This is a strange read for sure, but I kinda enjoyed the creepy vibe nonetheless. Yoshiki's best friend, and love interest(?), Hikaru gets lost in the woods one day and dies. He is taken over by some malevolent entity and returns home. Yoshiki notices right away and the story consists of him trying to live with this new entity and deal with the ever increasing strange occurrences that are beginning to happen around their small countryside town. I really enjoy the creepy vibe, but the story may be just too strange for me to be interested in it for the long run.

This was built up so amazingly, I knew what to expect from the blurb but it still shocked me with the way it was written and drawn out. I was fully absorbed straight away and flew through this, I love the horror aspect mixed with the lore and love that there’s an element of romance to it that we have yet to explore? It just adds an extra layer to the story. I can’t wait to see what happens next I will be buying these mangas because the artwork is just that great. Highly recommend for all lovers of anything creepy

Beautiful story and beautiful art. You can feel the heat coming of the pages. I wasn't sure about some of the translation decisions, but it really does fit together in the end. I look forward to reading the second part.

I just reviewed The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol. 1 by Mokumokuren. #TheSummerHikaruDiedVol1 #NetGalley
THANK YOU NET GALLEY for sending me this book. The summer hikaru died is like if Junji ito wrote a BL.
It was creepy and so good in all the right ways.

this was such an intriguing concept for a story! i’m curious to see where it goes from here and what actually happened to hikaru and what the thing is that became him.

This was my first time reading a manga, and I think maybe it's just not for me. It wasn't particularly scary or creepy, and there were a few moments that just icked me out,

3.5⭐️

It looks like Hikaru. It talks like Hikaru. But it’s not Hikaru. So what is it?

This book was my first dip into the horror manga genre and it was definitely a new experience for me. This one wasn’t too scary but I’d definitely call it weird, eerie and a bit creepy. It was also oddly sweet. It’s a story about a boy who has lost his best friend and who is figuring out his feelings towards the thing that has replaced him. This volume was merely an introduction so I’m definitely interested in seeing where the story goes in the next volume.

Thanks Netgalley and Yen Press for letting me read this arc. The Summer Hikaru Died is available now.

I loved this book, it's fantastic.

The illustrations are wonderful and represent that dark tone of the story.
And the manga panels are really well thought.

The characters in the book are intriguing and I was interested in them and in what they know.
I like the contrast between the two main characters, one is more extroverted while the other is more reserved. And the complicated relationship they have with each other is what makes the story for me. I think it's brilliant.

I think this first volume left me with the intrigue and mystery and the beginning of the horror for the next volumes.
Which I really want to read.

This is a kinda weird one, and I can't decide if it's good or bad? Is it BL? I guess? Definitely some creepy moments.

This manga was very interesting to me because it knows how to combine very well what links it, with the terrifying and the psychological.

The Summer Hikaru Died was a strange and at the same time very interesting mix where we learn the story of a young man, Yoshiki, who begins to notice his friend as strange. When he confronts him, Hikaru effectively tells him that he is not the Hikaru that Yoshiki knows. And there begins the cloudy and toxic.

Yoshiki doesn't seem to care much that Hikaru isn't who he used to be, because he wants to have him by his side, and maybe he feels a certain rejection for that unknown being. That ambivalence, with the touches of terror and how they accompany the story seemed like a very good combination to me.

What bothered me a bit is the way they had to translate it into English and that the same expressions or abbreviations were used all the time.

I look forward to reading the second volume and knowing how it continues!

Thanks Yen Press for the ARC I read on NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yen Press for letting me read the digital ARC of The Summer Hiraku Died Vol 1. for review. Hiraku goes into the mountain and turns up missing for a few days. Once he returns, he is exactly the same but has no memories of what happened. No one notices anything unusual except for his best friend Yoshiki who realizes that is not his true friend. Hiraku went into the mountains but something else came out pretending to be him.
I really enjoyed this manga! It was weird and creepy. There was a sense of dread that hung between the Yoshiki and the thing that took over his friend. It's obvious that Yoshiki struggling internally with the realization that something has taken over his best friend but has no idea what it is. It was eerie and wonderful. It makes you think what would you do in his situation? The long years of trust, bonding, love, and friendship cannot be easily broken. But what if that person was gone forever, and the person standing in front of you was some unknown thing pretending? Excellent. 4/5 stars

A Incredibile original manga.
The story and the drawings are really perfect for this story which has very horror traits.

What happened to Haruki? Is it really him?

I had a little anxiety reading, if you like this kind of story. you have to read it.

<blockquote>Don't Look at anything but me, The Only thing ya gotta look at is me, and the only thing that should stick to ya is me.</blockquote>
I have received an ARC of This Manga, In exchange for an honest review, Thanks so much To The Writer, Translator, Yen Press for this opportunity.
<img src="https://imgur.com/Gnv4CB0.jpg"/>
My eyes about went out of my skull with red hearts, when i discovered i got approved for two manga ARCs, as far as i can remember i passed on on all the opportunities thus far, because was either an advanced volume, or romance and just romance.
The Only Good Romance is Horror Romance.
<img src="https://imgur.com/8NwEWBk.jpg"/>
Reporters : Can we take This quote from you?
Me : Yes You Can!

