(SPOILER) Why didn't Anzu...

His goal wasn't to revive his sister, his goal was to get his childhood back, you see, Kaoru's struggles goes beyond just the loss of his sister. As consequence of her death, his mother abandoned him and his father became an abusive alcoholic, his family which was once whole ended up completely destroyed.

He becomes depressed, apathetic and isolated, we can see this by how he carries himself in his day to day life. He has friends but don't seem particularly close to them judging that throughout the story he is mostly either by himself or in the company of Anzu. He shows little regard for the people around him, even willing to throw away the few friends he has and his father which is all of what's left of his family in exchange for what seems like utopia.

Throughout the movie we see how Kaoru is struggling to move on from his past. We see two scenes in particular of where his father is seen genuinly happy and accompanied by a newfound love he plans to start over his life with. The first scene is at home where Kaoru's response is one of intense shock and in the second scene in the tunnel where his response goes from shock to exasperation.

Kaoru likes to refer to his father as the failure, but in this context the role is reversed. His father is succeeding, making progress in the very thing he hasn't but desperately needs, to begin healing and move on.

Following the second and final scene of his father in the tunnel, we ultimately see Kaoru get to meet his sister again, but not only that, things takes a step further as his appearance transform and regresses back into the boy he used to be.

What comes to shatter this newfound arcadia, is the scene where his younger self looks into the mirror whilst his sister is talking and sees his adolescent self as opposed to his boy self, he hasn't actually regressed in time. Followed by this we see a scene where the phone returns to his hand, flooded with text messages from Anzu waiting for him in the future, Kaoru's attempt to abandon his old life in exchange for salvation ending up in failure as his past comes back to haunt him, this is where he's ultimately forced to accept and realise he too needs to move on like his father.

The tunnel can grant miracles, but it can't promise paradise.

So, what did Kaoru even gain from the tunnel?

The resolve to stop running away, to take responsibility and move on.




There's one stark difference in their characters, which is that Anzu battles with fear and anxiety as opposed to Kaoru who battles with depression. She is generally accepting of the world whilst he rejects it. Anzu seeks the tunnel because she wants to redeem her past and secure the future, not to go back in past and start over like Kaoru. This becomes especially evident when Anzu announces in the restaurant that she got noticed by a publisher, as this is when she starts to have doubts whether she should take the chance already given to her, or enter the tunnel in the hopes of attaining greater fortune.

Think of it like this, you're offered 1 million, should you take it, or gamble it away with the hopes of winning double?

It isn't evidently clear to me that Anzu could just run in and grab him without potentially wasting away several months or even years in the process, along with losing her chance of attaining her dream of becoming a recognized mangaka. Also, in the farewell message she receives from Kaoru, he makes his suspiciouns clear that the tunnel may not be able to grant her another chance should she choose to give up the chance already given to her.

For a character like Anzu who is plagued by anxiety, this choice can be especially tough, it's easy to want and say something but hard to go from thought into action.

@KinjiKido because he told her not to go, he wanted her to become a mangaka ( manga artist ) and not to lose opportunity since they picked her as an editor for some other manga artist