I was absolutely fascinated by this premise and found myself being drawn to it again and again despite not being a big reader of horror. I'm happy to say it did not disappoint. This story begins when Yoshiki figures out that what came down from the mountains six months ago wasn't his best friend, Hikaru, but instead is something else entirely. The artwork is expressive and beautifully illustrated, and book keeps you on the edge of your seat with this slow burn horror story that keeps a steady balance between focusing on a high school friendship, and true horror. The relationship between Yoshiki and not-Hikaru also has queer undertones, and I'm curious to see where their relationship goes. A great read-alike recommendation for readers of junji ito.

This fascinating exploration of grief is disturbing in all the best ways. My only negative isn’t really a negative. Despite being a quick read, the plot is very slow and deliberate. Most of the conflict is internal so I think that slowness works to the story’s benefit. That being said, I can see how that would feel “boring” to some readers.

When I first checked this out on NetGalley I really expected it to be an emotional drama about loss and grief like that other anime with the girl and the sunflower. But ohmygosh. I'm SO glad I didn't read the description and went into this blind because I was *hooked* from the first few pages. It hits all the boxes for me personally, I am so attached to these characters and I absolutely adore the way the story is told and is progressing. It's so raw and full of feelings- it still hits on all of those points of loss and grief and dealing with things, but the paranormal twist and the way they have to reckon with it is so marvelous.

HUGE THANK YOU to NetGalley for putting me onto this, I think it may be my new favorite manga read of the summer. I cannot wait for the rest of this series to come out.
If you have the chance to go into this blind, do it. The twists hit you hard and the story is so compelling. It's also, somehow, remarkably soft? It's so loving.

And of course, the art is wonderful. I could hear those cicadas with the heavy sound effects, and the accent to the translation really add to the environment of the place. I loved the inserted artist's Twitter sketches, and the additional information at the end of the volume describing cultural things in more detail was very helpful.

I highly recommend this series.

2.5/5 ⭐

This was okay? I had big expectations going in and I guess it didn't quite live up to the hype for me. It wasn't bad or anything, but I was expecting a bit more from the first volume. The dialogues didn't really click with me, but that's something I could get used to.

The art style and the eerie atmosphere were awesome, though. I feel like there's potential in the series, so I'll read a few more volumes and see if the series grows on me. But for now it's just an okay start in my opinion.

I received an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

No way, this book is seriously mind-blowing!
I'm totally hooked on "The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol. 1" by Mokumokuren. It's like this insane horror BL manga that's totally rocked my reading list this year.
The characters are so freaking authentic as they navigate through all this supernatural chaos. They're just hanging out, snacking on popsicles, and doing all that typical teen stuff, but there's this whole eerie folk horror vibe going on. The whole deal with town superstitions and mountain legends adds this crazy mystery to the mix. I'm seriously counting down for the next volumes to drop!
Definitely craving more content from the author.
Major shoutout to NetGalley for hooking me up with the Arc!

Hikaru and Yoshiki are two childhood best friends who’ve grown up together in an isolated, rural village. However, one winter, Yoshiki goes missing in the nearby mountains, and he comes back changed. He acts the same and has the same memories, but there’s something … off about him.

When Yoshiki decided to finally confront him about it, the thing that looks like Hikaru starts transforming into something monstrous and breaks down crying, begging Yoshiki not tell anyone. To even Yoshiki’s surprise, he continues being friends with him as if everything is fine and totally normal.

And that’s when strange things and bizarre deaths start cropping up around the village, leaving Yoshiki with the difficult choice between protecting the fake “Hikaru” or those around him.

Essentially, Poor Yoshiki is left with a monkey’s paw or Pet Sematary type of deal where he gets his friend back but not quite as he was hoping for … and with unintended consequences.

The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol. 1 by Mokumokuren is a gripping and atmospheric psychological horror BL that’s quickly earned a spot as one of my favorite new manga of the year.

It really is an emotionally and character-driven manga that does a fantastic job of placing readers inside the main character’s head—masterfully depicting all of Yoshiki’s anxiety, guilt, and doubt. Part of him desperately wants to hold onto whatever piece of best friend that’s left and another part of him feels guilty about it, questioning why he so easily accepted this monster as Hikaru’s replacement and let him into his life.

And to top it all off, as if Yoshiki isn’t already going through enough already, he’s struggling with being in the closet and identifying his feelings for the imposter Hikaru. Like does he have a crush on a monster that’s disguised as his best friend? And what does that say about him? Does that make him a monster too?

