sakuhin3.html#head

you can see some layouts for episode 21 on Tokikake Blog
http://www.kadokawa.co.jp/blog/tokikake/2007/05/post_221.php#more

DKL

2007-05-17, 01:53

Given that... this is the only real place that seems to be talking about the movie... I thougt that it'd be cool to register and toss my two cents in... specifically about the ending:

I thought that the last line "I'll be waiting for you in the future" was a neat contrast to the major saying in the movie "Time waits for no one."

Like... you know... time won't wait for either of the characters, but Makoto will at least know that someone will be waiting for her in the future, even if she never gets there

(but I thought it was cool that she said that she'd come running though, as it ties in to what she and Auntie Witch talked about earlier)

Also, Chiaki and Makoto can't be together, but it at least gives you hope when he says that... and that feeling of hope is probably the focal point of the scene *that and I remember somebody in the audience squeeing after he said the line*, as unrealistic as it may be (but then, time-leaping is kinda out there too).

That said, it was pretty neat that he came back after screwing around (telling Makoto that he's worried about her)... it was essentially a nice summation of Mamoru Hosoda's quirky style.

Though, considering that Chiaki did what he did, I thought that "I'll be waiting for you in the future" made for a cooler line than a simple "I love you."

But yeah... youth is all about hope, you know?

...

I wish I was young again...

============

So yes... I'm DKL and... uhh... I'm new to the fansub thing, I guess.

I hope to get along with everyone.

Mez

2007-05-17, 08:42

However, good writing in my opinion doesn't leave essential parts unexplained. It should be subtle and give us hints, and make us imagine future outcomes.

Actually that's exactly what the movie did, it was subtle and gave us hints, and to an extent let us imagine future outcomes.(however unlikely, yet not impossible)

Basically what they've said is what I've said; that the chance is very slim if not impossible. And someone mentioned this,

and I think that is what I believe too. It could've ended perfectly with Makoto content with having enjoyed friendship with Chiaki and move on. Time waits for no one. It's another sign that she has developed as a character. To me, like the person I'm quoting have said, it is more of a girl coming to develop a new philosophy on living her life to the fullest than a love story. To end the movie like that with what I consider to be a delusional nonsense just to make it 'bittersweet', is another sign of weak writing. I can see lots of possibilities to make it feel bittersweet even without resorting to such an ending.

I feel that their feelings are communicated even without such a metaphor. In other words, unnecessary except making majority of viewers feel good about the possibility of them meeting together. Which I think is slim, therefore stupid way to end. I don't necessary mean that they have end it in 'well that's it, cya later dude' way. There are always other ways and I believe with a team creative enough to produce such a great film, I am disappointed that they could not do better.

Would she have been able to "move on" without him expressing his feelings at the end? She was very upset at the end and it would look very unnatural to cut to the next scene where she was all happy and content. There would have been no closure, Makoto was left upset, obviously their feelings weren't communicated, else why would she have been balling her eyes out? That entire scene was her anticipating him expressing his feelings, this was very obvious, when he did so she was finally content and able to move on.

Personally I think you're just intrepreting it wrongly. You're one of the people who are intrepreting the words literally, yet you ask the film to be subtle and give you hints? It was plenty subtle, the build up, Makoto's character, her reaction, the scene after that, the lyrics to the ending song, the overall theme of the film, all give us "subtle" hints on how to intrepret the ending. I muchly preferred the ending given, over it being left empty(nothing being said), or spoon fed(everything explained).

Maybe they picked the wrong words for him to use at the end, as it has left some people rather confused and very focused on what he meant with the words themselves as opposed to what the words expressed.

7Th

2007-05-17, 09:01

I've forsaken this thread for the longest time and didn't really read through it (sorry!), so this is mostly a reply to wao's comment somewhere in the beginning where she's commenting on Tokikake being last year's best film.

Personally, I can't decide whether this or Paprika is last year's best film. Certainly both are superior to Miyazaki's amateurish, though honest, creation, but there are certain qualities to Kon's work that appealed to me more that Hosoda's.

Since they are both based on Tsutsui's short stories, I felt like this was a valid comparison.

I felt like Tokikake was more human and coherent, while Paprika was more creative, better storyboarded, with better score and coloring. Certainly, Kon has a lot more experience and (forgive me, Hosoda fans) more talent in these things, but Hosoda's film also felt childishly fresh and happy. This is the same exact emotion I got from Goro's Earthsea movie plus the actual knowhow of how to make good stories (which Earthsea lacked).

I know I'm rambling here a bit, but Tokikake really felt like a newcomer's work, albeit a really-really talented one's with a great support team. A newcomer who isn't really burdened by conventions. With Kon's "Paprika" it was all about conventions. Kon was being Kon with a heavy dose of Cronenberg and Lynch. Tokikake felt like nothing else, it felt like a fresh take on how anime characters should behave, what their sensibilities and reactions should be.

So yeah, in my opinion, Paprika was a better produced and scripted movie when you put them toe to toe, but Tokikake was one of the best big debuts I've seen in a long-long while. And, anyway, anytime you seriously compare a relative unknown (Mamoru Hosoda) to an absolute grandmaster (Satoshi Kon), I feel like this is a compliment to the former. 8)

Maybe it was more polished, but the animation and movement in TokiKake was ultimately more satisfying than everything in Paprika, something that while a visually good film wasn't on the same ground when talking about the depiction of motion as Hosoda's new project. And I wouldn't really adjudicate the "childish juvenile" feeling of TokiKake to Hosoda's inexperience but rather to that being his unique style: a very stylish, honest and humane representation of youth, something also seen in his Digimon and One Piece movies.

This has been mentioned here before, but has anyone (other than roxfan and whoever else) watched that episode 40 of Ojamajo Doremi Dokka~n which was directed by Hosoda? I rewatched it not so long ago, and some of the visual similarities to TokiKake are interesting to watch, but it's an excellent episode in itself (I would never have thought a sparkly pink mahou shoujo show was capable of having such an episode).
I wonder if anyone has a good clean file of it because I might be interested in subtitling it so I can share it with more people... >_>

He also did a Nadja episode, the one in which the main character discovers Keith and Francis are two different persons, which was adapted from a manga from the same particular mangaka as Doremi. It also stands out quite a bit, although Hosoda is more-in-line with Nadja's style than Doremi's.

Edit: It was episode 26, go and look for it as its amazingly good. He also did 5 and 12 but 26 is the pinnacle of the series.

MrProphet

2007-05-17, 09:48

7Th

2007-05-17, 10:02

Since we are still on Paprika vs. Tokikake.

Hosoda's film certainly more than achieved the cinematic level of performance, but compared to Paprika, I simply do not remember any animated scene in Tokikake of particular complexity. Just a very high, mature, level of animation that suited the film's needs.

This is not something that I judge Tokikake on, mind you, because Tokikake succeeded in being as complex or as simplistic as in could be from the point of view of achieving its stated goals. It was as it was. Just because Satoshi Kon had more complex animation does not make Paprika better. But it does make the approach to sakuga in Paprika somewhat different from Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo, which is the idea I was trying to express.

Saying that you like one style over another, simplicity over complexity, natural over surreal, is just that, a statement of opinion.

I agree that pretty much every single statement on the satisfactory qualities of any artisitc medium we give about pretty much every single thing is only a representation of our own opinion... be it the quality of an storyboard or even the polish behind a production, specially talking in the terms we're using in this particular conversation. I think I expected Paprika to took a more "looser" approach to the Dream World integration and would give the animators more freedom and less necessity for keeping a "design" in sake of depicting feelings or motions, somewhat like what IG did with the Innocence climax.

gaguri

2007-05-17, 10:23

Actually that's exactly what the movie did, it was subtle and gave us hints, and to an extent let us imagine future outcomes.(however unlikely, yet not impossible)
To some extent yes, to some extent no. If you can't see where I'm coming from after my two posts, I'm afraid we'll never get to see each other's way. And I've tried at least to back up with examples yet I don't see yours. Examples help a lot.

Would she have been able to "move on" without him expressing his feelings at the end? She was very upset at the end and it would look very unnatural to cut to the next scene where she was all happy and content. There would have been no closure, Makoto was left upset, obviously their feelings weren't communicated, else why would she have been balling her eyes out? That entire scene was her anticipating him expressing his feelings, this was very obvious, when he did so she was finally content and able to move on.
I don't see why she wouldn't be able to move on without him saying 'I'll be waiting for you at the future'.

In fact, I'd go far as to argue that she accepted the fact that she wasn't going to see him again after she confessed everything to him, so she would've moved whether he expressed his feelings or not. If she didn't, that would mean she hasn't grown much as a character. If you look at what I've written before, that's actually a sign of her accepting things in life as it is but still running forward in one direction without being uncertain in what she really wants.

I've said this before many times and hopefully you will this time, but people are saying that the last line is necessary because without it, there would be no closure. To me, something stupid like 'I really enjoyed riding bike with you' or 'I'm going to miss playing catch' highlights his feelings more in a subtle way than what I consider as a forced, cliche and nonsense of 'I'll be waiting in the future'.

