Hello folks, and welcome to the end of 2025. I’m sure you don’t need me to summarize this year on a global scale; in short, shit sucks, and it’s questionable when or if things are getting better. While the damage of Donald Trump’s first term as president was limited by his own laziness and ineptitude, the collective forces of evil made sure they hit the ground running this time, and thus the America of today is already a significantly more unstable, hateful, and corrupted empire than even the one of just twelve months ago. Alongside the cruelty raining down on us from our elected officials, Trump 2.0 has also unleashed a fresh wave of cruelty from his supporters, who have declared “woke is over” and revealed themselves to be wholly constructed of belligerence and resentment.
Tag Archives: The Summer Hikaru Died
The Summer Hikaru Died – Episode 3
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the sun-speckled foothills of a rural Japanese village, whose community seems to be suffering under a sprawling yet largely undetectable curse, a malaise that announces itself first as suspicion and then paranoia, before its victims are consumed by their fear entirely. Do not look at the creatures in the woods, do not think of the flesh beneath the surface, for these are all avenues to complicity, understanding, and eventual destruction. “Mix with that too much and you won’t be human anymore,” Yoshiki’s neighbor warns him. But is being human such a laudable thing?
Yes, it is time for The Summer Hikaru Died, offering a rich stew of folk horror, rural surveillance, and queer awakening. The food is delicious, but do not ask how it’s made; that metallic tinge in the pallet, that sweetness that feels a little too familiar, these are all questions with no comforting answer. The production is situated at a classic, fertile intersection of horror and character drama, presenting occult ritual as just another manifestation of conservative cultural hegemony, and “monstrousness” as the vital rebellion of youth against such forces. And beyond this sturdy metaphor, it’s also simply an aesthetically rewarding experience, with Ryōhei Takeshita’s adaptation cleverly capturing the paranoia of Yoshiki’s town and ambiguity of the hills beyond. Let’s get back to the woods!
The Summer Hikaru Died – Episode 2
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we are returning to the secluded foothills of Japan, to a town where shared history is etched on every tree and stone, and where a veneer of peaceful coexistence hides a rot so deep the stench is unbearable. Yes, we are returning to The Summer Hikaru Died, Ryohei Takeshita’s skillful adaptation of Mokumokuren’s intriguing manga, wherein our protagonist Yoshiki is grappling not just with the death of his best friend, but also with the continued presence of a creature directing his friend’s corpse, offering a pantomime of Hikaru’s old personality that every so often reveals the ravenous, bestial presence beneath.
So yeah, that’s quite a heavy load for a teenager, and so far this production is skillfully juggling a variety of threads – Yoshiki’s complex feelings towards both his absent friend and that friend’s replacement, the languorous atmosphere of rural Japan in the summer, the sense of perpetual surveillance intrinsic to small towns, and the occult/animalistic nature of Hikaru’s new pilot, a creature that seems to emphasize how we are all ultimately beasts, meant to consume and be consumed in turn. That the production is managing to successfully evoke all of these themes and feelings is a credit to Takeshita’s economic direction; Hikaru’s animation resources are clearly limited, but so much is being evoked through sound design, staging, and lighting choices that the lack of fluidity feels natural, one more echo of this town’s sleepy, stagnant atmosphere. Good horror is a precious rarity in anime, and Hikaru is so far proving an exemplary new addition to the canon. Let us return to the mountains!
The Summer Hikaru Died – Episode 1
Hello folks, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today we’re embarking on a brand new adventure, as we explore the first episode of an ongoing production, The Summer Hikaru Died. Based on a manga by the whimsically aliased Mokumokuren, the story is apparently centered on two close friends, one of whom goes out into the woods alone and returns as a different creature entirely. It’s a classic horror template that I’m quite fond of, one that plays into both our often self-deluding maintenance of social propriety, as well the fundamental folk-horror allure of spirits within the wilderness, beings so wild that even to witness them might prompt terrible transformation.
Wendigos, werewolves, vampires, and vourdalaks all play in this conceptual space, which here seems combined with another favorite topic of mine: the steadily depopulating Japanese countryside, a persistent topic of animated drama which has furnished the narrative of productions like Rainbow Fireflies, Sakura Quest, and even Dagashi Kashi. So yeah, as a rabid fan of folk/cosmic horror and a sucker for melancholy pastoral dramas, I imagine there’ll be plenty for me to dig into here. Let’s get to it!