A second main trailer and a July 5 Netflix premiere (effectively July 6 at 12:55 PM JST for the Japanese broadcast premiere) have been revealed for The Summer Hikaru Died anime, with the former showing even more of the show’s unsettling horror elements and engaging technical execution.
Also previewed is the newly announced opening theme, “Saikai” by Vaundy.
Additionally, there are a couple of new cast reveals in the form of Yoshiki Nakajima as Yuta Maki and Shion Wakayama as Yuki Tadokoro, plus the announcement of a pre-screening event on June 29 JST at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku.
The Summer Hikaru Died is based on the KADOKAWA-published manga by Mokumokuren, which Yen Press describes as:
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 manga began serialization on the Young Ace Up website in August 2021 and has six tankoubon volumes as of December 2024.
Staff
• Director: Ryohei Takeshita (Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night and Eromanga Sensei)
• Series composer: Ryohei Takeshita
• Character designer and chief animation director: Yuichi Takahashi (Vivy -Fluorite Eye’s Song- and Mononoke The Movie: The Phantom in the Rain character designer)
• Dorodoro animator: Masanobu Hiraoka (Chainsaw Man Ending 9 storyboard artist, unit director, animator, and editor)
• Background art director: Kohei Honda (Akiba Maid War)
• Color designer: Naomi Nakano (Solo Leveling)
• Compositing director: Tomohiro Maeda (Granblue Fantasy 10th anniversary movie)
• Animation production: CygamesPictures
Cast
• Chiaki Kobayashi as Yoshiki Tsujinaka
• Shuichiro Umeda as Hikaru Indo
• Yumiri Hanamori as Asako Yamagishi
• Wakana Kowaka as Rie Kurebayashi
• Chikahiro Kobayashi as Tanaka
Sources: The Summer Hikaru Died anime website (1), (2), (3)
