The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006): Synopsis (Spoilers) and Analysis—The Message Hidden in the Painting

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time(Official), in Japanese is a feature-length animated film directed by Mamoru Hosoda, released on July 15, 2006. It is based on the science fiction novel of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui, featuring a new story with Makoto Konno, the niece of the original protagonist, as the main character. (The time setting of the original work has also been subtly changed; for details, please refer to “Outline of the Original Novel and Differences”.)

The story depicts Makoto, a high school girl who accidentally acquires the ability to “Time Leap” (jump through time), growing up through the worries of youth, love, and unavoidable partings.

In this article, I will thoroughly explain the synopsis of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” in chronological order, providing a spoiler-free synopsis for those who “haven’t watched it yet” and a detailed synopsis up to the ending (with spoilers) for those who “have finished watching it.” Furthermore, I would like to summarize my analysis of the story and the “slight” questions left in the work.

First, let’s look back at the basic information of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.”

*This article is an English translation of the original Japanese article, “「時をかける少女(2006年)」のあらすじ(ネタバレあり)と解説・考察-絵画に込められた物語のメッセージ-”.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) Basic Information

Film Overview

List of Main Characters and Voice Actors (Cast)

Character Map

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) Synopsis (No Spoilers)

The protagonist of the story is Makoto Konno, a second-year student at Kuranose High School in the old downtown area of Tokyo. She spends her days playing baseball and joking around with Kosuke Tsuda, a brilliant medical school aspirant, and Chiaki Mamiya, a free-spirited transfer student who came in the spring. They live an ordinary, yet brilliant high school life found anywhere.

On July 13th after school, Makoto’s fate changes drastically. While carrying notebooks to the science room for her day duty, Makoto hears a suspicious noise from the unoccupied science preparation room and enters. It seems like no one is there, but the moment she gets distracted by a mysterious small walnut-shaped sphere on the floor, she suddenly senses someone’s presence, gets startled, and falls. In doing so, her elbow touches the small sphere. After being enveloped in a mysterious blinding light, she finds herself lying in the preparation room as if nothing had happened.

She tells Kosuke and Chiaki about this strange experience, but they laugh it off and don’t take her seriously. After parting with the two, Makoto heads to the Tokyo National Museum, where her aunt Kazuko Yoshiyama—known as “Auntie Witch”—works, to deliver peaches she received from her grandmother.

On the way, a desperate crisis strikes Makoto as she rides her bicycle down a long slope. The brakes on her bicycle fail, and she speeds out of control, plunging into a railroad crossing where the barrier has come down. The train is approaching right before her eyes, and the moment she braces herself for death—. When she comes to, Makoto is somehow back in the middle of the slope, a little before the accident occurred. The future where she was hit by the train had vanished.

She rushes to the museum and tells her aunt what happened. Her aunt, not looking surprised, tells her that it is a “Time Leap.” Furthermore, she says, “It’s common for girls around your age,” and even lightly encourages her, saying, “Show me.” Makoto returns home half in doubt, but she keeps thinking about the mysterious phenomenon that happened to her body. “If I can really leap through time, maybe I can do it again.”

Determined, Makoto takes a running start on the riverbed and dives into the river with all her might. Then, she successfully returns to July 12th—yesterday. There was the pudding before her sister ate it without permission. That “Time Leap” ended at a good point, and she fell into the river, but Makoto, having gotten the hang of it, leaps through time again and succeeds in eating the long-awaited pudding. Thus, for Makoto, the “Time Leap” became a convenient “power” that she could handle in reality.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) Full Synopsis (Spoilers)

Part 1: Invincible Daily Life and an Unexpected Confession

Makoto Konno, a second-year student at Kuranose High School in Tokyo, was living a mundane but fun life playing baseball and hanging out with her friends Kosuke Tsuda and Chiaki Mamiya. On the afternoon of July 13th, when Makoto carried notebooks into the science preparation room for her day duty, she heard a noise from the room where no one was supposed to be. When she peeked into the back, she felt something like a human figure, but at first glance, it seemed no one was there. However, at that moment, she was distracted by a mysterious metal sphere on the floor, and suddenly sensing someone’s presence behind her, she was startled and fell. At that time, Makoto’s elbow touched the small sphere, but after being enveloped in a blinding light, she found herself lying in the preparation room when she came to.

