View source for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (1983 film)

{{Infobox film
| name           = The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
| image          = Toki o kakeru shôjo.jpg
| alt            =
| caption        = Japanese film poster
| native_name    = {{Infobox name module|ja|時をかける少女}}
| director       = [[Nobuhiko Obayashi]]{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| producer       = {{plainlist|
*Norihiko Yamada
*Kyoko Obayashi{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}}}
| screenplay     = Wataru Kenmotsu{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| based_on       = {{based on|''[[The Girl Who Leapt Through Time]]''|[[Yasutaka Tsutsui]]}}
| starring       = {{plainlist|
*[[Tomoyo Harada]]
*Ryōichi Takayanagi
*[[Toshinori Omi]]
*Yukari Tsuda
*[[Ittoku Kishibe]]}}
| narrator       = <!-- or: |narrators = -->
| music          = [[Masataka Matsutoya]]{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| cinematography =
| editing        = Nobuhiko Obayashi{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| studio         = [[Kadokawa Corporation|Kadokawa Production]]{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| distributor    = [[Toei Company|Toei]]{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| released       = {{Film date|1983|07|16}}
| runtime        = 104 minutes{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| country        = Japan{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| language       = Japanese{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
| budget         =
| gross          = {{JPY|4.76 billion}} {{small|(Japan)}} <!--(please use condensed and rounded values, e.g. "£11.6 million" not "£11,586,221")-->
}}
{{Nihongo|'''''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'''''|時をかける少女|Toki o Kakeru Shōjo|lead=yes}} is a 1983 [[Cinema of Japan|Japanese]] [[science-fiction film]] directed and edited by [[Nobuhiko Obayashi]], written for the screen by Wataru Kenmotsu, and starring [[Japanese idol|idol]] [[Tomoyo Harada]] in her first film. It is based on the 1967 [[The Girl Who Leapt Through Time|Japanese novel of the same name]] and was released by [[Toei Company|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.generalworks.com/databank/movie/title4/tokio.html|title=TokiKake 1983 film on the SF Movie Data Bank|language=Japanese}}</ref>
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 [[List of highest-grossing non-anime Japanese films|highest-grossing Japanese film]] of 1983. It was followed by several later cinematic adaptations, including a [[The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006 film)|2006 animated film]] and a [[Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time|2010 live-action film]].
== Plot ==
On a school skiing trip, Kazuko Yoshiyama talks with her friend Goro Horikawa about her dream boyfriend appearing from the stars. The two run into their childhood friend Fukamachi Kazuo who is missing his skis. On their return to school, spring arrives.
At school their teacher reminds the class to develop their body and mind, using a folk song that Yoshiyama recognises from her childhood. After school, Yoshiyama, Horikawa, and Fukamachi are assigned to clean the classrooms; due to someone using the chemicals in the laboratory during spring break they are also told to lock it from now on. While Horikawa and Fukamachi are disposing of rubbish, Yoshiyama enters the lab and falls unconscious after a beaker smashes, releasing white smoke. Horikawa and Fukamachi take her to the nurse's clinic.
The three of them walk home together, nearly hit by a bike on the road, Fukamachi holds Yoshiyama to one side. Fukamachi, who lives with his grandparents, invites Yoshiyama briefly into the greenhouse full of lavender, which she recognises as the scent in the laboratory. Later that night Yoshiyama recalls the incident with the bike and begins to fall in love with Fukamachi. The following Sunday she returns Horikawa's handkerchief, Horikawa's parents urge him to go to university but he insists on helping the family's soy sauce business.
In school Yoshiyama begins to have strange premonitions, after embarrassing herself in class she reviews the work at home. In the evening an earthquake strikes the area and the buildings around the Horikawa family's shop catch fire. She awakes the following day (19 April) to find Horikawa on the way to school, awakening again upon the imminent danger of roof tiles falling on their heads. Yoshiyama goes to school but incorrectly assumes it's the 19 April, she relives the day in her dreams. She goes to Fukamachi in the afternoon and tells him what happened, she remembers a childhood incident wherein the two of them were singing the folk song together and playing before a mirror fell and cut both of their hands. Upon saving Horikawa from the falling roof tiles the following morning she notices that ''his'' is the hand with the visible cut on it.
Seeking out Fukamachi, he takes her through her past, where it is revealed that Fukamachi actually died along with his parents when Yoshiyama was a young girl. She visualises returning to the laboratory whereupon the teenage Fukamachi explains that he is actually a time-traveller from the year 2660 with the aim of exploring Earth for drugs based on now-extinct plant life. He inserts himself into people's memories so that they'll have a positive view of him.
A distraught Yoshiyama confesses her love for him, and whilst reciprocating he explains that he has to erase the memories of everyone he's encountered. Asking whether she'll ever see him again, he replies that even if she does, she won't recognise him. Years later, a slightly despondent adult Yoshiyama goes to work researching pharmaceuticals, she and her sister greet Fukamachi's grandparents on their way. His grandparents reflect on the years passed, telling themselves to let go of their dead grandson. At the research centre Yoshiyama and the time-traveller run into each other, each looking back without the other seeing.
