Stream It Or Skip It: ‘The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes’ on Hulu, a Mopey Anime Teen Romance Spiffed Up With a Little Sci-fi Flavor

Titular coherence (or brevity, for that matter) is not the strength of The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (now streaming on Hulu), a Japanese anime film that may be losing a little something in its translation to English. The movie adapts a YA novel by writer Mei Hachimoku and illustrator Kukka, about a teen romance, full of the requisite YEARNING and AWKWARDNESS, that blooms around the discovery of a secret magic wish-granting time-warping tunnel. Sounds like a doozy of a metaphor, doesn’t it? Now let’s dig a little deeper and see if there’s any substance to it.

THE TUNNEL TO SUMMER, THE EXIT OF GOODBYES: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

The Gist: In this small unnamed town in rural Japan, an urban legend persists about the Urashima Tunnel, a mystical hidden locale that will make your wishes come true. But the trade-off is, if you enter, 100 years will pass on the outside. I know – how very Interstellar of this plot, right? Destined to walk into the tunnel is Touno (Ouji Suzuka), a mopey perma-depressed teen. One day on the way home from school, he sees Hanashiro (Marie Iitoyo) sitting on a bench at the commuter-train station. She busts him staring at her, and calls him out on it. He’s embarrassed. It starts to rain, so he gives her his umbrella, after which she insists on getting his name and phone number so she can return it. They soon find they have something in common: neither has anyone who loves them at home. This is all rather awkward, this meet-almost-cute between a shy, introverted boy and a bold, confrontational girl – so much so, you just wanna get outta there.

After several OK-we-get-it-Touno-is-lonely scenes in which he stares at nothing with his bangs over his eyes – the bangs over the eyes, always with the bangs over the eyes – he’s in school and whaddaya know, Hanashiro is introduced to the class as the new girl who just moved here from Tokyo. She tells Tuono it’ll be easier to return the umbrella now. She also is confronted by the class mean girl, and socks her one. Guff, she takes none of it. Tuono goes home to his drunk father, who roughs him up and Tuono runs out of the house and keeps going, running and running and running, down a train track and suddenly the train comes and he leaps off the track and tumbles down a hill and – well, there it is. The Urashima Tunnel, its triangular entry staring at him. He walks through ankle-deep water glowing with orange maple leaves, trees flanking the path, until he finds a sandal. “Karen” is written on the bottom of it. He gasps. Then a parakeet flies at him – a parakeet that used to be his pet. This is not, well, usual.

Tuono leaves, soon learning that even though he was only in the tunnel for a few minutes, a week has passed on the outside. His dad almost seems to care. He returns to the tunnel after school, and Hanashiro secretly follows him. He shares that Karen was his younger sister. She died and his father blames him for it and his mother left. He believes that the tunnel is his means of getting her back. Hanashiro suggests they scientific-method the hell out of the tunnel to determine how much time passes while someone’s in there, and if they can send or receive phone calls or texts. It’s their little experiment. They grow closer as they venture further into the tunnel; eventually, Hanashiro reveals that her parents abandoned her, and she draws manga like her grandfather, and wants to make a wish to become a more talented manga artist. They go out on a couple of non-tunnel-related dates, and set a date to go deep into the tunnel and see if their wishes get fulfilled, time warp be damned. Will their hopes and dreams come true? More importantly, will they ever smush face?

What Movies Will It Remind You Of?: Lots of comparisons to be drawn to 2016’s international smash hit Your Name, a similarly sci-fi-stricken teen anime romance about would-be sweeties who – ulp – find themselves in a body-swap scenario.

Performance Worth Watching:  Director Tomohisa Taguchi and the animators deserve praise for their attempts to spiff up an insubstantial story with their inspired visual approach.

Memorable Dialogue: This scene in which Hanashiro pins Tuono to the floor – ooh la la – and tries to pry him open pretty much says it all:

Hanashiro: Tuono. Please help me see the world that you see.

Tuono: But my world is dreary.

Sex and Skin: None.

Our Take: Dreary is right. These two characters are thinly rendered sullen turds who are supposed to inspire in us great bittersweet nostalgia for youthful, innocent infatuation while the film draws out the will-they/won’t-they-declare-their-love tension. It’s easy to sympathize with them when considering the abuse, indifference and abandonment they endure, but beyond that notion, Tuono and Hanashiro lack the substance to render their angsty yearnings palpable. Their slow and dolorous plight may just inspire in you a mighty slumber.

So tonally, The Tunnel to Summer etc. etc. is some bland, lukewarm broth. Visually, however, it’s quite appealing – it’s easy to admire poetic flourishes in moments of stillness (our blah couple stares up at two quietly passing whale sharks at the aquarium; they interlace their fingers as festival fireworks burst overhead), or the surreal glow of the tunnel in its slightly menacing beauty. Taguchi successfully creates a moody ambience designed to make us feel immersed through the film’s concise 85-minute run time. But the core mystery never develops beyond WTF is up with the tunnel or leads to anything more than trite-’n’-cringey revelations and declarations. It’s a compelling sci-fi-fringed concept rife with potential as a literary metaphor, but ultimately leads to an empty love-is-all-you-need sentimental message. And we’re left wondering, this is what the film has been building to? 

Our Call: I am underwhelmed. SKIP IT.

John Serba is a freelance writer and film critic based in Grand Rapids, Michigan.