Personally I think you're just intrepreting it wrongly. You're one of the people who are intrepreting the words literally, yet you ask the film to be subtle and give you hints? It was plenty subtle, the build up, Makoto's character, her reaction, the scene after that, the lyrics to the ending song, the overall theme of the film, all give us "subtle" hints on how to intrepret the ending. I muchly preferred the ending given, over it being left empty(nothing being said), or spoon fed(everything explained).
Personally I think you need to accept that interpretations of a film is influenced so strongly by different background, different beliefs and different views on the world so naturally there are going to be different interpretations made by different people, and there is no really wrong or right one, only what is suitable to different people.

Things that I was quoting were meant to be literal and certainly not metaphorical (except for the ending, which I agree can be argued as being metaphorical although that is not how I view it). I might be mistaken about this so if you're so kind to quote me on that Mez, on how I was talking so literally without recognising the subtelty I would be grateful.
As for the ending, subtelty doesn't arise from falsehood. Like you've said, maybe they picked up the wrong words to use. This might sound like a strange idea to you, but dialogue is a very important element even in an audio-visual media such as anime, and few words can mean sometimes, everything. I know I'm stressing too much things on that, but I was really getting feel for her developing after she did her last leap, and the fact that the movie failed to deliver that last impact to me at the end is undeniable. It did good for others, great. I've tried explaining why it didn't for me for god knows how many words, and I still have people trying to lecture me on how I must be wrong because *gasp* I don't see it the same way as they do.

Mez

2007-05-17, 10:47

Things that I was quoting were meant to be literal and certainly not metaphorical (except for the ending, which I agree can be argued as being metaphorical although that is not how I view it). I might be mistaken about this so if you're so kind to quote me on that Mez, on how I was talking so literally without recognising the subtelty I would be grateful.

Yes, what I meant by that was the ending line, which as you've stated previously, strongly effected the way you viewed the ending, you took the words "I'll be waiting for you in the future" literally.
I just thought there were enough subtle(and not so subtle) hints to point the way of intrepreting it to how me and a fair few others have(examples are mentioned in previous posts).

gaguri

2007-05-17, 11:09

If that's how people see it that is fine by me, I'm puzzled why you insisted before that it must be read that way. And yes, I'm going to take something like that literally because there exists far better ways to tell the same thing without sounding that ridiculous, as mentioned before.

Quajafrie

2007-05-18, 04:05

Just watched Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo and I thought it was so much better than Paprika. Paprika felt unimaginative to my eyes, seemed too normal for a Kon movie. Well, I don't really like Satoshi Kon in general, but still, I thought Paprika was not in par with other of his movies. Everything, even the animation AND the music score, seemed so bland... But Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo... That was a real surprise, actually. I loved it to pieces. It had flaws, but it had that whole air of freshness and creativeness... There was movement everywhere, I loved the music score, and it was interesting throughout the whole movie, even if the second half of the movie was kind of weird/melodramatic and I think I'll agree with gaguri, because the ending was not what I expected (but I thought it was decent nonetheless) Still, Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo was really entertaining and I consider it as one of the best anime movies I've ever seen.

charizardpal

2007-05-18, 15:55

I watched it. Gotta say that the logic in the ending was flawed.
*spoiler*

I mean, if you noticed he used his jump she got a jump back. Then when she used it he got one back. Why couldn't he have used his jump then to go backa little farther and get 10+ jumps back from that nut? (I suppose then she wouldn't remember any of it though...)

PS: Looking over this page and my post, don't take the anime/movie too seriously! It's just an entertaining way to pass two hours but you guys are talking about 'deeper stuff' while as you can see in my post, the characters did not act rationally!

aorta

2007-05-18, 17:15

MrProphet

2007-05-18, 19:41

No, I agree that we shouldn't take it too seriously. For one thing, the time travel isn't really supposed to make sense, since the script completely ignores the past versions of Makoto and Chiaki as they traverse time.

Of course, this way it's simpler, since it avoids the grandfather paradox, but it also makes all these discussions about time travel and inconsistencies rather irrelevant. The inconsistency is a feature, not a bug. 8)

As Freddie sang, "It's a kind of magic".

Samatarou

2007-05-19, 14:57

A bit OT, but people have mentioned Paprika on this thread, I've seen a torrent for this but it's described as "Screener quality, not final DVD." Does this mean some ropey cinema-screen video'd bootleg or is it of decent quality? I'm just wondering whether it's worth getting.

MrProphet

2007-05-19, 19:51

A screener looks like crap, but it's better than just a recording from a camcorder. It's like an extremely degraded Hong Kong dvd.

A proper Paprika DVD comes out in just 4 days, so I would advise waiting for that.

BBOvenGuy

2007-05-20, 13:35

the time travel isn't really supposed to make sense, since the script completely ignores the past versions of Makoto and Chiaki as they traverse time.

In the live-action movie from the 80s, it's established as one of the rules of time travel for this universe that your "previous" self disappears. The explanation given is that "you can't be in two places at once."

There are places in the anime movie where a character asks Makoto, "Where did you go?" or "Did you forget you were supposed to do this?" or something, implying that her "previous" self did in fact disappear, but it's not stated explicitly the way it was in the live-action movie.

MrProphet

2007-05-20, 15:00

In the live-action movie from the 80s, it's established as one of the rules of time travel for this universe that your "previous" self disappears. The explanation given is that "you can't be in two places at once."

That doesn't make a lot of sense either. If the past self disappears when the present self leaps, then how does the present self leap in the first place? The present self should no longer be there.

This is a classic grandfather paradox (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_paradox).

BBOvenGuy

2007-05-20, 16:10

I didn't say it made sense. I just said that was the rule they established. :eyespin:

Quajafrie

2007-05-21, 06:25

Well, I liked the simplicity of time-traveling in this movie. It's better than having a hundred "rules" to explain the unexplainable.

PS. It feels nice to be one of the first people in this forum who watched Paprika. :p

Pakxenon

2007-05-24, 01:58

I just watched this movie, and it was breathtaking and awesome. A solid 8.5/10 from me.

To answer the TT questions: she "rolls in" at nearly the exact spot she was at that time she wanted to travel. 'Cept for that scene that involved her TTing all over the school to get to Kousuke and his admirer... In any case, there is only one of her, and I had to come to accept that fact on the second/third jump. No paradox or any of that confusing stuff please.

Asking a question: How did Makoto get that one last leap? She said something about Chiaki after he left, but how is that possible when it had read 00 the minute before?

gaguri

2007-05-24, 07:13

To answer Pakxenon's question,

This is the chronological event as I understand. When Makoto's charge ran out, she couldn't stop the train accident that caused death of her friends. Now, Chiaki couldn't stand watching Makoto crying so he used his last charge to go back in time (and freezing that time for a reason unexplained), so that he could steal the bike from Kousuke to prevent the accident. By doing this, Chiaki went back into a time frame where Makoto hasn't used her last charge yet.

So Makoto discovered the bug in this game of time travel and decided to abuse it by going back into a time frame where Chiaki hasn't used his last charge yet. What a hax :3

Cal-Reflector

2007-05-26, 01:43

I suppose I didn't give this movie as much credit as it deserved, for never have I been so diligent and punctual in working on a fanfic as I have done for Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo these past five days. The story takes the form of ten chronologically ordered vignettes which catalogue life for the characters remaining in the present after the conclusion of the movie. I've posted the first five; take a look if you're interested. When I'm finished, I hope to write an epilogue where generations after Kousuke and Makoto are gone, a message by courier (Swiss Bank? Or any other institution likely to endure the passage of time) finds its way to Chiaki from the two. It would go against my view on time-travel (one present branching out into multiple futures each independent of one another, thus no "backtracking"), but hey, it makes for better story.

Fandom: Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo
Setting: A few years after the movie
Rating: PG-13
Length: 2500 words (So far)
Characters: Tusda Kousuke, Konno Makoto, Others (thus far).
Title: Letters to the Future

http://cal-reflector.livejournal.com/83219.html

kigakuruta

2007-05-27, 13:16

I've been waiting for this show for the longest time, and the wait's been totally worth it. I really really enjoyed it, and it gave me that magical feel that few animes pull off successfully.

Still, after I watched it again right after the first time I watched it, and I have to ask:

>> :confused: Right before the scene where Makoto gets her charge for the first time, she hears someone in the lab - Was it Chiaki? (Since he's supposedly the one who was there at that time) And when she slips and falls, was it his reflection that she saw? If so, what on earth was he doing there? <<

My own theory about the painting is that it probably has a really big effect on the future, and Aunt Witch knows so much about it is because the boy she knew from the future was on the same mission as Chiaki to salvage it somehow. The Aunt manages to restore it, but it gets burned up somehow, which is why it is now Makoto's turn to take care of it.

Eh. As for the "I'll be waiting for you in the future." line.... ... Before I starting reading everyone's views on it, I just naturally assumed that Chiaki meant that he would be meeting her again in the future. Not HIS future, but HERS. ... Is it not possible to think it that way? After all, he just said "Mirai de matte". It could have meant any point of time in the future.

