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Part time-travel adventure, part adolescent romance, Mamoru Hosoda’s award-winning anime centres on accident-prone tomboy Makoto (voiced by Riisa Naka), a Japanese schoolgirl who discovers she has the ability to jump back through time by, literally, leaping. At first, Makoto uses her newfound skill to score better marks on a surprise test or nab her favourite dessert from the fridge before her younger sister does. But then she graduates to more life and death matters, particularly regarding her two best (male) friends, one of whom has a crush on her. Based on an oft-adapted ’60s sci-fi novel, this charming, visually fertile film captures the conflicted emotions of first love and embarrassment of being a teen with real sensitivity.
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