General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (2022 film)

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes (Japanese: 夏へのトンネル、さよならの出口, Natsu e no Tunnel, Sayonara no Deguchi) is a 2022 Japanese animated science-fiction romance film directed and written by Tomohisa Taguchi, adapted from the debut novel of the same title by Mei Hachimoku (八目迷). It follows two high school students in a rural town who investigate the Urashima Tunnel, a legendary passage that grants any wish in exchange for something taken from the person who enters it.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	September 9, 2022; 83 minutes; distributed by Pony Canyon¹
Source	Novel by Mei Hachimoku, published by Shogakukan's Gagaga Bunko imprint in July 2019²^•³
Award basis	The novel won both the Gagaga Prize and the Judges' Special Prize at the 13th Shogakukan Light Novel Award²
Director and writer	Tomohisa Taguchi (director, screenplay, storyboard, episode direction)⁴
Animation studio	CLAP, the studio behind Pompo: The Cinéphile (2021)²
Lead voices	Oji Suzuka as Kaoru Tono and Marie Iitoyo as Anzu Hanashiro¹
Music	Score by Harumi Fuki; theme and insert songs by eill⁵^•⁴
Festival honor	Paul Grimault Prize at the 2023 Annecy International Animation Film Festival⁶

Spoilers

Premise

The story centers on the Urashima Tunnel, a rumor in a small rural town: anyone who enters can obtain whatever they desire, but only in exchange for losing something in return.¹ Time also behaves differently inside the tunnel, so a short walk can return a person to the outside world years later.⁷

The two leads each carry a private wound. Kaoru Tono appears easygoing but is marked by a past accident, and he hopes to see his deceased younger sister one last time.¹^•⁵ Anzu Hanashiro, a transfer student from Tokyo who stands apart in her new class, struggles beneath her composed manner with the gap between herself and her own ideal self.¹ After Kaoru discovers the tunnel, the two form a partnership to investigate it and obtain what each of them wants.² The official site frames the film as "an unforgettable summer story of nostalgia and running forward" set in a small town.²

Production

Tomohisa Taguchi, born in Okayama Prefecture in 1985, directed the film and wrote the screenplay after earlier work on Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna (2020) and the anime series Akudama Drive (2020).²^•⁵ The character drafts and original illustrations are by kuka (くっか), known for D_CIDE TRAUMEREI, and Tomomi Yabuki served as character designer and chief animation director.²^•⁴

The animation was produced by CLAP, a studio described in the film's promotion as up-and-coming, whose credits include Pompo: The Cinéphile (2021).² The score was composed by Harumi Fuki, and the singer-songwriter eill performed both the theme song and the insert song.⁵^•⁴

The voice cast pairs two actors known primarily for live-action work: Oji Suzuka, who made his film debut in Listen to the Universe (2019) and swept new-actor awards including honors from the Hochi Film Awards and Kinema Junpo, voices Kaoru; Marie Iitoyo, whose credits include Shiraisan (2020), voices Anzu.⁸ Supporting roles include Tasuku Hatanaka as Shouhei Kaga, Arisa Komiya as Koharu Kawasaki, Haruka Terui as teacher Hamamoto, Rikiya Koyama as Kaoru's father, and Seiran Kobayashi as Kaoru's sister Karen.¹

Release and festival reception

The film premiered in Japanese theaters on September 9, 2022, and was screened in the Japanese Animation section of the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival that autumn.¹^•⁹ In June 2023 it was selected for the feature film competition at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival in France, where it won the Paul Grimault Prize.⁶^•¹⁰ It also screened at Otakon in the United States in July 2023 and opened in South Korea on September 14, 2023.⁶

International theatrical releases followed: the United Kingdom and Ireland on July 14, 2023,¹¹ and a North American release beginning November 3, 2023.¹² In Japan, the film began exclusive unlimited streaming on Amazon Prime Video on September 29, 2023, alongside a making-of book sold online.⁶ It later became available on multiple Japanese streaming services, including U-NEXT, Hulu, Netflix, and DMM TV.¹³ The film's second anniversary was marked in 2024 with re-screenings at Cinema City Tachikawa and Shinjuku Wald 9 and a signing event by the director.¹⁴

Critical response

Reviewers at the festival circuit responded favorably. Wendy Ide, senior international critic for Screen, writing from Annecy, called it "an animation for the ages" and described a "gorgeous, sparkling sci-fi romance" that "wears its high concept lightly," with characters rooted enough in the real world to keep the fantastic premise grounded.¹⁰ The British Board of Film Classification, which rated the film 12A for its UK release, noted that "a theme of grief lends mature weight to a gentle but dramatic film."¹⁵ The Eye for Film review praised the drawing and the use of CGI to set the tunnel apart visually from the rest of the film's world, while noting that the ending does not withstand close logical scrutiny.⁷ On the Japanese review aggregator Filmarks, the film held a rating of 3.5 out of 5 across more than 20,000 user reviews.¹⁶

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026