Don't dwell on the past. Cherish what you have in the present.
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Since the beginning, humans have always strived to understand time, the past, and the future. There's always regret for the past, and fear for the future.
I loved everything about this movie. The animation, the characters, the soundtrack. Everything. This movie was exactly what I was looking to watch. I legitimately felt a special connection to this story corny or not. By the way, I will be covering the entire story, so spoilers ahead.
(Also, this is my first review and my first actual post on this site. I also never write anything like this but I just had to express my love for this story)
On the first day, she rebels against the school bully Koharu Kawasaki, punching her straight in the face after she tries to embarrass Anzu.
Kaoru stumbles upon the Urashima Tunnel, after a fight with his drunkard father, a magical tunnel that is rumoured to grant any wish in exchange for years of your life. He enters with the wish of getting his little sister Karen back, who died when he was young in an accident. This caused his mother to leave him, fracturing his family. In the tunnel, he finds the slipper of Karen, and his dead parakeet. He then rushes out and discovers that it has been a week.
The next day after school, he enters the tunnel again. To his surprise, he discovers Anzu there. They form a partnership to uncover the secrets of the tunnel and to fulfill their wishes. Anzu's wish is to become someone special. She doesn't want to be like his grandfather, who died without anyone caring at all. She is also a mangaka and wants to make that her profession. They meet up everyday to investigate the tunnel, during this time their bond grows stronger. They decide on a date to enter the tunnel once and for all and get their wishes granted. However, this changes on the day before the date, when Anzu receives a letter from an editor, who is interested in her manga. She begins to have doubts, and Kaoru decides that they will postpone the date.
However, he ventured alone at night, leaving a note behind explaining his thoughts to Anzu, saying that the tunnel will never grant her wish as it does not grant wishes, it actually restores things that have been lost. Anzu is extremely agitated and as time passes inside the tunnel, 8 years have passed outside. Anzu is an extremely successful mangaka and has finished publishing her first series. She is still thinking about Kaoru everyday. Inside the tunnel, Kaoru meets his sister again. He gets closure and realizes that he actually wants to spend his time with Anzu. He bids farewell to his sister and leaves. He sends Anzu a text and she finds him inside the tunnel. They reunite and share a kiss. The movie ends as they get ready to spend their new lives together.
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Kaoru Touno:
An introvert who doesn't have many friends. Blames himself for his sister's death. Lives with his father who is a drunk that abuses him after his mother left.
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Anzu Hanashiro:
Moved from Tokyo. Banished after rebelling against her parents for continuously drawing manga like her grandfather. Aspires to become a famous mangaka. Doesn't talk much.
Anzu strives to reach the world Kaoru is in, a world which he can abandon everything in a heartbeat to fulfill his wish. Kaoru believes Anzu doesn't need the tunnel, that she doesn't need to be someone special.
The tunnel is used as a metaphor to show the time lost when you are constantly thinking about your past. Kaoru advises Anzu to focus on her present, and develop her manga. He goes against his own advice, being unable to escape his guilt. Ironically, later on in the story, when Kaoru disappears into the tunnel for 8 years, Anzu is torn between the present and the past, becoming a successful mangaka while still not being able to move on from Kaoru, keeping her old flip phone as a memoir of their time together, sending messages to Kaoru updating her current situation.
During his time in the tunnel, Kaoru travels days before he finally reunites with his little sister. During their brief reunion, he finally realizes what he truly lost, what was most important to him, and the impact it had on Anzu. He gets closure during this time, a few scenes were left out from the novel, which i do believe made this scene MUCH better. However it's not really major and his sister encourages him to leave, saying that she still loves him before he leaves.
The romance in the movie is obviously a major part, which I do feel like could have been better if the movie was longer. A big difference between the original source and the movie is the lack of other characters. In the original novel, Anzu and Kaoru go to Kawasaki's house one day to deliver her homework after she was too embarassed to come to school. This causes her to change completely and later on become Anzu's friend. Their personalities were also changed a bit, as they were more talkative and had more expression in the original source. However I think that the movie's versions has its own charm by presenting Anzu and Kaoru as both characters that are usually silent, but warm up to each other. The scenes in the movie such as the aquarium scene and the festival, were cute and do an effective job of making the audience feel captivated by the characters.
The movie has a happy ending where they reunite, in which Anzu spends 8 years waiting for Kaoru to come back. Wow. Talk about dedication. She even goes into the tunnel to pick up Kaoru after he trips and falls unconscious. They spend a few more days getting out of the tunnel, totalling 13 years in the outside world.
Amazing work by studio CLAP, a lesser known studio. They did a fantastic job in the visuals, animating the characters, the tunnel scenes in which everything looks absolutely magical. The character designs also look beautiful, and their artstyle is fantastic. 
Beautiful OST by Harumi Fuuki. The OST length is about 30 minutes, and the music fit the scenes so well. During the 108 seconds scene, the OST contributed strongly. It gave the sense of an unknown danger approaching, and a strong feeling to escape immediately. Peaceful scenes where they were just hanging out, the OST also helped. There were 3 songs in this movie. Pre-Romance, Finale, and Katappo, all by Elil, which were also great. Overall, I thought that the music really helped in my enjoyment of the film.
Obviously, I LOVED this movie. To me, it was the perfect mix of cute romance scenes and scenes where they were exploring the tunnel and its mysteries. The ending was also amazing to me, where they reunited. Anzu waiting 8 years for Kaoru is also unbelievable. I feel like some changes could be made though, mainly scenes that were skipped from the light novel. The lack of side characters also did more bad than good. I get they completely focused the movie on the two protagonists, but in the original source, side characters played a bigger role, mainly Kawasaki. We got to see Anzu interact with someone other than Kaoru, and her becoming friends with Kawasaki.
LN Spoiler:
By the way I'm down to talk about the movie/manga/ln anytime, or if you just have any opinions about the review I would love to hear it. Thanks!
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