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The Summer Hikaru Died Anime's Trailer Unveils 3 More Cast Members, TOOBOE's Ending Song
posted on by Joanna Cayanan
The AnimeJapan 2025 stage event for the anime of Mokumokuren's The Summer Hikaru Died (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu) manga revealed on Saturday three more cast members and the full trailer for the anime. The video also reveals and previews the ending theme song "Anata wa Kaibutsu" (you are my monster) by TOOBOE.
The anime's staff also revealed a new visual for Yoshiki and Hikaru:
The newly announced cast are:
The anime will premiere in summer on the NTV channel, and will also stream on Netflix exclusively worldwwide and on ABEMA in Japan.
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.
Yen Press licensed the manga for English publication, and describes the manga:
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.
Source: The Summer Hikaru Died AnimeJapan 2025 stage
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.
