The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes

Disclaimer: I do not know the exact timeframe of the movie's setting. Guessing based on the state of technology throughout the movie.

It's the early 2000s. The rain is pouring down on a coastal town in Japan, leaving behind a pitter-patter sound in its wake. The gray sky masks away the sun, shading the town in a murky hue. A boy walking by pauses. His eyes drift to a sight unfamiliar to him. A girl soaked by the rain, waiting at the station. The boy comes over, hoping to get on the next train. An announcement is then played, letting the only two people know that there has been a delay. Apparently, a deer was on the track. The girl fidgets a little, trying to mask her concern. The boy notices and tells her "Deer crossings are common here." He notices her soaked and then offers up the umbrella he has. The girl is a bit reluctant. He then follows up saying that her parents are likely worried about her. Likely to get him to back off, she tells him "I do not have parents." The boy then replies with his honest thoughts, "That's awesome" with a hint of envy. She immediately turns her face towards the boy, eyes wide open and filled with intrigue. She grabs the umbrella from him, introducing herself as Hanashiro Anzu. The boy replies to her simply with, "Touno Kaoru." She then exchanges phone numbers with him using a flip phone, saying she will contact him in order to return the umbrella.

Disclaimer: Only read this section if you have watched the movie (which I highly recommend doing) or are not planning on watching the movie.

The movie's opening scene portrays people walking through the small coastal town. Two high school girls are idly chatting along. They begin gossiping about the Urashima tunnel. Supposedly, this tunnel can grant any wish, at a price. In exchange, the person who enters the tunnel will give up 100 years of their life.

Touno Kaoru-kun goes to school the next day after his encounter with Hanashiro-san. His homeroom teacher announces that a new transfer student is joining the class. She is supposedly from Tokyo, which excites the students who have not experienced life in the big city. The student then walks into the classroom. While all the other students appear intrigued, Touno-kun wears a surprised expression on his face. The girl transferring to his class is none another than Hanashiro Anzu-san, who he met by chance in the rain yesterday. Hanashiro-san cuts her class introduction short and heads towards her desk. Before reaching her desk, she stops at Touno-kun's to briefly mention that she will hand back the umbrella tomorrow.

As they go through their classes, various students try to interact with Hanashiro-san during breaks. However, she completely ignores them as she keeps her eyes on what appears to be a book she is reading. This behavior catches the attention of Kawasaki Koharu and her group. They have an air about them that gives off the trouble-making popular student vibe. They approach Hanashiro-san at her desk and try provoking her. Hanashiro does not react at all and keeps her eyes glued to the book she is holding. In response, Kawasaki tries grabbing the book which ends up falling on the floor. The book has loose pages that fall out revealing that the content is actually a manga, which Kawasaki points out with a mocking tone to be a really old one. After getting up from her seat to pick up the book, Hanashiro asks Kawasaki if she is trying to pick a fight. When Kawasaki confirms this, Hanashiro does not hesitate to throw a punch at Kawasaki's face. Kawasaki falls to the ground, and her nose is bleeding. Touno-kun stares at Anzu with both shock and a slight hint of intrigue at this event, while other students in the class are trying to call a teacher.

Kaoru heads home the same day and immediately heads to an altar to pray for likely someone close to him who passed away. It's become dark outside with light barely shining in the Touno residence. He then walks through the hallway and sees light creeping from the tiny slit from the living room door not being perfectly closed. He peaks in, presenting a scene of a middle-aged man wasting himself to alcohol. This is likely the father of the Touno family. With hesitation written on his face, Kaoru opens the door and enters the living room. His father looks towards the door and acknowledges his son's presence. Their conversation is slow paced. Touno's father mentions someone brought up Karen's death anniversary today. Karen, Kaoru's sister, is likely the one the altar is for. The father's emotional state starts to fall apart as he continues talking, recounting the painful times without healthily coming in terms with his loss. He then pushes Kaoru against the wall asking why his sister had to die and that it should have been Kaoru instead. He yells at Kaoru saying Kaoru should trade his life for Karen's. Kaoru runs out of the house with an anxious face, filled with fear. While doing so, his father quickly transitions to apologizing, displaying his emotional instability.

