Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Cops descend into the sleepy village of Kubitachi Village in episode 2 ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’, to investigate an old woman’s death. Meanwhile, a classmate asks Yoshiki Tsujinaka and a few others to accompany him back home through a forest path, claiming it’s too spooky for him to make the journey alone. In the forest, the one near where Hikaru Indo had gone missing before coming back changed, Yoshiki sees something strange…
Quick recap of ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ Episode 1:
Protagonist Yoshiki, a high-school student, finds out his best-friend Hikaru is dead, and an unknown supernatural entity is pretending to be him. Devastated, grief-torn, Yoshiki decides to accept the new Hikaru, convincing himself it’s better to have his shell than nothing at all. But unknown to him, there are hunters about that kill entities like the one pretending to be a cheery Hikaru. The episode ends with the brutal murder of an old woman by a demonic being, attracting a hunter to Yoshiki’s sleepy village.
Back to Episode 2
Titled ‘Suspicion‘, Episode 2 of ‘The Summer Hikaru Died‘ once again blends horror and emotion in an gritty manner. The episode follows Yoshiki and Hikaru’s hike through a forest path, where something supernatural occurs, while a parallel subplot focuses on the carefree Tanaka, a hunter from “the company,” who arrives in Kubitachi Village to investigate the unnatural death of the old lady.
This chapter includes key flashbacks, the most important of which reveals a family belief passed down in the Indo household: members must marry as early as possible, or else the forest entities will take away the person closest to them. The Kubitachi Village is rife with several rumors and supernatural beliefs about the mountains and forests surrounding it, with more people convinced something unnatural has walked into their lives.
Things take an eerily sensual turn between Hikaru and Yoshiki in this episode, a combination of words (“eerily sensual”) I’ve perhaps never used before, but you’ll have to watch ‘The Summer Hikaru Died‘ to understand what I mean. Yoshiki, of course, is still struggling to come to terms with Hikaru’s death and the entity’s presence in his best friend’s body. But he can neither let go of his grief nor the new Hikaru, whatever he may be.
In an unsettling twist, a stranger named Rie senses something off about Yoshiki and warns him that he’s getting too close to something extremely dangerous. This happens towards the end of the episode, pushing Yoshiki into a new spiral of thoughts, making him question his proximity to Hikaru. There’s the familiar angst, loneliness, and desperation from the first chapter, and once again, it’s subtly established that the strangely evolving relationship between the teens isn’t going to end anytime soon, unless they’re torn apart by external forces.
Watch ‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ on Netflix.
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