She tells Kosuke and Chiaki about this fact, but they didn’t take her seriously. Makoto, who parted with the two, goes to deliver peaches sent by her grandmother to the Tokyo National Museum where her aunt (Auntie Witch), Kazuko Yoshiyama, works.

On the way, Makoto was going down a slope on her bicycle, but the brakes didn’t work, and she was run over by a train. However… when she realized it, Makoto was in the middle of the slope and had not been run over by the train.

Makoto rushed to the museum and told her aunt what happened, but her aunt started saying that it was a “Time Leap” without showing any surprise. Moreover, she said it was not rare, and it was common for girls around Makoto’s age, even lightly saying, “Show me.” Even after talking to her aunt, Makoto, who had the mysterious experience, rather deepened her doubts about what had happened to her.

Even after returning home, Makoto continues to think about what happened to her. Assuming her aunt’s story is true, what she experienced was a “Time Leap,” and since she leaped once, she is driven by the thought that she might be able to do it again. Then, Makoto, who decided to jump toward the river on the riverbed, arrives at her home on July 12th (the previous day). There, she discovers the pudding that was eaten by her sister without permission but… she returns to the original time before eating it and falls into the river. However, Makoto, who grasped the feeling, returns to the previous day again and succeeds in eating the pudding this time. For Makoto, the “Time Leap” had already become a real power she could handle.

Makoto, who became able to freely manipulate the ability of “Time Leap,” begins to waste that power to her heart’s content. If there was a pop quiz, she would turn back time to get a perfect score, avoid failures in home economics cooking practice, and sing for hours at karaoke by repeating “Time Leap.” It was truly an invincible everyday life where she could cancel out all unpleasant things and failures.

When she conveys this situation to her aunt Kazuko, she says slightly admonishing words, “Since Makoto is having a good time, isn’t there someone suffering somewhere?” However, the weight of those words did not reach Makoto at that time.

One day, when the three of them were about to play baseball as usual, they encountered a scene where Kosuke was confessed to by a junior female student, Kaho Fujitani. However, for some reason, Kosuke rejects the confession. On the way home, Makoto and Chiaki, who were alone after parting with Kosuke, were excited about the topic of Kosuke. In that flow, Chiaki suddenly tells Makoto, “Makoto, why don’t you go out with me? I mean, if Kosuke gets a girlfriend.”

Makoto, fearing that their friendship would break and confused by words she had never imagined, immediately uses “Time Leap” to rewind time. She desperately tries to avoid the timing when Chiaki confesses, but no matter how many times she goes back, Chiaki conveys his feelings in different forms. Eventually, Makoto chooses to forcefully divert the conversation, extinguishing the situation where he confesses itself, getting through the moment, and returning home alone.

Part 2: Relationship Beginning to Distort and a Tragedy of Substitution

Due to Makoto’s Time Leap, Chiaki is in a state where he doesn’t even remember “that he confessed to Makoto,” but Makoto herself becomes conscious of him and feels unilaterally awkward. Meanwhile, the “distortion” caused by Makoto continuing to create convenient situations gradually begins to affect those around her.

As a result of Makoto pushing the trouble in cooking practice onto another male student, that student becomes the target of bullying. Furthermore, an incident occurs where Makoto’s friend and classmate Yuri Hayakawa, who is interested in Chiaki, gets injured in a dispute that shouldn’t have happened. Triggered by this injury, Chiaki ends up going to the infirmary with Yuri, and in the flow of events, they end up going on a date. Moreover, Chiaki seems to be interested in dating Yuri. Although she was supposed to have pushed him away herself, when it comes to Chiaki dating someone else, Makoto couldn’t help but feel irrational irritation.

