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Mamoru Hosoda Writes Novel of His Film The Girl Who Leapt Through Time
posted on by Egan Loo
GKIDS licensed the film for North America last year, and it describes the story:
Makoto is a typical teenage girl who spends most of her days slacking off with friends. One day while rushing to meet her aunt, she nearly gets hit by a train, but at the last second, finds herself jumping backwards in time to before the accident. She immediately makes use of her newfound ability to re-do every minor inconvenience– from poor exam results to awkward confessions of love. However, when faced with the consequences of tampering with time, Makoto must do everything she can to avoid a dire future that can't be reversed.
Hosoda's novel volume opens with eight full-color pages of background art and stills from the film, and its cover features special printing, including foil embossing. Buyers will receive a limited number of postcards with a still from the film via the Kadokawa Store. To commemorate the new novel, the Kadokawa Store is also accepting pre-orders for two reproduction prints of stills from the film until September 15, for shipping in mid-November.
The film itself serves as a sequel to Yasutaka Tsutsui's original 1967 Toki o Kakeru Shōjo novel. (The film's protagonist Makoto is the niece of the novel's protagonist, Kazuko Yoshiyama.) British publisher Alma Books released Tsutsui's original novel in English.
Tsutsui's original novel inspired multiple live-action works, including a 1972 television series, a 1983 film, a 1994 television series, a 1997 film, a 2010 film starring the anime film's lead Riisa Naka as a different character, a 2016 television series, and a 2017 stage play.
Tsutsui's other novels inspired the Paprika and The Millionaire Detective - Balance: UNLIMITED anime. The Paprika novel as well as his other writings are also available in English.
Hosoda previously wrote and published text stories that essentially served as the basis for his films Wolf Children, The Boy and The Beast, Mirai, and Belle. Yen Press published the novels for Mirai and Belle in English.
Hosoda's next anime film, Scarlet (Hateshi naki Scarlet in Japanese, literally "Scarlet Without Limits"), will open in Japan on November 21, and in U.S. theaters on December 12.
Sources: Kadokawa, Comic Natalie
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
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