'Toki wo kakeru shoujo (時をかける少女)' directed by Hosoda Mamoru (細田守): An Analysis

Rating: 5/5

See this Wikipedia entry for plot summary and basic info.

[Spoilers of the animated film ahead.]

1) The painting Chiaki has come from all the way from the future to see is called Hakubai ni Tsubaki Kiku Zu (白梅ニ椿菊図), or 'A Picture of White Plum and Camellia and Chrysanthemum'. The ニ ('ni') in the title does not mean 'two', but is the katakana ni. They used katakana in archaic writings like that.

The Japanese blogosphere, drawing on various relevant interviews hitherto published , seems to have agreed that the woman in the middle is Butsumo 仏母, or the Mother of Buddha, whereas the four blue circles in the middle signify the universe. I have yet to figure out why it is four circles instead of one or two or three. (Methinks three would have been a fitting number signifying past, present and future.)

It is difficult to spot the three types of flowers in the painting but supposedly they are hidden in the 'frame' which surrounds Butsumo. However, I noticed that the camellia and chrysanthemum do appear elsewhere in Tokikake.

Here is the camellia outside the window of the shared room of Makoto and her sister, and in the hall just outside their room.

Here is the chrysanthemum:

And the camellia and chrysanthemum appearing in the same frame:

These are the seasons the three flowers represent respectively:

White Plum = Spring
Camellia = Winter
Chrysanthemum = Autumn

Unfortunately, I have not been able to spot the white plum anywhere in the film.

2) There is one sequence of camera work I really like. That is when Makoto is trying for the first time to do a time leap (and fails). First you see her lying prostrate from the ceiling. 

Then you see her turning around -

To look at the clock (which shows that she has not gone back in time at all).

In other words, the perspective through which we see her in the second frame above is the clock's perspective. A neat stroke that is.

3) A frame showing perfect symmetry appears almost every few minutes in the film, usually with two parallel lines pointing to a vanishing point in the middle. I think it may be a graphical representation of the inevitability of linear time.

4) Ths film also likes to show the same interior setting at different times to stress 'the butterfly effect', or small changes made over time in the repetitiveness of everyday ordinary life that accumulate to bigger effects.

I particularly like the effects of lighting that gives the same interior setting a different mood.

5) Is it just me or does 'the Witch Aunt' seem to remember what has gone on with Makoto no matter how many times Makoto is time-leaping?

Apparently there is more to the backstory of the 'Witch Aunt' in the original novel by Tsusui Yasutaka 筒井康隆. (I really ought to check out this Tsutsui-sensei at some point. Apparently, Kon Satoshi's Paprika is also adapted from a novel of his as well.)

6) Another sequence I like is when Makoto rolls over on her bed before she finally reaches for her ringing mobile phone. It is not everyday you get an anime that shows the character's personality from his/her body language and mannerisms.

7) Of course, the whole time-leap thing is really a metaphor for the idea that you can always redo things when you are young. The allowances for youthful mistakes do seem to make time an elastic concept in adolescence. And yet before you know it, your time has run out.

8) It seems that the further you go back in back in time, the bigger the difference you can make. See Makoto trying to avoid Chiaki asking her to be his girlfriend. She goes back to the same point in time and yet everytime he ends up asking her to be his girlfriend nevertheless. By the time she tries to make a couple of Kousuke and Kaho, she notices that she must go further back in time to make a real difference.

9) I really like the banter among friends and the depiction of peer interaction in a school setting, which are uncannily identical to that of Blue Gate Crossing 藍色大門 (2002), a Taiwanese film which I also heartily recommend.

10) The slope is an apt metaphor that once something is started in motion, it is drawn relentlessly forward by a power (gravity in this case) toward an inevitable end.

11) When Chiaki says, 'I will wait' at the end, it is believed that he means he will be waiting for the painting which Makoto will preserve for him to see in the future. It is not clear why Makoto says, 'I will go [there] immediately. I will go [there] running (すぐ行く、走っていく).' Any idea?

12) Conversations in the film are often carried with someone who is off-screen but nevertheless 'there'. This creates a 360-degree 'space' in the film which seems strangely 'real' to the audience. In view of the ending in which Makoto and Chiaki are separated by time, I think this camera technique also points to the idea that although the other person is not in the same picture, that person is nevertheless 'present'.

[EDIT: 28/04/2007 Content added below]

13) As promised, I produced a flow chart showing the events (to the best of my ability). It's in Word format and you can download it here. Please note:

• You may need to adjust the document to "150% view" because I had to use a small font size to make it all fit into one page.
• "M" stands for Makoto, "C" for Chiaki, "K" for Kousuke and "WA" for the Witch Aunt.
• I am not sure about the exact day Kaho asks Kousuke to be her boyfriend. I am just guessing from all the astrology talk that it may be the last day of the month.
• Makoto's visits to the Witch Aunt are highlighted in red. As you can see, Makoto visits her at 'the exact same point in time' thrice. Of course we do not have the whole of Makoto's conversation with the Wtich Aunt. It could be that Makoto tells the Witch Aunt the whole story from the beginning on every visit.
• The last time Makoto visits the Witch Aunt, she stays late until after 6 pm. It is also the only time Chiaki does not appear at the same museum in the same time slot.