That night, while taking a bath, Makoto notices that the number “90” has appeared on her left elbow. Actually, it was a mirror image of “06,” but she didn’t think deeply about its meaning.

Part 3: Repeated Time and an Irreversible Accident

Just then, Makoto receives a consultation about Kosuke from the junior student Kaho, who had previously confessed to Kosuke. Makoto, deciding to help as a friend, repeats “Time Leap” many times and manages to set up a good atmosphere between Kosuke and Kaho. However, when she suddenly notices, the number on her left elbow has decreased to “01.” This was the remaining number of times she could Time Leap.

The time Makoto returned to by running around for Kaho and Kosuke was coincidentally the time zone when the “incident in the science preparation room,” which triggered Makoto’s first Time Leap, occurred. To find out who was in the preparation room at that time, Makoto lies in wait in the science room. It was her classmate Yuri who appeared there. She was holding the notebook that Makoto was originally supposed to carry.

When Makoto asks Kaho if she saw anyone, she receives a text message from Kosuke on her mobile saying “I’m borrowing your bicycle,” and Makoto shudders. That bicycle was still in a state where the brakes were broken, just like when she had an accident before. Makoto realizes that the accident she experienced is now going to befall Kosuke, and she starts running desperately. While watching Makoto like that, Yuri mutters, “The one I passed when coming here was Chiaki.”

Makoto, rushing to the railroad crossing at the bottom of the slope, receives a call from Chiaki. Makoto is relieved to find out that Kosuke is at home (actually, Kosuke had taken the injured Kaho to his family’s hospital), but the conversation with Chiaki proceeds in an unexpected direction. “Are you time leaping?” Agitated by Chiaki’s question striking the core, Makoto impulsively uses the last “1 time” to Time Leap and returns to the time before that question was asked.

She succeeded in avoiding the question, but the number on her left elbow became “00,” and she can never go back to the past again. At that moment, Kosuke, with Kaho on the back, crosses in front of Makoto on the bicycle. The bicycle with ineffective brakes runs out of control down the slope and plunges into the railroad crossing where the barrier is down. Makoto chases desperately but doesn’t make it in time. In front of Makoto, who can only scream “Stop!”, the bicycle is on the verge of collision with the train.

Part 4: Stopped Time and the Future Person

At the moment of impact, the entire world loses its color, and time stops completely. In the motionless scenery, only Chiaki appears in front of Makoto and speaks quietly. “If I said I came from the future, would you laugh?”

Chiaki was a human who came from a distant future era. He says that in his era, “Time Leap” has been scientifically realized and works by charging the body. The walnut-like sphere that Makoto found in the science preparation room was the “Time Leap Machine” that Chiaki had lost, and because Makoto used it, the number of times left for him was also few.

His purpose for coming to the past was only one. It was to see “a certain painting (White Plum, Camellia, and Chrysanthemum)” exhibited at the Tokyo National Museum in this era. In the future he lives in, that painting has been lost, and according to records, it certainly existed in this place, in this season, in this era.

However, Chiaki says he used the “last 1 time” he had saved to return to the future in order to save Kosuke and the others from the accident, stopping time. And having broken the future rule that one must not reveal the existence of time leaps to people of the past, he now had to disappear from before Makoto and the others. “See ya.” Leaving those words, Chiaki disappeared into the crowd that began to move.

Ending: Waiting in the Future

In the world where time began to move, the accident of Kosuke and Kaho was avoided, but Chiaki had suddenly disappeared in the form of “voluntary withdrawal.” Makoto deeply regrets and wails that Chiaki became unable to return to the future because he protected her, and that he reset even the memory of having the important conversation.

That night, Makoto confesses everything to her aunt Kazuko on the rooftop. Kazuko tells her that she also had a similar experience when she was a high school student, and the person she fell in love with left saying, “I will definitely come back someday.” Then she pushes Makoto forward, saying, “You are the kind of person who runs to meet someone who is late for a meeting, right?”

