Review: The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes

Honestly, before I watched The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, I did not exactly know what to expect, even the tittle alone made me to be curious about how the story will unfold. Like, I thought I’m gonna get a full blown supernatural adventure , but Nah! It’s all about the struggles, and what people are willing to give up to get what they want. The movie makes me wonder what people would do if they have the opportunity to change something about their past or make one of their deepest wishes come true. It’s a Japanese animated movie directed Tomohisa Taguchi and released 2022

The story revolves around two high school students Named Kaoru Tano and Anzu Hanashiro. Kaoru Tano is someone whose life has somehow been affected by the death of his younger sister. And the relationship the relationship he has with his father was not really good, and this made him to feel lonely and even disconnected from the people around him. But Things take an interesting turn when he discovers a mysterious place known as the Urashima Tunnel. According to local rumors, anyone who enters the tunnel can have their deepest wish granted, but there's a strange condition attached to it , and the condition is that, a few minutes spent inside the tunnel can turn into several hours or even years in the outside world.

So For someone like Kaoru who desperately wants his younger sister back, he sees the discovery as an opportunity to grab, So he finds difficult to ignore. However, In the process, his plans took an interesting turn when he met with Anzu Hanashiro. She’s a new student who also has her own reasons for wanting to explore the mysterious tunnel. As both of them begin to investigate the tunnel and exploring its secrets, they gradually develop a closer relationship , while trying to understand how far the tunnel’s powers can take them.

One of the things I found interesting about this movie is its concept. Like, I love the idea of having a mysterious place where you can obtain something you’ve always wanted even if it’s means sacrificing your valuable time in return is somehow fascinating. It's fascinating and it makes you think of what would people do if they were in that situation? Like, will they risk losing years of their life just to fulfil a wish? Even I don't know if I would do it, maybe it would depend on what I'd get in return.

I also enjoyed watching Kaoru and Anzu interact. Their relationship in the movie develop gradually, rather then being rushed and this makes their connection believable. And also love how they both have personal ambitions that influence their decisions, So they are not just like two teenagers brought together by a mysterious place. To me, I think the whole thing gave the two characters more depth and it also makes their journey together more meaningful.

When it comes to the Visuals, the animation was really impressive, they did a good job with that. The scenery is also beautiful, the way each characters was designed looks appealing and yeah, the tunnel itself has a good visual presentation.I personally appreciate how the filmmakers create a noticeable difference between the ordinary world and the mysterious environment inside the tunnel. Yeah, I’m gonna give them that credit.

However, I will not say the movie got everything right. Although the mystery that surrounds the tunnel is interesting, but I felt that some parts of the story could have been developed further, especially the mystery surrounding the tunnel. Towards the ending, some development happened quickly than I could have preferred, and it left some certain questions unanswered. The could have made the storyline more stronger, but anyways, the movie was interesting.

Overall, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is an interesting story with a good concept and the animation is impressive too. So If you’re someone who enjoys anime with emotions, supernatural elements, and a little bit of romance, I think you’ll love to watch this. But if you go into it expecting an elaborate supernatural adventure or maybe unpredictable twists, you might find it a little underwhelming.

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^{Images were sourced from IMDb.}

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