Haha. Or maybe that's just my optimistic side talking.

wao

2007-05-28, 02:39

I just wanted to mention when I was out last Wednesday I saw a poster for this in one of the shopping malls in Singapore :D

http://s01.imagehost.org/0774/tokikake_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0774/tokikake.jpg)

I did a little dance and flipped when I saw this! It's been a dream of mine to have Tokikake screen here, and even if it's a whole year later I'm really glad to be able to see it. Don't care if Earthsea still hasn't come here, I'm going to go watch this again even if I should be studying :D

I think it'll be having Chinese subtitles as well, so that'll make it easier for me to persuade some people to check ito ut... though I don't know what's with the lame English caption on it - you can't see it, but it says "She's 17! All that is lost can be found again!" Sounds like some blurb I'd expect to see on a pirated disc or something. Not surprising I guess, in that aspect...

In case you're wondering the Chinese title for it appears to be 跳跃吧！时空少女 (Leap! Timespace Girl - well, something along those lines, my Chinese is atrocious).

KonW

2007-05-28, 02:50

Anyone thinks the same way as i do that the woman gave Makoto advice is actually from future like Chiaki?

wao

2007-05-28, 03:51

She's had a friend who time leaped before. Actually she's the protagonist of the original novel that this is based on which IIRC was set in the 70s or so (I think?). She has the same name and was designated to be that person, I believe. The voice actress is also the same as the actress who acted in teh J-drama adaptation of the original book...

So she would know what Makoto is feeling.

kigakuruta

2007-05-28, 12:10

I just wanted to mention when I was out last Wednesday I saw a poster for this in one of the shopping malls in Singapore :D

http://s01.imagehost.org/0774/tokikake_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0774/tokikake.jpg)

I did a little dance and flipped when I saw this! It's been a dream of mine to have Tokikake screen here, and even if it's a whole year later I'm really glad to be able to see it. Don't care if Earthsea still hasn't come here, I'm going to go watch this again even if I should be studying :D

Aw sweet! At Cineleisure right? I'm so gonna go there and take a pic in front of it lol.

I was a bit doubtful at first of SG actually screening Tokikake, especially since they were scheduled to be screen "Check it Out Yo!" earlier this month, but it never did come out. ( Was extremely disappointed )

But it's really glad that Tokikake's coming out for real! LOL. I think I'll be watching Tokikake and NANA2 on the same day ;D

Samatarou

2007-05-28, 15:58

Still, after I watched it again right after the first time I watched it, and I have to ask:
>> :confused: Right before the scene where Makoto gets her charge for the first time, she hears someone in the lab - Was it Chiaki? (Since he's supposedly the one who was there at that time) And when she slips and falls, was it his reflection that she saw? If so, what on earth was he doing there? <<
It is him - if you freezeframe the scene you can identify him by his sihouette as he darts along behind the lab bench, and immediately after that he's actually standing behind the falling books looking down at her, you have to play it frame by frame to see him in the gloom.

However this only introduces more questions as to why he doesn't know at first about her getting the ability to time travel. All I can think of is that the charge up sequence occupied zero time so from his point of view she simply fell over, and also he failed to spot the walnut thing her elbow hit.

As to what he was doing there, I presumed he was looking for the walnut thing. My own assumption was that the initial bang was him time leaping into the lab to look for it. But another possibility is that this is the point in the story when he originally lost the device.

zrdb

2007-05-28, 21:41

When I first heard of this movie about 8 months ago I was really looking foreward to watching it-now that i have I wasn't dissappointed-totally excellent-the va for Motoko was outstanding. To bad I can't say the same for the live action version-it was average at best.

wao

2007-05-29, 00:24

Aw sweet! At Cineleisure right? I'm so gonna go there and take a pic in front of it lol.

I was a bit doubtful at first of SG actually screening Tokikake, especially since they were scheduled to be screen "Check it Out Yo!" earlier this month, but it never did come out. ( Was extremely disappointed )

But it's really glad that Tokikake's coming out for real! LOL. I think I'll be watching Tokikake and NANA2 on the same day ;D

Yeah, Cineleisure. Careful about taking photographs though, there's security guards everywhere and you're technically not allowed to take photos inside the mall IIRC! Especially of the movie posters, apparently.

There's a link on the Cathay website (I pasted it here before but am too lazy to go look for it) saying it's coming out around June 12 or so, and what with the poster, it must definitely be coming out.

I hope they do a decent job with the subtitles though...

wao

2007-06-18, 22:31

Oh fantastic, I was wondering why I couldn't seem to see any openings for TokiKake in the cinemas until I saw that they placed an ad in today's papers!

http://s01.imagehost.org/0777/tokikake_001_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0777/tokikake_001.jpg)

WOOT, it's anime in the papers. And TokiKake at that.

Now I'm going to curse that I don't have a ZapCode compatible phone because now I can't get that limited edition TokiKake watch! Arrgh. My current watch is cool but breaking into pieces...

21st June huh. Guh.

Ottocycle

2007-06-19, 03:21

superzombie23

2007-06-19, 05:45

I thought this movie definitely was worth the watch, and it didn't feel like a waste of time. (Time waits for no one :heh:) I would have to give this movie like a 9/10 because I felt there was one flaw in the story. The flaw is that whenever Makoto leaps, she leaves a dimension where the people were going "WTF, where did you go?" So... the people in that/those dimensions (time frames) she leaped away from are going WTF the whole movie while Makoto enjoys herself in the dimension she leaped too... thats one big flaw if you ask me.

tritoch

2007-06-22, 13:00

superzombie: you could also say that Makoto left everyone on the dust whenever she slips and those events are overlapped by the new events when Makoto redo the particular time frame.

err.. A good question if it was never asked before.. Whats the title of the insert song? The song that was playing as Makoto charges up to do the extra slip. I LOVED that song more than the ED. Granted, I don't have the full song for Garnet too >,>

Mueti

2007-06-22, 15:40

Meh, something's wrong with the search-function, it didn't show me this thread when I was looking for it. :p

Anyway, I watched the movie last weekend and found it godly. It's really pure awesomeness, I didn't imagine it to be possible to portray characters so well in such an original and yet somehow "real" story in just one and a half hour. I really liked how the time-travelling itself wasn't the main focus but rather a means to an end.
"It made me think" isn't just a cliché-line here, this is one of the rare works of art where it actually applies for me. Fantastic.

BBOvenGuy

2007-06-22, 17:41

A good question if it was never asked before.. Whats the title of the insert song? The song that was playing as Makoto charges up to do the extra slip. I LOVED that song more than the ED. Granted, I don't have the full song for Garnet too >,>

It's called "Kawara nai Mono," and it's on the CD single with Garnet. Rules prevent me from telling you where to find it, but if you know your way around the net, you shouldn't have much trouble.

tritoch

2007-06-22, 18:39

Oh thanks, I thought it was with the OST but apparently its with the single.. I know where to look. I live on the internet like you too :D

Wosho128

2007-06-22, 18:47

9.9/10

It was an excellent movie; everything that I was going to say has been commented on already. However, I'd like to point out that Makoto's aunt is ten kinds of awesome. Her demeanor, logic and working environment were awe-inspiring. I almost wish she got more screen time. She has a good understanding of life and she obviously doesn't take things at face value.

G. Zeus

2007-06-23, 13:37

Just finished watching the movie and scanning through 8 pages worth of everybody's 2 cents, the latter taking up more time than the former.:heh:

For the Tokikake vs. Paprika issue, I think it's like comparing a painting and a novel. One's fancier in terms of visuals while the other does a better job in delivering a story. Awards and nominations aside, it's up to personal preferences when it comes to deciding which is actually "superior" to the other.

I thought that the last line "I'll be waiting for you in the future" was a neat contrast to the major saying in the movie "Time waits for no one."

Like... you know... time won't wait for either of the characters, but Makoto will at least know that someone will be waiting for her in the future, even if she never gets there
Like some people who posted earlier, I interpret Chiaki's last line as a symbolic affirmation of his feelings for Makoto. He knows that they'll never meet again but he will keep on loving her nonetheless. They are star-crossed lovers and the line signifies his defiance against fate, similar to Romeo's "Then I defy you, stars" in Romeo and Juliet and Mikako&Noboru's "I am here" in Hoshi no Koe (Voices of a Distant Star).

Makoto: Also... If you want to use my bike, it'll be 5000 yen.
Kousuke: Haa?
Makoto: Got it? Five thousand!
Kousuke: Hey, what do you mean!?
Makoto: Say "Let's play baseball together", you hear me? And also... Thanks for waiting for me!

[SIDENOTE:]
Am I the only one reminded of the 1980 movie Somewhere in Time? Y'know, with pre-paralysis Christopher Reeve?

wao

2007-06-23, 19:48

Cool, thanks for the heads up.

It doesn't seem to be shafted to the side too, its given quite a lot of screentimes when I checked the online booking schedules for opening day and thereafter.