With reckless abandon, Touno dashes without looking ahead and ends up falling down a grassy slope. In doing so, he ends up on a path that leads him to a mysterious cave-like structure. The entrance is filled with a mystifying aura, radiating with a sense of other-worldly properties. Water shallowly blankets the ground around the opening, suggesting that it permeates into the passage. Touno seems to be drawn towards it. He enters the opening. To his surprise, a runway of trees painted with autumn color leaves greets him. As he runs through the pathway of trees, he stumbles upon a sandal, and his sister's name is written on the sole. His instincts guide him to leave the tunnel with haste.

Kaoru heads home after his experience. His father frantically greets him at the door, expressing his worry about not seeing Kaoru for a week and inquiring where he has been. This question puzzles Kaoru, making him respond that he has only been gone for "a couple hours". With a sudden change in mood, his father becomes dismissive towards his son and says this better not happen again. Kaoru's father does not do this out of concern for his son but because he will be held responsible if something happens to Kaoru. Kaoru then heads up to his room to wind down from his long day. After putting down the shoe that is supposedly Karen's, he flips open his phone to see a number of texts from his friend he dismisses. He sees a text from Hanashiro mixed in there and opens it. She wants to know if he is alive, which Touno replies to immediately. He shows up to school the next day, mindlessly responding to a couple inquiries about his absence.

After school, Touno heads for the spot he found. He is under the belief that it is the infamous Urashima tunnel rumored to grant people's wishes. This time, he comes prepared to calculate the difference in time from how long he is in the tunnel versus the time that elapses in the outside world. While getting ready to turn back inside the tunnel, he is surprised to see none other than Hanashiro. He grabs her and runs out of the tunnel as fast as he can. Hanashiro pulls out her phone and realizes that more time has passed in the outside world than in the tunnel. She learns what Touno-kun was experimenting with and decides to join him in order to get her own wish granted. They work together as partners trying to uncover the secrets of the tunnel. During this time, their relationship grows closer in terms of trust.

One of their expeditions into the tunnel brings forth interesting results. Manga illustrations suddenly appeared in the tunnel. Touno-kun has no idea what these are, but Hanashiro-san frantically picks up the illustrations. Seeing this, Touno-kun tries to help quickly pick them up and run out of the tunnel with her. The amount of time elapsed will likely make Touno's father upset, leaving Touno-kun in a difficult position. Seeing him distressed, Hanashiro offers to let Touno come to her apartment.

Unable to keep his eyes from wandering, Touno cannot help himself from looking around her place. Touno-kun looks through Hanashiro's bookshelf while she dries herself from the rain. He finds a large envelope at the top of the bookshelf that seems to be filled with manga panel drafts. He picks it up and places it on the table. Hanashiro comes back to find him with it, and she does not want him reading through it. It turns out that Hanashiro's grandfather was a manga artist. However, he was only able to serialize three volumes in his entire career. He kept trying but was unable to make another successful release throughout his life. He could not make a steady income from his work and had nothing to show for his passion. Because of this, Hanashiro's parents looked down on him and his occupation.

Hanashiro's grandfather had a huge impact on her as a child, and she enjoyed the manga he made. The sheets of manga from the tunnel turned out to be the very first manga drafts she ever made. They are important to her because her grandfather complemented them. This revelation is able to help Touno paint a better picture of who Hanashiro is. Hanashiro reveals that the apartment she is in belongs to her uncle. Her parents refused to support her if she was going to pursue manga. Touno-kun asks her if he can continue reading the unfinished manuscript Hanashiro made but never submitted. She hesitates telling him she thinks it's not very good, but he urges her that he wants to read it. Hanashiro sits at her desk with her face hidden from Touno. When Touno-kun finishes read the manga, he tells Hanashiro his feelings about it. As with any creator, Hanashiro tries her best not to show reveal her joy over his comment, but the pitter-patter of her feet give her feelings away.

Hanashiro's and Touno's relationship continues to get closer over time as the two test the tunnel. They start to even spend time together outside of explorer the tunnel. The two go to the aquarium together. During this date, Touno reveals the reason he is explorer the tunnel and the fact that he is willing to trade his life for Karen's. Wondering what Hanashiro's opinion of him is like, he asks if she finds him scarier than the Urashima tunnel, to which she denies. Touno's friend, Kaga Shouhei, throws out the idea that Touno should take out Hanashiro to festival that is happening in their town tonight. At first, Touno brushes off the idea but realizes that it might actually be good. He messages Hanashiro about the festival.

