Adapted from the light novel of the same name (which was also adapted into manga), The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is the sweet-natured second release from industry newcomer Clap Animation Studio, following their debut Pompo the Cinephile last year. Echoing recent supernaturally infused boy-meets-girl romances, most notably Makoto Niitsu’s acclaimed thematic trilogy (Your Name, Weathing with You, and Suzume) writer-director Tomohisa Taguchi’s Tunnel to Summer offers a beautifully animated romantic fantasy.
The film opens with the rainy streets of a Japanese suburb, students funneling through the school gates at the end of another mundane day. Tōno, your typical teenage anime protagonist, comes across new-girl Anzu at the train station, shyly offering her an umbrella in an act of tentative friendship. Although not exactly the meet-cute moment he was aiming for, but holding on to some hope of further connection once Anzu returns his umbrella, Tōno’s bliss is shattered when he journeys home to find his father drunk and abusive, sobbing once again over the loss of his daughter and Tōno’s sister, Karen, and the breakup of his marriage. Seeking an escape from his fractured domestic life, Tōno runs into the night air, only to happen across the titular tunnel in a forgotten and overgrown nook of the surrounding countryside (shades of Spirited Away’s influence in evidence). Passing across the threshold, Tōno finds himself in a strange liminal space bordered by autumn trees and a seemingly never-ending pathway toward… who knows? Here, Tōno finds what appears to be his now-deceased pet parakeet, singing the same song that he had taught it in his youth. An apparent miracle, Tōno returns to the countryside after what he assumes to have been a few minutes, only to find upon returning home that a whole week has passed.
The discovery of this time-stretching, miracle-producing anomaly serves as a catalyst for Tōno and Anzu’s burgeoning romance, as the pair test the practicalities and ‘rules’ of the tunnel, running back and forth across the divide between reality and fantasy, with each attempt growing exponentially more confident. Each has their own motivations for venturing into the unknown: Tōno wants to bring Karen back to life, whilst Anzu seeks recognition as an exceptional manga artist in memory of her late manga-ka grandfather.
Their efforts to achieve these goals, alongside the realisation of their own interest in one another, acts as the film’s primary dramatic tension. There are no ‘big-bads’ or third-act showdowns here: there’s no need for any in a film that is primarily focused upon emotional drama rather than visceral spectacle. This is a quieter type of film. First and foremost, Tunnel to Summer is an examination of whether the ends ever justify the means, questioning the morality and ethics behind one’s desires and dreams, their sincerity and motivation. Would Anzu receiving the artistic and cultural recognition she craves be lessened if it were effectively ‘gifted’ to her by magical forces, even if she deserved it, for example? What of Tōno sincere but potentially earth-shattering desire to re-write history and resurrect his sister?
Whilst the narrative unfolds to ponder such questions, Tunnel to Summer is elevated further by its exquisite animation. You can’t help but lose time yourself, scanning each and every frame – landscapes, city streets, shorelines – admiring the attention to detail at play. Like a lot of recent anime films, Tunnel to Summer blends almost photo-real phenomena (light, shadow, rain, texture) with the more stylised conventions of anime character design, resulting in a hybrid visual aesthetic that is captivating whilst being strangely uncanny. It’s a school of animation that, at least in terms of perceptual realism, is a cut above anything being produced in the West – not that that should be the only marker of value. It is in the film’s contrast of its visual (hyper)reality and the fantastic possibilities afforded by its central conceit that gives weight to very human concerns and drama.
For its brief 83-minute runtime, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is a breezy coming-of-age drama that, whilst perhaps being overshadowed by Niitsu’s comparatively stronger releases, is mostly able to hold its own as a feel-good, sci-fi-tinged romance.
Notes from the Multiplex 