筒井康隆

Tsutsui Yasutaka

writer
Novel

The Girl Who Leapt through Time #1

時をかける少女

  • Toki o kakeru shojo
  • Time-soaring girl
  • Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt through Time
  • by 筒井康隆
  • 7-part serial, 中学三年コース [Chūgaku san nen kōsu: Middle school third-year course] 17(9–11 and 12–14), November 1966 to March 1967 [no installment in the undated winter vacation issue, 17(12)] and 高一コース [Kō ichi kōsu: High school course] 14(1–2), April 1967 toMay 1966 [pts. 6–7]
After an earthquake and a fire keep her up late, junior high school girl Kazuko Yoshiyama rushes late to school with her friend Goro, and they both are run down by a speeding truck, but then she finds herself waking up again in a seemingly ordinary morning with no last-night earthquake, no last-night fire, and no runaway truck—at least not at this moment.
Pen and ink drawing of a Japanese girl wearing a school uniform and holding a book satchel.
  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Animated Feature Film

The Girl Who Leapt through Time #2

時をかける少女

  • Toki o Kakeru Shōjo
  • Time-soaring girl
  • The Girl Who Leapt through Time
  • by 奥寺佐渡子, directed by 細田守
  • (at movie theaters, Japan, 15 July 2006)
In this loose anime adaptation of Yasutaka Tsutsui’s story, young Makoto Konno is thrown into a train crossing on her bike and unintentionally travels back in time to avoid being hit; that leads her to experiment with her ability—yes, with teenaged concerns, but still with charm. —Michael Main
An anime Makoto leaping through the sky in her school uniform and carrying her book bag.
  • Eloi Honorable Mention
  • Science Fiction
  • Audience: YA and Up
  • Definite Time Travel
Feature Film

The Girl Who Leapt through Time #3

時をかける少女

  • Toki o Kakeru Shojo
  • Time-soaring girl
  • Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt through Time
  • by 菅野友恵, directed by 谷口正晃
  • (at movie theaters, Japan, 13 March 2010)
In this second sequel to Yasutaka Tsutsui’s 1965 novel 時をかける少女 [⁠The Girl Who Leapt through Time⁠], Naka Riisa plays the daughter, Akari, of a grown-up Kazuko (the original “girl who leapt through time”). Akari tries to leap back to the time of her mother’s first love, Kazuo, in hopes that he can bring her mom out of a coma induced by a car accident.

The actress Naka Riisa has another connection to time-leaping girls: In the first sequel to the original novel, , a 2006 anime adaptation, Riisa voiced the lead character, Makoto, who was Kazuko’s niece. So if I have this right: The original leaper is Kazuko; Kazuko’s niece Makoto is the leaper in the 2006 anime; and Kazuko’s daughter Akari is the leaper in the 2010 live-action movie. So in some sense, Riisa is her own cousin. —Michael Main
Naka Riisa (as Yoshiyama Akari) stands apprehensively in her school uniform.
  • Eloi Honorable Mention
  • Science Fiction
  • Definite Time Travel