時をかける少女 (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time)

Animation style is really important to me... i've enjoyed many of the works produced by Madhouse so far (like Perfect Blue, Millenium Actress, Monster, Denno Coil), and yes, this movie has just added itself to that list. The characters and settings come across to the audience so simply and naturally, you find yourself almost wishing that YOU can be animated too, so that you can go melt into celluloid and live with them in that same environment!

Wasn't the Makoto & Chiaki sunset scene just so beautifully drawn?

That said, I'm not so sure the plot is fully convincing. I was sure I must have missed something since I've heard this movie's supposed to be based on a novel, except that it takes place after the novel, i.e. kinda like Part II of the novel.

I was right. So all those poignant remarks made by Makoto's Aunt really were about her own experiences of time travel. And that lingering scene with the photo of Makoto's Aunt and her 2 pals when she was young was another reference to the original novel. The synopsis of the original novel sounds really interesting and answers some questions about the future state of the world that Chiaki is in. Still, I wonder about some of the unanswered questions in 時をかける少女... like the significance of that painting... well, looks like I should get my hands on either that manga or the live-action 1983 movie!

After this movie, hope to catch Paprika in the cinema next~ And I'm really really really x100 hoping that Animation Nation 2007 brings in Tekkon Kinkreet finally... I would have ordered the DVD that's just been released, but alas it has no English subtitles! TOT Neither does the Byosoku 5 Centimeter DVD!!! orz...