14) I just noticed that Chiaki sings time waits for no one ad infinitum at the karaoke room.

Comments

[w]

I'd comment more but I'm working on something right now, however the Witch Aunt is actually the protagonist of the original novel. This is a sequel of that novel. (But then I guess you already know that...)
I assume the person she was talking about to Makoto was the person she met during her own experiences. I thought it was a fantastic touch (and IIRC, she's voiced by the person who acted her in the J-drama. I think she did a good job here.)
And so she really meant it when she knew what Makoto was doing although she seemed to be joking around with her.

[Wabisabi]

Take your time. There is so much to Tokikake - a film of this calibre is a large chunk to process through one's brain.

[Random Passerby 8D]

Hi and I apologize for the abrupt sudden intrusion, ahaha.

Anyway, if I remember correctly from the novel, I do believe the guy (real name Ken Sogoru; fake name Fukamachi Kazuo) back in the novel which Makoto's aunt, Kazuko, met is the person who started the experiment on "Time Leap". More specifically, he is the one who proposed the brilliant idea by evoking the hidden ability of mankind to combine teleportation and time traveling in one. It was in the form of a liquid that smells like Lavender. (But during the novel's time, he's still experimenting with it, so it's not completely successful yet.)

In the theatrical anime version, Chiaki is able to use the nutshell-like object to travel to the past. In that case I assume that Ken Sogoru scored a success after he got back to his time and improved more on his creation?

Anyway, at the end of the novel, Witch-Aunt is supposed to have her memories erased; however, when the smell of Lavender stimulated her, she remembers him again. To which I think that part is kinda 微妙, since you don't really know whether if Sogoru did this on purpose so Witch-Aunt could "remember" him (even though she is supposed to have her memories erased). That and I think it might be possible to think of that Lavender smell as something that Sogoru left for Kazuko (to which it is able to explain your question as to why Witch-Aunt is able to understand what has/had happened even with Makoto Time Leaping numerous times). It's not officially confirmed or anything, but I tend to think that's the Witch-Aunt still has her Time Leaping power lol.

As to what Chiaki says about waiting for Makoto in the future, the first time when I finished watching it, I thought she was talking about restoring the painting and making sure it will get into Chiaki's hands safely in the future. I think this is debatable on whether if Makoto still has her Time Leap ability.

I apologize for the upcoming length and my poor narrative ability, ahaha XD.

My understanding of her last Time Leap is that, she returned to the time when she first got her power, and since she falls flat on herself again in that same position with the same nutshell case rolling off, her power is once again restored. In other words, that was when Chiaki still got his 01 and Makoto has just obtained her XX (initial amount of jumps). If Makoto could indeed maintain the picture in his time, it could possibly mean the events we see in this OVA wouldn’t happen (because the sole purpose of Chiaki to visit this period is to see the painting with his own eyes). I think time traveling is like a circle, when Chiaki says he will wait for her in the future, it might also mean that he will wait for her in the past. If I am not wrong, Chiaki is supposed to go return to the future at the time when he decided to Time Leap into the past (just like how Makoto’s last time leap is back logged to the time when she first obtained her power). Essentially, when he returns back to his time, Chiaki in the near distant future needs to remind himself that he needs to go back into the past to ignite this event before he could progress further in his own time frame. (If he doesn’t then the past wouldn’t have make sense and at the ending Makoto wouldn’t be able to have Chiaki’s memories left in her.) At any rate he needs to go back once again, but this time, he is only there to start the event, and he is the shadow that Makoto first saw when she was in the backroom the very first time. Sooooo, at the end, he is telling her to catch and chase after him through the sands of time. (Tag anyone 8D?)

I am sorry it sounds like “OMFG!WHUT”…but if you have played Harukanaru Toki no Nakade 3, and played through Lizvan’s route, I think you might be able to know what I mean 8D;;;

Initially, the main character (Nozomi) saved Lizvan when he was a young boy. Nozomi died there being ambushed, but not before Lizvan time traveled and took her time traveling scale. So Lizvan teleported back even earlier time (20 or so years) to train himself so that he could protect this person who saved his life. (T1)
So when the game starts, Lizvan took the responsibility of training Nozomi in martial arts. And when the time comes for Nozomi to teleport, she gone back to the time when she sees Young Lizvan’s village being attacked. She saved him, but just when Nozomi gets attacked, Older Lizvan appears and saves her. (T2)
The Young Lizvan drifts back in time thinking that he needs to save her, and so he did saved her in T2 and thus changed the whole fate of T1.

