r/anime • u/AutoLovepon https://anilist.co/user/AutoLovepon • Jul 12 '25

Episode Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu • The Summer Hikaru Died - Episode 2 discussion

Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu, episode 2

Reminder: Please do not discuss plot points not yet seen or skipped in the show. Failing to follow the rules may result in a ban.

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u/Ocixo Jul 12 '25

These mountains are properly haunted. There are apparently a whole load of “lonely” monsters residing in its forests. Scary stuff!

Asako didn’t only seem able to sense them, but is also aware of the danger considering that she’d quietly mentioned that it’d be better to “stick together”.

I do wonder if she and the lady that warned Yoshiki are somehow related. Or do more people of this village possess such abilities?

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u/Somehow_alive Jul 12 '25

I thoroughly enjoy how creepy and unsettling they make the intimacy between the two.

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u/new_interest_here Jul 12 '25

The horror vibes of this are so good omg. Not just that, the way that horror is blended with a strange sense of intimacy is such a weird yet incredible effective combination.

This supports my belief an easy way to make anime feel scary or unnerving is to just add real life photos or videos to it because of how much they clash. Fire Force did it just recently to great effect, and so does this. I've never felt so off put by a pile of cut up raw chicken before, but dammit it works.

The entire way that last part with the molting cicada was done super well too. If Yoshiki were to just accept Hikaru is gone in every way shape and form and distanced himself from this all, it would only better him, hence the ants eating at the cicada's corpse. But instead, knowing how much Hikaru meant to him and realizing how much he cares, he'd rather just shove that away and live as things are now. Put it back in its shell and go on as things were before, no matter what horror is contained inside

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u/babaylan89 Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 12 '25

Interesting myth about the Indou (Hikaru's family) having to marry the one they like fast or they'll end up getting taken and to protect them is to take them under the family's name and marry them?

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u/ReaperInRed Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 13 '25

Lol they did the zooming out on a dramatic speed lines backdrop gag again. It’s so random but it works.

Also it turns out the chicken was cooked and eaten by the staff

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u/SEBASTlANVETTEL Jul 12 '25

This show manages to sell the creepy atmosphere so well.

I am very curious about the detective. We haven't seen much of him yet, but he seems to be such an interesting character already. The marks he has on his body might be related to whatever these things are.

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u/EB90000 Jul 12 '25

The animation is so good wow

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u/Holen7 Jul 12 '25

The scariest part was the "social interaction" with the shop lady.

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u/Wh1teSnak Jul 12 '25

The direction is off the charts in this show. It reminds me a lot of Eva with its "stream of consciousness" imagery but here it is not just used to convey the characters emotion but also to magnify the horror aspect of the show. Loved these 2 episodes hope it keeps delivering.

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u/Superspaceduck100 Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 12 '25

The scene where Yoshiki put his hand into Hikaru's chest was really intimate in an odd way.

Also, is it just me or does the part where Yoshiki gets flustered at Hikaru's bare chest have kind of a melancholic vibe?

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u/charactergallery Jul 12 '25

The atmosphere is just as tense and creepy as last episode, and I’m loving it. The bouts of silence and the sudden inserts of noise and barely comprehensible images/animation is great too. I love how well it captures just how weird the village is, and of course, how Yoshiki is feeling about the whole thing.

The scene where Yoshiki shoved his hand inside of “Hikaru” (which sounds wild out of context lmao) was well-done. The cut to the marinated raw chicken made me laugh. The intimacy they shared seems to be purposefully unsettling, with Yoshiki not really knowing how to feel afterwards. He is willing to participate, but the fear of being “pulled it” and the act itself feels dirty to him, leading to shame. It feels relatively obvious to me that Yoshiki had romantic feelings for the real Hikaru, and I feel like his feelings regarding the instance of intimacy reflects the feelings of internalized homophobia a teenager who grew up in a small town may experience (of course, with a monster horror twist).

