Brief Story Line
Kaoru Tohno (Oji Suzuka - Listen to the Universe etc) was a high school student living in a small city who mostly kept to himself. In the city, there was an urban legend of the existence of Urashima tunnel that could grant the wish of people entering it, but with dire consequence.
When Tohno unexpectedly found what he believed to be the tunnel, he decided to give it a go. However, his life was turned upside down with the appearance of new girl in school named Anzu Hanashiro (Marie Iitoyo - Love You as the World Ends TV series etc).
So how would the story conclude? You could find out in this movie.
End of Brief Story Line
As soon as the movie started and I saw the scene introducing Tohno, I immediately felt a sense of familiarity. And suddenly I realized that I have watched this movie before on the inflight entertainment during my trip few months ago (though I could not remember whether it was in March or May). I was a bit annoyed with myself for forgetting something like this but my wife felt it to be hilarious. Anyway despite already seen it, I continued watching and relive my experience while trying to remember how it end. Then it hit me that I never did got the chance to finish it (d-oh!), so I was obviously delighted that I could do it now
The story telling was what made me like this movie a lot as it managed to combine the mystery of the tunnel and sweet high school romance. With beautiful animation, it was such a joy watching it in the cinema. And fortunately for us, the studio screen was bright enough, much better than the previous times we saw movies there. Sadly the subtitle color of yellow for English and white for Indonesian was a real challenge to read especially when the scene were mostly in white. The lead voice actors sounded perfect in their roles which added the entertaining value. Aside from those two, there was also another quite important character of Tohno's father (Rikiya Koyama voice actor of Kogoro in Detective Conan series and movies).
For a movie that had duration of only 83 minutes, this one was sufficient to cover the essence of the story. It had no mid or post end credit scene but there was a nice song titled Finale by Eill during the closing credit. This movie was based on light novel of the same title by Mei Hachimoku and Kukka and was already made into manga as well. It was directed by Tomohisa Taguchi who was quite experienced in directing manga series and anime movies.
Overall this was a movie that my wife and I enjoyed a lot. The fantasy element was a nice touch and the love story was just lovely. There were plenty of emotional scenes here especially towards the end. The ending might raise some eyebrows for over analytical/critical audience but we just felt it to be satisfying. So even though it was a bit late (this is a 2022 film), I am glad that the movie was released in Indonesian theaters and people can see it in the theater now.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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