“Determination”
What They Say:
Two best friends living in a rural Japanese village: Yoshiki and Hikaru. Growing up together, they were inseparable… until the day Hikaru came back from the mountains, and was no longer himself. “Something” has taken over Hikaru’s body, memories, feelings… and everything they know begins to unravel.
Review: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Based on the manga Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu, which is released in English through Yen Press, it comes from its creator, Mokumokuren. It began in 2021 and has seven volumes out so far. The anime brought in Ryohei Takeshita to both write and direct it, with CygamesPictures handling the animation production. Takeshita’s an interesting choice since they have a lot of varied credits, from two seasons of Jellyfish Can’t Swim in the Night to Eromanga-sensei, but also a slew of unit director work across a range of titles. CygamesPictures has been interesting to watch its evolution as it’s taken on a lot of projects, and the quality for them as a main production studio has largely been strong, which helps set a tone for this.
Recent events have certainly left Yoshiki struggling with everything, but still trying to carry on as if everything is normal. It’s a surreal summer to be sure, and even Hikaru is picking up on this vibe that feels very off from him. That Hikaru feels unsettled says a lot! What becomes more surprising is that Yoshiki suggests a skip day for the two of them, which they actually follow through on. Having them do this, and talking lightly on the ride out about things, while we see the school day unfolding as normal with the choral performance, is certainly interesting. The two are having a good time in a kind of subdued way that definitely still feels off, and mixing that in with the school, scenes with Yoshiki’s sister, and the guys working in the forest, just adds to the surreal feeling of it all as these events are all separate but are connected in their own way as well. And having it mostly culminate with Yoshiki calling his mother just adds to the underlying darkness of it all. It’s pretty masterful in bringing it all together for the back half.
When we get to that late evening moment, as the sun sets, and Yoshiki tries to kill Hikaru only to realize he can’t, it just pushes him past the edge of madness. He wanted Hikaru to have a good last day, to end all of this, and if he can’t, he wants his own end, which is a wild thing to ask of Hikaru, who at least presents as largely a happy-go-lucky guy. He’s struggled with his own identity, what he’s done since becoming this, and the recent interactions that altered their relationship, and seeing him going to such painful and brutal lengths to show Yoshiki how much he trusts him is beautifully disturbing, both in the meaning and the visual of it. It weakens Hikaru, gives Yoshiki strength, and tries to set a new balance between them so they can move forward again. Just Hikaru talking about how he doesn’t even know truly what he is makes things so much clearer, and teases more of what’s to come in the show.
In Summary:
The reshaping of the relationship after recent events is significant here because it does say so much about both of these young men and what they’re going through. There are larger forces at play around the edges of all of this that are becoming clearer, but bringing these two to a better place after all that they’ve seen, and how Yoshiki has struggled so hard with it, was beautifully done with such haunting visuals. It teases so much in the final moments, of course, but the nature of the episode is very enjoyable to watch with how it expresses everything. Yoshiki’s attempt to give Hikaru a good day is so well-intentioned on his part, and the unease in how he goes about it definitely permeates much of the show. Really, really, good stuff here.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Netflix
