Natsu e no Tobira

A journey through MadHouse chapter 8: one of the pillars of shone ai.

The central theme of the film is the passage to maturity through love. The story is not limited to telling a common summer romance, it will use all kinds of love that its duration allows. The sexual awakening of a relationship between an adult woman and a teenager, a homosexual love, unrequited love and even a kind of a rather twisted love triangle. The story is made so that you question each of the characters and their actions. That the axis of the story is romance does not mean that everything you are ... going to see will be pretty as we are used to. Throughout the work you will see all the characters involved do both good and bad actions. In the end what matters most is what each character is going to learn from what they did that summer.

The story touches on many themes, which although they have been explored individually today, I am impressed by how brave the story was in touching on these themes in the 80s. I would like to address a couple of themes here so you know what you can expect.
The first theme would be the unfaithful relationship between an upper class woman and an underage teenager. For the time it may have been a common practice, but beyond the fact that the woman took advantage of the child, the relationship left him with more things beyond a broken heart. How to be loved but most importantly how to love. There are many stories about self-love but the fact that the work talks about how to love someone in a dangerous mental state is a message worth analyzing.

The other theme is the stigmatization of homosexuality in the time in which the film is set. It is not about showing us a romance between two men, it is about showing us the consequences of hiding this orientation so as not to bother society. Speaking from the religious stigma that being homosexual was being possessed by the devil, tells us a lot about the prejudices of society at that time. This homosexual romance does not come with the intention of giving us a happy ending in a time where they could not be. It only comes to show us how much times have changed and that it is now more accepted by the vast majority.

Natsu e no Tobira is a film that must be seen for two reasons: the first being its historical weight as one of the works that paved the way for modern shonen ai. The second for all the richness of the plot that it presents in almost an hour and a half of duration. When you finish watching the film, there will most likely be two or three topics that you will want to discuss with people who have also seen this beautiful film.

As the oldest listed BL on this site, I had certain expectations. Unfortunately, watching this made me feel like I wasted an hour with nothing in return.

The most important part: the BL element was introduced in even a more subtle way than Ladiva from Granblue Fantasy. Worse than an NPC, the content in question is a snake in a field, only visible when it clamps its jaws down on the audience at the last minute. By no means was it the center of the story, which feels a bit like misrepresentation. If it was based off the BL alone, I'd give it a 2.

The next ... most important part: I'm not sure if it's been mentioned previously, but PG-13 is NOT the correct rating for this movie, as there are scenes featuring nudity and implied sexual content. It's plausible that that was the standard of that time. But as we all know, standards change, and I certainly couldn't call myself watching that in public.

I will admit that this is a passable drama that portrays the messy relationships of teenagers in love. Disregarding its execution, it faintly reminds me of A Midnight Summer's Dream--everyone is connected to everyone, no matter how small--and what affects one affects all. As a drama, it has the potential to pass the test of time, but as a romance and a BL, it fails horribly. Certain scenes were stagnant: frames lasted anywhere from 15-45 seconds, and a sketchbook of pictures that are supposed to portray a relationship falls flat due to its lack of substance. It feels desperate at least, and irrational at most. It's a shame that Studio Deen couldn't have covered this. They might have performed just as poorly, but they seem to have a good enough grasp on insinuating feelings between characters to at least make it juicy.

As for the animation and sound, it's indicative of its time period. You wouldn't go to the Philharmonics or the Colonne for dubstep; similarly, the look and feel represent the artistic appeal and focus of that time. The beautiful are beautiful, regardless of gender. The plain are plain, and the ugly are ugly, and all will be accentuated. (For more examples of this, see Tokimeki Tonight and the original manga/anime of Glass Mask.) Likewise, the sound is mainly orchestral. Especially as this is a drama, this shouldn't be too much of a surprise, neither should the movie be condemned for using it.

Conclusion: I'd like to come out saying, "Wow, that was a great movie! I'd sure love to watch that again!" To gain an understanding of how far the anime industry (and the BL genre) has come, the movie is worth at least one watch. Yet while I do respect this anime's age, there's just too many rotten tomatoes in the basket to feel like I've received nothing short of a rip-off.

Regularly scheduled disclaimer: I don't believe in the MAL rating system, so ignore everything but the overall score if you actually want to know my opinion for some reason.

Natsu e no Tobira is, like many films from this era, more interesting from a historical perspective (in this case as one of the earliest depictions of gay characters and perhaps the first proper BL anime). Unfortunately unlike films like Ashita no Joe in a similar position, its characters are lacking the core appeal they need to make the growing pains of anime as a medium more tolerable, and ultimate there isn't much to actually say ... about the film as a piece of art beyond its historical context. It is, at times, very pretty, but its style doesn't particularly convey a depth of character or an interesting enough aesthetic to really justify the existence of the film. None of the characters are necessarily unlikable per se, and I actually do think that thematically it is fairly interesting: an exploration of the passion of love and youth and the inability to rationalize them, the way neglect can prime people who think they know better for abuse, etc. However there's just not enough substance or nuance here for me to say that those themes are explored well.

To keep it short, this film certainly has historical interest, and isn't particularly long, so if you're curious about the origins of BL and want to observe fairly pretty art for a while, it is worth checking out. From a purely artistic perspective, though, it ultimately falls short.