I have been watching quite a bit of anime lately to get ready for the anime festival coming up on November 7th (mark your calendars). There was one anime which I loved but just didn't seem to fit the festival, so you won't get to see it on the big screen but I would recommend checking it out from the library and watching it at home. Makoto is having a bad day. She woke up late, and just barely made it to school on time. Before the end of the day she has flunked a math test, almost set the school on fire in foods class and while trying to clean a classroom Makoto slipped and fell in the science lab, spilling lab materials everywhere. Finally the day is over and all Makoto wants to do is play some baseball with her two best friends Chiaki and Kosuke. Makoto cuts the game short when she remembers her mom asked her to deliver a package to her aunt on the way home, she jumps on her bike and speeds to the museum where her aunt works.
But of course that isn't the end of Makoto's bad luck. Heading down a steep hill, the brakes on her bike fail and she is headed at high speed for a railroad crossing, and wouldn't you know it, a train just happens to be headed her way. As she hits the crossing guard rail and goes flying over the tracks, Makoto can see the train coming and her fate seems sealed. But just a split second before the train hits, Makoto is thrown into a strange dimension and when she comes to she is sitting on her bike at the top of the hill watching the train roll peacefully by below her. Makoto gets to her aunts office and tells her about the mysterious experience and her aunt explains that she "leaped through time" moving backwards, and giving her a chance to try again.
When Makoto discovers she can control this ability by literally leaping she can't stop herself from using it to fix everything that has gone wrong (and I mean everything). Sometimes it takes her a couple of tries before she gets it right but eventually Makoto gets pretty good and leaping through time (even if it does look a bit weird to have a girl jumping off the school high dive and then disappearing). I think my favorite use for her new found ability is when Makoto's friend Chiaki asks her out. Makoto is so embarassed it takes her about 5 tries to avoid the question, but Chiaki is persistent. Makoto beings to realize that leaping through time might not be all it is cut out to be, and that her actions might hurt someone else. I am normally not a fan of time travel, it makes my head hurt, but I was able to suspend reality for this story and really enjoy it. I even found myself crying at times! (you will have to watch and see what times those were) So while The Girl Who Leapt Through Time won't be playing on the big screen at the anime festival I would recommend it for just about anyone.