Yoshiki's best friend Hikaru is not himself lately.
Literally.
Someone else is living inside his best friends body.

This manga was eerie in the best possible way and I was hooked from the beginning. I cannot wait to check out the other volumes that are currently out!

Fantastic building of tension in this first volume. A wonderful mix of horror and the stress involved with secret queer love for a best friend. Looking forward to reading volume 2.

Well, ok, that was terrifying. This isn’t the gory kind of horror or even extreme psychological horror. It’s the juxtaposition of usual summer life in rural Japan – eating watermelon, grocery shopping, hanging out a friend’s house – with OH GOD WHAT. It’s my favorite kind of horror so I of course I loved this volume!

It’s been six months since Yoshiki’s best friend Hikaru disappeared in the woods for a week. Everyone else seems to have accepted his miraculous return and things have gone back to normal. It’s only Yoshiki who suspects that something is wrong – and has the courage to confront his friend. Dealing with the knowledge that his friend is gone but something with his friend’s memories is still walking around and desperate to be friends with him – well, Yoshiki’s having a rough time. Can the strange things happening around town be blamed on Hikaru? And what kind of relationship does he have – should he have – with his “friend?”

Yoshiki and Hikaru have been best friends since elementary school. The two boys still consider each other “only” best friends, though there’s enough tension and longing to make this count as at least a crush in my eyes. Hikaru insists that he needs Yoshiki and has a habit of making comments that could easily be misinterpreted as declarations of love, not to mention several teasing innuendos. It’s no surprise that Yoshiki’s conflicted about his feelings for Hikaru. Perhaps the most emotional part for me was the heartbreaking sadness of Yoshiki confirmation multiple times with Hikaru that his friend is truly dead and not coming back. The grief, confusion over Hikaru’s actions, not to mention worry over his intentions is absolutely overwhelming and depicted so well.

The art is unbelievably gorgeous. The character design is stunning and the varied emotions are depicted so well: fear, confusion, yearning, embarrassment. My personal favorite was the depiction of the being inside Hikaru. It’s both horrific and beautiful and something that had me pausing to inspect carefully every time. It’s no wonder I found it easy to empathize with Yoshiki.

Most of the story is from Yoshiki’s POV so a lot of the horror comes from the tension in the relationship between himself and Hikaru. It’s that sinking feeling when you know you’re making a bad choice but can’t help yourself. There are of course dire warnings of some sort of great evil and the unsubtle suggestion that whatever’s inside Hikaru will harm him, but compared to Hikaru’s grand declarations, well, it’s hard to believe, right?

Overall, this was an amazing start to a series and I’ve already checked out the second volume from the library – and preordered the third!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

The premise seemed really interesting but the story just didn't grab me. Maybe it gets more interesting in future volumes but I feel like I've read this kind of story before and they never interest me for long.

It was such an intriguing read. I am already anticipating the next volume as the suspense is just too much to bear. The visuals were a cherry on top with deliciously descriptive body horror. Loved every bit of it.

What a unique take on boys love manga.. I enjoyed this spooky and sweet story for what it was. I loved the way the mangaka was able to show raw emotion between the two boys. However, I feel the story is missing something so I am unsure that I will continue with the next volume.

For some reason, I forgot this was a creepy manga when I read it, so the possessed plot twist threw me for a loop. The manga was a bit creepy, which was nice cause I love horror. The story was a bit slow, in my opinion, but I want to continue reading it just to find out what happened to the OG Hikaru in the forest. My main problem with this manga were the speech bubbles. They were drawn with the tiniest tails pointing to the speaker, so it was hard to tell who was speaking at times. There were also a few blank bubbles and text messages, so I wasn’t sure if that was just an unfinished ARC thing, or if that was intentional, but whatever the reason, it made me more confused with what I was missing. I would recommend the story if you like small-town possession horror where there are demons in the woods.

Thanks for allowing me to read this advanced readers copy of this manga! I found it really intriguing, and can't wait to find out if Yoshiki will continue having "Hikaru" around or eventually will let him go.

This was so so good. The summer creepy vibe, the tangible ambiance of school and friendship and scary story telling. The psychology behind grief that can bring people to make choices you can't comprehend in this. The scary nature of the drawings. Not too much, just enough, so it HITS. This was GOOD.

Thank you to Yen Press for providing me with an e-ARC of The Summer Hikaru Died, Vol 1!

The Summer Hikaru Died definitely has a good premise & there’s some really good art on the pages but there wasn’t enough in this volume to make me care to continue to the next.

