The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes lacks a key part of an anime romance

polygon.com:

Generation after generation, it’s been proven that audiences tend to connect with stories about teenagers bonding over a fantastical experience while dealing with the drama of school and their own lives, whether in a nostalgic Netflix show like Stranger Thingsor a poignant anime movie like Your Name. Juxtaposing big fantasy stakes with the more relatable stakes of teenage problems adds interesting flavor to familiar stories, and emphasizes how these adolescent problems feel super huge when you’re young.

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, an anime movie from Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood-War director Tomohisa Taguchi, veers closer to Your Name’s end of the spectrum. Here, the supernatural element is more of a vague concept than a monster that needs defeating. Based on the light novel turned manga of the same name, The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes is a gorgeous, sweet coming-of-age romance with a dash of science fiction, but it ultimately only scratches the surface of where the story could go.

[Ed. note: This review contains setup spoilers for The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes.]

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes follows a high-school student named Kaoru who discovers that an urban legend in his town is actually true. There’s a secret tunnel capable of granting wishes — but at a great cost. Along with aloof new girl Anzu, Kaoru sets out to explore the secrets of the tunnel. Anzu and Kaoru discover that every three seconds in the tunnel equates to two hours outside, hence the mythos around it that says one wish costs a hundred years. Both teenagers have their own reasons for wanting their wishes granted, though neither of them is particularly forthcoming about those wishes. As they