The Summer Hikaru Died
Overview
Six months ago, Hikaru vanished for a week. Now, as his best friend Yoshiki senses something amiss and confronts him, the harrowing truth emerges.
Cast
Chiaki Kobayashi
Yoshiki Tsujinaka (voice)
Shuichiro Umeda
Hikaru Indo (voice)
Chikahiro Kobayashi
Tanaka (voice)
Wakana Kowaka
Rie Kurebayashi (voice)
Yumiri Hanamori
Asako Yamagishi (voice)
Yoshiki Nakajima
Yuta Maki (voice)
Shion Wakayama
Yuki Tadokoro (voice)
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Nick
the queer undertones go crazy, but i’m here for all of it! what really struck me about this show is how confidently it leans into the tension between personal intimacy and supernatural horror. the relationship dynamics never feel like window dressing—they’re baked into the unsettling atmosphere and make the eerie parts hit harder.
that said, the pacing can be a double-edged sword. season one takes its time, sometimes too much time, leaving a lot of questions unanswered. instead of clarifying the lore, the show piles on mysteries, which is intriguing but also a little frustrating when you want more direct payoff. still, the way the narrative lingers actually makes the horror sequences stand out more—they feel like ruptures in an otherwise slow summer haze.
the horror aspect itself is fantastic. i especially wish they’d shown more of the impurities, because every glimpse was visually striking and gave the story a heavier, more visceral weight. what’s also impressive is how grounded the series feels despite the supernatural premise. the use of real-world backdrops and small, everyday details adds an almost documentary quality that makes the eerie moments land with extra force. that attention to realism blends seamlessly with the strangeness and helps carve out a unique identity for the anime.
score: 9 (4.5) – great, but not perfect.
