At long last, Mamoru Hosoda and Madhouse Studios’ greatest masterpiece, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, will be released in the United States by FUNimation Entertainment. The animated film will receive a special home-video edition “to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the film’s theatrical release in Japan.”

FUNimation’s long overdue licensing announcement of the award-winning film comes as no surprise considering FUNimation has licensed and released Wolf Children and Summer Wars — two highly acclaimed projects of Hosoda’s. FUNimation also held a VIP screening for Hosoda’s latest film, The Boy and the Beast, which is set to hit theaters March 4.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, based on Yasutaka Tsutsui’s novel of the same name, was originally licensed by Bandai Entertainment. The company released the 2006 film on Blu-ray and DVD before shutting down “its North America distribution in 2012.”

FUNimation describes the moving and emotion fueled plot of The Girl Who Leapt Through Time as the following:

After waking up late, flunking her pop quiz, embarrassing herself on numerous occasions, and starting a fire in her home economics class, high school student Makoto Konno figures she’s just having one of those days. And just when she thinks she’s made it through, the brakes on her bike malfunction putting her on a collision course with a speeding train. The life-ending accident would have been the perfect end to the worst day ever, but the strangest thing happens — she leaps backwards in time.

After unlocking her new ability, Makoto does what any teenager would do. She re-takes tests, corrects embarrassing situations, and sleeps in as late as she wants, never thinking that her carefree time traveling could have a negative effect on the people she cares about. By the time she realizes the damage she’s done, she only has a few leaps left to make things right.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is expected to be released sometime this year — perhaps in July in order to coincide with the film’s original theatrical release date.

Fingers crossed the film’s beautiful original soundtrack, composed by Kiyoshi Yoshida, will be included as well.

Are you excited for The Girl Who Leapt Through Time? Let us know your thoughts in the comments down below!