THIS IS STILL A WIP!!! PLEASE KEEP THAT IN MIND!!!

Synopsis

the summer hikaru died is an ongoing story about two boys named yoshiki tsujinaka and hikaru indou. they are both close-knit "friends" living in rural japan, growing up and doing everything together. as they both reach closer to the end of their high school years, hikaru goes off on a trip into the mountains of said rural area. he disappears for around 6 months before mysteriously coming back some day, but this is not the same hikaru. up to this point, hikaru's body has been inhabited by an eldritch being, and both boys are searching for answers about it.

Story (spoilers ahead)

the story starts off with yoshiki and hikaru sitting outside a convenience store on a hot summer day, grabbing some cold treats to cool them off. they converse with each other, and everything is going fine until yoshiki mentions that hikaru seems different. this sets off the being to pour out of hikaru's body, and having it remark that its immitation was supposed to be a perfect image of the past hikaru. 'hikaru' (in quotes for the sake of clarity) mentions that it does not want to kill yoshiki as it has enjoyed living a normal human life. it asks yoshiki to not mention its existence to anyone as it has cherished all the time it has spent living. yoshiki agrees to this, and they both have to suppress the secret. they both start being really awkward about each other due to this and it honestly drives me insane for a little but its all reasonable because hello i would freak out too

in the following days, yoshiki is trying to come to terms with the existence of 'hikaru', trying to figure out exactly what 'hikaru' is. after all the friend hes had since childhood has been dead for like 6 months and whats in front of him isnt the same guy hes known all his life. he has to live knowing that its a mimic of his friend and it never will be his friend (which he eventually comes to terms with). 'hikaru' is trying to understand yoshiki, hikaru's memories, and human concepts such as love (he mentions several times that he likes yoshiki and questions himself the concept of 'liking' someone, questioning in his thoughts what kind of 'like' he feels towards yoshiki).

some time passes, yoshiki has accepted that the hikaru he knows is gone, and 'hikaru' becomes more competent and mature. with these things established, they decide to try and figure out what exactly the being 'hikaru' is. they find out information about a deity titled 'the great brainsnatcher' via their friend maki yuuta and theorize that that might be what 'hikaru' is. they eventually resort to a library, learning even more about the great brainsnatcher there. they learn that their area has 5 places, each being named after a body part, causing them to realize that these names are placed in the shape of a humanoid figure. they also learn that this great brainsnatcher was a god worshipped by the people in this area, causing them to offer heads as a sacrifice to this god in order to keep the village healthy and peaceful (this is a gross oversimplification alongside everything else sorry they just wanted to live long and healthy lives)

a man by the name of tanaka is called into their area by an organization due to the rise in anomalies (which were stated earlier but i forgot to mention while writing this) and stumbles into yoshiki. they have a quick chat, and tanaka decides to keep an eye on him. both yoshiki and 'hikaru' travel to a shrine (i forgot why. i think they were searching for more information about the great brainsnatcher) and this old man theyre conversing with does like something freaky idk i forgot. tanaka ends up in this shrine, grabs a sword, and cuts 'hikaru's head off, resulting in The Mass pouring out wildly from hikaru's corpse. this confirms tanaka's hunch about yoshiki, and yoshiki reattaches 'hikarus' head back to the body. it takes him a bit to recover in the hospital, but 'hikaru' is back in action.

the rest of their school days pass, and summer break starts. yoshiki learns more about the indou's family history, learning that hikaru's ancestor had offered the head of yoshiki's ancestor(?) in order to bring (i think) her back. i think it was like they offered her as a vessel. 'hikaru' does some introspection and decides that if he goes back to the mountains, all these anomalies will stop, and everyone in yoshiki's circle (and the entire village) will live happy and safe lives, all accepting the fact of hikaru's death and moving on having the memory of hikaru with them. anyway, both yoshiki and 'hikaru' meet up to exchange information, and decide to make a trip to the beach. they arrive there, and have a heart to heart. 'hikaru' remarks about his plot to go back to the mountains, sacrificing himself for the good of the village. yoshiki deems this irrational and freaks out about this idea, claiming that they'll find another way to deal with this situation. tanaka ends up sneaking up on them both and reveals that 'the great brainsnatcher' is a fake concept; 'hikaru' is not the great brainsnatcher, but rather, another anomaly.

Why I Love This Series

so to begin with this i think watching both yoshiki and 'hikaru's relationship develop into what it is now is fascinating. it is very clearly implied throughout the series that both parties have some sort of attraction to the other. and by both i mean hikaru and yoshiki not 'hikaru', their relationship becomes more complex. however i dont think both of them had the courage to accept it or talk about it so theyve just been suppressing it (similarly to how yoshiki has to hide 'hikaru's secret). this can be interpreted through a queer lens (especially since the series used to be tagged as a BL . lol .) of how many lgbtq folk often have to hide themselves to be accepted. their relationship is very bittersweet and tears me apart because 1) yoshiki has to live with the fact that this thing in front of him is a replacement of the guy hes had feelings for and 2) its probably obvious but i theorize this story will not end happily, as kurebayashi has talked about a similar situation happening to her before and it did not have a happy end. i also appreciate the themes of the story about dealing with loss, as ive had some recent losses myself. im just patiently waiting for more of the story to come out because the main english translator i was following deactivated and the ones im currently relying on are like a handful of chapters behind and it takes a while to translate these chapters... i am also a fan of the horror elements throughout the story, it has a very uncanny valley type of vibe to it. like, everything seems normal but you cant help but feel theres something more (which there is). another thing that i love is the art. many of the panels work together to enhance the feelings of the characters. for example, there is one panel with speech bubbles reaching out towards yoshiki to translate racing thoughts and i just think that its a very cool decision from the author's part to have the environment and characters work together to express certain emotions.

Its Importance To Me

as cheesy as it is this series has reminded me that its better to express yourself. there are many consequences to just keeping to yourself and not being open to those close to you. for the longest time ive only kept all negative emotions to myself and never expressed them properly which im pretty sure stunted my emotional growth and prevented me from developing healthy ways to cope with those emotions. im still guilty of doing this, but now i know its ok to be unhappy. its ok to feel negative. its ok to express this to those close to you. yoshiki is like an example of all of this, with him often wallowing in his thoughts. though, throughout the story, he becomes more open to 'hikaru', and kurebayashi is there to aid them both. i think connecting to characters on an emotional level like this brings comfort; there are people experiencing similar issues, and recovery is a long process that can be achieved. its wonderful to learn about yourself, even if it comes from fiction. also i project onto them a little as me and my partner lol #I LOVE PROJECTING!

Art Section