Director Nobuhiko Obayashi is mostly known in America for his outrageous horror film House that came out in the ’70s. Even that movie took a few decades before arriving here, it quickly found fans. What we in North America also missed out on were his teenage films during the ’80s. This was the era of the teen flicks in America. Obayashi could have had kids sneaking over to the local art house to see what kids in Japan were doing. There were foreign films that did this including Gregory’s Girl. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time could have easily been a hit since it combines elements of Sixteen Candles and Back To The Future yet made a few years before either.
Kazuko Yoshiyama (Island closest to Heaven‘s Tomoyo Harada) is a high school student enjoying her ski trip with her classmates Goro Horikawa (Toshinori Omi) and Fukamachi Kazuo (Ryōichi Takayanagi). She talks about her dream boyfriend falling from the stars. Are one of the two her secret crush? The students are assigned to clean up the classrooms. Although a teacher does mention the chemistry lab is now locked up because someone snuck in there during spring break. When she unlocks the door and enters the science lab, there’s busted glassware on the floor with white smoke coming out of it. This causes her to pass out on the floor. The boys find and carry her out to the school dispensary. The school nurse thinks she fainted from hunger. She tells them what happened, but there was no broken beaker on the floor. As they walk home, something strange happens when a bike nearly runs them over. She sees it in stutter vision and pulls the boys out of the way. The chemicals she breathed in appear to have caused a major change inside her. Things get weird for her on the archery range where he one shot turns into more with the same arrow hitting the target repeatedly. What’s going on with her and time? Can she control this ability to jump back in time to do things right? How far back can she go? What are the consequence in getting to fix things?
If The Girl Who Leapt Through Time sounds familiar, it’s because we reviewed the animated version by Mamoru Hosoda (Belle) last Fall. Both movies are based on the novel by Yasutaka Tsutsui. There is quite a bit of a difference between the films so it’s not like Hosoda merely painted over Obayashi’s imagery. Obayashi doesn’t overwhelm us with his time jumping effects at first. He lets things build as she wants to do it again. I do wonder if the folks behind Groundhog Day saw this movie. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time deserves to be seen as influential to American cinema even if it didn’t play here at the time.
This is the last of the four films in Cult Epics’ Nobuhiko Obayashi retrospective of his teenage films. The quartet have allowed us to see Obayashi beyond House. He deserves to be considered one of the kings of ’80s Teen movies like John Hughes even 40 years later. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a teenage masterpiece. I do hope more of Obayashi’s films get exported to North America without waiting another 40 years.
The Video is 1.85:1 anamorphic. The 4K restoration brings out the wonderful visual effects from Obayashi. You also get to see the details of life in the city of Onomichi. The Audio is DTS-HD MA 5.1 Surround and 2.0 Stereo. Things sound fine when she has her shifts in time. The movie is subtitled in English.
Blu-ray with all the bonus features and film.
Audio Commentary by Alex Pratt gives a good overview of the cast, crew and context.
A Movie: Obayashi’s Cinematic Life (23:39) relates how his films involve parts of the director’s life. They get into Obayashi’s relationship with Akira Kurasawa.
Now And Then, Here And There: Onomichi Pt. 2 (16:28) relates the director back to his childhood home. The place was the location of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. The film however relates more to the part of the town away from the coastal region. There are a lot of steps in the community.
A Conversation with Nobuhiko Obayashi (21:59) has him talking in a classroom back in 2015. A professor at Yale conducts this chat.
Nobuhiko Obayashi Archival Interview (24:26) has him get into his career after making House. He gets into working with his young cast on The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and other teenage films. He gets into how time travel isn’t
The Tomoyo Harada Story (10:32) has her compete in a talent discovery competition on stage. She wins a trip to Guam. Nobuhiko Obayashi talks about his first impressions meeting her. She had “pure and open eyes.” There’s footage of her going in the recording studio early in the morning.
Toki O Kakeru Shojo Music Video (3:02) is the main song from the movie with the star singing the song in various parts of the film. This appears to have been planned during production as others in scenes join in the fun. This must have played a bunch on Japan’s MTV.
Nobuhiko Obayashi Trailers includes all four of the films Cult Epics will be releasing: His Motorbike, Her Island, School In The Crosshairs, The Island Closest to Heaven and The Girl Who Leapt Thru Time.
Illustrated Booklet is a reproduction of the magazine that came out for the film’s release. There’s a lot of pictures of Tomoyo Harada.
Cult Epics present The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi. Screenplay by Wataru Kenmotsu. Starring Tomoyo Harada, Ryōichi Takayanagi, Toshinori Omi, Toshie Negishi, Ittoku Kishibe & Yukari Tsuda.. Running Time: 104 minutes. Rating: Unrated. Release Date: February 24, 2026.
