It’s summer and it’s hot. High school buddies Yoshiki and Hikaru cool off with a frozen treat in their small village, as Hikaru confirms that he is not actually Hikaru; that human boy died when he disappeared last winter, and “Hikaru” is now…something else—something that goes all psychedelic ink blotty and red-eyed when his emotions (fear? anger?) peak. When “Hikaru” begs Yoshiki not to expose him, telling Yoshiki that he likes him, the boy agrees to keep mum. A series of subtext-heavy flashbacks helps explain why: Yoshiki secretly carried a bit of a torch for his friend. No one else at school seems to have noticed the changes in Hikaru…or maybe that one girl has? Regardless, several villagers certainly have realized that something is up with Hikaru, as first the butcher’s cat, then a middle-aged lady are horrified by his presence, and the village’s “batty old lady” freaks out, calling him Nonuki-sama, down from the mountain to get them. That night, the old lady is brutally murdered by something humanoid using Hikaru’s voice, as Yoshiki trembles in bed in a cold sweat, thinking about what he’s agreed to. How long can Yoshiki last? How long can the village last? And if it’s only summer now, then which Hikaru dies?
The look of love???
This first episode boasts all the strengths of the first volume of the manga and solves its greatest weakness, too. The strengths: It’s beautifully animated, with a lot of investment in the backgrounds and still montages of the village that really convey a sense of place and season, and it’s chock-full of mystery and creepiness, building a sense of tension straight out of the gate on multiple levels. The major flaw this episode overcomes is in the characterization of Yoshiki. It does so by conveying his frustrated romantic feelings for his friend more directly than the manga, so that his agreeing to keep quiet comes across as a type of implicit “deal with the devil” where he trades his silence for a chance to be liked by his crush, or rather, something essentially cosplaying as his crush. This makes Yoshiki’s motives more understandable, while his conflictedness at the end of the episode makes him more sympathetic; but no way is this gonna end well. The editing here deserves a special mention because this episode succeeds in adapting pretty much the entire first volume of the manga, while also bringing in some extra material (most importantly, a monster-hunter from a mysterious Company), making this a well-paced and engaging episode. I’ll admit, though, I didn’t find “Hikaru”’s “discovery” of being human winsome or interesting, and Yoshiki remains a little too glum for my liking, so in the end, the leads still fail to capture my interest, even in beautifully animated, well-edited form. But if you’re into slowburn psychological thrillers with the promise of added gore, or the angst of frustrated teenage feelings, dripping in summertime sweat (seriously, there is so much sweating in this episode…), then this may be for you!
The Summer Hikaru Died is streaming on Netflix.
- Film Review: All You Need Is Kill - 01.15.2026
- First Impression: Kaya-chan isn’t Scary - 01.11.2026
- First Impression: Dead Account - 01.10.2026