Touno walks towards the spot he expects to meet up with Hanashiro. What awaits him is a girl clad in a beautiful kimono, a scene that puts him in awe. Hanashiro is dragged by Touno for viewing fireworks. She is confused why they are not heading in the same direction as everyone else. Touno-kun takes her to a secret spot of his for the best view of the fireworks. He tells her that it was a place he and Karen found by accident. The fireworks go off as the two are holding hands, creating an intimate moment between the two.

Arriving back home, Kaoru hears an unfamiliar woman's voice. He peaks into the living room to find a woman with his father eating expensive sushi and exchanging drinks. The scene shocks Kaoru. His father then notices his presence and drags Kaoru into the living room. He then informs Kaoru that the lady is going to be his new mother, and they will be moving to Tokyo to start their new lives together. Kaoru hyperventilates trying to process the situation, while the other two rattle on about their new lives in their isolated world. For Kaoru, all the painful memories of losing Karen till that point felt like they were being trampled on. There is no introspection for Kaoru's thoughts at this moment in time, but the other two seemed selfish is making this decision without Kaoru's opinion. From the induced stress, Kaoru ends up throwing up, which his father considered nasty and threw him out of the room. Kaoru heads up to his rooms and texts Anzu about wanting to discuss the date when they will actually use the tunnel to achieve their goals.

Anzu and Kaoru meet at a very neat cafe. The tables are retro arcade style, supporting playing space invaders on the table surface. Anzu notices this and asks Kaoru if you can play games using the table. He replies that it costs money (coins) but you can. Anzu tells him she might come back to try sometime in the future. The two get their orders for lunch delivered to their table. Anzu tells Kaoru that she submitted her manga draft after his encouragement. She has received news that the publisher is interested in her work and want her to meet with an editor. This news grabs Kaoru's attention because this means Anzu is achieving her dream on her own and is different from him. She tries to assure Kaoru that she still intends to use the tunnel and wants him to know they are still in this together.

Kaoru lies to Anzu about the date he plans to use the tunnel and heads in on his own. He realizes Anzu has a future she needs to look forward to. Realizing something is up, Anzu heads to Kaoru's house where his father mentions immediately that Kaoru has not been home, not caring what happened to him as long as he is not held responsible. She runs out immediately to chase after Kaoru. Kaoru prepares a text explaining that he believes the tunnel does not actually grant wishes but returns what has been lost in time to the person that enters. He then texts her that she has a future, and the tunnel is not useful for her. Finally, he tells her goodbye with no other parting words. This breaks Anzu's heart. She complains that she feels like she is left behind and that she loves Kaoru. She wants to be with him and wants him in her life. She is in tears in front of the tunnel, emotionally broken from this.

Now that Kaoru has entered deeply into the tunnel, he enters a type of dream world. In this world, Karen never ended up dying trying to look for a bug her brother wanted when they were kids to make amends. Kaoru is reverted into a child where he and Karen spend a blissful "eternity" together. As peaceful moments go by for Kaoru, years pass in the outside world. Anzu is an established manga author still in the same town where she went to high school with Kaoru. Her apartment functions as a manga studio as well, and she has assistants come by. She becomes more beautiful with the years passing. She also holds onto Kaoru's umbrella. She constantly texts him about the things that are transpiring around her. Some more years pass and smartphones have been invented. She still keeps her old cellphone with her to keep message Kaoru. We also see her place getting lonelier and her sadness growing with the passage of time.

Karen asks Kaoru if he is happy as-is. He is confused by that question. In response, Karen explains that her happiness would be seeing her big brother find someone that he will be happy with. Someone who he can spend the rest of his life with. She hints at him if he is forgetting someone important to him. Kaoru then remembers Hanashiro. He reverts to his teenage form and receives the texts from Hanashiro over the years. In the last one he gets, she mentions how she still has his umbrella and that it is collecting rust. She wants to return it to him soon. Kaoru realizes he wants to be with Hanashiro and tells Karen he needs to go. Karen acknowledges this and encourages him. Kaoru is not running with all his speed out of the tunnel. However, he accidentally trips and realizes this will be problematic if he is unconscious for a while. In a last moment of desperation, he sends a text to Anzu telling him he loves her before losing consciousness from the fall.

