Abhiroop Das
Netflix’s ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ brings together a tale of love, youth, and grief, adding to it a taste of the horrors beyond human comprehension. All hope seems lost when Yoshiki’s best friend Hikaru goes missing from the quaint village of Kubitachi, only for him to return a week later, miraculously. What must be a moment of joy fails to stay that way for Yoshiki, who begins to notice a strange uncanniness: changes in his friend’s demeanor, an added excitement for the mundane, and occasional slip-ups regarding commonplace knowledge. All of these details compound in the first episode of the show, titled ‘Replacement,’ bringing Yoshiki to a chilling conclusion which threatens to change everything he knows about himself, his village, and most importantly, Hikaru himself. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Hikaru’s Disappearance and Reappearance Are Equally Mysterious
The story begins on Mount Nisayama in January 2020, with Yoshiki hurtling through the forest in search of Hikaru. Rain pelts relentlessly, causing him to slip and fall, as the voices of other villagers looking for the missing teen begin to run out of steam. The search is called off, but Yoshiki pushes on, only to find a tree that oddly resembles a woman’s body. Somewhere far away, Hikaru lies on the ground, seemingly on his last legs. A mysterious object peeks out of his backpack, triggering the appearance of a kaleidoscopic supernatural entity whom Hikaru calls Unuki-sama. He reaches out his hands to the being, whispering an unfinished sentence about needing someone for a particular reason before the mysterious figure seemingly consumes his mind, body, and soul.
At present, Hikaru is alive and spends his summer eating ice cream with Yoshiki. He remarks how the shop only sells Papicco, a Japanese frozen dessert, before engaging in banter with his best friend, who asks him if he has remembered anything about his five-day disappearance on the mountain but is disappointed yet again. It is revealed that half a year has passed since the incident, and the protagonist has still not moved on. When Hikaru’s banter takes a flirtatious turn, Yoshiki turns to ask an important question, one that seeks to confirm a belief that he has had since that fateful day: the Hikaru in front of him is not the real Hikaru. The mood shifts instantly as the imposter freezes up at the question. After what seems like an eternity, he asks, in a trembling voice, how he was found out. At that moment, the skin on his face melts, transforming into the kaleidoscoping fluid that grows and makes its way to Yoshiki.
Hikaru panics, stating that he has perfectly mimicked every detail of the lost teen, yet it doesn’t seem enough. He hugs Yoshiki tightly, begging him not to reveal the truth as he deeply cherishes the new life he has before confessing that he likes him a lot and really doesn’t want to kill him. Gasping for breath, Yoshiki agrees not to speak a word of it, internally making peace with the idea of this new “Hikaru” and wishing for him to stay. The following morning, a dream sequence takes Yoshiki back to his last memories of his friend before he changed forever. His friend advises him to leave the village for the city before flirtatiously asserting his place in the protagonist’s life. Their final exchange happens on the day of his disappearance, with Hikaru refusing to hang out that night, playfully describing his reasons as a secret.
Yoshiki’s New Friend Has Centuries-Old Enemies
Yoshiki wakes up in complete despair about his current predicament but makes sure to put a lid on his emotions before eating breakfast in front of his parents. On the gateway, he is joined by Hikaru, and the two pretend to act normally, with the latter recounting his experiences from the day. The protagonist thinks to himself that he doesn’t care what form Hikaru takes as long as the two of them stay together. In an ominous transition, the scene cuts to Tanaka, an eccentric demon investigator who operates using an equally eccentric device, a hamster in a wheel, which whirrs into motion upon sensing paranormal activity. Tracking one such case inside a couple’s house, Tanaka breaks in and proceeds to ram the source — an entity that seems to have taken over a wall —with a crowbar till the job is done.