Creepy and enthralling. Yoshiki’s best friend Hikaru disappeared in the mountains, but when he came back, he was different - Hikaru is dead and the thing that’s using his body wants to stay close to Yoshiki. Full of quiet tension - you'll want to have the next volume ready to go.

Just another sad manga story. Pretty sad pretty nice and very much likeable. Enjoy the ride to the wonderful world of nostalgic-manga-domination!

Sometimes the most horrific things aren’t explicitly scary. I have a fear of being forgotten by my close friends, and something about The Summer Hikaru Died intrigues me. This slow-burning mystery/horror manga is a refreshing tale that will have you on the edge on your seat.

In this manga, Yoshiki and his lifelong friend Hikaru are living school life in an idyllic town… except for one problem.

Hikaru died six months ago.

What remains is someone that isn’t quite like Hikaru, although he looks identical. After bringing it up, “Hikaru” threatens Yoshiki with death should he tell anyone else. Yoshiki grapples with the issue of his friend’s identity as the year continues, and a deeper mystery unfolds. Who is this person masquerading as Hikaru, and could the two stay close even if it’s a lie?

What I enjoy about this volume is how drastic the contrast between worlds it is. While it doesn’t pop up until near the end, there’s something not quite right with “Hikaru”, and only Yoshiki knows. It’s a compelling dynamic that I love to see explored in the next chapters. The tranquil school setting gets abruptly contrasted with some of the scarier elements, even if we don’t see much. This first collection does a great job of enticing the reader to continue with this tale, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.

4 stars

Yoshiki's best friend, Hikaru, goes to the mountains, and when he returns something returns. He has Hikaru's face, voice, and memories, but this creature isn't Hikaru. Something is wrong. Something isn't right and if Yoshiki allows this new Hikaru into his life it could change him forever. I really enjoyed this first volume in the series. It's a creepy and chilling concept. One of my favorite horror novels, The Return by Rachel Harrison, has a similar premise following a friend going into the mountains only to return as a monster. It's an intriguing premise and this one doesn't disappoint. I'm excited to continue reading the series. I'm always down for a creepy manga and this one has some outstanding character elements that I think could go in a solid direction.

Adored this! The atmosphere and story was everything. I very much enjoyed watching the story unfold and ultimately see what paid off.

Thank you so much NetGalley and Yen Press for this creepy arc!

5/5 stars!

Honestly, wow. I haven't been this enthralled in a manga that wasn't some cutesy fantasy in such a long time! This was the perfect mix of creepy, intriguing, sad, and mysterious, and is perfect for spooky season! I desperately need to know what happens next, and will be ordering both volumes one and two to sell in my store on my next shift! I can't wait to recommend this to my manga reading friends!

Unsettling, creepy and a damn good read. The Summer Hikaru Died Volume 1 kept me engage from start to finish with beautiful artwork, compelling characters and a nice pay off.

I received an eARC of this title through NetGalley in return for an honest review.

I thought this was an interesting concept for a manga. It seems like it would be a one volume horror story, but it sounds like there is more going on than meets the eye. At first, I thought this would be about a boy figuring out slowly that this thing was not his best friend, but he found out right away. To me that changed the whole idea of the story from suspense of is he or is he not Hikaru to should I accept this new Hikaru or should I run in terror. The idea of not being able to let go of the past even though it appears to be right in front of you.

I think the story really starts to pick up when Hikaru opens up and begins to really show the main character who he is as a being rather than his friend. How he is attached and doesn't want to let go either. I would be interested in seeing where this story goes as I did not see this direction. It reminds me a lot of Junji Ito's supernatural works. Where there is a lot of supernatural and human elements involved in the horror.

3.5 stars

Such an eerie and atmospheric manga!

I do wish there was a bit more of the horror element but it is the first book in a series so hopefully it gets more horror filled in the next volumes.

I really enjoyed the art style it fit the vibe of the manga really well!

the only thing I wasnt a huge fan of was the writing, I'm not sure if it was because it was an arc or just the translation but a lot of sentences didnt seem complete.

but other than that its a great start to a manga!

I will 100% be checking out the rest of the series!

thank you Netgalley, and the publishers for a copy in exchange for an honest review!

C'est vraiment rare que j'abandonne des mangas en cours de route mais après des jours de lutte pour tenter de terminer celui-ci, j'ai decidé d'arrêter. Je ne sais pas si c'est l'histoire que je n'ai pas comprise ou bien le language très familier qui m'a énormément déranger mais je n'ai absolument pas accroché. C'est dommage car le titre m'avait attiré...ça arrive ! :)