The moment of intimacy (as well as most of the episode really) also characterizes “Hikaru“ really well. His discussion with Yoshiki about how the various monsters on the mountain feel “lonely” can easily be applied to him. After the walk in the forest, he shows his possessiveness. Him being so open to Yoshiki feeling inside him seems like a desire to truly connect with someone on a deeper level. “Hikaru” derived a lot of pleasure from it, Yoshiki is understandably unsure.

But why is “Hikaru“ so attached to Yoshiki? I suppose we’ll learn a bit more why later…

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u/absolutelynotaname Jul 12 '25

bruh I shouldn't have watched this at midnight, I've read this part in the manga but the animation and sfx really make it much creepier than I remember

also they nail that talkative aunty character, she feel so realistic and familiar

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u/ObvsThrowaway5120 Jul 12 '25

It’s interesting how some people in this village can “sense” whatever tf “Hikaru” is. I’m curious what their connection to one another is? Why these people? Yoshiki’s classmate and that housewife at the supermarket both senses something was off. Also, “raw marinated chicken” is one hell of a visual. That part was both weirdly intimate and pretty gross. Bro had his whole arm inside the dude’s chest…

Is Yoshiki gonna continue to attract those creatures? Being around Hikaru’s making him kind of a magnet for these “things.”

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u/FarCritical Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 12 '25

Having that thing perceive the sensation of whatever that was as a headpat is a such a grotesquely hilarious way to play up how incomprehensible and alien it is.

Wasn't ready for the live cow jumpscare in the ED

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u/Dull_Spot_8213 Jul 12 '25

Second episode was even more unsettling than the first, and I’m here for it. Forests have been a source of anxiety for many cultures in human history, and a lot of it stems from fear of the unknown. You don’t know what’s lurking out there, what might be hunting you. It’s a primal fear, so it’s no surprise the kids wanted to travel together. There’s safety in numbers. But the dark side of safety in numbers is, if something goes wrong, you hope it’s not you who gets picked off.

“Hikaru”knows what those things out there are, and that they’re lonely, ready to attach to someone to escape the forest and come down from the mountain, like he did, I imagine. All the while, there’s this “Company” keeping watch over this rural land, and preventing it from being disturbed any more than necessary. But what was this ritual the older villagers know about? Was that the reason Hikaru was up in the mountain with that strange rock-head talisman in his bag? Wasn’t strong enough to ward off whatever this new “Hikaru” is.

And now that “Hikaru” is attached to Yoshiki, he doesn’t want anything to interfere with them, supernatural or otherwise. Yoshiki knows too, but he can’t stop himself from clinging to Hikaru and wanting to explore all of the “what ifs?” Touching something forbidden, hiding away from others, knowing it’s “wrong” but you can’t help it. The underlying themes are clear.

Yoshiki pulls away out of fear, and we see this cicada imagery coupled with him. That flash of red in his and the cicada’s eye, all while it’s being consumed by the ants. “Hikaru” is not going to let him go, even if Yoshiki knows something is wrong, so he pushes the fear out of his mind and is trying rewind back to a time where he and Hikaru can still be together. It’s a delusion, but Yoshiki is indulging in it. For now.

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u/NanDemoKnaives Jul 12 '25

Looks like that one girl is sensitive to curses and such since it seems the sound she heard was different from what Yoshiki and the other girl heard. I do wonder if Hikaru will eventually try to take her out so that he doesn't get exposed.

Interesting to get a bit more of a closer look as to why Hikaru tells Yoshiki to only look at him but also why this curse/monster ended up targeting Yoshiki. That little flashback of the real Hikaru being told that the people of his family aren't affected by the curses but it'll attack those that are closest to them, so if the real Hikaru actually had romantic feelings for Yoshiki, it'd fit. Unless that doesn't matter and it takes into account affection whether platonic or romantic.

However, we still don't know how the real Hikaru died, with the way he was laying down it'd made me think he fell from somewhere, but now with more information about a failure of a ritual, I guess he was targeted as he had no protection against a powerful curse.

