Storyboard artist and episode director: Ryohei Takeshita (also the series director and series composer)
The Summer Hikaru Died gets to the point quickly — within five minutes, you know that something happened to the titular Hikaru in the mountains, and that the “Hikaru” who’s returned to town is something else. Protagonist and close friend Yoshiki knows that too, but the entreaty from “Hikaru” to let him continue living this life — which also happens to come with a threat of death on the side — and Yoshiki’s struggle to handle his loss causes him to allow “Hikaru” to remain in his life, even as the reality torments him.
The episode has a prologue of sorts where it provides a hint to the viewer about Hikaru’s fate before its big (and very early) reveal to Yoshiki himself, and I wondered if this would make the latter less interesting. I was dead wrong. As Yoshiki and “Hikaru” converse while taking refuge from the overbearing sun, I found myself slowly becoming perturbed by the loud and incessant chirping of the cicadas — a familiar sound in anime turned into a tool to keep the viewer heavily on edge. It eventually rises to an almost overbearing crescendo as a shadow sweeps over everything, and then, just as disconcertingly, it just stops, right before Yoshiki reveals his suspicions about “Hikaru” to the entity. There’s a good few seconds before the sound of the cicadas fades in again, with their momentary silence effortlessly conveying the impact of the question.
The Summer Hikaru Died caught my attention for the story, but the execution of the well-drawn premiere (and maybe the fact that I watched and reviewed this past 1 AM) had me focusing on and losing myself in its mood and atmosphere. Moments of mobile camerawork and strong scene composition make the world feel physical and three-dimensional — an overhead shot of a character leaning backwards over the wall of an upper-floor corridor almost inspires vertigo, and one shot strongly conveys the impression that the corridor that the focal characters are in and the classroom they’re walking past are two separate spaces, even as we see it all from the side. The heat of the sun is convincing, but there’s also something unsettling and unnatural about it, an effect that is well-supported by the strong shadows and ominous reds from other scenes. Under different circumstances, I might have complained that the compositing feels off and a little unpleasant, but given the subject matter of the show, I think it works.
While there is dialogue/internal monologuing that express how Yoshiki feels about having “Hikaru” by his side, it’s the visual touches and sound that truly make everything convincing and magnetic. One section is accompanied by minimalistic but piercing music that almost feels like the embodiment of wrongness. This leads to a striking shot where shadows envelop the screen until only an eye and its tear, which eventually streams down, are visible against the darkness, creating a large impact with just a few lines. I’d already known from some of Takeshita’s past works (e.g. the first episode of Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night and the ninth episode of Heike Monogatari) that something storyboarded and directed by him would be something to look forward to, but I was still quite impressed at the experience of the premiere.
So far, the first episode provides hints of supernatural lore and the circumstances about Yoshiki’s younger sister. Combined with the questions of how Yoshiki’s life is going to pan out and what exactly “Hikaru” is, there’s enough to keep me interested from a narrative perspective. Ultimately, though, I mainly fell in love with the mood and atmosphere, and I hope that later episodes can continue to deliver them.
Watch it on: Netflix
Adaptation or original: Based on the manga by Mokumokuren
Series 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