But only for Cineleisure though. The rest (including The Cathay) won't be screening it. Big meh there.

AFAIK yesterday and today (well I know for today because I've got the papers with me) they had it not just in Cine, but in Causeway Point and Cathay. Quite a number of screening times too.

Screw the fact that school (+ exams) start tomorrow, I turned 18 today so I'm going to go watch TokiKake at the cinemas! ...2:55 at Cine, in fact. Even though someone bought me the R2 DVD. Will talk about how it was when I come back from it later :o

Ottocycle

2007-06-23, 23:17

For the Tokikake vs. Paprika issue, I think it's like comparing a painting and a novel. One's fancier in terms of visuals while the other does a better job in delivering a story. Awards and nominations aside, it's up to personal preferences when it comes to deciding which is actually "superior" to the other.

Well I'm loving both. Putting them to direct competition is nigh impossible IMO since qualitatively they're actually really close. And whoever does it for their respective stories is going for unfairness and subjectivity.
/me doesn't care anymore...

AFAIK yesterday and today (well I know for today because I've got the papers with me) they had it not just in Cine, but in Causeway Point and Cathay. Quite a number of screening times too.

Screw the fact that school (+ exams) start tomorrow, I turned 18 today so I'm going to go watch TokiKake at the cinemas! ...2:55 at Cine, in fact. Even though someone bought me the R2 DVD. Will talk about how it was when I come back from it later :o

Ah now then they update the booking site properly..:mad: I wanted to go to Cathay instead...

I caught it yesterday at Cine as well...well what can I say...awesome. Especially the sound. And the best thing was that the subs weren't butchered!! I wonder how that sounded to people outside SG :heh:
Oh and Happy Birthday :)

arias

2007-06-24, 01:55

It's amusing to see you Singaporeans post : ) I would've loved to be able to call you guys out to watch stuff together if I were still there. I don't actually know many people who watch and appreciate these sorts of particular anime.

Anyway, I've just watched it. I've heard of the movie ever since it was being promoted and heard almost nothing but praise for it when it came out. But it didn't impress me all that much. Well, the pacing for the first 2/3 was lackadaisical - and I'm a big fan of slice-of-life works. It simply didn't really work for me. The last 1/3 though, was great.. That was when the plot started becoming meaningful after the extensive staging earlier on. It wasn't too late and saved the film for me :) Everyone should know about the bittersweet portion of the ending now, although I'm quite suprised no one employed spoiler tags for it at all in this thread. My thoughts on it are that it's very similar to Escaflowne's ending, both for TV series and movie, so I wasn't at all overwhelmed in a positive or negative way. The bittersweet theme is a constant ingredient in more mature Japanese works although I've grown slightly weary of it. My interpretation of the ending was that

Chiaki's saying "I'll be waiting for you in the future" was more symbolic than literal. Hardcore fans might actually want to watch Escaflowne to understand, as well as listen to Escaflowne movie's ED; Yubiwa by Yoko Kanno & Maaya Sakamoto, which brought me to tears ;)

I think he might very well be referring to Makoto's promise to protect the painting. What he'll be waiting for is "her" through the preservation of the painting. Her efforts, in fact...

In the final scene when Makoto told the other friend Kousuke Tsuda that she knew what she wanted to do, she meant to preserve that painting. Which all links up and makes sense now.. the bittersweet fact is that the two are from a different era and cannot possibly be together. Then, what holds them together is that single painting, which Makoto will protect...

For the more technical aspects of the show though, the voice-acting bothered me at several points in the movie when it didn't synchronize with the character animation -- whatever you might say about its delivery (I did read the first five pages of this thread and I disagreed with just about all the comments). The animation was budgeted without any shading layers but quite effective :) I was quite fond of the various character designs, although I feel so old because Evangelion and Secret of Blue Water were so long ago...

In all, I felt the show was worth watching. But it wasn't particularly potent for me. During the crucial climatic parts for Makoto, I stiffed in stunned silence because it was so forced; both in the performance of the voice-acting and character animation. I don't think it's because I'm a cold bastard - Toki wo Kakeru Shojo just doesn't feel as emotively organic as say, Ghibli's Whisper of the Heart. By that I don't mean to hold TokiShojo to unrealistic standards; I feel the choice of VA was very poor. It could've been better. On the whole though, if the lot of you are so enthusiastic about it then make sure your friends know :) I could be the odd bone out; though then again I do like it.

wao

2007-06-24, 05:42

Ah, just watched it today. They didn't mercilessly butcher the subs; thankfully it was all in proper English and sounded natural enough - but I felt they left a lot to be desired. The english subs really didn't catch the nuance and the meaning of the sentences, and I'm dead sure they even missed out a few details in teh lines. Not super-crucial details, but the charm of this show to me were the different references to time and details in the script. The translation felt utilitarian at best, and didn't do justice to the show at all IMO. I thought it deserved a little better... :/

The Chinese subs seemed to be much better from what I could understand from it, but I'm in no position to judge because my Chinese is super-sucky (hey, at least I don't have to do it anymore... goddamnit) and I wasn't looking at them most of the time.

I have to say though, the surround sound effects were reeaally nice. I liked how during the scene with the frozen time in the later half of the movie, Chiaki's voice would come from various different directions. Things like Makoto's fall and the clock falling on her head in the beginning were very impactful, you could literally hear people go "ow!" in the theatre. Though I think most people found it a cute and funny film (I swear I kept hearing people going "so cute!" because of the way Makoto talks and moves) I noticed a number of teary eyes just as the film ended.

hamiko_san

2007-06-27, 14:07

10 things more, you never know.

Samatarou

2007-06-30, 13:39

Anyway, I've just watched it. I've heard of the movie ever since it was being promoted and heard almost nothing but praise for it when it came out.
I think one of Tokikake's problems is that it's suffered from praise overload, so people go in there with high expectations. When I watched it I knew nothing about it other than it was about a girl who could leap through time, and that it sounded like a pleasant way to while away a couple of hours, only to be totally blown away by it.
the pacing for the first 2/3 was lackadaisical - and I'm a big fan of slice-of-life works. It simply didn't really work for me. The last 1/3 though, was great.. That was when the plot started becoming meaningful after the extensive staging earlier on.
My feeling was that the plot, or more accurately the moral, is centered on the earlier part of the film. To me it's all about the "Time waits for no-one" motif, as Makoto learns the hard way that you should just take life as it comes and seize the moment. The final part is a great twist as we discover the background to it all, but the first part with its endless reworkings of events was very cleverly done and I never found it dragged, in fact if it had gone any faster I don't think I would have been able to follow the chain of events since after a while almost every scene is a rerun of an earlier scene and I started to have difficulty identifying what was a rerun and what was new.
For the more technical aspects of the show though, the voice-acting bothered me at several points in the movie when it didn't synchronize with the character animation ... The animation was budgeted without any shading layers but quite effective
I didn't notice any problems with the voice acting, I felt it was refreshingly naturalistic, the only criticism I have regarding the technical side of the film is that the animation frame rate was too low, several scenes had jerky movement, e.g. the one where Chiaki throws the basketball at Kousuke about 5 mins into the film. Modern anime tend to increase the framerate to the full 24fps at moments where it's needed for smooth motion but this often wasn't being done with Tokikake, the above scene for instance is a mix of 8fps and 12fps animation and gives a low budget ambience to the scene.

TinyRedLeaf

2007-07-01, 10:11

I think one of Tokikake's problems is that it's suffered from praise overload, so people go in there with high expectations. When I watched it I knew nothing about it other than it was about a girl who could leap through time, and that it sounded like a pleasant way to while away a couple of hours, only to be totally blown away by it.

Well then, I'm probably quite lucky to have watched this film with utterly no expectations as well. Caught it at Cathay Cineleisure Orchard (.....oh man, I haven't gone downtown to watch movies for so long that I had no idea what Cathay did with the ninth floor of that building, haha; it's pretty cool, but too bad it seems not to attract enough people -- it was very empty for a Sunday afternoon I thought).

My first surprise comes actually from seeing my fellow viewers in the cinema -- there was a pretty good mix of people in the audience, from teenagers to oldies (like me :eyespin:). There was even a Western couple, who were probably in their thirties.

More importantly, nary a sight of a sweaty, pimply otaku. So, hmm, it seems that "mainstream" viewers wouldn't mind watching the occasional animated movie. Given a little more marketing, I wonder how many more people TokiKake would have drawn? :)

Watching an animated movie in a cinema is quite a pleasant experience, I must say. We all laughed and chuckled at the same scenes, and I could hear the occasional sniffing during the emotional scenes too. As for me, I found myself grinning through most of the film. Generally, it's safe to say I enjoyed it so much that I wasn't even bothered about the mechanics of time-travelling, as portrayed in this film.

(Frankly, to me, it's a bit pointless to focus too much on the mechancis time-travelling in the first place. This movie is clearly more about life and teenage romance than it is about time-travel.)

