is a
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel univ ...
novel by
Yasutaka Tsutsui. Originally serialized from 1965 to 1966, it tells the story of a high-school girl who accidentally acquires the ability to
time travel
Time travel is the concept of movement between certain points in time, analogous to movement between different points in space by an object or a person, typically with the use of a hypothetical device known as a time machine. Time travel is a ...
, which leads to a
time loop
The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. The term "time loop" is sometimes u ...
where she repeatedly relives the same day.
Originally serialised in seven installments in two of
Gakken
is a Japanese publishing company founded in 1947 by Hideto Furuoka, which also produces educational toys. Their annual sales is reported at ¥ 90 billion ($789 million US).
Gakken publishes educational books and magazines and produces other ...
's
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
student-aimed magazines, beginning in ''Chūgaku Sannen Course'' in November 1965 and ending in ''Kō Ichi Course'' in May 1966, and first published as a book in 1967 by
Kadokawa Shoten
, formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines ...
, it has gone on to become one of Tsutsui's most popular works and has been reinterpreted in other media many times, the most famous internationally being a
1983 live-action film directed by
Nobuhiko Ōbayashi, and a
2006 anime film directed by
Mamoru Hosoda. The original novel was first published in English translation by the British publisher Alma Books on May 26, 2011, in a translation by David James Karashima.
The title is also that of a song, written by
Yumi Matsutōya to be performed by
Tomoyo Harada for the 1983 film, which has enjoyed considerable fame of its own.
Plot
Kazuko Yoshiyama, a third-year
middle school
A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary schoo ...
student, is cleaning the school science lab with her classmates, Kazuo Fukamachi and Gorō Asakura, when she smells a
lavender
''Lavandula'' (common name lavender) is a genus of 47 known species of flowering plants in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It is native to the Old World and is found in Cape Verde and the Canary Islands, and from Europe across to northern and east ...
-like scent and faints. After three days, events transpire around Kazuko, including the burning of Gorō's house after an earthquake. The next morning, at the exact moment of a car accident, Kazuko is transported 24 hours into the past.
She relives the day and relates her strange experience to Kazuo and Gorō. They do not believe her at first, but they are convinced when she accurately predicts the earthquake and ensuing fire. Goro also almost gets hit by a truck but Kazuko knows and tells him, so it adds to Goro believing her even more. They go to see Fukushima, their science teacher, explains Kazuko's new ability as "
teleportation
Teleportation is the hypothetical transfer of matter or energy from one point to another without traversing the physical space between them. It is a common subject in science fiction literature and in other popular culture. Teleportation is oft ...
" and "
time-leap". To solve the riddle of her power, she must leap back four days.
Finally, Kazuko's determination enables her to make the leap. Back in the science room, she meets a mysterious man who has assumed her friend Kazuo's identity. He is really "Ken Sogoru", a time-traveler from AD 2660. His intersection with the girl's life is the accidental effect of a "time-leaping" drug. Ken remains for a month, and Kazuko falls in love with him. When he leaves, he erases all memories of himself from everyone he has met, including Kazuko. As the book ends, Kazuko has the faint memory of somebody promising to meet her again every time she smells lavender.
Publication history
The novel was first serialized in the Japanese youth magazines Chu-3 Course and Kō-1 Course, from November 1965 to May 1966, and has been regularly re-edited in Japan ever since, notably in 1967
(), in 1997 for the release of the second film
(), and in a new version in 2006 for the release of the animated film, including two more stories: ''Akumu no shinsô'' and ''Hateshinaki tagen uchû''
(). The novel is also published in foreign countries, like France (''La Traversée du temps'', 1983), South Korea, and China.
According to the scholar Ulrich Heinze, the novel represents the first fully formed version of time travel as an exploration of
self
The self is an individual as the object of that individual’s own reflective consciousness. Since the ''self'' is a reference by a subject to the same subject, this reference is necessarily subjective. The sense of having a self—or ''selfhoo ...
. In contrast to other time travel stories up until the 1960s which typically involved expeditions, ''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'' limited the time jumps to a short period to examine adolescence. It was also an early example of a
time loop
The time loop or temporal loop is a plot device in fiction whereby characters re-experience a span of time which is repeated, sometimes more than once, with some hope of breaking out of the cycle of repetition. The term "time loop" is sometimes u ...
narrative, anticipating plot elements of the later
Hollywood film
The cinema of the United States, consisting mainly of major film studios (also known as Hollywood) along with some independent film, has had a large effect on the global film industry since the early 20th century. The dominant style of Amer ...
''
Groundhog Day
Groundhog Day ( pdc, Grund'sau dåk, , , ; Nova Scotia: Daks Day) is a popular North American tradition observed in the United States and Canada on February 2. It derives from the Pennsylvania Dutch superstition that if a groundhog emerges fr ...
'' (1993).
Adaptations
1972 television series
NHK produced two adaptations titled ''Time Traveler'' and ''Zoku Time Traveler'', aired in 1972. Starring Mayumi Asano.
1983 film
The 1983 live-action film is a direct adaptation of the novel, released on July 16, 1983 in Japan by
Tōei, directed by
Nobuhiko Ōbayashi, with a screenplay by Wataru Kenmotsu, and starring idol
Tomoyo Harada in her first film. It's been since released internationally on DVD, with English subtitles, under several unofficial English titles (''The Little Girl Who Conquered Time'', ''Girl of Time'', ''The Girl Who Cut Time'', among others).
