REVIEW: The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 — “Suspicion”

Easily the best new series for the Summer anime season is Netflix and CyGamesPictures‘ adaptation of Mokumokuren’s award-winning manga, The Summer Hikaru Died. The series opened by building a solid foundation of grief and deep emotion. The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2, “Suspicion” continues to deepen the boys’ emotional connection, but it also develops its lore to a tense level. 

Last Episode, The Summer Hikaru Died, laid out the core concept of the series: teenage-boy Yoshiki (Chiaki Kobayashi) meets his best friend Hikaru (Shuichiro Umeda) one day after he had gone missing. Only this is Hikaru is not his Hikaru. This Hiakru is “something” that found a wounded body and left the mountain. With Hikaru’s body and memories, but no real understanding of the emotions behind them, the monster from the mountain is now living his life. 

While Yoshiki is terrified by the monster wearing his friend’s skin, his grief and Hikaru’s confession, even if it isn’t real. But as the ominous aura around Hikaru grows, Yoshiki will have to accept the monstrous or say goodbye. This episode pushes him even farther. 

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 captures worldbuilding and emotion perfectly. 

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 is doing two different narrative tasks. First, this second episode begins to expand the lore behind what exactly is living as Hikaru. We see a man we can assume to be a shaman talking with villagers. He mentions that Hikaru’s parents were performing a ritual that obviously failed. We also meet other town members who are in the know and scared because of it. 

There is a monstrous force on the mountain, but it’s not just Hikaru. As Yoshiki, Hikaru, and his friends all walk to the forbidden section of the mountain, Yoshiki sees a lonely demon in the forest, who, in turn, tries to latch onto him. It’s then that Hikaru gives the audience an example of his power. He swallows the spirit, keeping Yoshiki safe and getting a nosebleed in the process. 

Yoshiki and Hikaru are, of course, the second narrative development in The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2. After Yoshiki witnesses Hikaru’s power for the first time on his own, he asks for more. Set in the storage room of the gym, the entire scene is very aware of the romantic tropes in anime. It’s something even Hikaru notes. “This feels raunchy,” he jokes as he starts to unbutton his shirt. 

As the two best friends stare at each other, the reality is that Yoshiki wants to know more. He wants to know what’s inside Hikaru. To do so, Hikaru opens his shirt and his chest to Yoshiki, who puts his hand into his chest. The scene is layered with the awkwardness of young people experiencing intimacy for the first time and the danger of learning about Hikaru’s power. 

The romantic tropes on display in “Suspicion” are heartbreaking. 

When Yoshiki first learned that Hikaru was something else, he was threatened. Only, it didn’t matter, thinly veiled or not. Yoshiki put his hand into Hikaru’s chest, and Hikaru doubled over, blushing. Everything about the moment takes standard builds up romance. In the manga, Mokumokuren uses traditional BL dialogue as Yoshiki reaches deeper and causes Hikaru to react. The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 embraces that same element.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 doesn’t detach the intimate moment that pulls Yoshiki deeper into his grief from the larger worldbuilding. Only Yoshiki is simultaneously processing his emotions and reactions, as well as the fear that the power instills once he remembers the reality of the circumstances.  

Sandwiched between supernatural investigation and police cars investigating something that happened to the old woman who yelled at them in the first episode, this moment of love and innocence rings both somber and beautiful. This is as much a story about grief and love as it is a supernatural look at gods and monsters. That’s what makes The Summer Hikaru Died so compelling as a series. 

Emotion and mystery are driving The Summer Hikaru Died to be Netflix’s best anime release.

Additionally, the staunch differences in art styles when the monstrous is at play and when Hikaru and Yoshiki are just two teens navigating life are different enough that tone shifts, but still within the same realms as to never feel jarring. As The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 expands the cast of the series and, in doing so, begins to sow doubt in Yoshiki’s resolve, we can’t help but ask how long he will keep Hikaru there. 

The most important part of the narrative is that Yoshiki feels the unease, the dread, even, of knowing what is really in Hikaru’s body. And still, knowing that, he decides to have Hikaru close to him, even if he isn’t him. It’s what makes Yoshiki compelling instead of someone just paralyzed by grief. Everything is a choice, and even when he sticks his hand in Hikaru’s chest, well, he asked to see the monster. 

The intimacy on display in The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 isn’t about shock and awe, but rather to showcase the importance of their relationship in the context of the supernatural events around them. For the better part of each episode, both boys have been just that. Teens exploring the world, confused by it, and holding onto each other to understand it. 

Yoshiki and Hikaru are a stunning look at awkward emotions in The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2.

And while this isn’t the Hikaru that Yoshiki knew, there is one flashback that we see that makes the emotion feel real. In it, Hikaru is sitting opposite his father, a fire crackling between them. His father tells him that the monster on the mountain has agreed to leave their family alone, but instead will take away the person they love most if they don’t marry them. So he says, make sure to “marry her” as soon as possible.

It all clicks. The loneliness of the mountain, and being in Hikaru’s body, so focused on keeping Yoshiki close. The monster doesn’t instill the romantic emotions simmering between Yoshiki and Hikaru; they are merely acted upon. The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 expertly brings that point home, and as it ends with Yoshiki in bed again, thinking about the last time he saw Hikaru and the feeling of raw marinated chicken, the grief is there again. 

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 is another perfect episode and an expert example of using a genre story to speak about larger emotions. This series isn’t about fear and danger so much as it’s about care and love, but still, someone is dead. A shaman is coming, and Yoshiki now knows that Hikaru is putting him in danger.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 is streaming now exclusively on Netflix with new episodes every Saturday. 

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