Hmm...as for the ending that so many people have already discussed, well, it didn't occur to me until reading this thread that it would cause such problems in interpretation. :heh:

I thought Chiaki's last line was quite appropriate, because it ended the movie on a hopeful note that was free of regret. I would have thought that to be fairly obvious, but it seems that not everyone felt the same way, lol. Ah well, it's not a big deal. Everyone is entitled to his or her own opinion. :)

What I'd like to know is where I can find more information about the previous incarnations of the story? Just information to read, thank you very much. I'm not asking for stuff that would get you or me banned. :p

wao

2007-07-01, 10:31

Same thing on the seeing-people-you-wouldn't-expect at the theatres. This was definitely something watched by way more than just your usual anime crowd... hell, I went to watch it a second time - again at Cineleisure, this time dragging a friend along because it was after the tests - and at the end of the movie I was nearly scared out of my skin to realise one of my classmates was sitting behind me. And not just that, the first time I went I saw pairs of aunties sitting through the credits, and this time I actually saw a rather old lady slowly getting into one of the chairs - by that I mean the type with the permed white hair and still wearing kinda old-ish clothes. I was really surprised.

(And that ninth floor was really quite strange. One time I went and there were a surprising number of kids from international schools there... as well as 12-13 year olds.)

arias

2007-07-01, 20:53

I think one of Tokikake's problems is that it's suffered from praise overload, so people go in there with high expectations. When I watched it I knew nothing about it other than it was about a girl who could leap through time, and that it sounded like a pleasant way to while away a couple of hours, only to be totally blown away by it.

Well, I'll take it that you're responding directly to me.

I've had plenty of movies that were praised and I just watched them, and felt whatever I felt. I have been intrigued ever since watching the preview of the movie, and its animation quality seemed almost Ghibli-like which drew me to it. It's simply just not that good to me.

My feeling was that the plot, or more accurately the moral, is centered on the earlier part of the film. To me it's all about the "Time waits for no-one" motif, as Makoto learns the hard way that you should just take life as it comes and seize the moment. The final part is a great twist as we discover the background to it all, but the first part with its endless reworkings of events was very cleverly done and I never found it dragged, in fact if it had gone any faster I don't think I would have been able to follow the chain of events since after a while almost every scene is a rerun of an earlier scene and I started to have difficulty identifying what was a rerun and what was new.

I obviously disagree - I don't think that saying it "dragged" is the right word. I've worded my comment on it carefully and your reply is probably unfair to mine.

I didn't notice any problems with the voice acting, I felt it was refreshingly naturalistic, the only criticism I have regarding the technical side of the film is that the animation frame rate was too low, several scenes had jerky movement, e.g. the one where Chiaki throws the basketball at Kousuke about 5 mins into the film. Modern anime tend to increase the framerate to the full 24fps at moments where it's needed for smooth motion but this often wasn't being done with Tokikake, the above scene for instance is a mix of 8fps and 12fps animation and gives a low budget ambience to the scene.

The framerate for me was fine. The animation was good enough to transport the story; as was the case for Honey & Clover. Again, picture-sound synchronization and naturalistic technique of voice-acting delivery are two separate issues you've confused.

As for the people who've continually tried to lay defence by saying that TokiKake is suffering from overpraise, I'll lay the criticism on you folk that you're overprotecting a "smaller" movie and refusing to allow or recognize a variety of opinions, even if well-articulated. Finally, I couldn't help but blink at the comment that one of you watched the movie without a "sweaty, pimply otaku". I hope it's a clever poke at the cultural meme, else it's a disgraceful sentiment.

KholdStare

2007-07-01, 21:11

As much as the anime analyzer I am, I found this anime simply stunning. All I can say about this movie is that every internal aspect of the movie is perfect. This means the plot was excellent, the pacing was excellent, the mood was excellent, the voice acting was excellent (it was a little weird at first but I've grown accustomed to the main characters' VA and actually prefer it over the typical Japanese girl VA), and just the right amount of information was released at just the right time, so the audience doesn't feem almost completely lost as in Place Promised but it's not a straight out linear plot either.

What does this mean? I never once paid attention to the animation. I've read what has been said and I'm surprised really. The movie's internal structures absorbed me into it to much that I just keep watching and watching, and all I know was that the animation was good enough--it's not an artistic masterpiece that made me pay special attention to the animation but it wasn't bad enough to distract me in any way. That's really all I can say. It's one of those movies that got me without any explanation at all. It's an arrow that hit the bull's eye of my interests and emotions and gave me a feeling that cannot be articulated into words. It is, to me, a masterpiece that that eludes all forms of reason.

TinyRedLeaf

2007-07-02, 06:18

Finally, I couldn't help but blink at the comment that one of you watched the movie without a "sweaty, pimply otaku". I hope it's a clever poke at the cultural meme, else it's a disgraceful sentiment.

:twitch:

What else could it have been other than an in-joke? :heh: I certainly did not intend it to be personal. And, in any case, even if I were serious about it, I'd be insulting myself too...so doesn't that make us all even?

Anyways, sincere apologies to anyone who was offended. :bow:

Sonhex

2007-07-08, 06:20

Finally watched this and well, I loved it. For Makoto and her misadventures. I wasn't expecting it to be so damn funny. I laughed so hard when she's tumbling into the karaoke room, or to intercept Chiaki's hits or, the best moment of comedy in the film, standing on the hill, arrogantly laughing at the world. I was I tears of laughter at that point.:p

There's little point extolling the good points about the animation, it's just amazing. Character animation at it's best. This is one of the amazing things about Madhouse's projects I think; the amount of personality given to each and every character is remarkable. The three leads of-course, but Makoto's artisan Aunt was incredibly well rounded. I also liked Kaho's overbearing but supportive friends; they made me laugh every time they're on screen.

As a fable about friendship and living every day as if it was your last, it really is an astonishingly affective. Whisper of the Heart is the only other movie that has done this as affectively, only with a different theme. Generally I find recent anime movies completely hit and miss. Most have budget powered animation, but little to carry away from a viewing. Tokikake is the reverse: while the animation is truely glorious, it is understated (and entirely more effective as a result) but I'll remember it for its characters and those subtle engaging moments. Which served to remind me why I watch anime in the first place...:)

Friera

2007-07-31, 17:41

Samatarou

2007-07-31, 21:26

I just watched the anime, and had some seriously problems understanding the connections between the painting, Chiaki and the girl. May someone feed me with a spoon the ending?

I didn't quite get why Chiaki was so interested in the painting in the first place? How some he went back in time to save it - fell in love with a girl (Konna) and then promise her to see her in the future? I didn't quite get ut. And her aunt seemed to see her mistakes and was overly calm regarding the time leap when normal people would think Konna is crazy.

Regarding his motives, you may have noticed that Makoto was equally incredulous that he came all that way just to look at a painting. The way I thought of it was, the future is beyond our comprehension. You just can't conceive of what will matter to someone hundreds of years from now.

However another possibility rests in the fact that this painting is known to bring calm to people and seems to have been made in a time of war for that purpose. The impression I got of the future was that it was a world that had been practically destroyed, probaby by war, note how he's never seen the surface landscape before, never seen so many people before, it sounds like a post-apocalyptic era. I guess he hoped to find solace in that painting, maybe an answer to the troubles of his world.

Meeting again in the future is probably rhetorical, he doesn't actually say they'll meet, just that he'll be waiting — but for her, or for the painting she promised to preserve? Some suggest it's the survival of the painting that will serve as her link to him.

As for her aunt, this is a reference to the original novel & live action film, as a teenager she was the star of the original story, and she herself met a time traveler, that's why she knows about time travel. She does actually say she had time leapt herself, but she makes it sound like she's just joking. Probably she doesn't actually tell Makoto outright because she promised to keep it secret.

DannyCat

2007-08-03, 10:59

I wish I would have noticed this movie sooner. After seeing it fansubbed, I looked around to see where in Korea it was still playing. It's still showing in three or four theaters in the country, and the closest was in Daegu, about 90km away. After combined subway+train+subway trip of 2 hours, finally got to see it in a theater. This movie really ought to be seen in a theater with an audience; fansub on a laptop just doesn't provide the proper experience. So, given all the awards it's picked up, is any arthouse-theater-circuit distributor going to pick it up and give it a limited subtitled theatrical release or something? I mean, if Paprika can get into US theaters, why not this?

Also, picked up some of the flyers from the theater and scanned 'em:

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/8038/shigangt0.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=shigangt0.jpg)http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/4627/sonyeoic0.th.jpg (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sonyeoic0.jpg)

Samatarou

2007-08-03, 13:58

DannyCat

2007-08-03, 20:30

As for watching anime on a computer, I find it helps if you plug your soundcard into your hifi system.Which I don't have, living on campus here. And because there are too many people around in the computer lab here, I can't use speakers anyway and am limited to headphones. Which makes seeing this movie in a theater all the more excellent.

creamyhorror

2007-08-03, 22:04

Just replying to say this was one of the absolute best anime movies I've seen, going by sheer emotional impact. I wasn't particularly hit by the animation or artwork, but the screenwriting was fantastic and the soundtrack so suitable in its simplicity. It impressed me far more than Paprika did.

