Very popular Japanese story with multiple adaptations (Live-Action; Anime; TV) gets what is generally considered its most satisfying treatment in this 2006 anime feature from Mamoru Hosoda . The gimmick (and, alas, it is just a gimmick) has our coming-of-age adolescent high school girl stumbling upon a gurgle in the time continuum allowing her to take a step back on the clock for a redo after some typical teenage accident or social faux pas. Revving up to speed for an out-of-control running leap, she crash lands and finds herself transported back minutes, hours or days, whatever is needed. (These set pieces pure eye candy, with a long run to the rescue late in the pic a real visual tour-de-force.) But the time leaps also feel like a narrative cheat since they make it too easy to fix any problems with an instant redo. (Less GROUNDHOG DAY than golfer's Mulligan.) Most of the story deals with her budding romantic relationships with two ultra-cool guys she meets regularly for baseball practice, a nerdy hunk and a hipster hunk, each a foot & half taller than she, BTW. One of these guys holds the secret to the time-travel, but the story wisely shies away from too much explanation. Maybe if the physical look were less of a disappointment (sharp & bright in the time-shift scenes, but unpleasantly hazy in regular action in school & at home) or if the girl weren’t such a teenage angst-ridden pain-in-the-neck. All told, probably best for YA novel fanciers.
DOUBLE-BILL: Many of the visual, narrative & character ideas touched on here get a far better, far more clever/carefully worked out treatment in YOUR NAME/’06 (see below), a well-deserved blockbuster up for Stateside remake. But try and see the Japanese original.
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