Until the day they took Hikaru, and something else took his place.
Yoshiki must now grapple with the fact that his best friend has been bodysnatched by some inscrutable alien force. While the imposter claims to be Hikaru and does an excellent job imitating him, Yoshiki isn't too sure, and as his mental state waffles between grief and terror, what will happen to the relationship he has with "Hikaru" is anyone's guess.
The Summer Hikaru Died (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu) is a horror/tragedy/comedy/BL manga by Ren Mokumoku. It began serialization in the magazine Young Ace UP on August 31st, 2021, and was licensed in English by Yen Press in 2022.
The following tropes appear in The Summer When Hikaru Died
- Ambiguously Evil:
- The old lady Matsuura identifies "Hikaru" as the Great Snatcher at one glance. He makes a detour to her house, and she is found dead from choking herself next morning. "Hikaru" hasn't commented on this.
- The motives of ghost-like creatures are a mystery. They have some interest in Yoshiki's family and "Hikaru" tries to protect him from them.
- "Hikaru" himself is edging further into this territory as of Chapter 15 and his attempted murder on Asako to protect his secret.
- Becoming the Mask: Aside threatening Yoshiki to keep the secret, "Hikaru" really wants Yoshiki to be comfortable and they both understand he's just a Replacement Goldfish. He even has an early realization that monitoring Yoshiki's contacts is not what friends do.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Both played straight and subverted. On one hand, "Hikaru" has kept a lot of the morals from the original, including his friendliness. On the other, he's rather blase about people dying since they will just reincarante and is eerily calm when facing threats like the other creatures that live in the woods.
- Body Horror: "Hikaru" seems to be barely holding on to a humanoid form at times. He is actually a mass of geometric tendrils that spill onto the environment like a liquid. When he's feeling emotional or under adverse effects like the sacred barrier at the shrine, his humanoid form starts to melt away. He's also capable of showing this form selectively by literally splitting his body open.
- Boring Return Journey: Inverted. Maki asks his classmates to walk him home, since his route takes him through a haunted forest trail. The walk to his house is uneventful, but when his friends walk back, Yoshiki is attacked by an evil spirit and "Hikaru" has to rescue him.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: "Hikaru" having Yoshiki 'feel his insides' (literally—his chest cavity opens up and Yoshiki puts his hand inside) plays out much like an awkward, fumbling sex scene between experimenting teenagers.
- Don't Make Me Destroy You: At the beginning of the story when Yoshiki confronts "Hikaru", the latter tearfully begs Yoshiki not to tell anyone lest he have to kill him to silence him.
- Downer Beginning: The story begins with Yoshiki confronting "Hikaru" over the fact that his imitation isn't perfect. When "Hikaru" begs to be spared, Yoshiki acquiesces in tears. The audience later finds out that he loved Hikaru deeply, and is refusing to let even the pale ghost of him go.
- Dying Wish: Before dying Hikaru wished for the Great Snatcher to keep Yoshiki's company in his place, which it does by taking over his corpse.
- Eldritch Abomination: The imposter has an absolutely terrifying true form. When "Hikaru" begins leaking, the force of the creature spills out into the surrounding environment. Its body is comprised of geometric shapes, thick black liquid, and fractal tendrils wrapping around itself.
- Folk Horror: The creature that took over Hikaru is part of some kind of ancient force living in the woods around the town the story takes place in. Hikaru learned about them in his childhood, which inspired him to offer his body up when he was dying, so at least some part of him would live on.
- Gayngst: Somewhat implied with Yoshiki- his uncomfortable response to being asked about getting a girlfriend and his sharp response to the original Hikaru making unknowingly homophobic comments along with his consistent drive to move to the city gives the implication that he isn't exactly in a welcoming environment for his sexuality.
- Homoerotic Subtext: "Hikaru" is very attached to Yoshiki, which even their classmates take notice of. At one point "Hikaru" invites Yoshiki to the storage room, takes off his shirt and lets Yoshiki "feel his insides", which even "Hikaru" realizes sounds dirtier than it is. Yoshiki's feelings towards the real Hikaru, however, later turn out to be more than platonic.
- Holy Burns Evil: During the festival "Hikaru" is unable to enter the shrine grounds and hurts his palm, so he excuses himself to wait outside.
- Immortal Immaturity: Yoshiki notes that "Hikaru" often acts very childishly, unable to process his emotions properly and acting on impulse. Although he's an ancient Eldritch Abomination, it's implied this is because he's spent so long as a being so alien that experiencing existence as a human is completely foreign to him.
- Innocently Insensitive: The original Hikaru- he refers to a gay villager as "sick" before being corrected by Yoshiki and seems confused about the LGBT community (referring to it as the "Ell Jee Bee Tea thing" in one translation).
- The Lost Lenore: The real Hikaru functions as one for Yoshiki. Although it's not specified if the real Hikaru had the same feelings, his death is the trigger for the plot, as well as Yoshiki's depression and subsequent involvement with the Eldritch Abomination who replaced Hikaru.
- The Omniscient Council of Vagueness: Three villagers discuss Hikaru's father's death, Hikaru's temporary disappearance, and the ritual to seal "that wicked thing" in the mountain not being carried out. The scene cuts out as abruptly as it cut in.
- Possessing a Dead Body: Hikaru has died, and the spirit possessing him acknowledges as such. It even states that it's using Hikaru's body as a vessel. At the same time, there are a number of quirks involved. For starters, Hikaru's memories are perfectly preserved, meaning the imitator doesn't need to act all that differently from the normal Hikaru.
- Rewatch Bonus: Chapter 15 reveals that Asako is sensitive to the supernatural, and that her sixth sense appears as sound. In her first appearance, she's visibly nervous around 'Hikaru' and the haunted forest trail, and when 'Hikaru' devours the evil spirit with a loud BANG, implies that she didn't hear the same sound.
- Shout-Out: Asa describes Hikaru passing out from watching a horror movie with an image of defeated Yamcha pose.
- Tragedy: It's about a kid realizing that his unrequited love has been replaced with a monster imitating him, and yet continues the façade anyways out of the lingering feelings that remain.
- Undignified Death: The real Hikaru saw a tree shaped like a naked woman and tripped over his own feet staring at it, causing him to fall down the mountain. Lampshaded in his narration of the event, where he laments that it was an incredibly stupid way to go out.
