The outing of a betrayal is how this feverish story begins; the coaxing of a creature hiding within the corpse of Hikaru, pulled out by his dearest friend, Yoshiki. With each page oozing with dread — the summer sounds of youth so loud they become suffocating, the air thick and heavy — a breath of relief balances on Hikaru’s response.

“𝘔𝘺 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘤𝘵…”

And so that breath is held. Yoshiki, unable to let go of Hikaru — of the love he holds in his chest, rampant enough to drive him towards any conclusion that is ignorant of the boys death — clings onto the creature parading as his childhood friend, his corpse animated and speaking, laughing and teasing as his beloved Hikaru would. What harm could it do to keep this creature close, using him as a balm for the grief that threatened to swallow him whole?

𝘍𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘯𝘢𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘵𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘵 is the answer we forge whilst hiking through these oppressive pages. For grief hurts, as does love, and nothing hurts more than the affection of a creature who seems to only be made of those two things, with something sinister lurking beneath.

𝘍𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘴𝘰𝘯, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘐 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶.

A creature exists because Hikaru died. It found the comfort of breath and warmth inside of his corpse, becoming “Hikaru” — a falseness — and with it, the creature experiences the electrifying touch of human emotion.

“Hikaru” attempts to grapple with the claustrophobic emotions that swell in his chest, weaving them together into a string of obsession that he wraps around Yoshiki once, twice, thrice — enough to bruise and scrape and bind them together so that neither feel at liberty to leave.


Mokumokuren fills their pages with the sweat, humidity and buzzing of long summer days, the chewable thickness of the air, an oppressive weight wherever you move. This village is drowning, we find. Not in water, nor in debt, but in an oppression that threatens to snuff out the flame of every soul there. Cicadas cry out over the sounds of their suffering, shrieking as their population is invaded by a threat so boyishly naive that its whims are entirely unpredictable.

The Summer Hikaru Died is about being queer in a small, conservative town; it’s about grief, the black tar weight of it, and obsession, the lung clogging kind that becomes a risky addiction; it’s about otherness and disconnection, the horrible 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘨 that you are different, unsure of how to fix it; it’s about eldritch horror and grotesqueness as an allegory for queerness and the repression of it.

It’s about love. Childish hope. Needing to be seen. It’s a story that has consumed me whole, a creature of my own to keep curled up inside of me, forever at the back of my mind.

Unsettling and poignant creeper with a heart of gold for both teens and adults.
Despite being an amorphous clone of Hikaru, the "Hikaru" character that we get to know is surprisingly likeable and charming in a very unique way.

One summer, Hikaru went up into the mountain, but what returned might not be Hikaru. Yoshiki doesn’t want to believe his best friend is dead, but he has a suspicion that whatever this thing is, isn’t his friend Hikaru. This creature might have all of Hikaru’s mannerisms and memories, but it’s not his best friend. However, is being around this thing better than not having Hikaru at all? Yoshiki receives several warnings from the townsfolk that what he’s with is evil, that he shouldn’t get too close, but the conflict in him only grows.
There are a lot of horror elements to this story, particularly the illustration style, but definitely the tone that always hints that the other shoe is about to drop. I was constantly waiting for a page-turn jump scare, but there wasn't one. That type of suspense and build up is hard to create and maintain, so I commend the mangaka for being able to sustain that throughout the story. There are also hints throughout that Hikaru was something more than a friend to Yoshiki, which is why it's so hard for him to move on or let go of even a monster in Hikaru's skin, but this is also just hints or dialogue choices rather than actions on the page.

Sara's Rating: 8/10
Suitability Level: Grades 9-12

What a crazy ride this was. I wasn't sure that slice of life horror was going to be for me but The Summer Hikaru Died was a fresh look at a genre saturated with gore in our modern times. This primarly focuses on the friendship and possible romantic feelings between two boys when one of them has been taken over/possessed by an entity that is causing strange things to happen. But it is also a journey of said entity attempting to learn to be human. Really enjoyed it and will definitely continue.

Yoshiki's best friend Hikaru is not himself lately.
Literally.
Someone else is living inside his best friends body.

This manga was eerie in the best possible way and I was hooked from the beginning. I cannot wait to check out the other volumes that are currently out!

Fantastic building of tension in this first volume. A wonderful mix of horror and the stress involved with secret queer love for a best friend. Looking forward to reading volume 2.

Well, ok, that was terrifying. This isn’t the gory kind of horror or even extreme psychological horror. It’s the juxtaposition of usual summer life in rural Japan – eating watermelon, grocery shopping, hanging out a friend’s house – with OH GOD WHAT. It’s my favorite kind of horror so I of course I loved this volume!

It’s been six months since Yoshiki’s best friend Hikaru disappeared in the woods for a week. Everyone else seems to have accepted his miraculous return and things have gone back to normal. It’s only Yoshiki who suspects that something is wrong – and has the courage to confront his friend. Dealing with the knowledge that his friend is gone but something with his friend’s memories is still walking around and desperate to be friends with him – well, Yoshiki’s having a rough time. Can the strange things happening around town be blamed on Hikaru? And what kind of relationship does he have – should he have – with his “friend?”

Yoshiki and Hikaru have been best friends since elementary school. The two boys still consider each other “only” best friends, though there’s enough tension and longing to make this count as at least a crush in my eyes. Hikaru insists that he needs Yoshiki and has a habit of making comments that could easily be misinterpreted as declarations of love, not to mention several teasing innuendos. It’s no surprise that Yoshiki’s conflicted about his feelings for Hikaru. Perhaps the most emotional part for me was the heartbreaking sadness of Yoshiki confirmation multiple times with Hikaru that his friend is truly dead and not coming back. The grief, confusion over Hikaru’s actions, not to mention worry over his intentions is absolutely overwhelming and depicted so well.

