Summer Hikaru Died, The
Entry updated 3 November 2025. Tagged: TV.
Japanese animated tv series (2025-current; original title Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu). Cygames Pictures. Based on the Manga by Mokumokuren. Directed and written by Ryōhei Takeshita. Voice cast includes Yumiri Hanamori, Chiaki Kobayashi, Chikahiro Kobayashi, Wakana Kowaka and Shūichirō Umeda. Twelve 23-minute episodes to date. Colour.
The god (see Gods and Demons) Nonuki-sama is reputed to dwell on Mount Nisayama near the village of Kubitachi, with stories of a bloody history that culminated in mass violence 300 years ago when a member of the Indou family asked the god to revive his dead wife. Since then, as penance, the Indou family have performed a ritual to keep Nonuki-sama confined to the mountain.
In January 2020, after a failed ritual, teenager Hikaru Indou (Umeda) lies dying on that mountain; something approaches and he reaches out to it. Returning to the village a week after, he says he has no memory of what happened. Six months later his best friend Yoshiki Tsujinaka (Chiaki Kobayashi) asks, "You're not Hikaru are you?" Surprised, the other replies, "I thought I copied him perfectly," partially melting into the vision the true Hikaru had seen, and begs him not to tell anyone: "This is my first time living as a human", an experience he is enjoying, and "I like you a whole lot. So please. I don't wanna kill you." Yoshiki accepts his friend has gone and, because this is the only way he will have some semblance of him in his life, agrees to keep the other's secret – but he is also scared. We later learn he had found Hikaru's corpse – it apparently took a few days for whatever had possessed the moribund body to repair it (see Identity Transfer) – and only now had plucked up the courage for a confrontation.
This Hikaru remembers the original's experiences, though – for example – watching a familiar film causes a fresh emotional response: "It's stored in my memory. But it's my first time seeing it." He admits to being unsure of what he is, save that he is not a ghost and had wandered through the woods for a long time: "I couldn't really feel anything. I always felt like some sorta Robot." Then he saw Hikaru on the verge of death: "Next thing I knew, I just kinda ended up like this." Yoshiki asks him if he likes him, Hikaru says yes, "a lot"; Yoshiki reflects Hikaru had never said that before, "not even once"; there are other differences in their personalities. Cats dislike Hikaru and an old lady has hysterics, calling him Nonuki-sama; he murders her (for him the differences between life and death are slight).
Walking in Mount Nisayama's forest, Yoshiki is approached by a long-necked humanoid figure (see Supernatural Creatures); Hikaru "devours" it, explaining it was lonely and wished to latch onto his friend. A villager talks of how "Some kinda distortions creeped into these parts ... we're getting visitors who shouldn't be here." When Asako Yamagishi (Hanamori), a schoolfriend with Psi Powers, tells Hikaru she believes he is possessed by a ghost he almost kills her, which leads an agonized Yoshiki to stab him: he does not die, but – wanting to be with the other – extracts half of himself and gives it to his friend "I can't really comprehend how much a life is worth. But I just made myself smaller", making it more difficult to kill people. Yoshiki remarks the other is like a baby bird imprinting on the first thing it sees, and decides it is time to do some research and work out what Hikaru is.
He learns the barrier between this world and the spirit world (see Dimensions) is thin, causing the souls and the emotions of the dead – "impurities" – to seep through (see Eschatology); when he inhabited the mountain Hikaru had attracted them like a lightning rod, so – provided they stayed away – the villagers were safe, but now he is in the village violent incidents occur with increasing frequency. However, Rie Kurebayashi (Kowaka), a knowledgable villager, says Hikaru is not himself one of these impurities but "exists beyond the cycle of life, death, and rebirth". In their investigations they meet Tanaka (Chikahiro Kobayashi), who – as an experiment – cuts off Hikaru's head (with it stuck back on his neck, he recovers after a few days). Tanaka works for a Company "looking for a certain something from their world", though admits to having his own agenda; he also has a hamster who can sense Hikaru. Tanaka states that Hikaru is not Nonuki-sama, as that god does not exist (and the rituals were pointless).
Perhaps as a result of sacrificing part of himself, Hikaru changes; now feeling pain and seeming to have acquired some empathy, he realizes by inhabiting this body Hikaru's family and friends – particularly Yoshiki and Asako – are unable to mourn him and move on; so he tells Yoshiki that he loves him – though not in a human way – but will return to the mountain and draw the impurities out of the village. Yoshiki breaks down and tells him he wants him – not Hikaru, but that which is in Hikaru – to stay: Hikaru seems to agree, and the season ends with Tanaka approaching the pair.
At one point Yoshiki reads a Comic book called Swampman about a man killed by lightning and replaced by something with the same appearance and memories (likely referencing both the Alan Moore incarnation of Swamp Thing and philosopher Donald Davidson's subsequent Swampman Thought Experiment, itself clearly based on Swamp Thing). Yoshiki discusses the ramifications of this with two schoolfriends: "What makes people themselves anyway? Their Memories? Cells? Experiences?" (See Identity.) There are also references to Gehenna (see Religion) and metamorphosis.
Season one ends with many questions still unanswered: most notably, what is the being inhabiting Hikaru's body and who are Tanaka's employers? The Summer Hikaru Died is densely packed, with much on the history of Kubitachi and surrounding districts, plus slice of life scenes involving the contemporary inhabitants, and also Horror. This is a first-rate Anime, with a strong plot and characterization, very good animation (there are nice shifts in style to reflect Hikaru's otherness) and covering many interesting themes. Season two is much anticipated. [SP]
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