In 2006, director Mamoru Hosoda released The Girl Who Leapt Through Time -- a touching coming-of-age anime film widely regarded as a modern classic. However, producer Shinichiro Inoue recently revealed that the movie audiences got is quite different from the version that was initially conceived.

A magazine editor by trade, Inoue worked for publications such as Monthly Newtype and Animec before being appointed head of the Anime Comics Division at Kadokawa Shoten. In his new position, Inoue oversaw the production of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time as the department's first official film project. In a recent interview with Febri, Inoue recounted the time he spent working alongside Hosoda, who was then known for his work on Magical DoReMi and Digimon: Digital Monsters. "Hosoda-san once threw away the entire script [for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time]...that was once submitted. I think it had progressed to about 3-4 drafts, but it was interesting," he said.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time originated as a novel written by Yasutaka Tsutsui, which went on to become a bestseller in Japan. Because of the book's popularity, many filmmakers -- including Perfect Blue director Satoshi Kon -- approached Tsutsui for permission to adapt the story. Having recently left his position at Toei Animation, Hosoda wanted to make his own film adaptation of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time. Inoue approached the author on Hosoda's behalf. "I told him, 'This anime version is not the same story as the original, but it's about the next generation,' and he took it well."

While Inoue was confident in Hosoda's directorial abilities, the early to mid-2000s were a dry period for anime film releases. "At that time, it was a very difficult time to produce theatrical anime...there were hardly any one-off movies that targeted so-called anime fans and general moviegoers," he stated. This complicated the prospect of successfully marketing and releasing a film adaptation of a standalone novel. "Before The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, there were great works like Nasu: Summer in Andalusia, but if you want to make it a big success at the box office, the hurdles are very high."

With these hurdles in mind, Hosoda began constructing the film's narrative alongside scriptwriter Satoko Okudera. "I thought the scale of the story [in the first drafts] was somehow small," Inoue reflected. "One day Hosoda-san said, 'I'm going to throw it all away,' and we decided to start over from scratch." Many of the changes centered around the main protagonist -- a teenage girl who uses her time-traveling power to avoid difficult situations and redo past mistakes. "As those who have seen the finished version will know, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a story about a girl named Makoto who couldn't find her vision in life, and she finds it. When the script was rewritten, it was changed to one where she takes a clear step forward."

Other changes made to the final draft center around Makoto's friend, Chiaki Mamiya. Drawing on plot points from the original novel, Hosoda decided to give Chiaki a more significant role in the narrative. "...the story is based on the meeting and parting with the boy from the future, but that is very different between the initial script and the finished version. I thought that the change made it a wonderful story," Inoue said. Audiences at the time seemed to agree; despite initially being shown at a limited number of theaters in Japan, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time earned an impressive 300 million yen at the domestic box office.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is available to stream on Crunchyroll. Notably, the movie will also be returning to North American theaters for a limited three-day screening period in September 2025.

Source: Febri