OP: “Saikai (Reunion)” by Vaundy
Another two-chapter episode this week, which strongly indicates that this season is going to adapt the first half (five volumes) of Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu. Because this series is pretty to-the-point, that still means a lot is happening in any given week. But the pacing feels organic because that’s just how Mokumokuren writes. Comparing it to something like Takopii no Genzai events are moving at a positively glacial pace here. And while there’s a visceral thrill to what Taizan 5 does, this way is certainly more sustainable.
While the focus of Hikaru will always be on Yoshii and- well, Hikaru – some of the other important players are woven into the tapestry this week. We have Tanaka-san (Kobayashi Chikahiro), the idol-loving outsider with a hamster he seems very attached to. By appearances he’s some sort of “plumber” – when something is leaking that shouldn’t be, the elders call him in. He works for a company (“the company”) which he says was responsible for stopping a corporate development on the local mountain, and it’s clear the elders have a mixed relationship with it. He’s investigating the death of Katsuura-san, the crazy old lady who was apparently normal until her daughter disappeared without a trace (though she did “see something” on the mountain as a child).
Hikaru and Yoshiki’s classmates enter the picture as well. Completing their inner circle are Yamagishi Asako (Hanamori Yumiri), Tadakoro Yuki (Wakayama Shion), and baseball boy Maki Yuuta (Nakajima Yoshiki). Yuuta is having some scary experiences walking home through the woods (perhaps a shortcut better not taken). Yoshiki resists his entreaties to accompany him and check it out., but Asako seems keen on the adventure. So does Hikaru, which comes as a major surprise to the group given that he was the one who “hates this sort of thing the most” (he fainted for two hours after watching a horror movie).
Much to Asako’s disappointment – and Yuuta’s embarrassment – nothing happens while walking him home. But on the way back Yoshiki spots a “zigzag” in the trees, which soon reveals itself to be some sort of entity. Asako hears a loud noise which Yuki does not, freaks out, and pulls her behind as she flees back to the road. Hikaru informs Yoshiki that the thing he saw was trying to attach itself to him – and that these things are attracted to Yoshiki because he looks at them and they’re lonely. He then tells him he’s eaten it to prevent that – or inhaled it, or drank it (the correct terminology seems not to exist).
Yoshiki’s curiosity about this event leads him to be uncharacteristically assertive in approaching Hikaru for an explanation. The pair of them wind up in the equipment room at school, where Hikaru unbuttons his shirt and invites Yoshiki to stick his hand inside. The “raw chicken” coldness he experiences is clearly not pleasant – for him. For Hikaru it seems to be just the opposite, as he declares that it’s been a long time since he felt anyone living inside him. This can only be described as a very intimate encounter, and will surely be a trigger moment for the more uptight in the audience.
Next we see someone who may be Hikaru’s father in flashback, warning Hikaru to marry someone as quickly as possible if he finds someone he loves, otherwise Unuki-sama will taken them away. The Indou, he says, have an agreement with Unuki-sama not to be taken, but what it will do is take the person closest to them (the implication being that marrying into the family brings the person under that protective umbrella). Tanaka, meanwhile, has found a bag on the mountain where Hikaru disappeared, containing a freaky stone. Tanaka opines that the stone used to be someone’s head, and provides protection from the nasties on the mountain (though if indeed Hikaru was carrying it, there are obviously limits to that).
Finally, we meet Kurebayashi Rie (Kowaka Wakana). She’s probably my favorite among the supporting cast, and she’s already picked up on something being amiss with Yoshiki. Kurebayashi-san has BME (Big Mom Energy) to spare, and she takes the initiative to approach Yoshiki outside the grocery store (after an oppressive encounter with the busybody cashier). She’s just a normal housewife, she says, who senses things other people don’t. She tells Yoshiki something awful was on the mountain where Hikaru disappeared, and suddenly disappeared (which scares her more). More pointedly she warns him to stop what he’s doing or he’ll wind up “mixed”. Kurebayashi gives Yoshiki her LINE info and entreats him to call her when he’s ready to talk about what’s happening to him.
There are a few charters this adaptation has, obviously, even in the first few episodes. But maybe the most important for me is this: it has to make you feel as if you’re there, in that village. And in that respect I think it’s succeeding admirably. The oppressiveness of the place and what’s happening there is everything to The Summer Hikaru Died – you have to feel both that you can’t escape it, and Yoshiki’s confusion about whether he wants to. The best of these sorts of works – Ghost Hound comes to mind – rely heavily on sound design to establish this atmosphere, and it’s clear this series understands that winning formula.
ED: “you are my monster” by TOOBOE
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