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| Man, this felt like watching a mini movie from this first episode. The ominous feeling and vibe from what it looks like an ordinary day...and characters. Yoshiki realized Hikaru isn't really himself, or rather not even the real him. Still, it's important to see their bond from this episode and how he accepts Hikaru for what "he" is right now. Outside of him, it seems Yoshiki doesn't trust anyone else so he's the most important character in his life. Loved how they protrayed the episode as if everything is normal yet the feeling is not, with the obvious factor being Hikaru. |
| Dude really said this to his face, that he ain’t Hikaru… I mean that guy was genuinely might be talking rhetorically, but just think how it must have felt when that same guy, Hikaru, who also should’ve answered in the similar manner, turned into some slime and legit accepted he IS NOT Hikaru. I feel for Yoshiki, because that really isn’t the kind of memory someone should be making with their friend, or like with anyone. Was looking forward to this, and yeah, they nailed this one right from the very first minute. You can feel the tension in the air, the sense of doubt which pretty much every second person is having, and also, if it isn’t so visually splendid as well. Props to my guy Yoshiki for acting as sane and as normal even in front of someone, who isn’t actually his friend, much less, not even human… at least, outside. I mean of course, the guy is having all sorts of mental breakdown inside. Great start tbh, which sets up everything so nicely. One of the best premiers too this season, if you ask me... just from that ending alone. RIP granny:( |
| Mangaka Mokumokuren's series is quite the horror...that's also levels of hype. For the friends of Hikaru Indou and Yoshiki Tsujinaka being BFFs for most of their lives. The life in a small village doesn't seem so bad, until weird things start happening from within. Yoshiki definitely feels distraught seeing Hikaru being someone he's not, and besides the true terror of a demon hiding in the flesh of Yoshiki's own home, things at school appear like normal of the life between the high school boys. Even the walk down their usual path reels nothing wrong between the guys, though Yoshiki can't stand the supernatural more than he does. The confession out of nowhere from Hikaru to Yoshiki, but one being of obsession, and the nightmares are not going away from the people that have witnessed quite the horror that awaits them. Perfect end to cap the horror that awaits. |
| Horror, hahahahaha, laugh at the genre all you want for not actually succeeding at what it’s supposed to do 99% of the time. But this right here might be part of that small 1% that actually does, at least from the looks of things. It’s a simple enough setup: boy is best friends with another boy, who one day wanders off into the forest for a bit… and when he comes back, he clearly isn’t the same person anymore. Now, the real highlight here is definitely the production values. Man, Cygames is putting that gacha money to work compared to their past projects. From the slick designs courtesy of our boy Takahashi, paired with the seemingly strong animation just from this first episode alone, to the fantastic morphing sequences, all of it comes wrapped up with a bow thanks to the top-notch photography. Not surprising, considering the director is always ambitious in that department. Overall, an amazing fucking premiere, both in content and visuals. Honestly, might be my favorite of the season so far tbh. |
| The Summer Hikaru Died is a horror anime which didn't strike me at first since anime and horror has had a bad experience in the past, but if done properly, like Uzumaki's episode 1, it will turn it really good, which is the case with this anime, great start with the first episode excited to see the rest next week. The eery vibes is very interesting |
| How tf is this being review bombed to a 7 on myanimelist already?? This was one of the best premieres of the season, any order you want em in: This, Clevatess and Takopi. Wow what a ride, had film like production quality and felt a lot like chainsaw man mixed with a bit of jjk. The horror vibes are actually working, which is a rarity for anime, I like the two leads’ chemistry and the mystery got me craving more. CyGames are really masters of atmosphere. Last season’s hidden gem Apo Hotel had this unique melancholic vibe that was ever present, and it looks like this show will have a sense of dread and unease following you everywhere. Even during the moments when “Hikaru” and Yoshiki are chilling, you just felt like something horrible was around the corner. They paid that off with that really cool siren breakdown scene where Yoshiki realizes how crazy he is to accept all of this so easily lol. I really wanna find out more about these ghost hunters tho, that’s what gave me the heavy CSM vibes, in addition to the art style, but using a hamster to hunt spirits is fucking crazy lol. Tanaka seems badass. Just what is Hikaru and what’s going on in this town? I thought whatever possessed Hikaru was Nonuki, but that seems like another presence? And was Yoshiki controlling it at all at the end there or was that just meant to be a red herring? Lot of questions. I’m a sucker for shows that take place during the Japanese summer with cicadas going and a lot of mystery lol |
Marinate1016Jul 5, 2025 11:54 AM
| Love the first episode, can't wait to see the op and ed |
| huge Summertime Render energy from this first episode |
| waiting for the glazers |
The end of an era. Thank you Wit, Mappa and Isayama. Feeling half happy, half sad. Kawaii waifus and precious best girls <3333 |
| Pretty good start. Rural mystery horror series never fail to hook me. |
One Piece episode 914 & 915 & 1027 were a mistake and 957 brought the salvation - FMmatron |
| PEAK IS FINALLY HERE!! The animation looks amazing, not only is it very faithful to the manga but it adds some small scenes that perfectly helps building the atmosphere of the story |
