Line #54 Manga/NatsuENoTobira


1	[[quoteright:240:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/portada.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:240:"Let's go back! Let's go back to the way we were! Back to the beginning of summer...!"]]
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4
5	->''"The boys were no longer children. But even when they spoke about greater things, they weren't adults yet."''
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7	In the France of the late 19th century, Marion Fiese is a young schoolboy who prides himself on his adherence to a philosophy he calls "rationalism". Because of his disdain for emotional display, he ignores anything remotely akin to affection. But when he's entangled in a romantic affair with an older courtesan, Sara, his rationalism is revealed to be little more than a cover for his own emotional immaturity. Learning to love, Marion blossoms under his older lover's care but unfortunately, Marion has yet to learn the true price of the affair. At the same time, Marion's friends (Jacques, Lind and Claude) and Ledania, the prettiest girl in town, have their own love problems...
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9	''Natsu e no Tobira'' (夏への扉, "A Door Into Summer") is a short manga by Creator/KeikoTakemiya. The original manga is a short story, which first appeared in 19th and 20th issues of magazine ''Magazine/HanaToYume'' in October, 1975. It was later contained in the anthology book of Keiko Takemiya, published in 1976.
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11	A collaboration between Creator/ToeiAnimation and a then-very new studio called Creator/{{Madhouse}}, the 1981 film version features an all-star crew list of pre-anime boom creative talent. The evocative, theatrical musical score is courtesy of the late, great Kentarō Haneda (''Anime/{{Macross}}'', ''Anime/SpaceAdventureCobra'', ''Manga/BarefootGen''), while prominent TV anime screenwriter Masaki Tsuji (''Manga/TigerMask'', ''Manga/UruseiYatsura'', ''Manga/KimbaTheWhiteLion'') contributes a delicate, sensitive script that practically drips with drama. The film is co-directed by two other Tezuka-era veterans, Mori Masaki and Toshio Hirata. The cast was also top notch for the time, led by Creator/YuuMizushima as Marion and including actors like Creator/ToruFuruya, Creator/ToshioFurukawa, Creator/YujiMitsuya, Creator/KeikoHan.
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13	[[JustForFun/IThoughtThatWas This title has nothing to do]] with the novel ''Literature/TheDoorIntoSummer'' by Creator/RobertAHeinlein, or the ''Anime/DigimonAdventure02'' [[AudioAdaptation CD Drama]] ''Natsu e no tobira''.
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15	Is available on Website/YouTube [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59jcPt3HY1I here]].
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17	----
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19	!Some of the tropes in ''Natsu e no Tobira'' are...
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21	* TheAce: Marion is smart, handsome, popular with girls, etc., so at first sight he's this.
22	* AdaptationDyeJob: In the manga, Lind has light hair but is a brunet in the anime.
23	* AnguishedDeclarationOfLove: [[spoiler: Claude confesses his love to Marion this way.]]
24	* BreakTheCutie: Four handsome teenage boys. A beautiful young girl. All of them get shattered in one way or another, [[spoiler: with fatal consequences for one of them, and near fatal to the others.]]
25	* BrokenBird: Sara is a milder version. She wishes she could love as intensely as in her younger days, [[GrowingUpSucks but is quite worn down by life]].
26	* CountryMouse: Jacques is said to come from a small village, unlike the other boys who are from bigger cities.
27	* ComingOfAgeStory: For Marion, Jacques, Lind, Claude and, to a smaller degree, Ledania. [[BreakTheCutie And it's not pretty]].
28	* CryIntoChest: Sara allows [[spoiler: Marion]] and later [[spoiler: Ledania]] to do this at different points in the story.
29	* DissonantSerenity: Marion breaks a huge fist fight between two senior students without losing his cool, even when one of them attacks him. Then, he and one of the older boys settle the matter by tanding [[RailroadTracksOfDoom in the path of a train]] to see which one would jump away the last: Marion wins again and ''manages to stand there even when the train stops right on time not to hit him''. [[spoiler: Then it's subverted: Sara gets off the train and Marion goes wide eyed, specially after she gives him a kiss on the lips as thanks, and from then on he acts more and more emotional.]]
30	* DownerEnding: [[spoiler: Claude commits suicide over his feeling for Marion. Marion is heartbroken over both Claude's death and the end of his relationhip with Sara (despite being well-aware that the latter wouldn't really work); he manages to stop Jacques and Lind from killing one another, but is gravely wounded and has to return to his family. Sara and her husband the Count return to their home in Paris, and Lind transfers to a school there. Out of the four friends, only one remains at school: Jacques, [[PairTheSpares who is implied to have become]] Ledania's SecondLove (but only in the manga, in the OAV it's said that Ledania is so heartbroken over everything that she still hasn't replied to his proposal).]]
31	* DrugsAreBad: [[spoiler: Claud was high on pills when he confronted Marion, gave him an AnguishedDeclarationOfLove and, after being rejected, took his own life.]]
32	* FalseFriend: [[spoiler: Lind]] turns out to be this, since [[spoiler: when he and the boys find out that Marion is Sara's lover, he plans to reveal this to Sara's husband (the Count of Cluny) to have Marion expelled from school, [[DrivenByEnvy all because of envy]].]] In fact, in the anime [[spoiler: one of the reasons why Jacques violently explodes on him towards the end is because Claude (who had reluctantly helped Lind to locate the Count) told him about Lind's plans before his suicide [[note]](in the manga there are no mentions of Claude)[[/note]], so he (Jacques) ''really'' doesn't want such a ManipulativeBastard to get near Ledania, aka the girl they both love.]]
33	* FlorenceNightingaleEffect: Sara finds Marion passed out in the rain and takes care of him.
