My Review on The Summer Hikaru Died (2026)

The Summer Hikaru Died - Contains Spoilers

I remember a few months back, I had decided to watch this anime called TSHD (The Summer Hikaru Died) and it's basically about this protagonist named Yoshiki and his best friend, "Hikaru" (also one of the main protagonists) who has been replaced by a supernatural entity and what I mean by replaced is that this entity is now controlling Hikaru's dead body, somewhat like how puppets work but at the same time makes Hikaru's body reanimated in a sense. Eventually Yoshiki discovers that "Hikaru" is not really Hikaru despite how the entity has captured his best friend's personality perfectly which leads to this anime becoming a psychological horror film with a little bit of mystery behind it. I would certainly recommend checking this anime out if you haven't already. In my opinion it's really interesting and I really enjoyed watching the opening as well. Some people have mistakened this anime as a BL anime due to how it contains... something "sus" between Hikaru and Yoshiki. 

 Characters (10/10)

I could go through an analysis of all the characters but I'll just going through the important ones just to save some time. 

Yoshiki Tsujinaka: As I mentioned earlier, Yoshiki is one of the main protagonists of the show. Something I noticed about him when I first watched this anime was how he appeared to be going through something mentally, and that would only lead to a downfall towards his own mental health when he realized that his own friend, Hikaru, was dead. Yet he still pretended that the new "Hikaru" was the old Hikaru that he once knew as he couldn't accept his friend's death which leads to a loop of endless grief and denial of Hikaru's death. Another thing I'd like to mention about Yoshiki is how he appears to be haunted by the villages expectations of societal norms, such as how some people would comment about how long his bangs were (and I can highly relate because my bangs in real life are also really long just like Yoshiki's at the moment... lol) and how he seems to be holding back on how he truly feels about Hikaru as the village holds their traditional values so obviously that means they will also be homophobic will struggle to accept modern-day ideas, values, and opinions. But yeah, Yoshiki can just be seen as another typical teenage guy going through a hard time and possibly even struggling on who he even is as I think throughout all of the episodes, he appears to have a hard time processing what's even going on in his life, especially when he attempted to kill "Hikaru" most likely to end the endless thoughts that keep on occurring in his mind. I could be wrong behind the reason as to why Yoshiki attempted to murder the new "Hikaru" also known as the fake Hikaru but this is just how I see it from my perspective.

Hikaru Indou: Hikaru is quite an interesting character. And I mean, the actual Hikaru, not the new "Hikaru" who is now the puppet of him. You might be wondering, "well how did Hikaru even die in the first place?" All we know is that Hikaru went up the mountain with an attempt to get something and to follow the footsteps of his father most likely, but while doing so he somehow died. The cause of his death isn't known yet but we know he died in the forest from which the entity found his dead body and took control of it. Additionally, Hikaru's father also died in an attempt to go up the mountain to do who knows what. I think the bloodline of Hikaru's family tree definitely owes something up to the mountain if they're willing to risks their lives to die trying, perhaps it's an ancient ritual to prevent some other supernatural entity from breaking free, who knows. 

Asako Yamagishi: I think Asako is going to be playing an important role within the show based on how she has the supernatural ability to sense other entities, including how she knows "Hikaru" is not actually Hikaru. Other than that, she's basically just another side character who could potentially also be the witness of everything that happens in the village or small town that the story takes place in. 

Tanaka: Something about this guy's attitude reminds me of Kaji from Neon Genesis Evangelion. He's quite mysterious and nobody knows who he's working for but it appears that he has some sort of supernatural abilities that help determine and track other supernatural entities as well. But yeah, he's mysterious and it's hard to determine his true motive, but one thing for sure is that he attempted to kill "Hikaru" as well. 

Rie Kurebayashi: I feel like Rie defintely KNOWS something about this whole entity situation along with what "Hikaru" truly is considering how she has given Yoshiki some warnings about getting close to "Hikaru." Considering that her husband had the same fate as "Hikaru" but instead her husband had no body, he was just... a shadow. I think Rie might have also had some involvement up in the mountains as well considering how she tried to get rid of Hikaru with who knows what supernatural abilities she has behind the scenes. 

Art (10/10)

I really like the artstyle of both the manga and anime, but mostly the manga as I think the shading just really gives the show its own unique vibe to it along with a sense of detail and manages to capture the depth of the story better. 

Music (9/10)

While the opening was most certainly a vibe, it wasn't exactly my most favorite song within this anime and neither was the ending. I just feel like the music just has room for improvement. Who knows, maybe I'll like the music of season 2 better. But yeah, one of my favorite songs really was "Shadow of Our Days" which was sang by both Hikaru and Yoshiki. I just really enjoy reading the lyrics along with its calming and simple melody. I think it really does a good job of representing the whole story of what's going on in everyone's lives in the anime despite it being a psychological horror show. Gonna link the song down below as well just in case you'd like to listen.

Final Thoughts

Watching this anime was like an emotional rollercoaster for me. I was just able to relate to Yoshiki's sorrow and it was almost as if Yoshiki was a reflection of who I was in my younger years along with how problematic society was for Yoshiki as well. The Summer Hikaru Died can certainly be scary to watch at times, but I think it manages to address some serious problems that society has in general and it isn't afraid to go cover the sensitive topics of death, grief, loss, homophobia, etc. But yeah, my final verdict for this anime would a rating of 9.8/10. 

This review of mine doesn't cover everything that happens within the show fully so if you really want a full on deeper analysis of what's going on, feel free to watch this video down below here.