Makoto was in despair, but when she casually looks at her left elbow, she notices that the number has returned to “01.” Since Chiaki stopped time and turned back time to “before Kosuke met with the accident (= before Makoto used the last 1 time),” the 1 time Makoto consumed had been restored.

Makoto uses the last Time Leap to return to the science preparation room on July 13th, that day when everything began. Going back in time and reuniting with Chiaki, who knew nothing yet, Makoto tells him that she knows everything about the Time Leap and the future. And she promises to protect that painting Chiaki wanted to see so that it remains in the future no matter how much time passes.

The time of parting. Makoto desperately tries to smile and send off Chiaki, who should return to the future. She swallows the words “I love you” that she couldn’t say that day. However, Chiaki, who was about to leave, turns around, pulls Makoto close, and whispers in her ear. “I’ll be waiting in the future.”

Makoto responds powerfully while shedding tears. “I’ll go right away. I’ll run.”

After that, it was decided that Chiaki officially left school for the reason of “studying abroad.” Kosuke, who doesn’t know the circumstances, seemed unconvinced by the sudden farewell, but Makoto says brightly while looking up at the sky. “He decided what he wants to do, surely.” And she swears in her heart that she herself has also found what she should do. Under the sky where summer cumulonimbus clouds spread, their future was expanding infinitely.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) Explanation and Analysis

Outline of the Original Novel and Differences—Double Time Slide—

As mentioned at the beginning, “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” is based on the science fiction novel of the same name by Yasutaka Tsutsui, but I think it is meaningful to check how it relates to the original.

The protagonist of the original work is Kazuko Yoshiyama, who is the “Auntie Witch” in this work.

Summarizing the story of the original extremely briefly yields the following:

One might think that smelling lavender wouldn’t give you the ability to time leap, but in reality, it is the “scent of a special chemical necessary for time travel” that is the cause.

Also, what is extremely important is the fact that Kazuko loses her memory in the original work. This gimmick creates a great sadness, but in the Hosoda version, Kazuko has not lost her memory and is self-aware of the person she is waiting for.

Furthermore, the time setting is a bit complicated.

Yasutaka Tsutsui’s novel is set in the “present day” of the time it was published, so normally thinking, it would be the 1960s. Since the Hosoda version was released in 2006, and it seems to be the modern day for Makoto and the others, thinking directly would mean that Kazuko had the mysterious experience about 40 years ago. However, since Kazuko’s first love was when she was a high school student, the time doesn’t match.

This means that while using Yasutaka Tsutsui’s “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” as the original, the work slides that story to 2006, and at the same time, it implies that the era of Kazuko’s story was also slid. Summarizing it in a table looks like this.

Basically, regarding the relationship with the “original,” knowing this much is sufficient, but what complicates the situation further is the film “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi released in 1983. Of course, this is also based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s novel, but the time setting is splendidly set in the 1980s.

Until the Hosoda version was released, speaking of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” generally referred to the Obayashi version (at least for me).

Moreover, while Kazuko in the Tsutsui version is a third-year junior high school student, Kazuko in the Obayashi version is a second-year high school student (first-year high school student at the start of the movie). Since Kazuko in the Hosoda version says, “When I was a high school student, I fell in love with someone for the first time,” the Obayashi version fits better.

I don’t know the internal details of the production side, but when publicly declaring the “original” of this work, it has to be Yasutaka Tsutsui’s novel (including rights relations), so it is impossible to treat the Obayashi version as the original. Therefore, even if the Obayashi version was heavily assumed, I think the original is Yasutaka Tsutsui.

After all, if you want to know the content of the original, watching the Nobuhiko Obayashi version of the movie is no problem.

So, for those who are curious about the original, please watch the Obayashi version (there are minor differences from the original, but rest assured there are no decisive differences).

What This Movie Wanted to Depict—The Mysterious Painting and the Thoughts of Those Who Leap Through Time—

Including the Hosoda version of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time,” every “Tokikake” is basically a straightforward story, and there seem to be no particular questions. The important thing is that it is a “youth ensemble drama,” and it seems unnecessary to think about anything more than that.

