The Time Traveler (film)

The Time Traveler (タイムトラベラー, Taimutoraberā) is a 2007 anime romance drama science fiction film based on the 1997 manga series by Ryotaro Sekizawa, who co-produced the movie. It was directed by Katsuhiko Akiyama, written by Hideki Kakinuma and Tony Gilroy, and produced by Anime International Company in association with Universal Pictures Japan and Relativity Media. Featuring the voices of Daichi Mizushima, Yui Makino, Rikiya Koyama, Susumu Chiba, Junko Okada, Toshiyuki Morikawa and Kazuki Yao, the film is about a seventeen year boy named Atsushi Maekawa (Mizushima), who one day, meets a girl who appeared in a ball of light named Riko Hattori (Makino), who was sent from the future to his time period to protect him, for something that happened to him led to a chain of events in the future since, and seemingly a fellow student (Okada) has something to do with it.
Due to Sekizawa being involved in True Machination during the movie's production, he was only involved as a producer here. Similarly, the involvement of Universal Pictures and Relativity Media resulted in the US release coming later than the Japanese release, so that there could be some space between the two movies. The Time Traveler was released in Japan by Toho-Towa on September 15, 2007 and in the United States by Universal Pictures on November 16, 2007. It received positive reviews from both Japanese and American critics, particularly for the characters, animation and faithfulness towards the source material, and it also grossed $286.3 million worldwide against a budget of ¥1 billion (USD $6 million).
==Plot ==
Coming soon!
==Cast==
Character(s) 	Seiyū 	English Voice Actor
Atsushi Maekawa 	Daichi Mizushima 	Jeremy Redleaf
Riko Hattori 	Yui Makino 	Emma Roberts
Yoshiyuki Izumi 	Rikiya Koyama 	William Shatner
Shigeo Uyemura 	Susumu Chiba 	Josh Peck
Chinatsu Anzai 	Junko Okada 	Evan Rachel Wood
Torvald Makino 	Toshiyuki Morikawa 	Malcolm McDowell
Keiji Nonoka 	Kazuki Yao 	Fred Tatasciore
Toshiko Usui 	Michiko Neya 	Rachael Harris
Takeshi Kawahara 	Kōichi Yamadera 	David Koechner
Shoichi Machida 	Masaki Terasoma 	Steve Blum
Resistance Group Members	Hiroaki HarataKenichi SuzumuraMika DoiIsshin ChibaKōji Ishii	Dee Bradley BakerTroy BakerCindy RobinsonTom KennyRif Hutton
Toshiaki Yamagata 	Mitsuo Iwata 	David Lodge
Mitsuru Otani 	Ayako Kawasumi 	Kari Wahlgren
Atsushi's Parents 	Megumi HayashibaraShinichirō Miki 	Julie Ann TaylorCam Clarke
Takayuki Nakao 	Daisuke Sakaguchi 	Spike Spencer
Nobuo Uyeno 	Hiroyuki Yoshino 	Johnny Yong Bosch
Kenshin Maekawa 	Jūrōta Kosugi 	Liam O'Brien
Shizuka Oe 	Masako Katsuki 	Jennifer Hale
Inspector 	Taiten Kusunoki 	Michael McConnohie
Tomio Furuta 	Wataru Takagi 	Charlie Adler
Teachers 	Misa WatanabeIsshin ChibaToshiharu Sakurai 	Wendee LeeKirk ThorntonJess Harnell
Katashi Eto 	Taiten Kusunoki 	Alan Shearman
Riko's Mother 	Miki Nagasawa 	Laura Bailey
Officer 	Masayuki Katō 	Joey D'Auria
News Reporter 	Kyōko Hikami 	Stephanie Sheh
===Additional Voices ===
*Joey D'Auria
*Kirk Thornton
*Spike Spencer
*Doug Erholtz
*Kari Wahlgren
*Debi Mae West
*Terrence Stone
*Michelle Ruff
*Bridget Hoffman
*Sherry Lynn
*Karen Strassman
*Dina Sherman
*Stephen Apostolina
*Phil Proctor
*Sam Riegel
*Richard Epcar
==Production==
The project was conceived after the success of A Midnight Rose, with Ryotaro Sekizawa and Anime International Company both deciding to collaborate on another project. Because Sekizawa was working on the movie adaptation of True Machination at the time, he was not involved in writing the film, unlike most of his other movie adaptations, with Hideki Kakinuma serving as the screenwriter instead.
