Story:
Basic "Don't screw around with stuff you don't understand or bad stuff happens" storyline. Been there done that but havnt bought the t-shirt just yet. One of my rules is a good story will leave you with your mouth hanging open and saying "No Way". Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo only did that twice during the whole movie (want to say what they are but it says I cant do spoilers). The story had about two twists two it and that was pretty much it. It was also fairly inconsistent, going from being interesting to tedious fairly frequently...and it spent more time on tedious than interesting. It was slow and in the end just didnt make a whole lot of sense so 6 out of 10.
Art:
Well I cant really say much for the art style but it, like the story, kind of seemed to vary from average to just above average. What I mean is some shots show wonderful detail over a great depth of field while others look like the video of astronauts playing golf on the moon...well ok the quality never got that bad but still the character artists seemed to be having a pretty bad day. The main character to me kinda sorta looked like a more girlie version of Shinji from Evangelion, which I didn't believe (or want to believe) was possible, thank God she (yes I am well aware that part of this was that Mokoto has more x chromosomes than Shinji but still...) wasn't as annoying as he was. ("Bad dad I dont want to pilot the giant robot!" "Son this is an anime, NOBODY turns down an offer to pilot a giant robot! Now get in and shut up!")
Animation was what really brought down the Art score here. The animation had a bad habit of being choppy, especially for slow character movements like walking. Fast movements were an improvement but even then there were a few "barrel roles" that didn't look right. One particular gripe was the un-realistic way character's clothes or hair moved while they were running or riding a bicycle for example. On exception was the flying fat guy. (Only time I laughed the entire movie)
Sound:
In my opinion the sound saved this movie, the sound effects were fairly well done and the music was impressive. The character voices were alright, I dont have any complaints to make there. Only wish they would have had more music.
There was however one 90 second loop of the main character breathing loudly as she was running which just sounded really odd since it lasted so long.
Character:
As a writer one of my rules is that at the core of every good story are good characters, in this regard Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo almost failed. None of the characters were developed well and you weren't really able to distinguish between most of them until the very end of the movie. The main character herself was often annoying and had a bad habit of being an "emotional basket case" more than I would have liked. The most important failure of the characters however was they just didn't get me to care about them. If a character cannot do that then he or she is not a good character, thats my opinion anyway. I would have given this category a much lower rating but near the end of the movie one character revealed something that even I didnt see coming so it gets a 4 instead of a 2. (I hate the no spoiler rule).
Enjoyment:
Well it is hard to enjoy an anime where you really dont care about the characters and when you can pretty much predict what the conflict will be. Most of it was very confusing and it almost seemed like the movie was trying to go back and explain what it forgot to explain earlier. There were also several events that had no real significance what so ever. When the thought of not finishing an anime crosses my mind, it means I am not enjoying it.
Overall:
Like I said people are going to hate me for this but I am a brutal critic, of my own work as well as others mind you. So lets recap: Meh Story, Average art with mediocre animations, exceptional sound quality, one-dimensional characters, and a confusing and somewhat pointless plot. Toki wo Kakeru Shoujo gets a 6...out of 10.
