Link Click

“Regardless of the past, we will definitely change the future.” — Lu Guang, Link Click

“无论过去如何，将来定因我们而改变。” — 陆光，《时光代理人》

Stats

Link Click, a time-travel anime/donghua produced by Haoliners Animation League and bilibili, is an extraordinary show that I would recommend to everyone.

As of today, the show is ranked at #23 on MyAnimeList and has a score of 8.87 out of 10.

I Prefer the Magic

It does a really good job of going into how negative consequences can arise from actions taken with positive intent. Of course, that is a topic covered by many time travel films across cultures, but it is done very well here when combined with the character development.

As an anime with some action, it does a great job of building up suspense with a classic concept that seems so simple but so underused by contemporary shows that it is actually original instead of cliche.

At the same time, the anime brings a lot of emotional impact with the various storylines, much like Kokoro Connect or Your Name. I probably cried three times while watching it, so it did a good job.

For the characters, the two protagonists follow an introvert vs extrovert trope, but I can’t really think of another show that does something similar.

Possible Inspirations

I feel that the two strongest inspirations for the show are Your Name, the famous Japanese time travel anime film, and The Dream Factory, a renowned Chinese movie from 1997, directed by Feng Xiaogang.

Of course, the body-swapping, time-travelling aspect comes from the prior, while the “service” aspect comes from latter.

In The Dream Factory, a group of actors run a service that grants people their ideal life for a brief period of time. For example, imagine that you are a Chinese bookshop owner that dreams of being an American general; the service would wear some uniforms, pick you up in a jeep, drive you to the “battlefield,” bring out a tank for you to ride, and discuss battleplans with you in a fancy meeting room.

In Link Click, the protagonists are running a similar operation in which their photography studio is actually a place where people go to try to make up for their past mistakes. They take all sorts of strange deals, some of which are more serious than others, but I don’t want to spoil anything.

Of course, the major connection between these two films is that they are both about helping others and doing all sorts of oddjobs. This structure would be really great for repetitive adventures (like the ones in Detective Conan), but that seems to not be what the writers are going for.

In contrast to Detective Conan, which gave up the idea of ending the series by advancing the plot of the Black Organization, a secret crime syndicate, for the continuation of the infinite journeys that they can make Conan go on.

Technically, Link Click could have been a one season masterpiece if the writers wanted it that way, but I personally think that making more seasons is fine as long as they don’t mess it up by demonstrating they just want to milk the series for money. I would say that three to five seasons should occur, and then the series should end for good.

However, there are many mysteries that have not been revealed in the series.