I'd just like to suggest going to the IMDB entry to rate it and give it the position it deserves - it needs at least 1000 votes to appear on the top Animation films list, and its current score of 8.2 would put it at number 3-5, right below Spirited Away. It only has 505 votes at present. So help put it where it deserves to be:

Vote here folks! (http://imdb.com/title/tt0808506/)

723

2007-08-20, 11:12

Sorry... I was wondering if anyone can post a link to tje novel on which is based the whole anime and the film. I just want to follow Kagami's path and read it (those who watch Lucky*Star will understand me... X3 ). So, can anyone help me?

Chihori

2007-09-05, 00:34

Hey guys~

Sorry if this question has already been answered in previous entries but I was wondering... I'm planning to buy the TokiKake artbook but found out that there are 2 versions available:

http://books.yahoo.co.jp/book_detail/31746575 and
http://books.yahoo.co.jp/book_detail/31932855/

I'm a bit confused as to the difference between the two. The notebook version (link (http://2dcomplex.com/wordpress/?p=110)) seems interesting cuz it's a replica of Makoto's notebook. But I just wanna know which one is the best choice for me to buy. I really appreciate the help. Thanks~

roxfan

2007-09-05, 18:41

Notebook offers story synopsis with selected frames, director's comments, info and interviews with cast and staff, character and art sketches.
Artbook is comprised mostly from full-page and centerfold shots from the movie, with sometimes comments from the art director on how a particular scene was composed and how digital effects were applied. There are also some interviews.
Other books you might want to buy:
1) Tokikake Storyboard
http://books.yahoo.co.jp/book_detail/31741016
The full movie storyboard complete with Hosoda's scribbles.
http://www.style.fm/as/02_topics/top_060714_a.shtml
http://www.style.fm/as/02_topics/top_060718_a.shtml
2) The original novel, 2006 reissue.
http://books.yahoo.co.jp/book_detail/31699363
3) The anime version novelization.
http://books.yahoo.co.jp/book_detail/31879659

Veritas

2007-09-06, 20:56

Watched this the other day. Throwing my hat in with the people who said it was good, but not something that blew them away. The inconsistencies with logic and setting brought me out of the story, and I didn't feel much for Makoto's dilemmas with her friends' love lives. Visually very nice, good dialogue to make up for a common story hook, but I feel cheated that it was another vessel for a high school first love story.

HoneyLee

2007-09-27, 21:38

hooliganj

2007-09-27, 22:24

Hi, i jsut finished watching the anime movie "A Girl Who Left Through Time"
And i didnt understand a part:

The part at the end i remember her leaping time was "00" and then after she checked it again and it changed to "01" how did that happen? Also why couldnt the guy just stay in her time?

:confused:
When Chiaki used his last time jump to save Kousuke from the accident, he reset time to before the point where Makoto used her last time-jump, and thus she got her last point back. She then uses her restored jump to return to an earlier time and let things happen differently, so that Chiaki didn't have to use his jump, allowing him to go home.

Chiaki wouldn't be able to stay in that time - apparently there was some kind of law or police force for time travelers in his era, and he had to return or face dire consequences.
Or at least that's how I understood it. Good as it was, the movie wasn't totally clear on a lot of points.

HoneyLee

2007-09-28, 18:44

oh i seee,
thank you so very much!
^_____^

guiltygearxt

2007-10-18, 00:48

awesome movie

Westlo

2007-10-24, 18:46

I just have to chime in and say this is just an amazing movie, it hit all the right spots with me, very impressive character animation.. best I've seen, loved the characters and plot, bgm was great and loved the insert song.

Dernhelm

2007-10-26, 23:43

ah, pleasant thing to see after having not seen a shred of anime for a very long time because of priorities. anyway, i think it would be helpful to say (depends if i make any sense, or not lol)

contrary to popular belief where many supposed that the Aunt in advising Makoto was telling her not to be like her, not to waste her time waiting--i actually thought or felt that what she was trying to imply is the opposite, which was not to be like her, to give up waiting (as she--the Aunt--did for that one guy she fell in love with, who told her to look out for him). i think somewhere along the lines that she said, she made it look like that she gave up waiting. but the Aunt is telling her not to do this. and then, there we have that tagline that recurs the entire time in the film: "Time waits for no one." (there was even that sort of cryptic bit with Makoto's friend who also liked Chiaki, who was advising her about this too, as if she knew things.)

anyway, to me it just seems like: for someone who waits, wait. for someone who is making someone wait, do not make them wait and instead rush toward it. the ensuing situation blends in rather well for the two parties, don't you think? "Time waits for no one" would seem like a complete paradox. you say it to someone so that they won't make the other wait, but in the end, that other person is there actually patiently waiting.

DannyCat

2007-11-04, 16:25

Ok, question about some wording in the second half of the movie:

Ok, so Chiaki says something to Makoto twice in the movie. After the second time, she says he changed something. Annoyingly, both the subtitles on the roxfan .mkv and the Korean R3 DVD give the exact same wording for both phrases:

[roxfan]
1:10 - Being with you two was too much fun.
1:27 - Being with you two was too much fun.

[Korean R3]
1:10 - It was so much fun being together with you two...
1:27 - It was so much fun being together with you two...

So I looked up the exact lines in the script, and there IS a difference:

1:10 - おまえらと一緒にいるのが、あんまり楽しくてさ…
1:27 - おまえらといるのが、あんまり楽しくてさ…

What exactly is the nuance change, here? He's leaving out "issho ni" on the second version, but what does leaving that out imply? And how should the change in that wording be translated?

xris

2007-12-10, 03:14

wao

2007-12-10, 06:07

Fiiiinaaaalllyyyyyy!

Even more unexpectedly I already have the R2 so I won't be bugging anyone for this but now I can tell people where to get a legal copy of the DVD with English subtitles :)

BBOvenGuy

2007-12-10, 13:13

And those of us who live near Los Angeles might actually get to see it in a theater. :D

Are they just going to do a subtitled release, or will they do a dub as well?

Westlo

2007-12-11, 07:17

I hope I can catch it near where I live, needless to say I love this movie so I'll be buying it when Bandai release it.

Shabazza

2008-01-01, 20:47

narmi

2008-01-01, 21:35

Unexpected. Bandai Entertainment have picked up The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.

Details on ANN, Bandai Entertainment Gets Girl Who Leapt Through Time (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news/2007-12-09/bandai-gets-girl-who-leapt-through-time)

*Phew* I really never saw that coming. Bandai Entertainment licensed The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. I'm surprised but pleased, I hope Vancouver of Canada is one of those cities where it will be shown.

Thank you Xris for posting that info up :).

Hey, just finished watching that movie.
I have only read about the last 2 pages of this thread and so this idea may have been there yet, but...

I got that idea after I saw the ending:
Could it be that the aunt actually IS Makoto?
I don't think that it's just a coincidence that the aunt knows about time leaps and that she draws pictures. It may make no sense that she and her older self exist in the same time, but there are so many hints leading to that conclusion so I'm left wondering what the real meaning behind her aunt is.

Hmm if you have seen the original movie based on the novel. The Aunt could be the "herorine" from the original movie shown in 1987 (if I'm correct on the year of release). My opinion is that Makoto's Aunt isn't Makoto. It's just that she has "experienced" a time leap.

Anyway about the original movie, I suggest you don't watch it. In my opinion the original movie deserves a 6 out of 10. The recent adaption is better and I'm trying to find the novel where these two films are based off from.

BBOvenGuy

2008-01-02, 14:28

Hey, just finished watching that movie.
I have only read about the last 2 pages of this thread and so this idea may have been there yet, but...

I got that idea after I saw the ending:
Could it be that the aunt actually IS Makoto?
I don't think that it's just a coincidence that the aunt knows about time leaps and that she draws pictures. It may make no sense that she and her older self exist in the same time, but there are so many hints leading to that conclusion so I'm left wondering what the real meaning behind her aunt is.
If someone got a link referring to that idea I would be thankful.

Here's the short version:

The movie is actually a sequel of sorts to the original book. The aunt is supposed to be the main character of the original book, who time-leaped when she was young and has now grown up.

Check back through the thread and you'll find more details.

AuditionEX

2008-01-23, 16:52

Best animovie ever.

nuff said.

Veritas

2008-02-02, 01:28

No, enough has not been said. Explain your reasoning, as this movie, while not being a piece of crap by any means, probably does not hold the position of best animovie ever for many, many people.

stefxrobotic

2008-02-04, 11:58

Is a BOSS anime movie feature.
If you've seen you, surely you've googled A LOT about it and it's origins.
It's based on a novel and there was a 1983 live-action movie made based on the novel as well. The anime version that was released in 2006 ended with so many open and unanswered questions. Perhaps because I haven't read the novel and know the details of the true plot in the novel, maybe I'm missing something. I don't believe that the novel is translated in English, so I was wondering if there was anyone out there who has read the novel and can tell me more about the story.

narmi

2008-02-04, 13:44

There is thread already made for this animated movie.

