The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Japanese film poster
Japanese時をかける少女
Directed byNobuhiko Obayashi[1]
Screenplay byWataru Kenmotsu[1]
Based onThe Girl Who Leapt Through Time
by Yasutaka Tsutsui
Produced by
  • Norihiko Yamada
  • Kyoko Obayashi[1]
Starring
Edited byNobuhiko Obayashi[1]
Music byMasataka Matsutoya[1]
Production
company
Distributed byToei[1]
Release date
July 16, 1983
Running time
104 minutes[1]
CountryJapan[1]
LanguageJapanese[1]
Box office¥4.76 billion (Japan)

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Japanese: 時をかける少女, Hepburn: Toki o Kakeru Shōjo) is a 1983 Japanese science-fiction film directed and edited by Nobuhiko Obayashi, written for the screen by Wataru Kenmotsu, and starring idol Tomoyo Harada in her first film. It is based on the 1967 Japanese novel of the same name and was released by Toei in Japan on July 16, 1983. It has since been released internationally on DVD with English subtitles under various titles including The Little Girl Who Conquered Time, Girl of Time, The Girl Who Cut Time, among others.[2]

It was the first film adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, about a high-school girl who gains the ability to time-travel and repeatedly relives the same day in a time loop. The film was a major box office success in Japan, becoming the second highest-grossing Japanese film of 1983. It was followed by several later cinematic adaptations, including a 2006 animated film and a 2010 live-action film.

Cast

The following are the film's main cast.[1]

Release

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was released in theaters in Japan on July 16, 1983. In 2022, Third Window Films released the film on Blu-ray as part of their limited edition Nobuhiko Obayashi's 80s Kadokawa Years set, along with School in the Crosshairs, The Island Closest to Heaven, and His Motorbike, Her Island.[3]

Reception

Box office

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was a major box-office success in Japan.[4] It earned a distribution income (gross rental) of ¥2.8 billion in 1983,[5] becoming the second highest-grossing Japanese film of 1983, behind only Antarctica.[5] The total box office gross revenue of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time was ¥4.76 billion in Japan.[6]

Critical reception

In 1985, Donald Willis of Variety described the film as "more affecting than affected, informed less by cloying sentimentality and relatively honest sentiment."[1] He commented on Tomoyo Harada, finding that she "proves herself a natural. Although she is convincing at what she does, the evidence here suggests she might have the range to do much anything else."[1] He criticized Ryōichi Takayanagi's acting, stating that his delivery "of lines is undoubtedly the result of his brain-waves being controlled by a galaxy inhabited by monotonous no-talents."[1]

In 2010, Marc Walkov of the Far East Film Festival gave the film a positive review, describing it as a "bittersweet story about the transitoriness of love and the importance of one’s memories in keeping the past alive." He also notes that the film anticipated plot elements of the Hollywood film Groundhog Day (1993), such as the protagonist repeatedly reliving the same day and thus being able to predict events that take place during the day.[4]

Theme song

"Toki o Kakeru Shōjo"
Single by Tomoyo Harada
from the album Toki o Kakeru Shōjo - Original Soundtrack
ReleasedApril 21, 1983
GenrePop
LabelCanyon Records
Songwriter(s)Yumi Matsutoya

The song "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" (時をかける少女) is the popular theme song for the 1983 movie, inspired by the story, written by Yumi Matsutoya, and originally sung by the film's lead actress, then-rookie idol Tomoyo Harada. There are several different versions.

Harada versions

The first version was released in April 1983 as the A-side of Tomoyo Harada's third single (7A0275), with a B-side "Zutto Soba ni" also written by Yumi Matsutoya and two different cover pictures, and was included on the original soundtrack album for the film (C28A0279). A second version of this song was released in 1983 on Harada's first album Birthday album (WTP-40188), and in 1986 on her compilation album Pochette (ポシェット, Pochetto) (CA30-1326). A third version was recorded in 1987 for her greatest hits album From T (32DH-848), and a fourth one in 2007 for her twenty-fifth anniversary original album Music & Me (XNHL-13001/B).

Matsutoya versions

Matsutoya covered her own song in the same year on the B-side of her single "Dandelion" (ダンデライオン) and on her album Voyager in 1983.[7] She later rewrote it and renamed it as "Toki no Canzone" (時のカンツォーネ, Toki no Kantsōne) to be the theme song for the new, 1997 "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" film, along with another of her songs: "Yume no Naka de (夢の中で)~We are not alone, forever~", both released on the original soundtrack album for the film (TOCT-9940) and on her album Suyua no Nami (スユアの波) in 1997.[8]

Other versions

The original song was adapted in a commercial for noodles with then-beginning idol Yuki Kudo parodying the 1983 movie shortly after its release. Voice actress Ai Shimizu also covered the song as the B-side of her first single Angel Fish in 2003 (KICM-1077).

Hong Kong singer Sandy Lam covered this song in Cantonese in 1985.

See also

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 Willis 1985, p. 428: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"
  2. ↑ "TokiKake 1983 film on the SF Movie Data Bank" (in Japanese).
  3. ↑ "Nobuhiko Obayashi's 80s Kadokawa Years". Terracotta Distribution. Retrieved 2022-11-10.
  4. 1 2 Walkov, Marc (2016). "The Girl Who Leapt through Time". Far East Film Festival. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  5. 1 2 "過去興行収入上位作品 一般社団法人日本映画製作者連盟". Eiren. Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan. 1983. Retrieved 30 April 2020.
  6. ↑ "邦画興行収入ランキング". SF MOVIE DataBank. General Works. 2008. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  7. ↑ "Yumi Matsutoya's Voyager album tracks list on EMI official site" (in Japanese).
  8. ↑ "Yumi Matsutoya's Suyua no Nami album tracks list on EMI official site" (in Japanese).

References

  • Willis, Donald, ed. (1985). Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews. Garland Publishing Inc. ISBN 0-8240-6263-9.
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