I think it’s this juxtaposition of having raw and believable characters dealing with bizarre, supernatural circumstances that really grounds the story for me and makes it so compelling.

Part of this story feels like a mundane slice of life with characters eating popsicles together, doing dares, and casually hanging out each other’s houses—you know, typical teenager-y stuff, but, underneath all, that there’s also this sinister, creepy folk horror (and possibly even cosmic horror) undercurrent as we start to learn more about the town’s superstitions and legend behind what lives in the mountains, and I can’t wait to see to how the rest of this mystery unfolds in the upcoming volumes.

*Thank you NetGalley and YenPress for the advanced reader copy

Hikaru went into the mountains, but something else came back. This story is told from Yoshiki's perspective. Yoshiki is Hikaru's best friend (though there are hints that there were some repressed feelings there). It is obvious from the beginning that Yoshiki is aware that the being with him is not actually his best friend. This manga is creepy, and non-gory and I loved every moment of it. It touches on the feeling of grief and loss, while still managing to give your spine a chill. I couldn't put it down. I am very excited for more in this series.

I REALLY love this manga. The exploration of love and grief after a loved one is killed and possessed by a supernatural entity is a fascinating and emotional read. I can't wait for more!

I loved this one! A perfect blend of spooky with a high school day-to-day type story. The small village they live in leads to just enough hauntings and folktales to layer in on the creepy factor as well.

The Summer Hikaru Died is a clever idea and I really love how it dives right in to it within the first few pages. No wasted chapters on the MC trying to figure out that something is off with his friend because he immediately knows thats not his Hikaru. The mystery begins to slowly unfold with what actually happened as Yoshiki continues to look past the fact that this monster/yokai/demon/ghoul thing has taken Hikaru's place all because of his love for the other boy. He would rather have a monster than no Hikaru at all (sweet but sad).

I absolutely will be reading all of this series and recommending it to everyone.

I had been looking forward to this one and had a library hold in when I saw it pop up on NetGalley, so I was super stoked to get the approval!

The Summer Hikaru Died (volume 1 at least) is the sort of, 'we may always be stuck in this town so small I've always known everyone my age' and you can feel it in the pages, you can feel it with how present and intense the SFX are for the cicadas and the frogs and the wildlife around Hikaru and Yoshiki's small, mountain town. So when your friend goes off into the mountain and returns different.... of course Yoshiki Notices. What he doesn't know is just what is inhabiting Hikaru's body anymore.

I'm glad we got straight into "that boy ain't right' instead of it being a maybe/maybe not mystery. There's a threat there, but there's also a being that is having a nice time just enjoying being a human for now. I've seen people say it's a BL manga too, and while there's definitely hints that Yoshiki may like Hikaru as more than a friend like.. honestly... what is he going to do with that right now in this situation... but there's only three volumes out in Japan so far, and it's an ongoing series, so I guess we'll see?

I really enjoyed this, and my personal hype was not disappointed!

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Yen Press for the borrow in exchange for my honest review! I'll definitely be keeping up with this series.

I didn't have too many expectations from this and was not disappointed. Yoshiki's best friend, Hikaru, is not Hikaru, even though it looks like him, acts like him, and has his memories, it is definitely not him. Pretty creepy horror manga, not too bad since I can handle it. "Hikaru" knows that Yoshiki knows, so they're on the same page, it's really Yoshiki trying to reconcile that this monster that seems like his friend in so many ways is not in fact his friend. Meanwhile "Hikaru" is not sure where the true Hikaru's feelings end, and where its own begin-at least as far as Yoshiki is concerned.

The overarching question or story, is why did Hikaru go into the mountains by himself six months ago? What lead to his demise, and this creature taking over his body and memories? Yoshiki is trying to remedy his cognitive dissonance (and possibly guilt?) that this creature isn't actually Hikaru in any way. It also seems like they were both secretly in love with each other, which could have something to do with the reason Hikaru went into the mountains by himself.

3.5 stars
Hikaru went up a mountain in his home town and never came back, but something else did and it looks exactly like Hikaru. Yoshiki however is not ready to let go, and so Hikaru is Hikaru, because thinking of what else he can be is impossible.

This was pretty cool. I really liked how it got right to the point and only showed glimpses/memories of what it was supposed to be before.

Hikaru is fantastic. He might not be human but he sure looks and feels like one. He has the same memories and yet it’s like he is experiencing everything again, and that was really cute to watch – him getting excited with the tiniest things. He is basically adorable.

