'The Summer Hikaru Died' Season 1 Review
Do you ever find a piece of media that hits you right at the perfect time? Maybe a show, movie, book, or something else that appears in your life at just the right moment for you to fully enjoy it?
While going through what could be the biggest move of my life, I stumbled upon this new anime, 'The Summer Hikaru Died', while browsing Netflix. Most other series I've been into are either on hiatus, ended years ago, or aren't on streaming services I'm subscribed to, so seeing the hole in my anime-watching space in my mind, I gave it a try, and quickly became engrossed in it.
The series, adapting the manga of the same name by Mokumokuren, is a horror/mystery following the mysterious disappearance of a boy named Hikaru in a small, supposedly cursed town. When Hikaru shows up again a week later, his best friend Yoshiki tries to unravel the mystery, and grapple with a greater evil lurking in the shadows.
From the outside, this show might seem like any other 'small town with a curse' plot, but its far more than that, wrapped neatly in a tight 12 episode run. Far from other horror/mystery shows I've reviewed here (like 'Another'), it's main focus is the characters, and how their lives and relationships change after the disappearance (and re-appearance) of Hikaru.
The mystery around Hikaru's disappearance and reappearance feels straightforward, but like any good series, has lots of twists and turns, and unravelling it reveals bigger, darker things. I found myself excited to come back to watch every new episode, wanting to know more about the town, and its dark history, and what the hell Hikaru even is now.
It also has an excellent 'hard'/'soft' content balance. The show knows when it should get down to brass tacks and talk about the serious lore, and important stuff like that, and then when to stop and go back to the characters and their lives. In my experience, having a poor balance of these things can tank a show , making it incredibly dull (I am looking at you, shows that have their characters go to the library/town archives every other episode, and just stand around and read from a book while nothing happens!) This show nails it by leaning more towards characters than exposition, because that's what this show is about more: characters.
In other similar series, like Another, or Erased, I couldn't care less about a majority of the characters, but here, they feel well written , and serve a purpose in the story. The ensemble of other students, family members, and important townsfolk feel unique, and serve important roles in the story. Sure, they're not the main cast, so they're not as developed, but they don't turn into background noise whenever they talk. I have a feeling that with Season 2, we'll be learning a lot more about them, particularly the Medium girl.
The main focus of the story, though, is the relationship between Yoshiki and Hikaru, and how it has changed over the years, and since the incident. It is equally about what they say as what they don't say, and the series delve deeply into their childhoods growing up together, practically like brothers. It makes you feel for them, and then feel a sense of loss at the predicament they're in now. By the end of the 12th episode, I felt like I knew them.
Yoshiki is the typical quiet kid with a lot of emotions, but he's balanced out brilliantly by Hikaru, a loud, cheerful, extrovert who lives each day to the fullest. Its refreshing to see a horror/mystery series where the main characters aren't just generic nobodies with no real ambition or strong feelings whatsoever. These two's dynamic is honestly what carries the show; just watching the EP with them sitting on a subway, making faces and laughing, its the slice of life stuff that I wish more anime would do. Its the kind of stuff that got people invested in characters in the older years of anime, before everything had to be about 'hype moments and aura'.
And for what its worth, the animation in this series is dang good. Lots of scenes are full of this moody, atmospheric lighting, that give everything an eerie, not-quite-right feel. Then its able to switch on a dime to a perfect summer day in the countryside, with distant mountains, glittering rivers, and small shops selling melons and ice cream. Its incredibly good at being, well, normal, which makes the abnormal things really stand out.
When the show wants you to be disturbed, my god, it does it. Anytime something visually glitches out, or a little bit of Hikaru'sโฆ. 'goop' comes out, its like a shock to the system. Its so sharp, contrasting the normal world around it, it draws the eye, makes you stare in shock and horror, and then its gone. Without spoiling much, the supernatural elements in this series are done in such a way that you can't look away, and give the series a cool visual style. One scene in particular actually made me jump! I can't imagine how the originally manga artist was able to draw this stuff out, it just feels so perfect in animation.
What I really admire most about this show is its subject matter, the stuff it talks about. The Summer Hikaru Died isn't about alien invasions, or curses, its about dealing with grief (at least, I'm pretty sure it is). In the first episode, we learn that Yoshiki's best friend since childhood died on the town's nearby mountain. A week later, he returns as if nothing happened, and reveals that he's actually an alien-like creature inhabiting the body, that the real Hikaru is dead, and that they must keep it a secret. Throughout the 12 episodes, Yoshiki grapples with what he should do, and if having Hikaru back, even as this new thing, is worth the suffering of others he inadvertently causes. His friend is dead, does he put on a smile and pretend like nothing ever happened, or accept Hikaru's death and force out the creature? His relationship with the new Hikaru is fascinating, and the series spends a lot of time discussing how their lives have changed, and what to do now. Its a fresh take on the concept of a 'body snatcher' that I've never seen anywhere else, and takes the time to fully explore itself with emotional weight.
But what's equally interesting is the queer subtext of the series. Yoshiki and Hikaru's relationship is close, and at times, intimate, though not explicitly sexual or romantic. In one episode, Hikaru reveals a gaping hole in his chest, and invites Yoshiki to stick his hand inside. Hikaru seems to enjoy it, while Yoshiki gets flustered and quickly backs out. At another point, the two are playing by a river, discussing someone in town whose been disowned by his family. Hikaru calls the person 'diseased', and Yoshiki corrects him. "Yusuke ain't diseased. He's a homosexual". When Hikaru presses further about it, Yoshiki changes the subject. The relationship between Yoshiki and Hikaru is hard to read as anything but queer. Their care for each other is at the heart of the show, and with each episode, they realize just how much they really care for each other. Yoshiki finds himself feeling for this new Hikaru, despite him not being the friend he once knew, and Hikaru confesses that though he doesn't quite understand the intricacies of human emotions and customs, he feels strongly towards Yoshiki in a way unlike towards anyone else. Even if it is not explicitly romantic or sexual, their relationship is so queer its blinding, and coming from a country that is still struggling with LGBTQ rights, that's something.
Going into this show, I expected it to be something that'd make me sob, and I was surprised to find a show with more that'd make me think than tear up. Its an anime that tackles its tough subject matter with all the grace it deserves, while telling a story that had me coming back for more with each new episode released. Sure, it ain't as showy, flashy, or violent as the stuff I normally watch, but The Summer Hikaru Died is probably the best damn thing that's been released this year so far.
