Is the past more precious than the present?
“The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes” is an anime movie adapted from a light novel of the same name, produced by CLAP (anime studio), that premired September 2022.
In the show, there is an urban legend about a tunnel that holds everything you have lost in cost of time, called “Urashima Tunnel (浦島トンネル).” Kaoru Touno (塔野薫), lost his sister, leading to the collapse of his family, developing an obsession with getting her back. Then, he met Anzu Hanashiro (花城杏), a girl who lost her family. Obsessed with her “lost talent” of drawing, supposedly from her grandpa, they assembled together as a “United Front,” traveling to the tunnel to get back everything they had lost.
“I never saw you around here… because of deer, the trams here are often delayed.” Kaoru told Hanashiro when they first met each other, then the whole scene got repeated as an unexpected callback when they formed a strong relationship.
The scene construction of the anime is pretty unique compared to traditional animes that fully pack their space with content. The production team tends to leave space and silence in their scenes, creating a special sense of peace. During these times, the audience is able to take time to reflect or interprinting thoughts of the protagonists.
In contrast to the scene construction, the story line is quite squeezed together, resulting in less details over the course of the entire story. This is mainly caused by the “silence frames” and its time limit as a movie, the content could be more expressed and shown as a form of TV show. The whole story feels more like a documentary of the protagonists’ love story than an ongoing event, which leaves you strongly unsatisfied at the end, expecting more of their developments and future. The climax of the story is compressed so much that it is only around 20% of the whole movie.
The story was clearly crafted with the intention of showing the development of the relationship between the two main characters. It started plainly: two emotionless high schoolers met and raised a common goal. They started depending on each other like every other love story, but the greatness of their love is shown through time and the existence of Urashima Tunnel. Though decades passed, Hanashiro never even forgot the first umbrella she got from Kaoru. This type of love is admirable and touching.
Overall, both advantages and disadvantages are very clear for “The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes.” It is recommended for those who enjoy short and well written anime. Those who would appreciate a more detailed story may not like it as much, but should still take a quick look at it.
