The Summer Hikaru Died was the anime I had been waiting for all year. Adapted by CygamesPictures, The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 1, “Replacement,” starts the horror-sci-fi story off with a powerful emotional introduction.
The Summer Hikaru Died focuses on two best friends living in a rural Japanese village: Yoshiki (Chiaki Kobayashi) and Hikaru (Shuichiro Umeda). Growing up together, they were inseparable until the day Hikaru came back from the mountains and was no longer himself.
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“Something” has taken over Hikaru’s body, and their memories, feelings, and everything they know begin to unravel. Of course, the thing inside Hikaru has fooled the school, Yoshiki’s mom, but not his best friend. Yoshiki knows that it isn’t Hikaru from the moment they sit down together.
The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 1 sets the painfully emotional stage for the Netflix anime series.
The anime adaptation of Eisner-award-winning author Mokumokuren’s hit manga (published by KADOKAWA) blends slice-of-life and a particular haunting feeling for something truly special. The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 1 begins this exploration into Yoshiki’s world of grief, loss, and how friendships change and evolve, sometimes into something romantic.
The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 1 is all about grief. While the episode does take time to plant the seeds of the danger Yoshiki is in through the reveal of the entity in Hikaru’s body and the foreboding ending of the episode, this isn’t a story dedicated to the supernatural. It’s a dedication to grief and how it breaks us down so deeply that we cling to any semblance of who we were before the one we loved died, and anything that reminds us of them.
That was a central theme important to Mokumokuren’s manga, and to see it captured here beautifully. As a manga reader, anime adaptations of the work need to not only stand on their own but also capture something unique.
CygamesPictures blends animation aesthetics to create a unique look for The Summer Hikaru Died.
We have seen that done with hits like Frieren, Dungeon Meshi, Chainsaw Man, and Jujutsu Kaisen. And now, CygamesPictures is capturing key moments in Mokumokuren’s artwork but adding a visual flair and focus that only the animated medium can bring.
One of the ways that CygamesPictures visually does this is by their mixture of animation styles in one frame. Sometimes it’s the abstract way that shows the monster inhabiting Hikaru, and at other times it’s a 3D rendered windchime. The mixed aesthetics help create an at times whimsical and at times horrific story.
Core to a good anime is understanding the emotional weight that made a manga resonate, and every moment with Yoshiki captures this. From the single tear as he turns away, to him in the fetal position on his bed, and the close-up of his phone and his pills. This is a boy who doesn’t know what life is without his best friend, and as we begin to understand, the person he loves most.
Chiaki Kobayashi and Shuichiro Umeda’s performances solidify an already gripping story.
This emotional resonance is furthered by the excellent voice acting by Chiaki Kobayashi, who voices Yoshiki. In the opening of the series, he learns quickly that the Hikaru he’s eating ice cream with isn’t the Hikaru he knew. When the monster embraces him and begs him not to say anything, it should be a moment that is filled with fear.
The monster has threatened him with death, but couched in love. Yoshiki is making guttural noises, almost hyperventilating. His friend is next to him, but he isn’t. The hug is warm, but it’s empty. Seiyuu Kobayashi’s voice acting at Yoshiki’s most emotional moments is what creates an empathetic bond between the audience and the story. We’re tied to him.
Additionally, Hikaru’s sweetness, his blushing face, and his confession all of that feels so innocent. We know it’s a monster, Yoshiki knows it’s a monster, but it’s still a teenage boy-a teenage boy who is in love with life and his best friend. Shuichiro Umeda‘s performance drives this home over and over again.
At its core, The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 1 marks the beginning of a BL story, and thankfully, it embraces the universality of the subject matter that led Mokumokuren to win an Eisner award for the manga. It is somber, but it is so filled with love that you can’t help but start to tear up when Yoshiki does.
CygamesPictures understands how to capture Mokumokuren’s work perfectly.
Every now and again, a premiere episode of a television show grabs hold of you, and lets you know immediately that you won’t be okay after. This is what happens here with this Netflix Anime release. I know I won’t be okay as we learn more, as Yoshiki continues to have anxiety attacks fueled by his grief and the guilt of letting the monster stay beside him.
The Summer Hikaru Died is already making me investigate my own selfishness in grief, and that aching feeling is something I know the anime will keep clawing at. This is one series where the emotional sledgehammer hasn’t dropped just yet, but I can see it at the apex of its swing.
The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 1 is a triumph of the medium becuase it pushes its audience to understand grief but because it will push them to also explore queer themes and how that in and of itself caused its own rifts in the relationship that Hikaru and Yoshiki had. But more importantly, even with supernatural deaths on the horizon, we can all put ourselves in the loneliness Yoshiki feels and how he will accept a monster in his best friend’s body, just so that he doesn’t have to live in a world without Hikaru.
The Summer Hikaru Died is streaming now on Netflix, with new episodes releasing every Saturday.
