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Do you know what every great horror story needs? A little romance mixed in. That is the real fun of The Summer Hikaru Died, which has been on our radar for a while. The series manages to mix cosmic horror in the normally sweet and innocent Boys Love genre to great results and the upcoming anime adaptation looks like it is going to do the same when it hits Netflix this summer.

The Summer Hikaru Died follows Yoshiki and Hikaru, two teenage boys living in a small town in rural Japan. However, after Hikaru’s body is taken over by an eldritch being, their already complicated relationship becomes significantly more strained. The imagery in the newest trailer highlights the mix of Boys Love romance and cosmic horror in a way that shouldn’t work but clearly does. There is surreal horror mixed with touching declarations. A tender moment that suddenly becomes Hikaru’s chest opening up to consume someone. This is a show that is all about weird contrasts and tonal whiplash and we’re here for it.

Securing the rights to The Summer Hikaru Died is one of the big wins for Netflix in an increasingly packed summer 2025 anime line-up that includes new seasons of Sakamoto Days, My Dress-Up Darling, Kaiju No. 8, and Dan Da Dan. Hopefully, the cosmic horror elements of The Summer Hikaru Died help it to stand out from the crowd because this looks like a unique anime experience.

The Summer Hikaru Died comes to Netflix on July 5, 2025 and we’re ready for it to creep us out and break our hearts all at the same time.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included... 

• Aggretsuko vs Chainsaw Man: Two Wildly different anine with the same anti-capitalist message
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• Piracy is baked into anime's past, but, like Crunchyroll, we should move on from it
• Flying whales, mechs, and Miyazaki vibes: Inside Netflix's Leviathan anime with the people who made it
• How AI translations of manga continues the 'enshitification' of the medium, and why Japanese publishers are "less precious" about it
• I never wanted a Cyberpunk Edgerunners sequel, but God help me I'm going to watch it
• The Summer Hikaru Died delivers its cosmic horror at an agonizingly slow pace
• The one thing that Dan Da Dan does better than Demon Slayer ever did
• Studio Ghibli movies have never been as cozy as you think they are and that's what makes them magic