Regarding “Time Leap (Time Travel),” since there is no particular explanation, it is merely a gimmick for playwriting and not the essence of the story. Therefore, I personally think it is a waste of time to think about it.

However, the question that inevitably remains when thinking about this movie is that painting that Chiaki wanted to see the real thing even by crossing time.

In the first place, you may wonder if that painting really exists, but that is a fictional painting drawn by Toshio Hirata (passed away in 2014), an animator and film director, and the title is “White Plum, Camellia, and Chrysanthemum (Hakubai ni Tsubaki Kiku Zu).”

And above all, the questions remain: “What is the meaning of depicting that painting as an extremely important element?” and “What is the reason Chiaki came all the way from the future to see that painting?”

From here, I would like to consider what this work tried to depict (the message) using that painting as a hook. First, let’s summarize the information about the painting in the work.

Statements Surrounding “White Plum, Camellia, and Chrysanthemum” in the Main Story

The hints about the painting in the work are only a few lines from the characters. Kazuko spoke as follows:

“This painting was drawn during an era of historic great wars and famines hundreds of years ago. I wonder how someone could draw such a painting when the ‘world’ was about to end.”

(Original Text in Japanese)
「この絵が描かれたのは、何百年も前の歴史的な大戦争と飢饉の時代。『世界』が終わろうとしてた時、どうしてこんな絵が描けたのかしらね。」

Although not direct information, Chiaki’s following statement is also important:

“There was a painting I absolutely wanted to see. No matter how far away it was, no matter what place it was in, no matter how dangerous it was, it was a painting I wanted to see.”

(Original Text in Japanese)
「どうしても見たい絵があったんだ。どれだけ遠くにあっても、どんな場所にあっても、どれだけ危険でも見たかった絵なんだ。」

“I saw a river flowing on the ground for the first time. I rode a bicycle for the first time. I learned for the first time that the sky is so wide. Above all, I saw a place with so many people for the first time.”

(Original Text in Japanese)
「川が地面を流れているのを初めて見た。自転車に初めて乗った。空がこんなに広いことを初めて知った。何よりこんなに人がたくさんいるところを初めて見た。」

What can be understood from the above is,

That would be the conclusion.

What the Painting Symbolizes—The Thoughts of Those Who Leap Through Time—

The era in which the painting appearing in the work was drawn and the era in which Chiaki lived are completely different, but the important thing is the fact that a painting by an unknown artist still touched Chiaki’s heart.

In other words, the thoughts of a single painter who did not abandon hope even during the war and entrusted those thoughts to the future reached Chiaki across time and space.

This means that what that painting, which was a very meaningful existence, symbolizes is “human thoughts” themselves.

Moreover, that painting is the result of keeping that thought in form even amidst the despair of war. The fact that the desperate action of a mysterious author whose name is unknown evoked the action of a young man across centuries makes it a moving story in itself.

On the other hand, I think it is also important that the mysterious painter desperately “gave form” to that thought.

No matter what thoughts there were, if that painter had not painted, those thoughts would never have reached Chiaki across time and space. The desperate activity of a painter whose name is unknown fundamentally influences the story “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time.”

Message of the Story—Do Not Stop Activities—

Premising on the above, if I were to state the message of this story, wouldn’t it be “Never stop your activities; that moment will surely transcend time and space and lead to the future!”?

Come to think of it, in this work, “career path” was also depicted as an exquisite gimmick. Of course, there is a view that it is natural since it depicts high school students, but that means it is also a process of deciding one’s own “steps” and “activities.” Rather than being depicted inevitably because it depicts high school students, I think it is depicted as an important element for the theme and message of the story.

And that can also be seen as an expression of the determination and resolution of the production side making the movie. Just as the mysterious painter did not stop painting even in times of hardship, I think the thought “We will never stop making movies!” is riding on that work.

Furthermore, this also explains the reason why the setting was changed even though the protagonist loses her memory in the original.

