A pair of Japanese teenagers are flung together thanks to a metaphysical glitch that bends the rules of space and time in this sumptuously romantic YA anime. And if this all sounds suspiciously close to the premise of Makoto Shinkai’s box-office phenomenon Your Name, that’s unlikely to be a coincidence. The success of that film – Your Name was the third highest-grossing Japanese film of all time – led to a rash of similarly high concept sci-fi romance animations (most recently Shinkai’s own esoteric fantasy Suzume) hoping to repeat the magic. But of all the movies that followed, Tomohisa Taguchi’s The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is the one that comes closest to recreating the glistening perfection of Your Name.
Based on a novel and subsequent manga by Mei Hachimoku, the film follows Kaoru (voiced by Oji Suzuka), a reserved high school student who discovers a mysterious tunnel that, according to local folklore, can grant your dearest wishes, albeit at a considerable cost. Around the same time, a friendship sparks with the new girl at school, Anzu (Marie Iitoyo), who shares his fascination with the tunnel. Anzu is an unrepentant badass, an aspiring manga artist who floors the school mean girl with a punch on her first day in class, and accuses the flustered Kaoru of being a creep.
This elegant romance anchors its more far-fetched plot points with delicately observed details and grounding moments: a battered, borrowed umbrella that becomes a motif in the story; shy, stolen glances exchanged through floppy fringes; fingers tentatively entwined as the sky explodes with fireworks and longing.
