The staff for the Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu (The Summer Hikaru Died) anime have revealed the second promotional video and confirmed that it will premiere on July 5th, 2025. The anime will premiere on the NTV channel, and it will be streamed worldwide on Netflix and on the ABEMA streaming service in Japan.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFaO07LwAVg]
Takeshita Ryohei is directing the anime at Cygames Pictures, and the anime will star:
- Kobayashi Chiaki as Yoshita Tsujinaka
- Umeda Shuuichirou as Hikaru Indou
- Hanamori Yumiri as Asako Yamagashi
- Kowaka Wakana as Rei Kurebayashi
- Kobayashi Chikahiro as Tanaka
- Nakajima Yoshiki as Yuta Maki
- Wakayama Shion as Yuki Tadokoro
The anime is based on Mokumokuren’s Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu manga. The horror manga was launched by Mokumokuren on Kadokawa’s Young Ace Up website in August 2021, and Kadokawa released the manga’s first tankoubon volume in March 2022. The most recent volume, number six, was published in December 2024, and the manga’s seventh volume will be released on July 4th, 2025.
Yen Press releases the manga in English under the name The Summer Hikaru Died, and it will release the sixth volume on October 28th, 2025. It describes the manga’s first volume below:
“It has Hikaru’s face. It has Hikaru’s voice. It even has Hikaru’s memories. But whatever came down from the mountains six months ago isn’t Yoshiki’s best friend. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous. Carrying on at school and hanging out as if nothing has changed—as if Hikaru isn’t gone—would be crazy…but when it looks so very like Hikaru…and acts so very like Hikaru…”
The Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu manga has been nominated for several awards, such as the 16th Manga Taisho Award, and it has been listed in several prominent book lists, such as the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 2024 list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens. The manga and its author were also nominated for the 2024 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards; the manga was nominated for the Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia category, while Mokumokuren was nominated for the Best Writer/Artist category.
The manga was adapted into a light novel by Nukaga Mio in December 2023, and Kadokawa will release the series’ second novel on July 4th, 2025. Yen Press released the first novel in English in April 2025.
