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The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is one of a number of Japanese anime movies coming back to cinemas, and I’m not sure of any particular season linking them together, but they’ve shown that after The Boy And The Heron, they do get an audience.
Riisa Naka (Let’s Get Divorced) takes the lead of 17-year-old schoolgirl Makoto, whoe comes across a message on a blackboard, which states, “Time waits for no-one“, trips over what looks like a walnut, and then slips back in time to a degree, thus finding she has the power to “time-leap”.
It’s a useful talent to have, as she learns early on, when her bicycle develops a brake fault, and as she thunders down a steep road into the path of the train, every time she has a bad tumble to the ground – or a train, in this case – in the most extreme times, it can be a life-saver, rather like the two minute ‘rewind’ Nicolas Cage experienced in 2007’s Next, since Makoto’s time-leap is one of an indeterminate length each time, albeit not by a huge amount.
Meanwhile, as fellow students Kosuke (Mitsutaka Itakura) and Yuri (Ayami Kakiuchi) start a relationship, Makoto’s starting to develop feelings for Chiaki (Takuya Ishida). Is it a mutual attraction? He certainly seems interested in her.
I wasn’t expecting a huge amount from this, but ended up really enjoying it, especially as elements of it do get darker than I was expecting, and it’s not just Makoto going back in time for her own benefit that we see, as it also has implications for others.
Additionally, I do enjoy films and TV series that have time travel in them… well, except Doctor Who, of late. Apart from the awful scripts in recent times, that’s not time travel throughout the episode, it’s just about going from A to B, resolving an issue and then moving on.
Plus, when it comes to Japanese anime, you can’t always guarantee if there’ll be a happy ending, so that leaves things open to question, a lot more than regular Hollywood movies would do. As for how The Girl Who Leapt Through Time pans out, I’ll give no spoilers, and just advise that you watch it.
NOTE: There are no mid- or post-credits scenes.
The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is in cinemas now, and is available to buy on Blu-ray, Limited Edition Blu-ray and DVD.
Detailed specs:
Cert: 
Running time: 98 minutes
Release date: July 2nd 2025
Studio: 1.85:1 (Digital)
Cinema: Odeon Trafford Centre
Rating: 8/10
Director: Mamoru Hosoda
Producers: Shin’ichirô Inoue, Jungo Maruta
Screenplay: Satoko Okudera
Novel: Yasutaka Tsutsui
Music: Kiyoshi Yoshida
Voice cast:
Makoto Konno: Riisa Naka
Chiaki Mamiya: Takuya Ishida
Kosuke Tsuda: Mitsutaka Itakura
Yuri Hayakawa: Ayami Kakiuchi
Kaho Fujitani: Mitsuki Tanimura
Miyuki Konno: Yuki Sekido
Makoto’s Father: Utawaka Katsura
Makoto’s Mother: Midori Ando
Fukushima-sensei: Fumihiko Tachiki
Obasan: Keiko Yamamoto
Moriko Uesugi: Shiori Yokohari
Sekimi Nowake: Sonoka Matsuoka
Kato: Takayuki Handa
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.