The "flow of time" that cruelly dominates "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" is etched into the composition. [Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No. 44

Director Mamoru Hosoda's latest film "Mirai no Mirai" will be released in theaters this month on July 20. The film that brought Hosoda's name to the world's attention is "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time," released in 2006.
The film, based on the theme of time leap (time leap), begins with a red line running right across the black screen. As the camera moves in closer, it becomes clear that this red line is a long clock with an endless series of double-digit numbers. This red line often appears throughout the film.

In the time leap scene, something is crossing the screen horizontally.

Let us list the scenes in which the "red line" appears that we consider important.

(1) The scene where Makoto, riding a bicycle with broken brakes on a slope, is unable to stop at a railroad crossing and plunges into the railroad tracks.

(2) The scene at the riverbank at dusk, where Makoto's aunt, nicknamed "Aunt Witch," tells her about time leaps, and she tries time leaps of her own volition for the first time.

(3) When her male friend Chiaki confesses to her, "Why don't you go out with me? Makoto's male friend Chiaki confesses to her, "Why don't you go out with me?

(4) The scene where Makoto is told by Chiaki, "You're in a time jump, aren't you? Makoto, who is told by Chiaki, "You're not in a time jump, are you?

(5) The scene where Makoto's male friend, Takumisuke, rides Makoto's bicycle up a hill with broken brakes and crashes into the railroad tracks.

(6) The scene where Makoto, who has been left by Chiaki, runs down the hill at night and time leaps back to the day before Chiaki's departure.

(7) The scene where Makoto is reunited with Chiaki and says goodbye to him for the second time at the riverbank at dusk.

The "red line" seems to appear mainly in the time leap scenes that are key to the story. Of the above [1] to [7], with the exception of[4] and[5], the common feature is that "something crosses the screen in a horizontal line. ［In [1], there is a railroad track. ［In [2], a road along the river. ［In [3], a highway runs parallel to the river. ［ 6] is a building seen from a slope. ［ 7] is the road and highway along the river as in [2] and[3]. In other words, there are tracks and roads that cross the screen as widely as the red lines, and Makoto falls vertically against the horizontal direction or runs or flies to the back of the screen to time leap.

The only way to stop the flow of time is to stop in the middle of the screen.

Time is irreversible. Time never goes back," Aunt Witch tells Makoto. If this is the case, then the "red line," the railroad tracks, the river, and the highway that appear on the screen are all metaphors for irreversible time, aren't they? If the railroad tracks and the river are "time," then there must be a "direction" in which time flows.
In [1] above, the two trains that hit Makoto first enter from the left side of the screen, while the other train runs from the right to the left. ［In [2], the riverside path is divided into two sections: children and parents walk from screen left to right, while people on bicycles and athletes running a marathon run from right to left. The constant movement of trains and pedestrians moving left to right along the horizontal line makes us aware of the "flow of time.

The confession scene in [3] gives an even stronger impression of the "flow of time. Riding their bicycles along a riverside road with an expressway in the distance, Chiaki and Makoto run from right to left. However, Makoto, offended by the sudden confession, stops Chiaki's bicycle in the center of the screen, saying, "Stop," "Stop for a second. She then time leaps three times into the past to pretend the confession never happened. Makoto is not stopping her bicycle in the middle of the street. She is trying to stop the flow of time.

The future is on the left of the screen, the past on the right.

Makoto's final farewell to Chiaki in [7] is composed exactly the same as in [3], but Chiaki walks away to the left of the screen. Since he is returning to the future, the left side of the screen can be taken as the future.
［Contrary to [3], Makoto pushes Chiaki toward the left side of the screen, saying, "Hurry up and go. Makoto, now alone, walks to the right side of the screen, i.e., to the past, and stops. Makoto then passes a couple riding a bicycle (reminding us of Makoto and Chiaki in [3] ). Makoto looks back as if chasing after them, who are running to the left (toward the future). There is no Chiaki there, only the back view of the happy-looking avec riding their bicycles. Are they not the ...... images of what could have been (going to the future together), of herself and Chiaki?　Makoto starts to cry.
Standing in the middle of the highway and the river that crosses the screen horizontally, Makoto continues to cry alone. Then Chiaki comes back from the left to the right and tells Makoto that he will be waiting for her in the future. He then walks away to the left.

At the level of the story, the film goes back in time at will many times, but it never stops the flow of time. But the horizontal composition mercilessly tells us that we can never stop the flow of time nor change its direction. That is why it is painful and sad, and we strongly feel the movements of the characters as they try to defy the predetermined composition.

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)

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