Toki o Kakeru Shōjo (1983 film)
7 /10 1 Votes
Director Nobuhiko Obayashi Duration Language Japanese | 6.8/10 IMDb Genre Romance, Sci-Fi Country Japan | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Release date July 16, 1983 (1983-07-16) Based on Toki o Kakeru Shojo
by Yasutaka Tsutsui Writer Yasutaka Tsutsui (novel), Wataru Kenmochi (screenplay) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Toki o Kakeru Shōjo (時をかける少女) is a 1983 Japanese science fiction film directed and edited by Nobuhiko Obayashi, written by Wataru Kenmotsu, and starring idol Tomoyo Harada in her first film. It is based on the Japanese novel of the same name and released on July 16, 1983 in Japan by Toei. It has since been released internationally on DVD, with English sub-titles, under several unofficial English titles: The Little Girl Who Conquered Time, Girl Of Time, The Girl Who Cut Time, among others.
Contents
Cast
Theme song
The song "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" (時をかける少女) was the popular theme-song for the 1983 movie, inspired by the story, written by Yumi Matsutoya, and originally sung by the film's lead actress, then-rookie idol Tomoyo Harada. There are several different versions.
The first version was released in April 1983 as the A-side of Tomoyo Harada's third single (7A0275), with a B-side "Zutto Soba ni" also written by Yumi Matsutoya and two different cover pictures, and was included on the original soundtrack album for the film (C28A0279). A second version of this song was released in 1983 on Harada's first album Birthday album (WTP-40188), and in 1986 on her compilation album Pochette (ポシェット, Pochetto) (CA30-1326). A third version was recorded in 1987 for her greatest hits album From T (32DH-848), and a fourth one in 2007 for her twenty-fifth anniversary original album Music & Me (XNHL-13001/B).
Matsutoya covered her own song in the same year on the B-side of her single "Dandelion" (ダンデライオン) and on her album Voyager in 1983. She later rewrote it and renamed it as "Toki no Canzone" (時のカンツォーネ, Toki no Kantsōne) to be the theme song for the new 1997 "Toki o Kakeru Shōjo" film, along with another of her songs: "Yume no Naka de (夢の中で)~We are not alone, forever~", both released on the original soundtrack album for the film (TOCT-9940) and on her album Suyua no Nami (スユアの波) in 1997.
The original song was adapted in a commercial for noodles with then-beginning idol Yuki Kudo parodying the 1983 movie shortly after its release. Voice actress Ai Shimizu also covered the song as the B-side of her first single Angel Fish in 2003 (KICM-1077).
Hong Kong singer Sandy Lam covered this song in Cantonese in 1985.
Reception
Variety described the film as "more affecting than affected, informed less by cloying sentimentality and relatively honest sentiment." The review commented on Tomoyo Harada, find that she "proves herself a natural. Although she is convincing at what she does, the evidence here suggests she might have the range to do much anything else." Negative comments surrounding Ryôichi Takayanagi acting, stating that his delivery "of lines is undoubtedly the result of his brain-waves being controlled by a galaxy inhabited by monotonous no-talents."