I think this is my first MM Dark romance read, i did FF, I did movies for both, But MM read must be my first!
So basically the protagonist's best friend died in the woods, and an entity of some sort, took over his body, and it's living through him, tasting things for the first time, experiencing things for the first time.
And it's a scary relationship? the question mark because they are not even romantically involved, they just have this incredible sexual tension between them, they are not true to their feelings, they are not active sexually even though Hiraku keeps saying the most sexual double meaning shit ever!
<blockquote>But even if i won't be taking you, i can always be with you now, I'll just have to make sure no one else takes you...</blockquote>

The art was amazing, the story was what i came to expect from these latest manga flings that are so popular, no real direction, light romance, short lived projects that end by the time they hit volume 6 or something, because the writers seem to be leaning towards, these cutsie stories, where while there is an end goal, All the middle is just filling, random encounters, random scenes between the protagonists, when it could just be finished in two volumes without all that.
I think everyone really needs to start working on the plot more, because at this current phase we are in, it's enough only for really light readers who don't really know better.

<blockquote>If ya want after school, I'll show ya what's inside me!</blockquote>
<blockquote>Why Don'cha try stickin' yet hand in?</blockquote>
Get the double meanings? and this was not even sexual in anyway i swear!
All these quotes by Hikaru the horror protagonist, Who is really cute, let me describe these two, Imagine a protagonist who is looks boring like sword art online guy, or attack on titan guy, but with a terrified look on his face the entire time.
As for Hikaru, Imagine Kilua from Hunter X Hunter, He is a Kilua type for sure, and that will probably the main selling point of this manga lol

Very interesting concept that I would love to see more from. The art is great especially the more horror themed panels. I hope there is more to this manga soon!

This is such a cozy manga.

The atmosphere of the village is so cute and warm and the way the characters have been translated really fits that Upper Northern Japan dialect. “Hikaru” is so sweet and I enjoy how conflicted Yoshiki is about the whole thing. These “boys” are adorable, especially in the bonus.

It has Higurashi no Naku koro Ni vibes plus cryptids and I’m absolutely here for that.

I enjoyed the volume so far and can't wait to read future volumes. I had so many questions and there were only some hints to the answers.

I don't read alot of manga but this one was good.
Boy comes back from mountain and he has changed.
Thanks to Yen Press and NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for an advanced copy in exchange for my honest review!

I did not expect to like this manga as much as I did. Something about the mystery of "Hikaru" just gripped my brain and wouldn't let go. The pace in this first volume moves pretty slowly, but it works to build up suspense for the overall series. This manga also does something I haven't seen any other series do. It's very blatantly a horror story, but it likes to lull you into forgetting that fact with the stereotypical high school slice-of-life style scenes. But just as you're comfy in those scenes, it will slap you just hard enough to remind you that hey, this is a HORROR story. Seeing Yoshiki trying to pretend that nothing is wrong and that this is Hikaru and not something else is fascinating. His desire to know the truth about "Hikaru" and what exactly "Hikaru" is is an apt reflection of the reader, we also want to know what the hell "Hikaru" is. The small glimpse into what "Hikaru" might be horrifying. The tiny peeks you see are of something that is beyond human comprehension, so I shudder to think of what his "true form" may look like. The art style does the same thing as the plot with it's style. A lot of it looks like normal high school slice-of-life manga, but then parts of it will morph into a more terrifying style to remind you again, that this is a horror manga. The parts that look more like a traditional horror manga are jarring, and honestly work perfectly to make the reader feel as unsettled as the character is in that moment. The ONLY gripe I have with this is how the lettering is done for certain sound effects in some scenes. They keep putting way too much text onto the page, so you get distracted by all this huge blocky text. They tried to keep the top-down way that Japanese is written when translating it into English. But English isn't formatted like that, so when a sound effect such as "CROAKCROAKCROAK" is written in that top-down Japanese lettering format, it starts to blend and look like a mass of random letters. It's very distracting, and honestly took me out of a couple of scenes. Besides that, I am looking forward to reading more of this series!

I wasn’t sure about what to expect regarding this manga because I knew it balances both horror and slice of life, so I wanted to be as open as possible. Turns out the combination worked wonderfully! I liked that it wasn’t graphic all the time, but instead played with the sense of dread to create a dark atmosphere.

Focusing on how Yoshiki gets used to the loss of his friends and his slow mental deterioration because of it, getting to know the creature that is now with him, pretending to be Hikaru, I felt uneasy imagining what could happen to him. There’s something seductive about how the scenes intertwine one with the other, creating a full experience that is almost sensorial.

There wasn’t enough development or backstory about what happened or how Hikaru and Yoshiki became friends, although there are hints at the beginning about how he feels about his friend. This becomes more obvious at the end, just when I really wanted a final answer. I’m expecting more details in the next volume, but so far, the first one works nicely.

The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol. 1 is an easy, quick, but intense reading that plays with horror and romance, daily life,and folklore, until the lines between them blur. I would even classify it as Gothic because of its atmospheric experience, how it teases the reader, the feelings of dread, impending doom, and the small but effective doses of graphic horror.

Losing your best friend is hard, but a being friends with a monster wearing your dead friends face is harder. Filled with equal parts horror and humor, this manga is perfect for fans of Junji Ito.