Please use this link to go to the thread; http://forums.animesuki.com/showthread.php?t=26431&page=10&highlight=Kakeru .

Oh yes and welcome to the forums :heh:.

Edit: thank you to the moderator who moved the post to this thread :heh:.

eurhteranienains

2008-02-11, 23:14

This movie was really good. I dont care what other people say or those "over analyzers" who have to find a fault within each second of the movie... overall I enjoyed it and a lot of ppl did too thats what counts.

Also, someone here said that makoto was the auntie.. something about that struck me on another case. Chiaki might be the auntie's lover because he came back to see the painting but fell in love with makoto instead.

Or....
sometime in the future makoto became an artist and gave the same painting to chiaki but then died? I dunno sooo many loop holes. Also when makoto "used" up her last time travel while on the phone with chiaki, she didn't leap through the air so how was she able to leap through time? Ehhh ?

Lichtkrieg

2008-03-10, 22:10

Just finish Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo. Good lord it was good!! It has been a long time since I enjoy an "animemovie" that much. Keep me on the edge of my chair for 1.5h

The ending was also excellent. Kinda in two part. Although I'm not too sure what happened.

When Chiaki said: "I'll be waiting in the future" What does it imply?? I was already confused, but when Mokoto reply : "I'll be right there. I'll run there." What the heck?? Does anybody have a theory? :p

So many dark spot! Oh well it would not be so amazing if everything was crystal clear :heh:

KholdStare

2008-03-10, 23:43

When Chiaki said: "I'll be waiting in the future" What does it emply?? I was already confused, but when Mokoto reply : "I'll be right there. I'll run there." What the heck?? Does anybody have a theory? :p

Now this is a very confusing subject with many possibilities. One possibility is that maybe Chiaki knows Makoto in the future. Another possibility is that if Chiaki can go back, why can't he go back again? Can he choose to go back in a later time that is technically that moment's "future"?

About Makoto's comments I can't really say. Perhaps she's revealing her understanding that she's talking to the future in Chiaki's point of view, which would be immediate since he will go back instantly. That also means she would have to believe to know him in the future somehow and taking Chiaki's "I'll be waiting in the future" almost literally. However, time leaping is not technology that would be able to be developed in Makoto's life time, so I'll have to go with Chiaki come back to stay later or taking Makoto to the future? It's this confusing aspect of the anime that makes it good.

narmi

2008-03-11, 12:16

That's a good explaination KholdStare. I'm trying to find the DVD release of the movie but I'm have no luck :heh:.

telephony

2008-04-11, 01:05

narmi

2008-04-12, 21:12

Just finished watching this and thought it was amazing. I had a question though,

after Chiaki saves Kosuke and the girl from the train accident, he explains everything to Makoto, about how he comes from the future, but then he says he has to disappear because he broke a rule of telling someone from the past about time leaping. Why does he have to disappear? Couldn't he just live in the time period with Makoto? Also, where does he disappear to?

Chiaki has to go back to his time because he broke one of the rules (or laws) for time traveling from his origin of time (which is the future in Makoto's perspective). We have no idea if he could have lived with Makoto but we don't know if a "time distortion" was already made before these series of events. As already stated he returns to his time after Makoto's time (which is the future).

telephony

2008-04-12, 22:15

Chiaki has to go back to his time because he broke one of the rules (or laws) for time traveling from his origin of time (which is the future in Makoto's perspective). We have no idea if he could have lived with Makoto but we don't know if a "time distortion" was already made before these series of events. As already stated he returns to his time after Makoto's time (which is the future).

But he SAID he couldn't return back to his time, while he was explaining everything to Makoto in the art gallery/museum. He even shows her that he has no more charges remaining to leap.

Besides, he wanted to go back to his own time, so if by disappearing he meant he was going to sent back to his own time, why go through all the trouble of Makoto having to use her extra charge so Chiaki could get his charge back, to go back to the future, which was where he was going to "disappear" to anyway.

Unless by disappearing, he meant that literally. Like the consequences of what he did was so severe that he disappears from the world entirely. But then that still doesn't make sense, because at the end of the movie, Makoto still knows about time traveling, which violates said rule. Meh, I don't get it.

TinyRedLeaf

2008-04-13, 00:20

Plot consistency wasn't this movie's strong point, I'm afraid, and it's implementation of time paradoxes was even weaker.

Chiaki's first "disappearance" was probably as depicted - he literally vanished. I don't think he actually returned to his own time, but quite possibly, he had created a time paradox by saving Makoto at that instant, and thus erased his own existence in both the present and the future. Chiaki came back into existence because Makoto jumped again to prevent that particular timeline from occuring, and hence "saved" Chiaki.

As for why Makoto's continued existence doesn't jeopardise his future existence, it's probably because they are now on an alternate tangent that doesn't lead to that outcome. Of course, all this would make sense only if you subscribe to the multi-universe theory of quantum physics. :p

I think it's better not to dwell too much on the shoddy pop-science and focus more on the shoujo renai aspects of the movie. TokiKake would be more satisfying from that perspective. :heh:

Vexx

2008-04-13, 02:18

Browsing the usual vendors... no word on the release date have I found. (okay.. not enough coffee there).

Has anyone spotted any tentative release dates?

narmi

2008-04-13, 14:01

I have no info too about official distribution in Region 1 (North America).

Yes I agree we shouldn't dwell on the "hoddy pop-science" of the movie.

KatsuKy

2008-04-15, 09:33

narmi

2008-04-15, 17:18

never watched a full-DVD anime-movie before, buy I must say this is a great film. Some scenes are really heart-breaking, some nearly made me cry, after all, this film reminds me of a very important thing in life:
TIME WAITS FOR NO ONE!

The film was great to watch and if there is a dvd release of this movie. I will buy it so I can enjoy it in the future years to come. I almost was torn when she finds out about Chiaki and what would happen to him.

nanafan

2008-04-16, 23:17

i love this movie seen it many times and still get teary eyed.
if you remember when makoto talks to her aunt her aunt tells her that she had the same thing but things turned out different for her i don't know what makoto's aunt has to do with chiaki though

narmi

2008-04-17, 14:11

nanafan

2008-04-17, 22:24

that is true, unless we read the book the first movie is based on? i think the anime movie is also based on a manga, not sure though

narmi

2008-04-17, 22:43

that is true, unless we read the book the first movie is based on? i think the anime movie is also based on a manga, not sure though

Actually this movie is based on the original novel and movie (which is based on the novel). The manga is based from these two sources also.

nanafan

2008-04-17, 22:46

okay, i was wrong. i hate it when that happens lol

qtipbrit

2008-04-17, 22:55

KholdStare

2008-04-18, 03:03

Oh man, I really need to rewatch this.
I rated it an 8/10 (which is quite good from me.), but reading through this makes me think that it may be better than I thought.
Maybe I should rewatch it when I'm fully awake and not late-late-late-night? :heh:

What do you know, I feel the same about ef.

Still, the scenes that stick out the most in my mind were the ones I either thought were the best or worst, notably, Makoto falling through timestreams and such to "Kawaranai Mono", the scene where we first see Chiaki stop time and explain everything to Makoto, the scene where Chiaki leaves, Makoto running sometime after learning everything (I don't remember what or when the scene was, I just know that it was her running from a side view and it did nothing for drama, comedy, or story progression.), Makoto on the rooftop (a bit overdramatised and it really did nothing for the story.)

Ah, the most memorable scene for me is Makoto running to catch up to the bicycle, hurting herself a lot in the process. It's powerful because it brings both physical shock (there was blood and...other injuries) as well as emotional shock (you know what will happen if Makoto doesn't catch up), reminiscent of many SaiKano scenes. Wait, no good can come from comparing things to SaiKano, so moving on...

Another scene is the beginning or the end (or maybe both), I forgot, but the way that clock falls and then continues to tick was really, well, suspenseful. I would re-watch this series if it wasn't for TSR and Higurashi (and Kai) in my queue.

There are many things that I will has some importance, but I never really focused on it, because the anime's enjoyability is too high. Of course, I'm talking about the aunt and the paintings. That definitely has some connection with Chiaki and the future, but I still have no clue what.

nanafan

2008-04-18, 08:11

i have watched this movie at least three times, i can't say i have gotten sick of it yet. i really like the story line it's interesting.

gaguri

2008-04-18, 10:08

It's funny how some people saw Makoto's running scene as useless. I thought it captured the essence of the movie brilliantly.

SuperKnuckles

2008-04-18, 13:00

People actually criticized the running scene? Wow...

Though I think the exposition in the very end was a bit too abrupt and didn't make a whole lot of sense by itself IMO. Of course, the movie the closest to it in idea, Groundhog Day, didn't expose the exact reason why it was happening, but the flow to the end felt much more natural and went for 30 minutes in the end.

nanafan

2008-04-18, 14:24

was it the running scene at the end of the movie? i liked that cuz it showed how much she cared for chiaki, the ending was different than what i expected but i liked it. i thought the ending was beautiful

FuzzyWuzzy

2008-04-18, 14:39

The ending was kind of predictable. When she was using her time travel just to avoid chiaki because
of chiaki confessing his love to her
, we already know that she is going to regret it at the end.

