The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

I enjoyed this anime more than I expected to initially. I see myself watching it again. The protagonist is a klutzy Everygirl, Makota Konno, who pals around with two guys in her class, the cool and gorgeous Kousuke Tsuda and the sidekick type, Chiaki Mamiya. Makota is having a very bad day. At the moment when the day veers from comic daily irritations to near tragedy, Makota is flung off her bicycle and back in time.

At this point the movie takes off. What does a junior high school girl do when she learns she can time travel? She doesn’t go back in time to meet Einstein or kill Hitler. Instead, she employs her power as a do-over button. Her life become a little video game where she wakes up on time, aces the pop quiz (which she can now prepare for), and avoids awkward entanglements (both physical and romantic). Of course, we the audience know by now that if you change the past you change the present.

As Makota deals with the consequences of her actions, the movie gets both funnier and more serious.