‘The Summer Hikaru Died’ Episode 3 review: “Denial”

There’s something so deeply, uncomfortably tragic about witnessing Yoshiki’s (Chiaki Kobayashi) reckoning with the ugly truth in The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3. Directed by Asaka Yokoyama, Kohei Kido, and Ayumu Uwano, “Denial” explores what happens when Yoshiki can no longer exist in a dissociative state of rudderless disbelief. He wants this Hikaru (Shūichirō Umeda) to be his Hikaru. And, in that wanting, must come to terms that his Hikaru will never be the same again, no matter how much this new entity can embody his mannerisms, voice, and looks. Grappling with a tangible, raw grief, the story shifts as Yoshiki reaches a new stage of it: tired acceptance.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3 delivers a cacophony of purposeful dissonance, manifesting in a manner to plunge us into the depths of Yoshiki’s mental decay. The storyboards and edits emphasize and amplify his ongoing, resting anxiety that reaches its feverish pitch as his tethers to his past-self completely dissolve. It’s a gorgeous and stylized, from the opening nostalgic notes of summer’s past to the current where Yoshiki seeks out the truth of Hikaru through Rie, the woman who stopped him in Episode 2.

It speaks to the series’ brilliance that even in this scene of, essentially, lore dump, that the imagery maintains its constant thread of unease. While Rie and Yoshiki talk, the former recommending colorful, ostentatious parfaits, the camera continues to cut to unlikely shots. From close ups of their mouths, to the changing sun in the window above them, and other signs of deep unrest, this clash of atmosphere and tone is what makes the story so relentless in its onslaught of anticipation. Here these two are at a generic American style diner, ordering sweets that exemplify excess, and talking about the supernatural plaguing their town.

Yoshiki looks for help in how to deal with Hikaru.

Rie’s storyline offers a strong contrast and warning sign for Yoshiki. She too went through something similar, believing her late husband had returned to life. However, that naive belief led to her son being wounded. Through this experience she realizes that humans aren’t meant to be this close to the supernatural. Because humans begin to change while in such close proximity to the supernatural and otherwise otherworldly beings. She believes that it’s Hikaru and his having left the mountain that is causing the town to suffer greater distortions. Whatever Hikaru contained while on the mountain, it’s now spreading in his vacancy.

Her belief is what leads to the most emotionally explosive moment of The Summer Hikaru Died thus far. Hikaru, confronting Yoshiki for distancing himself from him, lashes out in a moment of childlike panic. He can’t understand why Yoshiki is mad at him while Yoshiki delivers a long overdue outburst. Watching Yoshiki withhold his grief and bottle such immense confusion and pain is like watching a festering open wound try and fail to heal itself. But the argument doesn’t offer the expected catharsis, even if Yoshiki is finally able to release his pent up distress.

Hikaru loses control, his face warping and unraveling into his true, formless entity. It’s interesting and thematically telling that the anxiety long felt in by Yoshiki is then visualized as Hikaru’s essence suffocating him – this gasping, frantic need for air. And yet, more notable still, is Yoshiki’s desperation and pleas about how gross it feels changes, for a split second, into how it feels good. The disgust remains but there’s something else there too.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3 delivers an explosive moment of reckoning and repression.

Considering it’s themes of small town cultures and the queer undercurrent of our main dynamic, it makes the moment all the more emphatic. Is it disgust in what’s happening him, or a sense of self-loathing? Who and what is he disgusted with? It’s a wonderfully subtle moment in an otherwise significant display that speaks to the series ability to tackle heady subjects about repression.

Their argument only seems to bring them closer together. By the end of The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3, Yoshiki has seemingly recognized that this Hikaru is something new. He’s more childish and clingy, though regretful of his actions towards Yoshiki. The ending is particularly tender, as Yoshiki comforts Hikaru, their faces drawn close as he tries to see this new version of his longest friend in a fresh light. That Hikaru is gone.

So what does it mean for Yoshiki to accept this new version – one who is constantly looking for him, glued to his side, and open about how much he cares for him. The story, based on the manga by Mokumokuren is such an immaculate take on the hardships and strains of coming-of-age and sexuality even amid the dense supernatural elements and horror-inspired atmosphere. It’s a haunting, but who is the actual perpetrator? The wild, nonsensical thing using Hikaru’s body as a host? Or tired, and harmful small town ways?

Beauty punctuates the horror of this world.

Unsurprisingly, the animation is gorgeous. There’s less overt horror in “Denial” but maintains that visual discontent. Though, perhaps most striking, is a moment of stillness. Yoshiki and Hikaru laze a day away, laying on tatami mats and basking in the sun that pokes through the clouds. The scenery is awash in vibrant greens and sunny skies that seem to poke in the eye of Yoshiki’s grief. The world is so vibrant, so viciously alive in the face of Hikaru’s absence. Normal and constantly turning despite the shift in his axis.

In one of the most striking frames, the two sit upright against the expansive landscapes. The inverted colors offering a beautiful, haunting balance. Hikaru wears green, matching the green mountains that backdrop Yoshiki. Meanwhile, Yoshiki’s white shirt matches the clouds that halo Hikaru. These details, these artistic flourishes, manage to add depth and visual splendor into a story that, in the wrong hands, would read as simply macabre. It’s the unlikely beauty that punctuates moments of dread and torrential grief that give it such vibrancy and necessary life. Because the series is so much more than simply what Yoshiki loses in the opening moments. It’s about how life continues in the after.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3 delivers yet another vivacious spectacle of body horror, intense emotional release, and the wounds of adolescence. The profundity of its story is matched by a visual verve and parasitic artistry that speaks to Hikaru’s consumption and the way in which Yoshiki’s grief feeds Hikaru’s existence. Culminating in a sunny, daytime night terror, “Denial” delivers catharsis with a cost yet specified.

The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 3 is available now on Netflix. 

Images courtesy of Cygames. 

Allyson Johnson

Based in New England, Allyson is co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of InBetweenDrafts. Former Editor-in-Chief at TheYoungFolks, she is a member of the Boston Society of Film Critics and the Boston Online Film Critics Association. Her writing has also appeared at CambridgeDay, ThePlaylist, Pajiba, VagueVisages, RogerEbert, TheBostonGlobe, Inverse, Bustle, her Substack, and every scrap of paper within her reach.