Normally, the sadness as a love story increases if memories are lost, but I think this time a “reason to step into the future” was needed.

Of course, just like the original, “forgetting important things but somehow being attracted to that painting and protecting it” is good in its own way, but I think the future of Makoto and Chiaki becomes more vivid if the memory remains.

What Should Be Imagined to Affirm the Sad Ending—The Future Not Depicted—

At the end of the story, Chiaki and Makoto make a very sad promise: “I’ll be waiting in the future” and “I’ll go right away. I’ll run.” One might wonder if the two were able to fulfill this promise, but basically, it is hopeless. No matter how you think about it, the two will not reunite directly.

Just looking at the main story, Chiaki is a resident of a future where a “Time Machine” has been developed. Probably, a “Time Machine” will not be developed in three days, so it is reasonable to think of it as a hopelessly distant future. Moreover, in the original work, the future person Kazuko met came from the year 2660 A.D. There is no basis that Chiaki comes from around the same time, but that much time interval would be necessary (because even Doraemon came from 2112 A.D.).

However, we must not despair there (we must not stop the “activity” of thinking).

What we should imagine is the outcome of the future Makoto decided. What happened to “White Plum, Camellia, and Chrysanthemum” due to her desperate “activity”?

How to think about this seems to be influenced by various factors such as the person’s situation and age, but I think this is the point.

I think that “White Plum, Camellia, and Chrysanthemum” remains even in the distant future world where Chiaki lives.

If you imagine the moment when Chiaki sees “White Plum, Camellia, and Chrysanthemum” in the future, isn’t there something that touches your heart? Since it is impossible for the two to reunite in reality, thinking simply about the fulfillment of love leads to a disappointing result, but I think we can still think that the noble thought of “wanting to deliver something to someone” has borne fruit.

It would have been fine just to show Chiaki looking at “White Plum, Camellia, and Chrysanthemum” for a moment after the end credits, but this probably means that room for imagination was left. How would you think about it?

Slight Questions and Points to Retort

The explanation and analysis are finished up to here, but I would like to summarize the questions and “points to retort” unique to “SF stuff.”

The first is about the specifications of “Time Leap” in this work.

What is important is the scene where Makoto jumps at the riverside and succeeds in “Time Leap.” In that scene, Makoto was wearing loungewear, but in the picture after the “Time Leap,” she is wearing a uniform. Usually, when you say “Time Leap,” you think that the person’s body moves across time and space, but if so, it is strange that the clothes change.

Then, it can be thought that what is moving is not the “body” but the “spirit.” However, if we think so, Chiaki cannot come to the modern era by “Time Leap.”

In any case, the specifications of that walnut-shaped “Time Machine” are extremely mysterious.

And the second is the problem of how the school side recognized the reason why Chiaki disappeared.

In the flow at the very beginning, when Chiaki disappears, the reason is “voluntary withdrawal,” and finally, it is supposed that he left school for the reason of “studying abroad.”

How did the school side recognize that?

As a situation, since Chiaki disappears suddenly, superficially it is “missing.” However, it has not become like that at all, and it looks like the school properly grasps the reason for Chiaki’s disappearance.

Perhaps the super science of the future had created a device that manipulates human perception in addition to the walnut-shaped “Time Machine,” but if so, I wanted them to say so. Although it becomes opportunistic, as in the first question, since the “Time Leap” of this work is mysterious in the first place, isn’t that level of opportunism acceptable?

These things are due to the story being made on the premise of the “impossible phenomenon” called “Time Leap,” and this work is not the only one that has points to retort. However… these are places where I cannot help but retort. Although it is a trivial matter.

---

The above was the synopsis of “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” and the analysis and explanation of the work that I summarized. It seems to be a popular work among Hosoda’s works, but personally, perhaps because I watched the Nobuhiko Obayashi version first, I didn’t think it was that good of a work. Personally, I like “Summer Wars” better.

What kind of work was “The Girl Who Leapt Through Time” for you?