Once outside, he calls his boss, informing them that his target was not the one they were looking for, before casually remarking how the company has been in existence despite finding no real success in centuries. His boss, a young woman whose face is obscured, calmly orders him to keep up with his search. As Tanaka prepares to leave, he mutters to himself about the difficulty of his upcoming task, as a mysterious scar can be seen on his neck. Meanwhile, the school assembles a ragtag choir team, in which Yoshiki and Hikaru participate. While the former seems to impassively sing the notes with perfect accuracy, the latter merely stares at the lyrics in complete wonderment. The trend continues onto the next period, where the class is forced to watch a movie they have already seen five times.
Hikaru Shows Yoshiki a New Perspective on Life
While Yoshiki ponders the pointlessness of the activity, he finds Hikaru in tears, sympathizing with the woman on screen, who is deemed replaceable by her partner. Upon being pressed on the topic, he reveals that while he technically remembers seeing the movie five times as well, this is the first time he has actually experienced it on his own, making it special. The distinction becomes a central tenet of the narrative going forward, with Yoshiki applying it to every aspect of his friend’s past and present. After school, the two decide to ride their bikes together, with Yoshiki giving the new Hikaru a tour of the city. They make their way to the Daruma Street Shopping Arcade, returning to a shop called Yamazaki’s Meats and More, where the duo used to eat Mench-Katsu, a popular Japanese fried meat cake. Upon having his first bite, the new Hikaru loudly exclaims his joy.
This contradiction begins to confuse Yoshiki, who enquires about Hikaru’s true nature. While he claims to have no idea himself, some light is shed by the actions of Mince, a street cat who is too friendly to strangers, particularly Yoshiki. Upon seeing Hikaru, however, the cat freaks out and makes a mad dash for safety, indicating that something about the imposter is threatening. Two more occurrences substantiate this notion: a woman on the street seems to take note of the teen, and later, an old woman named Matsuura has a nervous breakdown at his sight, muttering about the return of Nounuki-sama. Her words particularly upset Hikaru, who hurriedly pulls his friend away from the scene.
A Confession of Love; An Act of Hatred
Over the course of the afternoon, the two deepen their bond, feeling at once like old friends reunited and new friends in the making. As dusk approaches, Yoshiki confirms the bitter truth: his best friend is, by all means, dead. The new Hikaru assures him that he is not responsible for the boy’s death before explaining that prior to inhabiting the human body, he merely existed without emotion, akin to a robot. He directs the bulk of his present feelings and sensations toward the person in front of him, a fact that does not escape Yoshiki. In a cathartic moment, he asks Hikaru if he likes him, who in turn responds with a confession of his love. Yoshiki thinks to himself how he has never let these emotions show before, ultimately breaking down into tears. He then requests the new Hikaru to never leave him again, and the latter responds in silent agreement.
As night falls, two scenes coalesce into a tapestry of horrors, both internal and external. At home, Yoshiki tries to sleep through a fight between his parents but fails to do so. Meanwhile, a supernatural entity goes to the old woman, Ms. Matsuura’s, house. Yoshiki’s parents argue about the status of their daughter, Kaoru, who has not been attending school due to some disability. As the intensity of their fight increases, the protagonist fails to drown out their voices. The same holds true for Ms. Matsuura, who lies frozen in terror as the entity knocks at her door, pretending to be a delivery person. Its distorted voices are a dead giveaway, and the old woman laments how Nounuki-sama has come to take her out. While Yoshiki’s eyes well up, and he sinks deeper into sorrow, the monster finds its way inside the house and, in a voice eerily similar to Hikaru’s, announces its intent to kill Ms. Matsuura.
As the police arrive at the house, the villagers begin to gather, with Matsuura’s daughter ultimately confirming her mother’s cruel fate. One of the villagers urgently pulls at a man named Takeda, alerting him that the ritual undertaken by Hikaru Indo has failed. Elsewhere, an old man is afraid, believing himself to be Nounuki-sama’s next target. It is apparent that these people know something about the nature of these events and what triggered them. A helpless Takeda calls Tanaka for help, who assures him of his presence by the next morning. Once on his own, he expresses his hesitation to visit Kabutachi village, citing its gloomy air, but at the same time emphasizes how unprepared they are for the phenomenon that exists alongside them, one that might just have taken human shape.
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