Eight years have passed since Kaoru has entered the tunnel. Anzu has finished a manga serialization, but she is no longer able to make new manga. Bringing Kaoru's umbrella with her, she heads to meet her editor to discuss her writer's block. He tells her to rest and not worry about it. To which, she is only able to offer words of apology. She heads to the train platform where she first met Kaoru. There, she weeps due to her loneliness and desire to see Kaoru. Suddenly, she receives a text on her old phone to see a message from Kaoru. "I love you," these words spur her to go to him since he is taking too long.

When Kaoru wakes up from his fall, he sees Hanashiro who tells him she came to get him. Anzu responds to his confusion over text with a kiss where the two come to understand their feelings are mutual. After the two manage to make it out of the tunnel, Kaoru realizes eleven years have passed since he entered the tunnel (meaning three have passed for Anzu). He wonders how different the world is since this much time has passed. Anzu tell him that the world has not changed much in all that time. The two realize they are ready to face any future ahead of them as long as they are together and start heading away from the tunnel.

The previous section is meant to be an overview of the movie to help me elaborate my opinions and reflection on it. Overall, I think the movie was really good, and I would highly encourage anyone to go watch it. I really enjoyed the experience of watching it on the big screen in a theater but think any good home theater setup should do it justice.

Firstly, I think the tones and voice acting of the two main characters, Kaoru and Anzu, were really good. Kudos to Ouji Suzuka-san and Iitoyo Marie-san for being able to express the typical bleak personality and polar emotional trends that teenagers go through. I think it's hard to capture the emotional state of young adolescents from an adult perspective, but I think these two did well with their voice acting. Keep in mind that both Ouji-san and Iitoyo-san are actual actors rather than just voice actors. Their roles here have made me interested in watching other works (including non-animation) that they have performed in.

Casting Koyama Rikiya-san as Kaoru's father was also a great choice. Koyama-san has experience in playing an emotional broken father and adult from his role as Emiya Kiritsugu from the Fate franchise. I think his experience from acting in the role of the emotionally broken Kiritsugu, who had to sacrifice everything he cared for, was great experience that helped in playing the role of the broken Touno-household father.

I really liked how Kaoru was portrayed, given the loss of his sister having a significant impact on him. Living almost like a broken shell unable to move forward due to the traumatic loss. Kaoru undermines the value of his life and is even willing to trade it to bring back Karen. Some folks watching the movie might think that he should move on. It's been so many years since her passing after all. Loss isn't something that is easy to handle. Some people might be able to move forward easily, but others cannot and have to act out their lives while masking their pain. The loss that Kaoru experienced and the state of his life due to it helped me think about some events that have happened around me. It helped me get a better mental image of the impact that type of loss can have on a person.

Anzu's struggles with achieving her dreams due to her grandfather's influence and her parents negative attitude towards it were also great to see. I think a lot of teenagers and young adults have childhood dreams that they want to pursue. However, I think many are forced to relinquish these dreams due to the expectations and pressure of modern society. This prospect really breaks my heart since I think a part of living is being true to ourselves, pursuing what we enjoy without hesitation. I also felt like I could relate to the moment when she had writers block from her emotional heartbreak. I have been in the same state before, and it's an incredibly difficult struggle. On one hand, programming and writing open source software that helps in the PC-class development space has been my dream and passion. On the other hand during those moments, it feels so hard to move forward and continue with the weight of those negative emotions.

I felt the movie does a great job capturing themes that teenagers and young adults struggle with but find underappreciated by adult society. Childhood dreams, traumatic loss, emotional heartbreak, etc. are all part of the journey for this age group of people.

Overall, I thought the movie was on-par with movies like Kimi no Nawa. For me personally, I thought this was better than some of Makoto Shinkai's works (not that his other works are not great in their own right). I went into the movie with tempered expectations since I was told it was not that impressive, but I came out of the theater quite impressed.