== Cast ==
The following are the film's main cast.{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
*[[Tomoyo Harada]] as Kazuko Yoshiyama
*{{ill|Ryōichi Takayanagi|jp|高柳良一}} as Kazuo Fukamachi
*[[Toshinori Omi]] as Goro Horikawa
*{{ill|Yukari Tsuda|jp|津田ゆかり}} as Mariko Kamiya
*[[Ittoku Kishibe]] as Toshio Fukushima
== 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]]''.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Nobuhiko Obayashi's 80s Kadokawa Years |url=https://shop.terracottadistribution.com/products/nobuhiko-obayashi-s-80s-kadokawa-years-bluray-4-discs |access-date=2022-11-10 |publisher=Terracotta Distribution |language=en}}</ref>
==Reception==
===Box office===
''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'' was a major box-office success in Japan.<ref name="fareastfilm">{{cite web |last1=Walkov |first1=Marc |title=The Girl Who Leapt through Time |url=https://www.fareastfilm.com/eng/archive/2016/the-girl-who-leapt-through-time/?IDLYT=15535 |website=[[Far East Film Festival]] |access-date=30 April 2020 |year=2016}}</ref> It earned a distribution income ([[gross rental]]) of {{JPY|2.8 billion}} in 1983,<ref name="Eiren1983">{{cite web |title=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 |url=http://www.eiren.org/toukei/1983.html |website=Eiren |publisher=Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan |year=1983 |access-date=30 April 2020}}</ref> becoming the second [[List of highest-grossing non-anime Japanese films|highest-grossing Japanese film]] of 1983, behind only ''[[Antarctica (1983 film)|Antarctica]]''.<ref name="Eiren1983"/> The total box office [[gross revenue]] of ''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'' was {{JPY|4.76 billion}} in Japan.<ref name="databank">{{cite web |title=邦画興行収入ランキング |url=http://www.generalworks.com/databank/movie/rank04.html |website=SF MOVIE DataBank |publisher=General Works |year=2008 |access-date=19 February 2019}}</ref>
===Critical reception===
In 1985, Donald Willis of ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' described the film as "more affecting than affected, informed less by cloying sentimentality and relatively honest sentiment."{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}} 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."{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}} 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."{{sfn|Willis|1985|p=428|ps=: "Review is from Toei screening room in Tokyo on July 15, 1983"}}
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 (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.<ref name="fareastfilm"/>
== Theme song ==
{{Infobox song
| name       = Toki o Kakeru Shōjo
| cover      = Toki o Kakeru Shōjo single.jpg
| alt        =
| type       = single
| artist     = [[Tomoyo Harada]]
| album      = Toki o Kakeru Shōjo - Original Soundtrack
| released   = April 21, 1983
| recorded   =
| studio     =
| venue      =
| genre      = [[Pop music|Pop]]
| length     =
| label      = [[Pony Canyon|Canyon Records]]
| writer     = [[Yumi Matsutoya]]
| producer   =
| prev_title =
| prev_year  =
| next_title =
| next_year  =
}}
{{More citations needed section|date=November 2015}}
The song {{Nihongo|"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 [[Japanese idol|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 <small>(7A0275)</small>, 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 <small>(C28A0279)</small>. A second version of this song was released in 1983 on Harada's first album ''Birthday album'' <small>(WTP-40188)</small>, and  in 1986 on her compilation album {{Nihongo|''Pochette''|ポシェット|Pochetto}} <small>(CA30-1326)</small>. A third version was recorded in 1987 for her [[greatest hits]] album ''From T'' <small>(32DH-848)</small>, and a fourth one in 2007 for her twenty-fifth anniversary original album ''Music & Me'' <small>(XNHL-13001/B)</small>.
===Matsutoya versions===
Matsutoya covered her own song in the same year on the B-side of her single {{Nihongo|"Dandelion"|ダンデライオン}} and on her album ''Voyager'' in 1983.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.emimusic.jp/yuming/disco/15/index_j.htm|title=Yumi Matsutoya's ''Voyager'' album tracks list on EMI official site|language=Japanese}}</ref> She later rewrote it and renamed it as {{Nihongo|"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: "{{Nihongo|Yume no Naka de|夢の中で}}~We are not alone, forever~", both released on the original soundtrack album for the film <small>(TOCT-9940)</small> and on her album {{Nihongo|''Suyua no Nami''|スユアの波}} in 1997.<ref>{{cite web|url= http://www.emimusic.jp/yuming/disco/29/index_j.htm|title=Yumi Matsutoya's ''Suyua no Nami'' album tracks list on EMI official site|language=Japanese}}</ref>
===Other versions===
The original song was adapted in a commercial for noodles with then-beginning [[Japanese idol|idol]] [[Yuki Kudo]] parodying the 1983 movie shortly after its release. [[Seiyū|Voice actress]] [[Ai Shimizu]] also covered the song as the B-side of her first single ''Angel Fish'' in 2003 <small>(KICM-1077)</small>.
Hong Kong singer [[Sandy Lam]] covered this song in Cantonese in 1985.
==See also==
* [[List of films featuring time loops]]
== Notes ==
{{reflist}}
== References ==
{{Refbegin}}
* {{cite book
|editor-last=Willis
|editor-first=Donald
|title=Variety's Complete Science Fiction Reviews
|publisher=Garland Publishing Inc.
|isbn=0-8240-6263-9
|year=1985
}}
{{refend}}
== External links ==
* {{IMDb title|id=0086456|title=The Girl Who Leapt Through Time}}
{{Nobuhiko Obayashi}}
{{The Girl Who Leapt Through Time}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girl Who Leapt Through Time 1983 Film}}
[[Category:1983 films]]
[[Category:Japanese science fiction films]]
[[Category:1980s films about time travel]]
[[Category:Films based on Japanese novels]]
[[Category:Films shot in Onomichi]]
[[Category:1980s romance films]]
[[Category:Toei Company films]]
[[Category:The Girl Who Leapt Through Time]]
[[Category:1983 science fiction films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi]]
[[Category:Time loop films]]
[[Category:1980s Japanese films]]