34	* FourPhilosophyEnsemble: Before the plot begins moving [[FromBadtoWorse and the world goes to Hell for them]], Marion and his three friends fit in very well. Marion is The Cynic (snarky, skeptical, book smart, has quite the diregard for social rules if needed, is proud of being "rational"), Jacques is The Optimist (HotBlooded, emotional, stubborn, fierce), Lind is The Realist (calm, keeps the more emotional Jacques in check, rarely drops his facade) and Claude is The Apathetic (mysterious, quiet, not very eager to get into drama). [[spoiler: But in reality, both Marion and Claude turns out to have elements of The Conflicted, as both young men end up learning ''very'' painfully that LoveHurts and, when Claude commits suicide, Marion says they [[NotSoDifferentRemark weren't so different.]]]]
35	* {{Gayngst}}: [[spoiler: Claude, Claud, ''Claud''. He's deeply and obsessively in love with Marion and believes himself to be firty for that, which ends up having terrible and heartbreaking consequences.]]
36	* GayngstInducedSuicide: [[spoiler: Claude is in love with Marion, gives him a disastrous AnguishedDeclarationOfLove with a side dish of AttemptedRape... and ends up [[SpurnedIntoSuicide slitting his wrists before throwing himself in a nearby stream]].]]
37	* GenderBlenderName: Yes, Marion is a guy. [[DudeLooksLikeALady A girly-looking one]], but still.
38	* TheGlomp: PlayedForDrama in the OAV, actually. [[spoiler: When mourning for Claude after his suicide, Marion has an ImagineSpot recreating what he believes it would've happened if he ''didn't'' reject the other boy. It features Claude glomping Marion and joyfully telling him "I love you".]]
39	* GreyRainOfDepression: It's raining when [[spoiler: Marion goes meet up with Ledania, has an HeroicBSOD while thinking of Sara and his own conflicted feelings on love as a whole, and gives a rather harsh love rejection to her. This leads to her slapping him in tears and then him running away.]]
40	* HotterAndSexier: The sex scene between [[spoiler: Marion and Sara]] lasts one page and a half in the manga, but it's longer (and more explicit) in the anime.
41	* HowWeGotHere: The story begins with [[spoiler: Marion rushing to stop Jacques and Lind's DuelToTheDeath]] and then switches to telling what led to that.
42	* IntimateHealing: [[spoiler: When Marion is feverish in Sara's bedroom, she convinces him to go back to bed and strips nude to give him body heat. It leads to more rather soon.]]
43	* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: [[https://imgur.com/a/pFcQm Ledania]] is the Light, as a shy woman in white with gentle and quiet behavior plus blond hair; [[http://imgur.com/a/v2oWF Sara]] is the Dark as an older and sex-aware adult woman with RavenHairIvorySkin looks. The story has them as {{foil}}s: the chaste-looking Ledania is [[NeutralFemale a symbol of passive innocence]] who can only watch as [[BreakTheCutie everything goes to Hell]], while the sensual Sara is more of an "adult lover" and TheTease [[KnightOfCerebus who dramatically "moves" the plot as she appears]]. Plus they have romantic ties to Marion, but [[spoiler: Ledania has her LoveConfession rejected by him]] whereas [[spoiler: Sara takes his virginity and keeps him as her lover for some time.]]
44	* LikesOlderWomen: Marion is fascinated by the beautiful and much older Sara [[spoiler: and loses his virginity to her.]]
45	* LoveAtFirstSight: Marion falls hard for Sara after meeting her.
46	* LoveHurts: And holy shit, HOW. No romantic deal here goes well, none at all.
47	* LoveDodecahedron: Ledania is loved by many guys including [[ThoseTwoGuys Jacques and Lind]], but she loves Marion. Marion falls for Sara [[spoiler: aka the wife of the Count of Cluny]], to the point of [[spoiler: losing his virginity to her]], and isn't romantically interested in Ledania [[spoiler: (though Sara implies almost at the end that he ''may'' have slight feelings for her after all, and [[ShipperOnDeck encourages Ledania's love a little]])]]. Claude claims that he likes Ledania and they get along in the anime, but in reality [[spoiler: [[HomoeroticSubtext he is in love with Marion]], [[{{Gayngst}} angsts a lot about his feelings]] and [[SpurnedIntoSuicide ultimately commits suicide]], with Marion [[MyGreatestFailure heavily blaming himself]].]] [[spoiler: The tension between Jacques and Lind for Ledania ends up peaking horribly when Lind's ManipulativeBastard nature is revealed right after Claude's suicide, and things end up going FromBadToWorse. [[KillTheCutie Almost fatally]].]]
48	* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Both Jacques and Lind have this reaction when they see Marion taking ''both'' of their bullets in an attempt to stop their duel.]]
49	* MyGreatestFailure: In [[spoiler: Marion]]'s own words: "I let [[spoiler: Claude]] die!!"
50	* MoodLighting: The animated adaptation puts this in great effect. Beautiful love scenes are seen in pastel colors and soft lighting, while passions running amok are seen in stark lighting, [[spoiler: as seen with Claude's AnguishedDeclarationofLove and the duel between Jacques and Lindo. The ending has a dim light to reflect the somber melancholic ending.]]
51	* NobleMaleRoguishMale: The HotBlooded Jacques and the more aloof Lind have these dynamics.
52	* NotSoDifferentRemark: [[spoiler: Marion says that Claude and him were both young boys who were terrified of love and didn't know what to do with it.]]
53	* TheOjou: Ledania is the kid of the local major and, with her shy behavior, fits as the NiceGirl type.
54	* SoBeautifulItsACurse: Ledania, the mayor's daughter, is a lovely-looking girl who attracts male attention wherever she goes. She ''hates'' it because the guys fight over her constantly.

Context Manga / NatsuENoTobira