At AnimeJapan this weekend, Netflix released the main trailer for The Summer Hikaru Died, the upcoming anime adaptation of Mokukokuren's psychological horror manga. The Summer Hikaru Died is slated to premiere this summer and stream on Netflix.
The official trailer, which features English subtitles, gives us our best look yet at the adaptation from studio CygamesPictures. We even get to hear a bit of TOOBOE's ending theme song for the series, titled "you are my monster."
The Summer Hikaru Died follows the story of Yoshiki, a teenager living in rural Japan who discovers that his best friend Hikaru has been possessed by an otherworldly entity. Netflix teases:
Yoshiki and Hikaru live in a rural village and have been close friends since they were young. The blazing sun... The constant buzzing of cicadas... Ice cream on the way home... On a perfectly ordinary summer day, as they laugh over trivial things, Yoshiki turns to Hikaru and says: "…You’re not Hikaru, are you?"
Six months earlier, Hikaru went missing in the mountains and returned unexpectedly a week later. The new Hikaru looks and sounds just like the original, but something else is stirring within him. "Hikaru is gone... If that’s the case, then..."
Yoshiki continues spending his days with the "something” imitating Hikaru, while pretending as if nothing has changed. Meanwhile, strange incidents begin to plague the village. Falling into the unknown "something" — The curtain soon rises on this coming-of-age horror story.
Prior to the trailer, Netflix shared a key visual for the series. It features the two main characters, Yoshiki Tsujinaka and Hikaru Indo, standing under a blue sky in Kubitachi Village.
The Summer Hikaru Died is directed by Ryohei Takeshita (Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night). Takeshita also serves as series composer, while Yuichi Takahashi (Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song-) serves as character designer and chief animation director and Masanobu Hiraoka serves as "Dorodoro" animator (Chainsaw Man episode director).
The original manga is serialized n Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace Up web imprint since August 2021 and is so far comprised of six tankobon volumes in Japan. The fan-favorite series is published in English by Yen Press, who describes the story:
It has Hikaru’s face. It has Hikaru’s voice. It even has Hikaru’s memories. But whatever came down from the mountains six months ago isn’t Yoshiki’s best friend. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous. Carrying on at school and hanging out as if nothing has changed—as if Hikaru isn’t gone—would be crazy...but when it looks so very like Hikaru...and acts so very like Hikaru...
The Summer Hikaru Died will premiere this summer.