Bunkasai tickets: |
| Hmm, intriguing first episode for sure. I like that it throws you into this world and expects you to connect the dots yourself. The horror seems a bit tame for now, definitely has potential tho. However, the pacing felt a bit all over the place. It seemed like it was trying to do too much too fast. This is a problem I have with a lot of anime, which is actually a problem with its audience, is that all japanese creators understand very damn well how bad the attention span of the modern viewer is, so they always rush to introduce the "hook" to their stories immediately. And this anime was no exception. The final 5 minutes went way too fast for my liking. It's like the author was so hasty to just grab our attention before the next chapter unfolded and it was not executed well enough. |
| Perhaps the anime that I was curious about the most this season and boy that was an intriguing start alright. The animation's spectacular. The lightning, camera angle specially and the background visuals are cherry on top. The premise is similar to Summertime rendering but the replaced Hikaru doesn't seem like a bad guy and just wants to blend in? I was curious about how those two women knew that it wasn't Hikaru and Nonuki sama but is it cause they are also not humans and took their place like what happened with Hikaru? Maybe this guy is the big boss and these guys are just underlings. Also curious about that organisation going after these supernatural things. Might just be the villains lol. Anyway again this was a very inteiguing premier and the perfect way to spend time while waiting for the release of Silent hill F in fall which has a similar rural japanese setting. Btw forgot to mention but hope Yoshiki's family won't fall apart. Feel bad for the lil sis specially. The father seemed like an indifferent person which seems to be the reason for their mother's complain. Is he replaced by those creatures too? Could be an early hint actually. |
MegamiRemJul 6, 2025 7:09 AM
| WOW, that was so intense. The vibes for this anime are immaculate and I love how it's getting taken at the countryside of Japan. This anime has this weird feeling that I can't explain but it really gets you immersed into the episode. It's like you're in Yoshiki's POV and that's what made me feel so immersed. It's like I got sucked into the anime without knowing which is something I've never experienced before. And wow that ending was scary, imagine a random thing banging on your door at night and then it says "I'm already inside." I'd PEE MY PANTS IF I WAS IN THAT GRANDMAS POSITION. And that guy saying "I'm next.", is that thing taking Hikarus' body a myth? 5/5 |
| woah this is actually so well made. i didn't expect much but i'm amazed by the quality. it sucked me into the story. the animation is good and i feel like the lore is gonna be banger. the subtle and small hints that it throws at us to keep our interest and to keep us guessing is nice. a really unique story for sure. can't wait to watch more. this is how first episodes are done. its good enough that i don't care about the yaoi. they can jerk each other off for all i care. but i wonder if the story would have felt the same had it been between a boy and girl instead of two boys. |
TsutanaiFuunJul 5, 2025 12:39 PM
The end of an era. Thank you Wit, Mappa and Isayama. Feeling half happy, half sad. Kawaii waifus and precious best girls <3333 |
| This reminds me quite a bit of Sankaku no Mado no Sotogawa wa Yoru. But I don't get how the MC is acting so calmly when his friend has been killed. |
| Great animation, use of sound and well written dialogue. The story is intriguing, you can feel the characters' conflicting emotions. We need more shows like this and less isekai trash. |
| great sound design, which I've noticed in both trailers. whatever horror isn't sold on visuals alone they sell it with sound :p |
| misato > asuka > rei |
| fucking fantastic first episode |
| we might have a future horror classic on our hands if the production stays consistent |
| I chased fame, fortune and CANDY during MALoween 23 Main : Bonus: |
| i fear this is going to become my new obsession. |
x x x If I touch a burning candle, I can feel no pain. If you cut me with a knife, it's still the same. And I know her heart is beating, and I know that I am dead; yet the pain here that I feel, try and tell me it's not real, and it seems that I still have a tear to shed x x x |
| This was a great first episode, and easily the most captivating from what I've checked out so far this season. The tension, uneasiness, the unsettling vibes, all of it was done pretty well. I think they also did a good job of really making the viewers feel the turbulent, mixed bag of emotions that Yoshiki is dealing with as he spends time with his "friend" who isn't really his friend. Those last few minutes stood out the most for me as it suddenly upped the horror elements by 100, that's one hell of a way to hook people into coming back for the next episode. |
| People on MAL refuse to actually enjoy watching anime. Your taste in anime isn't a personality trait. Take me back to the days before MAL became infested with Twitter's favorite buzzwords. |
| I think this is probably the best start to the summer season so far. Not having read the source material, I assumed that it would play out as a mystery for Yoshiki to eventually find out if the Hikaru's he's with was the real one, only for that to be addressed within the opening minutes. The production looks immaculate and they really nailed the horror vibes without needing to rely on actual gore or any other crutch. The tension buildup for certain scenes was very well done. I'm totally looking forward to the next episode and I might just get to reading the manga now because of this. |
Reply to phantomfandom
I actually watch this because I assume it's a BL anime. But I feel like I'm being misled. Don't get me wrong, this is still qualified as BL but the horror element far exceed all other elements.
