I honestly hated this movie.

I loved this film. The last 1/3 did get a little bit Haruhi Suzumiya-fantastical plot but still enjoyed it. Actually, one of the things that instantly appealed to me was Makoto's similarity to Haru in The Cat Returns. I can't really explain why I didn't find faults with the plot. Likeable relatable characters, nice story told well.

To the first three points, it's implied, though admittedly not directly stated, that what happened to Chiaki as a result of using his last time leap and revealing his presence as a time traveler to Makoto was worse than simply being stranded in that time period permanently. Makoto even offers to take him to see the painting, but he has to disappear, explaining that he'd broken the rules by even being there.

To the fourth point, Chiaki's comment about how lucky they were that Makoto used her own time-leaps on small things suggests that trying to make large changes to the timeline in that manner is a very bad idea. Chiaki comes from a whole society that has the ability to travel in time; surely someone before him would have tried it and discovered either that it wasn't possible or that there would be worse consequences. One of the points of the film is that using time travel to solve your problems, even small problems, can have unintended consequences.

"You always know where the X-Men have been, because it's always on fire."
- Pete Wisdom

If the plot holes put you off then that's fair enough; everyone's entitled to their opinion. Personally for me a lot of the appeal was in the look of the film, how some of the animation almost resembled a watercolour painting (such as when Makoto and Chiaki are looking out at the water and the bridge at the end). It's a brightly animated film but not garish as some animes can be. Also I loved the soundtrack and the reoccurence of piano scores.

If the plot holes put you off then that's fair enough; everyone's entitled to their opinion. Personally for me a lot of the appeal was in the look of the film, how some of the animation almost resembled a watercolour painting (such as when Makoto and Chiaki are looking out at the water and the bridge at the end). It's a brightly animated film but not garish as some animes can be. Also I loved the soundtrack and the reoccurence of piano scores.