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The Summer Hikaru Died Anime's Teaser Unveils Summer TV Debut, Netflix Streaming, Cast, Staff
posted on by Rafael Antonio Pineda
Kadokawa revealed an English-subtitled teaser promotional video for the anime of Mokumokuren's The Summer Hikaru Died (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu) manga on Wednesday. The teaser announces the anime's summer TV premiere on the NTV channel, as well as its streaming premiere on Netflix and ABEMA that is "coming soon." (Netflix is streaming the anime exclusively worldwide, while ABEMA is also steaming the anime for free inside Japan alongside Netflix.) The trailer also reveals the anime's main cast and staff.
(Turn on closed captions for English subtitles in teaser below)
The anime stars Chiaki Kobayashi as Yoshiki Tsujinaka, and Shūichirō Umeda as Hikaru Indou.
Ryohei Takeshita (Eromanga Sensei, Jellyfish Can't Swim in the Night, Pokémon: Paldean Winds) is directing the anime at Cygames Pictures and overseeing the series scripts. Yūichi Takahashi (Stars Align, Macross Frontier, Vivy -Fluorite Eye's Song-) is the character designer and chief animation director. Masanobu Hiraoka (Snorunt's Summer Vacation) is listed as "Dorodoro" animator.
Two boys lived in a village: Yoshiki and Hikaru. The two did everything together...until the day Hikaru was encompassed by a mysterious light. That was when everything changed—Hikaru most of all. Yoshiki still wishes from the bottom of his heart to always stay by his side...but is there even a Hikaru left to be with?
Mokumokuren launched the manga on Kadokawa's Young Ace Up website in August 2021. Kadokawa published the manga's fifth compiled book volume on June 4, and will publish the sixth volume on December 4. The manga will exceed 3 million copies in circulation by the time of the sixth volume's release. Yen Press published the fourth volume on August 20. The manga inspired a light novel adaptation by Mio Nukaga in December 2023. Mokumokuren previously stated that the manga is planned to reach 10 volumes.
The manga was nominated for the 16th Manga Taisho Awards. (The official English name of the awards is the "Cartoon Grand Prize.") The New York Public Library listed the manga as part of its Best Books list for teens in 2023. The manga also made The American Library Association's (ALA's) Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) 2024 list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens.
Both the manga and its author Mokumokuren were nominated for this year's 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.
Update: Netflix's version of the teaser added.
Source: Press release
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
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