This film was a major box office hit in Japan.
It was the second
highest-grossing Japanese film of 1983.
1983 short story
Yasutaka Tsutsui wrote a short story parodying his own novel titled ''Scenario: Toki o Kakeru Shōjo'' in response to the film adaptation.
1985 drama
Adapted to an episode of ''Getsuyō Drama Land''. Starring
Yoko Minamino
, also known as Nanno (ナンノ), is a Japanese actress and singer. She graduated from Horikoshi High School. She played Saki Asamiya in the second season of the live action ''Sukeban Deka'' TV series replacing fellow idol star Yuki Saitō. She ...
.
1994 drama
The second
live-action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video g ...
television adaptation aired as a five-episode Japanese television
live-action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video g ...
TV series broadcast on
Fuji Television
JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sy ...
between February 19 and March 19, 1994. It was directed by
Masayuki Ochiai and Yūichi Satō, with screenplay by
Ryōichi Kimizuka and music by
Joe Hisaishi. It stars the then-rookie
idol
Idol or Idols may refer to:
Religion and philosophy
* Cult image, a neutral term for a man-made object that is worshipped or venerated for the deity, spirit or demon that it embodies or represents
* Murti, a point of focus for devotion or medit ...
Yuki Uchida in the main role.
1997 film
The second
live-action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video g ...
film adaptation of was released in Japan on November 8, 1997, directed by
Haruki Kadokawa, with a screenplay by Ryōji Itō, Chiho Katsura and Haruki Kadokawa, starring beginner
Nana Nakamoto in the main role.
2002 TV film
The novel was adapted into one third of the ''Shinshun! Love Stories'' anthology film starring members of the all-girl
J-pop
J-pop ( ja, ジェイポップ, ''jeipoppu''; often stylized as J-POP; an abbreviated form of "Japanese popular music"), natively also known simply as , is the name for a form of popular music that entered the musical mainstream of Japan in the 1 ...
group
Morning Musume
, formerly simply and colloquially referred to as , are a Japanese girl group, holding the second highest overall single sales (of a female group) on the Oricon charts as of February 2012, with the Oricon record of most top ten singles with an ...
. The segment was written by
Toshio Terada, starring
Abe Natsumi and directed by
Kazuhiro Onohara.
2006 anime film
''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'' was produced by the animation studio
Madhouse and distributed through
Kadokawa Herald Pictures, first released in theaters in Japan on July 15, 2006. The film was later released on
DVD on April 20, 2007 in Japan in regular and limited editions. The protagonist of the novel is the aunt of the film's protagonist.
2010 film
A third Japanese
live-action
Live action (or live-action) is a form of cinematography or videography that uses photography instead of animation. Some works combine live-action with animation to create a live-action animated film. Live-action is used to define film, video g ...
film adaptation of ''The Girl Who Leapt Through Time'' was announced in Yahoo Japan and released on March 13, 2010. The theme song of the film was performed by
Ikimono-gakari
The romanization of the group's name does not have the hyphen according to Sony's websites for their albums. is a Japanese pop rock duo from Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan consisting of Yoshiki Mizuno and Kiyoe Yoshioka. The group started in Februa ...
. The movie features
Riisa Naka, who previously voiced the protagonist Makoto Konno in the 2006 animated film, as the lead character, Akari Yoshiyama, the daughter of Kazuko Yoshiyama. The film is a sequel to the original tale in which Kazuko's daughter, Akari, travels back in time to relay a message to Ken.
2016 drama
A 5 episode live-action television series was aired in 2016, with
Fuma Kikuchi of
Sexy Zone and
Yuina Kuroshima.
2017 stage play
A stage play adaptation of ''Zoku Time Traveler'' premiered in
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...
in 2017.
Manga
The novel was adapted in 2004 into a two-volume
manga
Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...
called , illustrated by
Gaku Tsugano, and story by
Yasutaka Tsutsui ( & ). The manga was released in English in October 2008 by
CMX Manga
CMX was an imprint of DC Comics, a division of Warner Bros. Entertainment. It was DC's line of manga translations. CMX was known for its censored release of ''Tenjho Tenge'' and the print version of Fred Gallagher's ''Megatokyo'' web manga se ...
. A manga adaptation of the 2006 anime film was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's ''
Shōnen Ace'' manga magazine between April 26 and June 26, 2006, illustrated by
Ranmaru Kotone; the chapters were later collected into a single
bound volume which went on sale on July 26, 2006. Another manga, known as , set as prelude to the 2010 film was serialized in ''
Young Ace'' magazine.
[http://zepy.momotato.com/2009/10/09/toki-wo-kakeru-shoujo-new-movies-manga/ Toki wo kakeru shoujo new movie's manga]
References
External links
*
Fansite for the 1972 ''Time Traveler'' TV series adaptationReview of ''Toki o Kakeru Shōjo''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Girl Who Leapt Through Time
Kadokawa Dwango franchises
1967 children's books
1967 science fiction novels
Children's science fiction novels
Japanese children's novels
Japanese novels adapted into films
Japanese science fiction novels
Japanese serial novels
Novels by Yasutaka Tsutsui
Romantic fantasy novels
Shōnen
Teen fiction
Novels about time travel
Young adult novels
Time loop novels
Time loop television series