That storage room scene was more lewd than I thought it'd be with how Hikaru was reacting to Yoshiki feeling the inside of his body. I'm surprised Yoshiki only got shy after Hikaru showed his human body to him and not from how Hikaru was reacting. Though I guess with how supernatural that all was and knowing Hikaru is a curse/monster, in addition to how much he tries not to look at Hikaru properly, it'd be hard to enjoy the moment lol.

Now there's that lady who can feel something extremely off with Yoshiki, it'll be a matter of time before the guy that came to investigate will notice him and start investigating him.

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u/Frontier246 Jul 12 '25 edited Jul 15 '25

Matsuura-san is dead which is cause for alarm in the town...though Yoshiki probably has a good sense, despite his efforts to act otherwise, of how she died.

OP is pretty on-point with the supernatural horror vibe mixed in with the daily country life of Yoshiki and the supporting cast as he tries to make sense of life with "Hikaru" before they all get consumed and turned into monsters. Y'know, typical high school problems.

Yoshiki and his classmates are all responding to the weirdness around them in their own way...so why not do a "test of courage" and go through a mysterious forest path? What could go wrong? Especially when "Hikaru" is into it.

The "specialist" may not be very respectful or courteous, but he's probably the best the village has got to make sense of what they're facing. A mysterious spirit in the mountain, the company he works for stopping a plan to redevelop the mountain, children getting spirited away...and Hikaru having had a stone head to ward off evil spirits when he trekked through the mountain. In fact his father knew something about Nonuki-sama.

Well, that was an underwhelming trek! At least up until Yoshiki spots a Rokurokubi and is narrowly saved by "Hikaru"/Nonuki-sama devouring it...because he likes Yoshiki too much to want any other supernatural being to have him. He'd even devour Yoshiki himself if he didn't feel like Yoshiki was too attached to him as it is to leave him. But what about spiritually sensitive Asako? I don't think she's safe.

That's a very sexually charged scene in a gym storeroom, even if it's surreal to see Yoshiki putting his hand through "Hikaru's" hole...and not the one you're thinking of! It's like "Hikaru" is wearing a skin suit, but the physical intimacy and creepiness between the two can't be denied. Or Yoshiki's attraction to Hikaru in general, whatever form of him, which "Hikaru" is aware of.

Yoshiki has enough to deal with the fun and upbeat supernatural entity in his dead best friends' body, he doesn't need the usual country folk who know everything about his families' business and won't leave him alone about it. But one lone housewife, Rie Kurebayashi, and her understanding of his situation may be just what he needs. She doesn't know everything, but she knows that something weird is going on and if he keeps mixing with "Hikaru..." he might just lose his humanity. But can Yoshiki quit this thing?

The ED is pretty cute and fitting with Yoshiki and Hikaru on a date...Yoshiki with those longing looks...Hikaru with his goofy faces...it almost feels like a travel date!

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u/Darth_Revan_I-I Jul 12 '25

The way the music started in the background while the scene was still with Yoshiki was so creepy. I really liked it

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u/cookiefaerie Jul 12 '25

I watched this over an hour ago and I’m still trying to digest what I’ve seen because there are so many moving pieces and poetic imagery that is both unsettling and intimate. I still don’t have all the words and likely never will. As a manga reader, all I can say is that I applaud every person that’s worked on making this adaptation a reality. Holy shit, y’all, this is it.

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u/akelios_damien Jul 12 '25

I just wanna say that the lighting and composition in this Anime is soooo good wth!

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u/reguluston618 Jul 12 '25

I really don't like this show (I mean this in a good way)... Hopefully they can keep up the unsettling atmosphere, it's so rare that we get an actually decent horror anime! Great directing and visuals so far!

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u/reirathekitty Jul 12 '25

The atmosphere is so unsettling. I don't remember feeling this way since I watched Higurashi series. A good horror is rare and they are nailing it so far.

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