Pros:
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The big hill before the rail road tracks is a very good set piece. It's first introduced to the viewer via the regular way that Makoto uses it. Then that normal scenario is twisted on its head by
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having her brakes fail and die due to the train. Upending the previously normal scenario is a great way to
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introduce the movie's supernatural elements. Using it for the movie's climax also works very well, because it utilizes the viewer's pre-existing knowledge for sudden tension. As soon as they
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see that Kousuke is taking Makoto's bike, they realize what is going to happen.
The middle of the movie is taken up by
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Makoto dealing with Chiaki's confession. She doesn't know how to process it, which feels very natural given it came from one of her closest friends. So she ends up avoiding the problem as a coping mechanism. It's fun seeing her deal with it. Alongside that you also have
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Kousuke's and Kaho's relationship.
Neutral:
The scene
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in the unused classroom where Makoto hears someone and ends up breaking the mysterious object sets up the story's mystery well. However that mystery is forgotten for most of the movie, because the viewer is given a credible explanation as to why Makoto can time leap from
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her aunt. She says that time leaping is just something that girl's Makoto's age can do and isn't all that rare. She also says that she was able to do it herself when she was younger. This explanation works for the viewer, but it causes problems later in the movie. Because of this explanation, the viewer isn't made to think about the scene at the beginning as much, compared to if the cause of the time looping was left ambiguous.
Cons:
The main issue I have with the movie is that the plot twist that
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Chiaki is a time leaper comes out of nowhere and is barely foreshadowed if at all. The only possible foreshadowing I can think of is that
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he brings up the line "time waits for no one", which was written on the chalkboard of the classroom next to where the mysterious object came from. Except that one of the times he brings it up is during the karaoke session, where I assumed that Makoto was the one who put on the song with those lyrics. Other characters like Yuri also say the line, so it's not like it's exclusive to him either. So at best it's a very weak clue. Even if you disregard the suddenness of the reveal,
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his backstory still isn't all that good. Because it's directly contradicted by
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Makoto's aunt. Chiaki says he's from the future and that time leaping is possible due to the device that Makoto broke at the start of the movie, rather than a natural phenomenon. On top of that, Chiaki feels the need to disappear after being stranded in Makoto's time period because people aren't supposed to learn of the existence of time leaping. This is meant to create an emotional moment for the end of the movie, but it feels very forced, since
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at that point Makoto already knows about the time leaping, so leaving her isn't going to make her unlearn about its existence. It's just going to make her sad that you're gone. Besides that, Makoto's aunt was also familiar with time leaping, so his reason for leaving deteriorates further. The movie tried to simultaneously have a character that quickly establishes time leaping to the viewer while also using it for the movie's emotional moments as a plot twist. However, both aspects contradict each other, causing both to be unsuccessful.
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The final timeline where Makoto uses her final leap to allow Chiaki to return to the future isn't free from problems either. Since, if he was always planning to return to future, why on earth would he confess to Makoto in the first place? All it accomplishes is that it leaves her heartbroken when she realizes she loves him back.