In other words, no matter what Lizvan does, he still needs to go back in time and save Nozomi, or else he will cease to exist as well; and I think that’s the same for Chiaki. So when they finally finished playing tag through time, that’s when and what Chiaki means by “future”.

I probably have a load of loophole elsewhere, but that's as much idea as I have for now, ahaha. Sorry for making you read a load 8D;;;

[Random Passerby...AGAIN 8D]

P.S. Sorry I just thought of an alternative XD;;

Makoto would've died the first time when she crossed the train track. To which Chiaki might not have been able to fall in love with her (well he could be in love with her for a long time, but I doubt he would let her just die in that sense since he saved her from the "I killed my friend and his girlfriend" grieve at the very end).

So...considering if Makoto is the last person who wrote the record on the whereabouts of the 白梅ニ椿菊図 was stored during her time, the only reason she did it was because at a given time, she met Chiaki in the past and remembered their promise. I think Chiaki probably left a lot of 暗示 to Makoto, to tell her to leave traces that reminds the "Chiaki" (that has yet to time leap) in the future to make the decision to go back to Makoto's time and meet her again. And if this is the case, then Chiaki who returned to the future at the end of the movie does not need to go back himself, but rather, let the Chiaki^N do it for him in an infinite amount of times 8D.

One thing to note is that he didn't get to see the drawing anyhow, so perhaps he is waiting for the day that one of the Chiaki^N will be able to see白梅ニ椿菊図so that the time leaping will come to an end while he figures out a way to stay by Makoto^N's side instead of returning to the future (yet also able to get the future Chiaki^N to come back, accomplish the same thing) when the day comes. Then fate of Chiaki^1 (the original) will be changed by Chiaki^N (whoever that can successfully see 白梅ニ椿菊図 as well as getting Makoto^N leaving enough hints for future Chiaki^N to successfully accomplish the same thing as this Chiaki^N did).

Although this might’ve seem like it’s in the “past” but it’s also a “future” in a sense. I guess that might be another way to see "I'll be waiting for you in the future".

Or maybe Makoto is the one who took 白梅ニ椿菊図 and escaped to the future!? LOL!!!

[Wabisabi]

Thank you for taking your time to write these comments. ^-^

I need more time to think about this and make a flow chart showing the events in the anime. I will post the flow chart to the main post above in the weekend.

Again, thank for your thoughtful comments and please give me more time. ^-^

[Random Passerby 8D]

No problem at all, hahaha.

I am looking forward to your timeline 8D!

[Wabisabi]

The timeline is posted above. Now I think I understand your explanation better. It's a neat explanation indeed.

So that's what it means: since the Chiaki in the anime has not yet seen the painting, 'he' will come back from the future again till he is able to see it.

I guess it could mean that he is asking Makoto to wait for him in the past or wait for him in her future. Provided that Makoto manages to keep the painting at the musuem within her lifetime and depending on the sort of hints she leaves, he could return at anytime in her life to see it. It could be ten years after they parted at the end of the film, or twenty years, or thirty.

[Random Passerby 8D]

Thanks 8D.

Yes, that's what I think it will be like. I've take a look at your timeline and it is really detailed!

I didn't put much thought into when Kaho confesses to Kousuke, hahaha. (I haven't seriously gone back and check this for sure, but I do think we might be able to tell when and what day it is by looking at the clouds 8D?) I found that on the day that Chiaki leaves (the one where he used up his last shot) and the day that Makoto runs to the baseball field, the clouds on the sky is like a mirrored version of each other, which is something that you have brought up earlier in your entry about parallelism 8D.

[Wabisabi]

Well, let me know if the timeline can be amended in anyway - it's not final and some of it is just guess work. ^-^

In other news, I did get myself a copy of the movie from the 80s and will be comparing it to the animated film soon.

[Nick]

Now that I finally was able to watch a fansub of this excellent movie, I'm finally able to read through this wonderful analysis and commentary.

I still have one question that lingered, though it's probably a stupid one: What is the significance of the ladybug (or ladybird or lady beetle, if you prefer)?

This insect seems to be used as "bullet points" in the opening credits and appears several times in the movie. The best I could figure is that it's a symbol of sorts of lazy summer days. Maybe I'm over-analyzing it...

[Wabisabi]

Thanks for raising the question. ^-^ I haven't paid much attention to it myself and can't think of any special significance, but I am always open to suggestion.

BTW, in case anybody wonders why the comparison with the 80's movie is not forthcoming, it is because for a long time I have not seen a movie that so frankly does not give a damn about art direction - I couldn't bear it after 20 mins or so.

