The Summer Hikaru Died Anime Announced

An anime adaptation of The Summer Hikaru Died is in the works. The official announcement also mentioned that the new volume will come out on June 4, 2024.

There is no information on when the show will come out, as the studio is still working on it. The voice actors for Hikaru and Yoshiki changed for every trailer, so it’s unknown if any of them will reprise their roles or if there will be new ones. For example, the second trailer had Hiro Shimono as Hikaru and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Yoshiki. But the fourth trailer had Junya Enoki as Hikaru and Koki Uchiyama as Yoshiki.

The Summer Hikaru Died is a slice-of-life horror series, with the first volume selling over 200,000 copies in its first three months. The story follows Yoshiki and the titular Hikaru, who are close friends in a rural Japanese town. One day, Hikaru was hiking alone when he was fatally injured. An eldritch being comes across him as he’s dying and consumes him, becoming him in the process. Despite having all of the same memories as the original Hikaru, as well as the same emotions, “Hikaru” is a decidedly separate entity from the original. It follows on Yoshiki wanting to be with “Hikaru” still, but “Hikaru”’s nature, similar eldritch beings, and hunters threaten their life together.

The anime adaptation of The Summer Hikaru Died is in production and the official English localization of the manga is available via Yen Press.