The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 8 Review: Past Ills and Present Horrors

By Elijah Gonzalez | August 26, 2025 | 12:30pm

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The Summer Hikaru Died Episode 8 Review: Past Ills and Present Horrors

While we’ve had plenty of moments that embody how The Summer Hikaru Died mixes everyday mundanity and horror, the first scene of episode 8, “Contact,” is as good an example as any. Here, Yoshiki and Hikaru try to figure out the best way to get blood out of clothes in light of last week’s “Et tu, Brute?” moment that left the latter gushing his borrowed life-essence all over Yoshiki’s bedroom. Having come out the other side of yet another grave ordeal that forced them to say how they truly feel, our central pair is closer than ever, but now without Yoshiki’s willing ignorance.

Having gotten through a rocky patch that involved boyfriend stabbing, the two get their first whiff of answers regarding Nonuki-sama’s true nature from Hikaru’s sleepy grandpa, who seems to know… everything? As he takes an impromptu nap, he murmurs the word “murder village,” implying more than ever that this community has a dark past involving human sacrifice. It’s a disquieting notion that ties into classic Wicker Man-esque small-town horror and further explains why Takeda alluded to the destruction of the village potentially being a good thing. As an aside, not to make a deeply uninteresting Cinema Sins-style criticism about “plot holes,” but it seems like Hikaru’s grandfather simply has all the answers our protagonists need? Wake that dude up! In all seriousness, it probably would have made more sense if Hikaru had trouble getting answers from his grandad due to some reticence in further involving him in these occult dealings, given what happened to both Hikaru and his dad.

With Indou senior out for the count, our pair heads to their local-ish library, where they make some creepy discoveries: the five villages, which used to be one, that surround the cursed mountain are in the shape of a human, like Nazca lines. Weird! It’s one of those bizarre reveals that doubles down on this place’s sordid history, tapping into the best qualities of stories about small communities with a dark past.

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On top of this investigation bringing some interesting implications, it’s also quite nice that this intrigue is finally being delivered in interactions between our two best boys and not the same boring old dudes who’ve been responsible for filling in the details until now—and since Yoshiki and Hikaru are as ignorant about this stuff as us, the audience, it means these conversations are slightly more concrete as they piece things together alongside the viewer.

After this, the episode’s two main thrusts—the boys discovering more about the town and them further processing the consequences of their actions—come together as things get more emotionally intense. A librarian originally from their village overhears the pair talking and offers her own knowledge: according to local history, their town once made “sacrifices” (presumably of the human variety) to the mountain god, Nonuki-sama, until a great famine wiped out much of the village. After this, Nonuki became a “curse god” that would bring misfortune to those who set foot on its grounds.

However, the most interesting part of the scene is more human and personal; the fact that she’s the daughter of the elderly woman Hikaru killed in the premiere. If this more empathetic look at the victims of Hikaru’s actions wasn’t enough, we also learn that Asako has lost hearing in one of her ears due to Hikaru’s attempted possession.

Tying into the previous episode, where Yoshiki’s guilt and concerns about aiding Hikaru reached a high point, the two are once again forced to grapple with the consequences of their ongoing relationship: Yoshiki has to accept that allowing Hikaru to run free indirectly killed this woman’s mother, while Hikaru is once again confronted with the weight of taking human life. On the flipside, we also get some context for what Nonuki was seemingly like before fusing with Hikaru. The mountain god is described as a somewhat abstract entity, less a fully conscious, sentient presence, and more a force of nature. It’s a portrayal of the divine that understandably ties into Shintoist thought instead of the heavily personified divine beings in the Abrahamic religions. This also explains why Hikaru needs to “learn” things that are common sense to humans, such as the cost of taking a life.

Hikaru’s starting place of ignorance also sets up for the first deeply romantic moment of the episode, as Yoshiki stares into his eyes and resolves to help carry his sins instead of looking away. As always, it feels like these characters are constantly moving forward, ensuring that the story never becomes monotonous, with Yoshiki realizing that part of what allowed Hikaru to almost kill Asako was some amount of willful ignorance.

And when it comes to Yoshiki embracing the effects of letting Hikaru roam free, we get a chilling reminder of the nightmares unleashed due to Nonuki-sama leaving the mountain and unbalancing the spiritual ecosystem. As Yoshiki sits in the classic Protagonist Window Seat at school, he sees something awful: a man caught in silhouette, less a human than a caricature of one, waving to Yoshiki before stabbing himself with a knife. It gets at the uncomfortable reality that sometimes, when you look outside, something else looks back.

Ironically, though, the scare that carried the biggest long-term impact this episode came from a human instead of a spiritual possession. As Tanaka finally directly crossed paths with our protagonists, we got an essential bit of characterization that clarifies his purpose in the narrative: he was once in Yoshiki’s shoes. It’s heavily implied that the reason he’s willing to literally sacrifice his organs to complete this job is because he too, once “mixed” with the realm of the dead. The parallels between him and our protagonist are so great that Tanaka describes Yoshiki as a younger version of himself, positioning him as a classic antagonist meant to mirror the main character. I’m curious if his backstory will also concern a same-sex partner, doubling down on the queer metaphor here, or if, like with Mrs. Kurebayashi, it will be more representative of the dangers of holding on too tightly to those who are already gone.

Speaking of Kurebayashi, she once again proves a capable wielder of supernatural power as she bailed out our boys, who ended up in danger due to Hikaru’s weakened state. I very much enjoy how this series has portrayed her so far, because in many lesser anime/manga, this type of outwardly “unremarkable” middle-aged mom having a sixth sense probably would be played as a gag. By contrast, she’s indicative of how being blessed (or cursed) with supernatural powers isn’t something only bestowed on main character types in this world—again, it’s the whole supernatural meeting the quotidian aspect that the show excels at. And these two are probably going to continue needing Kurebayashi’s help going forward after Hikaru sacrificed part of his power to make Yoshiki more comfortable, a gesture of trust that gains even more weight when we learn that this bone fragment acts as an Achilles heel that would probably destroy Hikaru if damaged.

Overall, while episode 8 was a tad too focused on table setting and backstory to rate as one of the best installments in the series so far, it speaks to the show’s command of atmosphere and character writing that even this kind of setup-oriented storytelling remained thematically meaningful and genuinely frightening.

Elijah Gonzalez is an associate editor for Endless Mode. In addition to playing the latest, he also loves anime, movies, and dreaming of the day he finally gets through all the Like a Dragon games. You can follow him on Bluesky @elijahgonzalez.bsky.social.