[Nick]

Oh, as an amusing event, as observed by Don at The Kawaii Menace [1], at 18 minutes 15 seconds into the movie, the image shown is Makoto's clock showing 18:15. I really don't think that this is an accident. This is right before the event you described in 2), when Makoto first attempts to time leap in her room. I can confirm that this happens with the fansub version that I have.

[1] http://tancos.net/wp/2007/05/06/toki-wo-kakeru-shoujo/

[Wabisabi]

Thank you for the link. That's well-spotted. ^-^ Tokikake looks like a simple high school story but there is nothing simple about it.

[roxfan]

Interesting comments, everyone.
I watched the 1983 movie, and spotted a few similarities with anime:
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8933/1178471775649va3.png
Aside from that, it was completely different, and not much to look at besides Tomoyo Harada, who, while very cute, is not much of an actress.
Other little trivia I learned from various sources:
1) Kazuko also had a teacher named Fukushima. In anime we don't learn Teacher Fukushima's first name, so it's not clear if he's the same person.
2) "Time waits for no one" comes from the title of a Rolling Stones' song. Director once jokingly proposed to use it as a theme song.
3) Auntie Witch character is inspired by Mirai-san from Hosoda-directed Ojamajo Doremi Dokkaan episode 40, "Doremi and the witch who quit being a witch". The parting crossroads scene is also from that episode.
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/2892/doremi00oj4.jpg
http://img329.imageshack.us/img329/8164/doremi01yx9.jpg

[Wabisabi]

Thanks for the additional interesting info. ^-^ I agree that TH is not much of an actress, though I am aware that she won some sort of new actor/actress award for her role - well, it must have been a pretty weak year for new actor/actress.

I wouldn't be surprised if Fukushima was the same teacher who taught Kazuko - I know some teachers who have been teaching at the same school for years that at some point they end up teaching their former pupils' children.

[Wabisabi]

Wait a minute, are you *the* legendary Roxfan who produced the Russian subtitle for Tokikake? o_o

[roxfan]

o.O didn't know I'm "legendary"... but yes, the Russian (and English) translation in the release by [roxfan] was done by me.

[Nick]

I was wondering myself. Many thanks for your work on it!

[Wabisabi]

In that case, nice to meet you. I always bow to people with multilingual abilities. ^-^

[hiroyuki]

Interesting analysis. However the "chrysanthemums" in the screenshots look like sunflowers to me. I have also been wondering about the flower symbolism. Both Camellia and White Plum seem to herald Spring, which makes the seasons thing problematic. E.g. one Japanese website I visited says "Tsubaki is known as the flower bringing Spring". Yet much the same is said elsewhere of white plum, at least as an inspiration for poets and painters.
In Japan and parts of Europe, chrysanthemums symbolise death. This suggests a different avenue. Camellia might be birth (spring) and white plum the blossoming of life. A bit tenuous though. "White Plum" is also a Zen Buddhist movement, but I don't know much about them.

[Wabisabi]

Thanks for your comment. ^-^ Hm, how that you mention it, it could be sunflowers after all...

I visited one Kokikake Japanese fanpage which listed tsubaki as a winter flower but now that I double-check with my electronic dictionary, it is a spring flower after all...

I will amend the main post later.

[roxfan]

Another bit of information, this time it's director's comment on Chiaki's last words (from Tokikake Notebook).

Chiaki's words, "I'll be waiting in the future". In Ms. Okudera's script this line is supposed to be inaudible. Originally, I wrote the storyboard just like that, without any words. However, when I went back through the script, I realized that this wouldn't be good. I thought that this must be a challenge for me from Ms. Okudera. The story itself had been wrapped up in the previous scene. But I thought that after it all ended, what's said during the final farewell will actually set the tone conclusion for the entire movie. Man... it really was tough.
I once asked Okudera-san, "I wonder what is he saying?". "I wonder too.", she responded.

[roxfan]

Oh BTW, the first two kanji of the painting name read "hakubai", not "shiraume".

[Wabisabi]

Hm, so the creators do not know why Chiaki's famous last word should be so. I can appreciate that - not everything in a work of art is obliged to have an explanation. One cannot explain how creativiity works for this very reason.

Does the Kokikake Notebook says it is 'hakubai'? It could be read both ways according to my dictionary and for some reason I just went with 'Shiraume'. I will amend the main post later on. Thanks for the correction .^-^

[w]

Regarding that episode of Hosoda's from Doremi, I might as well chip in and recommend watching it - it's a mahou shoujo show but that episode was shockingly insightful, mature and poignant to be in a sparkly kid's show. I haven't watched the rest of the series, but in complete honesty I almost cried at the end of it since it brought out that feeling of having lost something you once had, and the naivety children have towards this concept until it hits them hard in the face. It also confirmed my faith in Hosoda's directing skills, definitely...

I can't find it on youtube anymore, but it's on niconico: http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm66358 I think I'm going to go watch it again after watching Coil... :(