Netflix’s horror anime, The Summer Hikaru Died, centers around the mysterious disappearance of Yoshiki Tsujinaka’s beloved friend, Hikaru Indou. In January 2020, Hikaru had gone missing in the Nisyama Mountains for an entire week, but what was strange was that he didn’t have any recollection of what happened in that period afterwards. It’s been six months since Hikaru’s disappearance, and the question that still bothers Yoshiki is what really happened to his friend. Why has Hikaru started acting so strange after his return from the mountains, which were believed to be home to a supernatural creature?
As the first episode began, Yoshiki mustered the courage to ask the person sitting beside him, “You aren’t the real Hikaru, are you?” The creature came out of Hikaru’s body to tell his friend that he wasn’t the real Hikaru, but he begged Yoshiki to protect his secret, as this was his first time living as a human being. Yoshiki was stunned for a moment. He knew the person sitting in front of him was a fake, but then what had happened to the real Hikaru? Is he dead?
Spoiler Alert
Hikaru Died in the Mountains
At first, I really thought that the nonhuman entity, Nonuki-sama (Nounuki), that took over Hikaru’s body was also the one that killed him. But the truth was, Hikaru was already breathing his last when the creature came upon him. Well, if you take a closer look at the scene in the forest, you can spot Hikaru lying on a rough patch of land. I mean, one can say that either he fell from a height into a pit or something or hurt himself badly while trekking in the mountains. You can also spot a red patch near Hikaru’s eyes, which I guess was blood oozing from his head, likely from an open head wound. It’s implied that Hikaru had suffered a fatal wound from which he never recovered. Well, whatever the cause of Hikaru’s death might be, it wasn’t Nonuki-sama that killed him.
Nonuki-sama Seems Like A Supernatural Parasite
In the episode, Nonuki-sama, as Hikaru, told Yoshiki that it had been wandering the mountains for quite a long time. It’d never actually felt anything before. It didn’t know what it was or where it came from. It called itself a machine on autopilot all that time, looking for something in the mountains, and the moment it came across Hikaru, it took over his body. It didn’t remember the details, but it seemed like Nonuki-sama was some sort of supernatural parasite or extraterrestrial being that had been living in the Nisyama Mountains for much longer than the people of Kubitachi Village. It had the ability to access a person’s memories and replicate their personalities, though it failed to do so well enough to fool Yoshiki, who knew Hikaru inside out. Also, when they were out eating at a joint, the duo came across a cat named Mince, who jumped in fear as soon as the cat walked closer to Hikaru. It is said that cats can see or sense supernatural spirits or creatures, so that was a nice touch there. So, with that said, I think we’ll find out more about Nonuki-sama’s origin in the next episodes of The Summer Hikaru Died.
Yoshiki likes Hikaru
I think the first episode made it abundantly clear that Yoshiki had feelings for Hikaru, as more than just as a friend. This was one of the reasons he wasn’t really sure how to react to the news of his death. When Nonuki-sama told Yoshiki the truth about Hikaru, Yoshiki just thought that his friend was gone and wasn’t coming back, and hence he wanted this copy of him to stay to fill the void inside his heart. Well, you can totally see that Yoshiki didn’t want to accept the fact that his friend was long dead. He had been running away from the truth because he didn’t want to grieve for the only boy he’d had feelings for. Yoshiki wanted the creature to stay because it almost felt and looked like Hikaru, but deep in his mind, he knew that it wasn’t Hikaru, and sooner or later, he would be forced to face reality. However, a much more important question here is: does the fake Hikaru have the same feelings for Yoshiki? I mean, I’m not sure, because the creature itself couldn’t feel anything, but from their conversation, it seemed like before his death, Hikaru too felt the same way for Yoshiki; unfortunately, they never got the chance to confess their feelings for each other. So, it’s possible that Yoshiki, who doesn’t want Hikaru to leave him again, will initiate a secret relationship with him and keep him close as long as he can, protecting his secret from the world outside. Well, quite an E.T. story.
Old Lady Matsuura Is Dead
In The Summer Hikaru Died episode 1’s ending, an ominous creature paid a visit to Matsuura, the same old lady who freaked out when she saw Hikaru and Yoshiki near the crossing. It seemed like Matsuura could sense Nonuki-sama hiding inside Hikaru’s body and therefore tried to warn Yoshiki, but he wasn’t much bothered. But who was this late-night visitor who sent chills down her spine? Sometime past midnight, Matsuura heard someone calling her name from the front door. They said they had a delivery for her, but Matsuura couldn’t recognize the voice. The person didn’t sound like Satou, the delivery man who usually delivered her parcels. And what was more suspicious, what was a delivery man doing at her place at such an odd time?
And in the very next moment, we saw a creature, similar to Nonuki-sama, entering Matsuura’s house, standing silently in the dark hallway. The show didn’t reveal how exactly Matsuura died, but the scene constantly cuts between Yoshiki, having a nightmare, and the screams of Matsuura, thereby hinting at the possibility that it could all be happening inside the head of Yoshiki, who had taken too many pills to calm the voices in his head. I mean, I did take a look into the book, according to which Matsuura died in an unnatural way. She stuffed her own hand down her throat, which eventually took her life, yet I am not sure if it was Nonuki-sama that killed her.
In episode 1’s ending, the police arrived at Matsuura’s house, where her daughter confirmed her death. Her tragic passing had left a bunch of people stumbling in fear, especially Takeda and his friends, Mikasa and Matsushima, who’d tried and failed to get rid of the fabled creature through a ritual. And now they needed to figure out a way to tackle the threat if they wanted to survive the vengeful creature coming after them.
There’s An Exorcist Coming To Kubitachi
The first episode also introduced a strange man named Tanaka, who seemed like some sort of exorcist. I mean, if you looked close, you might have spotted a pen tucked into the center of his shirt’s pocket, giving the impression of a “cross.” Additionally, Takeda mentioned a ritual performed by someone named Kouhei Indou (maybe he was Hikaru’s father or someone related to him), based on which I think they believe they were dealing with a supernatural spirit and therefore called in an exorcist, right? Something tells me that Tanaka isn’t a human either. It seems like he’s as old as Nonuki-sama itself, which is why he knows about the creature hiding in the Nisyama Mountains. Also, he isn’t your normal spirit or creature hunter. The episode implied that he had a soft spot for these supernatural spirits and sometimes broke the laws of his company to do what he felt was right. When Takeda called him, Tanaka wasn’t quite sure if he wanted to visit the gloomy village, but then he thought that the villagers wouldn’t be able to deal with the ominous threat on their own, so he would have to intervene and therefore decided to visit the village. We don’t know a lot about Tanaka or the “company” he works for, but I guess we’ll just have to patiently wait for the next episodes to find out more about him.