But at the end, thebicycle scene where the random 2 strangers passed her by was a nice touch and made me chuckle.

narmi

2008-04-18, 23:09

The running scene was hilariously and great, I loved it. I too am surprised that a few people disliked the running scene.

The scene where she tries to save her friend from the fate she was have left me heart broken. After she failed to save her friend (including his girlfriend) and ended up seriously injured.

I want to watch Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo (again) after I have graduated.

nanafan

2008-04-19, 17:42

yeah, i felt bad at that part too narmi. i think i got teary eyed at the end of the movie.

narmi

2008-04-19, 23:07

yeah, i felt bad at that part too narmi. i think i got teary eyed at the end of the movie.

After watching the movie I felt glad and when I saw the dvd for sale (out of Region 1). I didn't think twice buying, I got it to the counter immediately with some of my money in hand :D.

nanafan

2008-04-20, 18:16

if i had the money i would definitely buy it. don't know if i could find it in a store though

narmi

2008-04-21, 09:31

if i had the money i would definitely buy it. don't know if i could find it in a store though

True and sadly there isn't any word (I heard of) when the dvds will be released (for Region 1).

Gundampilotspaz

2008-05-03, 21:11

Anime News Netwrok is reporting on the dates for the American limited release of the award winning Japanese film, The Girl who Leapt Though Time.

Bandai Entertainment and Kadokawa Pictures USA have announced that Mamoru Hosoda’s award-winning The Girl Who Leapt through Time film will play in Los Angeles and New York City from June 13 to June 19, and in Seattle, Washington from August 29 to September 4. For the June theatrical release, the film will play in the ImaginAsian film houses in both cities. The Los Angeles theater will have the English-subbed version, while New York will have the English-dubbed version. In Seattle, the English-subbed version will play in the Landmark Theatres’ Varsity Theatre. Bandai Entertainment had previously announced that more venues in other cities and DVD plans will be revealed later.

The film updates the premise of Tsutsui Yasutaka’s best-selling A Girl Who Runs Through Time (Toki o Kakeru Shōjo or TokiKake) novel by having a modern Japanese girl discover she can leap back in time. A subtitled trailer is available online. CMX Manga is releasing Gaku Tsugano’s earlier two-volume manga adaptation of the original novel in September and November.

I would highly recommend anyone in those areas make the trip to see the movie in theaters. It’s not only on my all time favorite anime list, but has transcended it’s medium and made it onto my all time favorite movie list as well.

It has a solid story, good characters, and does a very good job exploring the temptations and the dangers of Time Travel. Really, is there anything better than Time Travel?

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time in LA, NYC, Seattle (http://timetravelisawesome.com/?p=54)

narmi

2008-05-04, 23:33

^
Nice :) thank you for the information Gundampilotspaz. I can't wait to buy the official dvd.

BBOvenGuy

2008-05-05, 13:24

I would highly recommend anyone in those areas make the trip to see the movie in theaters.

I hate going down into LA, but for this movie I'll make an exception. :p

nanafan

2008-05-05, 22:34

thanks gundam, unfortunately don't live anywhere near either city :( if i could i would so go, would love to see this movie in a theater.

BBOvenGuy

2008-06-13, 12:15

It's here! It's here! :hyper-^v^:

Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo is playing all this week (June 13-19) at the ImaginAsian Center in downtown Los Angeles. Show times and directions can be found here:

http://www.theimaginasian.com/la/index2.php

I'll be there tomorrow! :D

Samatarou

2008-06-13, 20:24

I just discovered by chance that Tokikake is being shown in London at the National Film Theatre on Sat 21st June at 13:20 (in NFT1). It's part of a weekend of anime from 20-22 June.
They don't actually say whether it's sub or dub, I would hope surely sub given the context. (They're also showing 5cm/s and Makoto Shinkai is actually going to be there for a Q&A session!)

yezhanquan

2008-06-13, 22:05

To me, the magic of the movie was in YS's character designs. I've yet to find another designer who bowls me over.

incube

2008-09-08, 01:05

I cant figure out .............

.the last words Chiaki said to Makoto: Ill be waiting for you in the future, the meaning of the painting and who is that Aunt Witch supposed to be...

From the parts i did understand.... i knew something bad would happen to Makoto from the moment she started leaping without second thoughts but still when
Kousuke and his grilfriend past her in slowmotion on the broken bike, i stopped breathing -.- it was worse than just a surprise because deep down i felt it would happen.

OtseisRagnarok

2008-09-09, 16:33

I loved this movie. The best anime movie i've ever seen. And I have to agree that the best scene was the accident when she was screaming 'Tomare' over and over.

Samatarou

2008-09-10, 14:55

The setup for that climactic accident scene was brilliantly done, we get totally misdirected with the phone call, as does she herself, when I thought—and I think she thought—he was summoning up courage to ask her out but instead it's the shock question “are you time leaping?” After all that we’ve quite forgotten about the huge earlier panic, only to be hit by that big "DUMMMM" as the bike sails past....

I think the clever thing about the film is how we’re always in Makoto's shoes, we know what she knows, and feel what she feels, the mood of the film itself always following her mood very closely, so we identify with her and share her joys and agonies really intensely.

@incube: As for the waiting in the future thing, you need to read the rest of this thread, it has been a recurring topic of discussion with many views expressed. Personally I think it was just words, a rhetorical way of saying how much they mean to each other, a defiant stance against destiny if you like, but others think it may have some genuine possibility.

Zu Ra

2008-10-17, 14:23

http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1223891958067-1254553.jpg (http://imajr.com/1223891958067-1254553) http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1223892021688-1254554.jpg (http://imajr.com/1223892021688-1254554) http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1224173701904-1254557.jpg (http://imajr.com/1224173701904-1254557) http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1224173803252-1254558.jpg (http://imajr.com/1224173803252-1254558) http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1224173874482-1254559.jpg (http://imajr.com/1224173874482-1254559)

http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1223890383373-1254552.jpg (http://imajr.com/1223890383373-1254552) http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1224173097904-1254555.jpg (http://imajr.com/1224173097904-1254555) http://thumbnails.imajr.com/1224173169786-1254556.png (http://imajr.com/1224173169786-1254556)

Theowne

2008-11-27, 03:23

Finished the film. My thoughts are as followed - absolutely loved the first half, involving her experiments with the time travel, getting herself out of awkward situations, but then seeing the horrible results of her meddling as she watched her friend ride towards his death without being able to do anything except scream. Great direction, writing, art, etc.

I was slightly less fond of the second half because of the expansion of the time traveling beyond Makoto, and a more sci-fi bent added to the proceedings, with talk of different eras, a character returning to "his time", etc. Perhaps that was too much for me, since I'm so firmly rooted in "slice of life".

That being said, it is definitely worth watching.

OtseisRagnarok

2008-11-28, 13:10

I recently found out that there's an english dub.
Anyone have any info?

Starry Dust

2008-11-30, 09:53

^There is?
Where did you hear that from?

And also does anyone know where you can read the original novel translated or am I doomed to Japanese only? lol

OutSmart

2008-11-30, 12:15

Just saw the movie. God was it beautiful..

In the beggining we all get that happy vibe but then stuff starts to happen and we start thinking about whats gonna happen and "hell this will not end up well.. it can't.. but plz do!!" lol

The climax was awesome. The end was suprising but it might have been a bit too long. I loved every minute though.

I have to say this was one hell of a movie, absolutely recommeded to every quality anime fan out there!!

I'm not reviewing the movie but if I had to score it, I would be something aroung between 8.5 and 9.4 out of 10. Maybe even more.

I rly enjoyed watching this movie. Plz, if you have the chance, go see this one: IT'S SOOOO WORTH THE WHILE!!

_________________________

This Movie is OutSmart Aproved!

http://ui28.gamespot.com/347/fallout3_4.jpg

OtseisRagnarok

2008-11-30, 12:28

^There is?
Where did you hear that from?
I saw an advert in a pretty old anime magazine....
Does anyone have additional information on the english dub?
I just hope they didn't ruin my favourite scene... (The one where she was shouting "Tomare!" over and over....)

narmi

2008-11-30, 12:47

I recently found out that there's an english dub.
Anyone have any info?
^There is?
Where did you hear that from?

Yes, there is a dub and it was released on November 4th 2008 (for the limited edition dvd box set and dvd). I got the limited edition box set with the official sound track, and extras.

At first I heard about the dvd release at Anime Evolution (in Vancouver Canada) from the representative of Ocean group and the dubbing cast.

And also does anyone know where you can read the original novel translated or am I doomed to Japanese only? lol

I heard a rumor about company translating the original novel, however, this is a rumor. Hopefully, sooner or later, someone will do a fan translation of the original novel.

I saw an advert in a pretty old anime magazine....
Does anyone have additional information on the english dub?
I just hope they didn't ruin my favourite scene... (The one where she was shouting "Tomare!" over and over....)

Don't worry that scene was done really well. The english dub for the movie is great.