There are three summer anime that are really exploding commercially, based on the bump in manga sales (which is really the most important metric these days). They could hardly be more different, too. Takopii no Genzai and Kaoru Hana wa Rin to Saku are two of them – Kaoru Hana has seen the largest bump in raw numbers, but it has by far the most volumes of the group. On a per-volume basis it’s Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu that sits atop the pack, a continuation of a run of success for the series that’s been uninterrupted pretty much since the manga debuted.
I’m not deeply surprised at this, because again the manga has always been a strong seller. But no question about it, The Summer Hikaru Died is both weird and dense. It requires a fair bit of attention to follow the story, and it’s one of those “is it or isn’t it” series that I always think might be too little for subgenre fans and too much for haters. But it works, clearly – it’s a hit both critically and commercially, the latter more than ever now. I always think it’s a positive when weird and dense shows do well, because that can only help persuade production committees to make more of them.
This episode leans pretty heavily into the horror side of Hikaru’s personality. And that’s a sizable chunk of its DNA, clearly. But when it does horror it tends to see the absurdist humor in it. Things start out innocently enough with a home ec karaage prep, but Yoshiki can’t feel the chicken without it reminding him of feeling something else. Hikaru always seems to be watching Yoshiki, even when they’re in separate groups, and immediately notices. It struck me as this scene played out that it was mighty high-risk for a pair of high-school guys to be having this conversation publicly, even if no one seemed to be listening in – the possibilities for misinterpretation boggle the mind.
These touching sessions are mighty suggestive, there’s certainly no question about that. And eventually Yoshiki does figure out that Hikaru is getting off on them, which sparks a tangle of emotions he can’t even begin to process. “Mixing” is a word that Kurebayashi-san kept using with Yoshiki, and Hikaru “touching him back” has unsettling connotations even without factoring that in. Yoshiki has to calculate not only whether Hikaru is being honest with him, but whether Hikaru is enough in control that he can prevent himself from harming Yoshiki even unintentionally.
Meanwhile, poor Kaoru just can’t catch a break. She notices a weird clump of long hair in the bathroom, clearly not belonging to any of her short-haired brood. She freaks, as most would – especially someone already experiencing social anxiety as she seems to be. Her mom is unsympathetic but Yoshiki has reason to believe his sister, and mentions the “hair ghost” incident to Yuuta and Hikaru at school. The latter resolves to come over and investigate, and seems genuinely unnerved by the fact that these “impurities” seem increasingly attracted to Yoshiki.
Whatever is happening here, it’s clearly pretty messed up. Not prepared to assume Hikaru has things under control Yoshiki intervenes and finds himself invaded by the impurity, which shows him an unpleasant childhood memory (a dead bird and a fight with Hikaru) among other things. Again we sense how the stifling nature of this place is Yoshiki’s greatest anxiety. Hikaru eventually manages to chase the entity out of Yoshiki at the expense of some skin and blood, but it escapes.
The idyll of the followup with Hikaru and Yoshiki’s family stands in stark contrast to this creepy and violent encounter. It paints a picture of a possibility Yoshiki clearly longs to believe in – that Hikar2 could live a normal (enough) life as a human. But even now Tanaka and his hamster are hunting him, and his investigation eventually leads to a small shrine in the woods where he leaves a bit of a own blood and a charm behind, implying that Nounuki-sama is close at-hand. Tanaka, with his weird pet and rusty sword, is an enigma to say the least – not even the elders who brought him in seem unsure whether he’s really on their side.
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