The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 Review: Do Not Watch This At Night

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 Review: The 2nd episode of The Summer Hikaru Died is here, and I regret watching this at night. Let’s discover how this episode plays out.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 1 Recap

At the heart of the story are two close-knit boys, Yoshiki and Hikaru, who share an unbreakable bond while living in a quiet, uneventful town. But everything begins to change one summer when Hikaru vanishes after venturing into the mountains. He returns nearly a week later, seemingly unharmed but with no recollection of what happened during his disappearance.

Yoshiki, however, senses something is off. He doesn’t hesitate to confront Hikaru and boldly declares that the person before him isn’t really his friend. To his surprise, the being impersonating Hikaru admits the truth that it isn’t human. Still, it pleads with Yoshiki to keep this a secret, confessing that it harbours feelings for him and doesn’t want to cause him harm.

Yoshiki struggles with the heartbreaking truth that Hikaru is likely gone, yet he ultimately decides to live with the version that remains. It’s a painful compromise of accepting that something else now inhabits Hikaru’s body, but the idea of having at least a part of Hikaru near him is more bearable. As unsettling as this mindset is, it also reveals the depth of Yoshiki’s affection and emotional dependence on his friend.

But their fragile peace isn’t destined to last. Even in this opening episode, we get hints that others have noticed something unnatural about Hikaru. These outside threats quickly escalate, and an old woman is seen openly being frightened of Hikaru.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 2 Review

This episode starts with some very concerning news. The old lady who screamed while looking at the changed Hikaru in the previous episode is now dead. Her death also happened in a very disturbing way, where she apparently committed suicide by stuffing her hand into her own mouth.  But it is suggested that Yoshiki is pretty disturbed about this news because Hikaru is obviously involved in this. We also have legitimate reasons to suspect Hikaru because in the previous episode, the old lady is the one who realised that he was not a human, right away.

Here, we also see Hikaru willingly going to the spooky forest with his friends, something that he would have avoided previously. In this segment, I was totally scared, and I really appreciate how masterfully the ghostly bits were done. The forest radiates a creepy vibe, and that captures the essence of this anime very well. On the other hand, the mysterious man from the previous episode is also seen here investigating the murder scene. We get to know a great deal about the entity of Nonuki-sama and its affinity for taking people because it is lonely.

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Surprisingly, with Hikaru’s family, it has a deal where it doesn’t really hurt his family members. It only targets the people close to them, and thus, when Hikaru was alive, his father recommended that he get married once he found a girl. What I did not expect was the very apparent suggestive sequence that solidifies the fact that Yoshiki was indeed very much in romantic love with Hikaru.

Verdict

I absolutely love how this anime manages to portray the inner turmoil of the characters. The very appropriate background music also helps in building the atmosphere, where we feel the anxiety, desire and fear of the characters very prominently. This episode again did not leave its eerie and dangerous feature till the end, which keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Also Read: The Summer Hikaru Died Season 1 Review