"The Girl Who Leapt Through Time": Oft-told tale lands as a dazzling splash of anime

While it's relatively unknown to Westerners, Yasutaka Tsutsui's novel "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" has been a mainstay among juvenile readers in Japan since it was originally serialized in 1965-66.

It's been adapted at least once per decade ever since, including live-action features in 1983 and 1997, and as a TV series in 1972 and 1994. An English-version manga adaptation will be published in the U.S. next month, and Tsutsui's original story is so versatile — and such a classic example of how time travel can be handled with novelty, wit and intelligence — that it seems like a shoo-in for a dazzling American version.

Until that happens, we've got Mamoru Hosoda's splendid anime feature to keep us happily entertained. It's officially a sequel, and it's no wonder Tsutsui has endorsed it as "a true second generation" of his novel: This is one of the most thoughtfully engaging anime features to reach these shores, and a perfect place to start for anyone, of any age, who's been resistant to anime (and manga) as a popular Japanese import.

Hosoda's previous feature was 2000's "Digimon: The Movie," but here, with the invaluable assistance of Tokyo's esteemed Mad House animation studio, he's making a quantum leap forward with his sensitive handling of a fast-paced, entertaining screenplay by Satoko Okudera. Much of the film's charm comes from the titular character, who suddenly discovers an ability to leap through time: She's no superheroine-in-waiting or a mad genius with a nefarious plot. No, she's just Makoto (voice of Riisa Naka), a rather typical, self-indulgent junior-high-schooler prone to schoolgirl crushes and impulsive decisions with unexpected consequences.

Always late for school, and content to enjoy the company of boy-pals Kousuke (Mitsutaka Itakura) and Chiaki (Takuya Ishida) as they play catch on a local baseball field (one of several motifs that provide the story's temporal touchstones), Makoto is initially unaware that her time-jumping skills come from a walnut-shaped device from the future. She's just thrilled by the ability to leap backward in time (which literally requires leaping, with pratfalls aplenty) to fix the awkward mistakes and moments that plague any teenager's daily existence. None of that history-altering stuff for her, no way!

Before long, however, the more serious consequences of Makoto's time-leaping become increasingly apparent, especially in her relationships with Kousuke and Chiaki, whose role in the story grows increasingly important. Through a deft combination of physical comedy, teenage angst and small-scale exploration of a fascinating premise, "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" remains smartly committed to the emotional lives of its characters and their intermingled fates.

"Time waits for no one," as Makoto learns all too well, and that lesson makes "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time" one of the most enjoyable surprises of the year.

Jeff Shannon: j.sh@verizon.net