Yoshiki was also really sweet to follow. I love how much he preserves his friendship above all else. He really tries to get acquainted with this new Hikaru and I can’t wait to see where their relationship leads. Romance?

Loved the slightly creepy atmosphere and I hope we get even more of it, while still having the cuteness and sweetness of the characters.

The writing type is not my favorite but it was okay. Like, “…you really don’t remember goin’ missin’” and “this ain’t somethin’ that came ta me just now.” It just ruined the mood for me. I know they are teenagers but I read plenty of those that they aren’t like this, so it could have been avoided if they wanted to. But I guess we are stuck with it.

Overall this was a really sweet and a bit creepy manga and I am actually excited for the second one. I can’t wait for it to get darker and usually the more volumes you read the better it gets.

An unsettling and eerie manga, that still somehow had a bit of warmth to it. Fascinating volume and I really want the next one because I need to know what happens next.

The Summer Hikaru Died is a manga about two boys named Yoshiki and Hikaru who are childhood best friends that live in a remote village, and one day Hikaru went up on a mountain and went missing for a week, when he returned Yoshiki knows that whatever came back isn't his best friend., he doesn't know what it is. It looks just like him and acts just like him, but, it isn't him.
This was unique to say the least. I was a huge fan of the art style, it was more detailed than most manga I read and it did give me Junji Ito vibes with both the art style and the plot.
It also has a lot of queer subtext which I am a huge fan of. I'm not sure if it'll end up being a BL, but if it does I'll be very excited; since there's really not a lot of BL/GL horror manga's.
Overall I really enjoyed this and I will definitely be recommending this to those who are fans of horror and to those who are looking for something different.

This was a very interesting premise. I like the idea of it, one of the main themes just rubbed me the wrong way. The are was interesting and the story was eerie but I think it could be harmful to some people.

You want a manga that will send shivers down your spine and raise goosebumps on your arms? This is it. A ghostly mystery about what really happened to Hikaru when he went missing for a week in the mountains and what came back in his place.

Yoshiki knows that whatever came back looking and acting like Hikaru isn't really Hikaru. No one else, not even Hikaru's mother, seems to know the difference though. Is Yoshiki mistaken? What will happen if he asks Hikaru about it.

No spoilers here but this is truly a freaky read and soooooo soooooo goooood.

This was one of my most anticipated mangas of the year, beating out several volumes of JJK and MHA, and boy, did it deliver! An amazing story of friendship, love, loss, and slow creeping-horror, this manga has it all!! The horror elements slowly seep into the narrative adding to the overall eeriness of the story as no one but the main character seems to have realized that something is wrong. It also is one of my favorite horror sub-genres of rural horror with a lot of the horror aspects based around rural folklore in Japan. My other favorite aspect of this novel is the central relationship, which some sites say does develop into a BL narrative, which would be amazing in my opinion. While we get flashbacks of the relationship with between our main character and the real Hikaru, the focus is on the relationship between Yoshiki and "Hikaru", which really delves into the question of "what if your best friend came back wrong? what would you? would you accept them? would you reject them?". Overall, I would highly recommend this book and I can't wait to read the next volumes!

Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

This was very weird and not at all what I expected. This first volume set up the story in an intriguing way and I’m very curious how the story and the relationship between the two main characters develops later but at the same time I’m not sure if it’s enough to make me want to continue with future volumes.

This book was one of my most anticipated reads of the year and I'm excited it's finally here. It did not disappoint by giving the audience an eerie story about friendship and loss. The main character Yoshiki doesn't want to believe his best friend Hikaru is dead. Although he is confronted with someone who acts just like his best friend, he is still unsure how to operate normally. This first volume introduced us to the characters and gave the audience insight into what is to come next. I will be continuing with the series and seeing how things unravel. This series is good for fans of thriller and horror.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yen Press for the E-Arc!

I’d been hearing about this one for a few months online and was excited to read it at last so I went in with high expectations that didn’t fall short!

It’s very dark but more foreboding eerie kind of dark, like you know the monster is coming after you but you’re still not running yet. The story is simple enough. Yoshiki’s friend Hikaru disappeared in the woods and came back different but no one really seems to notice but him. He decides to just…be ok with it because he has feelings for Hikaru as more than friends so he’d rather have this fake Hikaru than not at all. The “thing” seems to really like him, and tries its hardest but he can’t seem to forget and around town strange things are happening. A lot of it is “fade to black” type horror so far but I really am intrigued! Really enjoyed this one.

Thank you to NetGalley and Yen Press for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review!