On production quality, I'm confident that this is the highest budget BL anime yet, maybe second only to that Studio Trigger movie but if you count only TV series then this is it, I'm sure it's far more expensive than Given.
On production quality, I'm confident that this is the highest budget BL anime yet, maybe second only to that Studio Trigger movie but if you count only TV series then this is it, I'm sure it's far more expensive than Given.
| @phantomfandom This anime is not a boys love, BUT the protagonist is canonically gay. The focus is cosmic horror with body horror. |
| Ohhhh, we're in for a ride with this one. I have to say the start was very surprising to me. I thought the revelation that Hikaru was going to die and replaced by a monster would take the whole episode, but no, they showed us what the sinopse told us in like the first 3 minutes. That first scene with Yoshiki trying to find Hikaru in the mountain was really excruciating, especially when you knew that they were probably showing us how Hikaru died. And I must say it seems like he had a horrible death. Like, how hit him in the eye? It's not like he fell or something (at least, to hit the eye, and then be laying upside is kinda weird). That scene was really well done. And then the revelation of the monster to Yoshiki was crazy too. I wonder if the monster loves Yoshiki, because of his own feelings, or because of Hikaru's feelings. It also seems like Yoshiki really loved Hikaru, so hearing now this monster saying "I like you" while pretending to be Hikaru must be really hard for Yoshiki to deal. And I love how they showed us throughout the episode how he wants to make Hikaru live in any kind of form, but at the same time he knows it's messed up for him to continue living that act, with a literal monster. I loved how after this creepy start, they just show this "Hikaru" just being happy to be able to live a human life, and you're kinda like "oh, maybe the anime is not that creepy, the monster seems kinda nice", but as the episode progresses, you start to notice that maybe this monster has its own motives... And the end of the episode proves it, since when that old lady noticed that "Hikaru" was, in fact, the monster, she didn't live one more day... And I must say, I was genuinely scared by the end, they did an amazing job at portraying the fear and the gruesome of the scene. Her death was certainly not pacific. It also seems like this "Monster" is not the only kind there is. There's some company that deals with them, and they are searching for it, and with the death of the old lady, the whole town knows it, and contacted the company. So it seems this "Monster" was well known by the town, so it must be some old tale from there, and something must have gone wrong with their usual ritual. Another lady in the episode was also terrified when she saw Hiraku, so I suppose she also knows about that. What's interesting is that I thought the anime was called "The Summer Hikaru died" because Hikaru died in that summmer, but that's not what happened, Hikaru died in January. So this title seems to imply that, not sure how, but this "Hikaru" that is in fact a monster taking his place is going to die that summer (since now the anime is taking place in July). I feel like this anime is going to bring so many interesting narratives to the table. This setting is certainly unique: a teenage boy that was in love with his friend, that died and was overtaken by a monster, is now living his life pretending that monster is the Hikaru he knew. I'm sure they are going to portray the dillema of wanting the rest of your loved one to stay with you in any kind of way, but also putting a stop to that monster's killing. I'm so curious to see how this anime will develop. I also feel like the anime is doing an amazing job adapting the manga. I didn't read the manga, but I suppose they are doing a pretty good job, this episode was stunning, and the direction was amazing! I'm really excited to see how this anime will go. I really think this is going to be THE anime of the season (at least from the new ones). Can't wait for next episode! Edit: Forgot to mention, but this was probably one of the best first episodes I have ever watched in anime! |
| I see the Takopi & Hikanatsu gang is already all here haha man we really are eating well this season That being said. Damn. What a strong start. This first episode was so phenomenally good I'm legitimately a bit worried about the rest of the season falling short in comparison. I have been given no reason to believe they won't deliver, I'm just having that good old Sequal Fear, but about the entire season. If it continues like this however? I genuinely couldn't have wished for a better adaptation. Some others have already said that they've introduced some plot points and characters early and I sorta hope they've just set those up for now and those subplots will take a backseat for a little while so the main characters and setting get the room to breathe. But I am curious how the story will progress if they do shake things up a little, because while there were changes in the first episode, I can't genuinely say they didn't work. 'multiple stories conjoining' approach would likely make for a fairly different experience to the slow burn dread of the manga, but it just might work for this format. Still, I do hope the first episode was a bit more hectic because they were setting up all the pieces and it's going to slow down a bit from here on. All in all, blown away yet cautiously optimistic at the same time haha |
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