“Its Place”
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.
Hikaru’s struggles in the cold open are really engaging to watch because he knows the right thing to do, but he doesn’t want to do that because he has bonded so well with Yoshiki, and is enjoying this life that he now has. But all the reveals are piling up, and the truths are taking its toll on him. Yoshiki, for his part, is just trying to get through things with all that he’s learned about the region, its past, and family connections to it. But with summer coming up, we do see the excitement starting to really hit, such as with his little sister and others at school as it’s getting all pretty loose in a fun way. But we’re also seeing it as a kind of somber thing for Hikaru, who arrives late and has that sense of just touching and experiencing the moment one last time in different ways. It’s got that sense of goodbye to it that’s really well done with the settings and the atmosphere of it all. Even Asako’s showing up doesn’t change it that much overall when she finds him out. I love that she’s so aware of things and engages with him in this kind of above-board manner, which becomes surprisingly emotional.
Hikaru’s understanding through this that he’s denied everyone the grieving process makes an impact on him. There’s an edge to it when we see him and Yoshiki on the train later, with Yoshiki handwaving away the number of times Hikaru has tried to kill him, before they just enjoy some downtime out in the countryside. I love that they go to the ocean, since Hikaru wants to see it, and his child-like delight is an absolute blast considering what he is, even with Hikaru’s memories. There are a lot of joyful moments to it, but considering its the season finale, it turns more serious with the sun setting and how both Hikaru and Yoshiki are struggling with the meaning of all of this. There’s a deep connection that exists between them, but it’s been distorted because of Hikaru’s death and replacement, and Yoshiki’s struggling with it is complicated. He still has his friend, of sorts, but is he betraying the memory of his true friend? Hikaru’s awareness of all of this makes for an engaging speech of sorts as they deal with things, and Hikaru wanting to be more of who he really is could be a fascinating turn in the future.
In Summary:
With a lot more manga out there, and a second season announced at the end, it’s obvious this isn’t an ending here. It does provide what feels like a solid end to a portion of the storyline or arc if you prefer, and it has an idea of where it can go next as Yoshiki figures out some of his true feelings here as Hikaru does in his own way as well. It’s again a beautifully animated and designed episode with some very haunting moments as it delves into a truly complicated situation between these two young men and all that has happened, and its greater meaning. Seeing the two of them trying to reach other, and to understand themselves, has a lot of meaning behind it and there is some real power behind the words as they flow. Really good stuff that has me likely to come back for another round.
Grade: A-
Streamed By: Netflix