The film was produced by Anime International Company with a group of companies forming Time Traveler Film Partners handling the overall production. In late 2005, it was announced that Universal Pictures, in what was considered a bold move by most media and anime news websites, purchased the worldwide distribution rights to the film, and would additionally finance it with Ryan Kavanaugh of Relativity Media. According to Ryotaro Sekizawa, Universal's reason for getting involved was due to their prior financial success with Tatsuya Hironaka's Lost Star and the American success of the Blue Blanket film, and so they wanted to "kill two birds with one stone". Tony Gilroy, who was known for his work on the Bourne franchise, co-wrote the script for both the film itself and the English version.
The production for the film overlapped with that of True Machination. Due to this, Universal and the distributor of that film, Paramount Pictures, made a compromise that Machination would come out in the United States first and The Time Traveler would come out afterward. Similar to how Shaun of the Dead was released in America six months after Dawn of the Dead, Universal decided to release The Time Traveler the same way, opting to release it on November 30, 2007. Initially, United International Pictures was to release the film in Japan, but after the label was split by Universal and Paramount in 2007, Toho-Towa and Universal Pictures Japan took over the distribution.
After animation production on the film had finished and the film entered post production, Universal Pictures decided to record and produce the ADR dialogue for the English dub around the same time the Japanese dialogue was being recorded. The English dialogue was recorded at L.A. Studios and Walt Disney Studios, whilst the post production mixing was done at Universal Studios Sound. The dub was written by Tony Gilroy, who co-wrote the original script, and David Fleming and was directed by voice actor and director Susan Blu. The dub also featured the voices of Emma Roberts, William Shatner, Josh Peck, Evan Rachel Wood, Malcolm McDowell and David Koechner.
==Release==
The Time Traveler had it's premiere at the Tokyo Square Cinema on September 1, 2007 and was released to theaters in Japan by Toho-Towa on September 15 of that year. Promotion for the film in Japan was handled by the manga's original publisher, Kodansha, alongside tie ins with various other companies.
In the United States, Universal Pictures released the film in an English-dubbed version on November 30, 2007. The original manga, which had previously been published in English by Viz Media, was rereleased with new cover art inspired by the film's poster. Before the film's release, Universal produced a re-cut theatrical trailer to promote the film, which premeired before the theatrical release of Breach on February 16, 2007, and featured the song "Keep Holding On" by Avril Lavigne. At the same time, the trailer became available online. Promotional partners for the American release film included Old Navy, General Motors, Comcast, PepsiCo and JetBlue Airlines.
===Home media===
Universal Studios Home Entertainment released the film on DVD in the United States on March 4, 2008, whilst a Japanese DVD release followed on May 14, being released in both standard and limited edition releases. Both the US and Japanese DVD releases feature both the English dubbed version and the original Japanese soundtrack, and the limited edition Japanese DVD release contains various collectible items relating to the movie. It was not released on HD DVD as Toshiba announced plans to discontinue the format on February 19, 2008. A Blu-ray release of the film would eventually see a release in the United States on August 12, 2008 and in Japan on July 8, 2009 alongside The Bourne Ultimatum.
Category:2007
Category:2007 films
Category:2007 animated films
Category:Anime films
Category:Anime films based on comics
Category:Japanese-American films
Category:Japanese-American Anime
Category:Anime International Company
Category:Anime International Company films
Category:Universal Pictures
Category:Universal Pictures films
Category:Universal Pictures animated films
Category:Relativity Media
Category:Relativity Media films
Category:Toho-Towa
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Category:Carl Andy Timeline