I have watched this around 4 times and I can’t get Kousuke out of my head when he says “Makoto!Makoto!” and when Makoto tearfully repeats Chiaki’s name. It did indeed make me cry :(
I loved the simple animation style, which struck me as very mature.
I also liked the fact that Chiaki never kissed, or ‘got-together’- but that’s on a personal level, not a plot level. As an asexual, graphic romance-y bits make me feel squicky, and the fact that there were just purely romantic scenes made it that little bit easier to watch and enjoy. ****** stars!

anyways… DIS WAS BY FAR BEST ANIME MOVIE EVA! I LOVEEE CHIKAI!

First, it seems some people are confused about the time stop. The way I see it, in the original order of events, Makoto had used up her last time leap on the phone call when Chiaki called her asking if she knew about time leaping. Obviously, this freaked her out. She also did not realize that the train that was supposed to run her over had not come yet, until she sees Kosuke on the bike.

Now, in this order of events: Kosuke would get run over by the train, Makoto would blame her self, and seeing her in this state, Chiaki decides to use his last time leap to go back right before Makoto uses her last time leap. Instead of engaging in that interesting conversation with Makoto on the phone, he instead steals her bike before Kosuke could get to it. Since we see this through Makoto’s point of view, it happens as a little time freeze where only people who could time travel could move.

Fast forward: Since Makoto still has 1 time leap left, she now uses it to go all the way back in time before she picks up the little bell/walnut time-travel device, and instead decides to confront Chiaki, before he uses up his last time leap.

Reminds me of the movie Butterfly Effect.

I also want to talk about the future a bit. :D

There’s one major thing that isn’t explained enough in this move, and that is the significance of the painting Chiaki wants to see. He obviously implies that the painting has great sentimental value to him, that he would see it no matter the cost, and that it was burned down in a future where there is not a large population of people. Rewind to when auntie, the original time traveler, says the painting was painted in a time of war and famine. Hmm… put 2 and 2 together: not only does the painting exists in the future, in my opinion, it was created in the future.

In fact, I would venture as far to say Chiaki probably painted it, and it is of Makoto! The painting is a woman, after all, and auntie, earlier in the movie, alludes to how beautiful the painting was despite the circumstances it was painted in. The ending shows Chiaki whisper to Makoto that he would wait for her in the future, then the screen pans up and we see a plane! Presumably, it’s a warplane, and this post-apocalyptic future is not that far away.

That’s why Makoto knows what she wants to do at the end.

No idea what Chiaki meant at the end… I half expected Makoto to be inventing the time machine just so she can reach the future… maybe that’s what he meant? Sounds a little (read: LOT) far-fetched. XD Either way, she’s not gonna live that long and if she did, he wouldn’t know her, otherwise he could go back to his own time and she’d be there… so that rules out the time machine inventing idea too actually. -_-’

It was so sad to see her crying, you really had to feel for her.

*shrugs* Awesome movie though … a must buy. So glad I watched it.

@ meliss
Yeah, I dunno why she told him about the leaping. Didn’t he have to disappear the first time that happened because it’s “forbidden”? Ehh… some confusing parts in this movie, just as there are in ANY story involving time-travel. XD

They should have added a short scene after the credits rolled!

One question though: Why did Makoto have to tell Chiaki about her knowing about time leaping? If she didn’t wouldn’t everything be back to normal? (She pretending not to know, Chiaki doesn’t know she knows.)

Just posting here to say I loved the movie, a truly beautiful story with great art design and exceptional voice acting. And I nearly cried at the end as well, until Chiaki turned up again and made me go WTH? Apparantly, the original timetraveler from the novel is from 2660 so… My guess is that Chiaki just needed to go back to recharge and had to go further into her future to ensure that he didn’t mess anything up because he couldn’t know how far Makoto had gone into the “future” before leaping back.