The art is unbelievably gorgeous. The character design is stunning and the varied emotions are depicted so well: fear, confusion, yearning, embarrassment. My personal favorite was the depiction of the being inside Hikaru. It’s both horrific and beautiful and something that had me pausing to inspect carefully every time. It’s no wonder I found it easy to empathize with Yoshiki.

Most of the story is from Yoshiki’s POV so a lot of the horror comes from the tension in the relationship between himself and Hikaru. It’s that sinking feeling when you know you’re making a bad choice but can’t help yourself. There are of course dire warnings of some sort of great evil and the unsubtle suggestion that whatever’s inside Hikaru will harm him, but compared to Hikaru’s grand declarations, well, it’s hard to believe, right?

Overall, this was an amazing start to a series and I’ve already checked out the second volume from the library – and preordered the third!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The premise seemed really interesting but the story just didn't grab me. Maybe it gets more interesting in future volumes but I feel like I've read this kind of story before and they never interest me for long.

It was such an intriguing read. I am already anticipating the next volume as the suspense is just too much to bear. The visuals were a cherry on top with deliciously descriptive body horror. Loved every bit of it.

What a unique take on boys love manga.. I enjoyed this spooky and sweet story for what it was. I loved the way the mangaka was able to show raw emotion between the two boys. However, I feel the story is missing something so I am unsure that I will continue with the next volume.

For some reason, I forgot this was a creepy manga when I read it, so the possessed plot twist threw me for a loop. The manga was a bit creepy, which was nice cause I love horror. The story was a bit slow, in my opinion, but I want to continue reading it just to find out what happened to the OG Hikaru in the forest. My main problem with this manga were the speech bubbles. They were drawn with the tiniest tails pointing to the speaker, so it was hard to tell who was speaking at times. There were also a few blank bubbles and text messages, so I wasn’t sure if that was just an unfinished ARC thing, or if that was intentional, but whatever the reason, it made me more confused with what I was missing. I would recommend the story if you like small-town possession horror where there are demons in the woods.

Thanks for allowing me to read this advanced readers copy of this manga! I found it really intriguing, and can't wait to find out if Yoshiki will continue having "Hikaru" around or eventually will let him go.

This was so so good. The summer creepy vibe, the tangible ambiance of school and friendship and scary story telling. The psychology behind grief that can bring people to make choices you can't comprehend in this. The scary nature of the drawings. Not too much, just enough, so it HITS. This was GOOD.

Thank you to Yen Press for providing me with an e-ARC of The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol 1!

The Summer Hikaru Died definitely has a good premise & there’s some really good art on the pages but there wasn’t enough in this volume to make me care to continue to the next.

Creepy and enthralling. Yoshiki’s best friend Hikaru disappeared in the mountains, but when he came back, he was different - Hikaru is dead and the thing that’s using his body wants to stay close to Yoshiki. Full of quiet tension - you'll want to have the next volume ready to go.

Just another sad manga story. Pretty sad pretty nice and very much likeable. Enjoy the ride to the wonderful world of nostalgic-manga-domination!

Sometimes the most horrific things aren’t explicitly scary. I have a fear of being forgotten by my close friends, and something about The Summer Hikaru Died intrigues me. This slow-burning mystery/horror manga is a refreshing tale that will have you on the edge on your seat.

In this manga, Yoshiki and his lifelong friend Hikaru are living school life in an idyllic town… except for one problem.

Hikaru died six months ago.

What remains is someone that isn’t quite like Hikaru, although he looks identical. After bringing it up, “Hikaru” threatens Yoshiki with death should he tell anyone else. Yoshiki grapples with the issue of his friend’s identity as the year continues, and a deeper mystery unfolds. Who is this person masquerading as Hikaru, and could the two stay close even if it’s a lie?

What I enjoy about this volume is how drastic the contrast between worlds it is. While it doesn’t pop up until near the end, there’s something not quite right with “Hikaru”, and only Yoshiki knows. It’s a compelling dynamic that I love to see explored in the next chapters. The tranquil school setting gets abruptly contrasted with some of the scarier elements, even if we don’t see much. This first collection does a great job of enticing the reader to continue with this tale, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

4 stars

Yoshiki's best friend, Hikaru, goes to the mountains, and when he returns something returns. He has Hikaru's face, voice, and memories, but this creature isn't Hikaru. Something is wrong. Something isn't right and if Yoshiki allows this new Hikaru into his life it could change him forever. I really enjoyed this first volume in the series. It's a creepy and chilling concept. One of my favorite horror novels, The Return by Rachel Harrison, has a similar premise following a friend going into the mountains only to return as a monster. It's an intriguing premise and this one doesn't disappoint. I'm excited to continue reading the series. I'm always down for a creepy manga and this one has some outstanding character elements that I think could go in a solid direction.

Adored this! The atmosphere and story was everything. I very much enjoyed watching the story unfold and ultimately see what paid off.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Yen Press for this creepy arc!

5/5 stars!

Honestly, wow. I haven't been this enthralled in a manga that wasn't some cutesy fantasy in such a long time! This was the perfect mix of creepy, intriguing, sad, and mysterious, and is perfect for spooky season! I desperately need to know what happens next, and will be ordering both volumes one and two to sell in my store on my next shift! I can't wait to recommend this to my manga reading friends!