The Far-Fetched Tunnel to Maboroshi - Renegade Pop Culture #133

In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru discuss Tomohisa Taguchi's The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, and Mari Okada's Maboroshi.

What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my co-host and editor, the Animation Guru! We are excited to share this episode, as we discuss two films with similar themes, each with their own unique sensibilities. From writer and director Tomohisa Taguchi, we have The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes, and from writer and director Mari Okada, we have Maboroshi. Tune into the episode to hear our full discussion!

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Indie Spotlight: Far-Fetched

This time, our Indie Spotlight is going to be a little different. We don’t actually have a pilot to discuss, but we still wanted to take a break from the sci-fi genre for something more down to earth. Far-Fetched is an upcoming animated series created and written by Ashley Nichols & Dave Capdevielle, that follows the rock band Sesamoid as they uncover all sorts of supernatural mysteries about their hometown of Veilport. Cameron and I both agree that this series has a lot of potential, mixing the classic Scooby-Doo formula with more supernatural elements, and the musical stylings of a late-2000’s rock band. If you’re as excited for this pilot as we are, you can support their Patreon here, or buy merchandise from their website.

The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbyes

I’ll save the meat of the discussion for the podcast itself, but generally speaking, I quite enjoyed this one. Clocking in just under 90 minutes, the film can feel a little thin in terms of its world building and supporting cast. However, its strongest elements are the two romantic leads, and their powerful journey through the Urashima Tunnel.

“While it has a few story threads left unfulfilled, the experience of moving on from the past is a powerful journey for our two leads.“ -The Animation Guru

Maboroshi

Again, I’ll save the meat of the discussion for the podcast, but one thing I can say for now is that 2024 is that this is a visual masterpiece! That shouldn’t be a surprise from both a Mappa production, and also many of the same people who worked on Mari Okada’s previous directorial effort Macquia: When the Promised Flower Blooms. Okada’s screenplay is messy, but the third act comes swinging with an emotional gut-punch, that makes the whole experience worth it.

“Mari Okada's newest venture in filmmaking results in an emotionally powerful experience about letting go of the past and embracing the good with the bad.“ -The Animation Guru

That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.

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