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N. American premiere screens at Anime Expo on July 4




On Monday, Netflix began streaming the second promotional video for the anime adaptation of Mokumokuren's manga series "The Summer Hikaru Died" (Hikaru ga Shinda Natsu). This video showcases the opening theme song "Saikai" (Reunion) performed by Vaundy, two cast members, and reveals that the series will premiere worldwide on July 5th.

The newly announced cast includes:

Yoshiki Nakajima as Yūta Maki, who is Yoshiki's classmate

Shion Wakayama as Yūki Tadokoro, who is Asako's childhood friend and Yoshiki's classmate

On the day of the premiere of the first episode of the show, there will be a screening event at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku with both cast and crew present. Additionally, there will be a live broadcast on ABEMA featuring the three main cast members on the same day.

This year's Anime Expo event on July 4 at 7:00 p.m. will host the North American premiere of a film. The original creator Mokumokuren, Chiaki Kobayashi (voice of Yoshiki), producers Chiaki Kurakane and Manami Kabashima will be present at the screening.

The anime will be shown first on NTV on July 5th. It will also be available for streaming on Netflix worldwide and in Japan only through ABEMA.

The anime stars:

- Chiaki Kobayashi as Yoshiki Tsujinaka
- Shūichirō Umeda as Hikaru Indou
- Yumiri Hanamori as Asako Yamagishi
- Wakana Kowaka as Rie Kurebayashi
- Chikahiro Kobayashi as Tanaka


Ryohei Takeshita is directing the anime at Cygames Pictures and managing the scripts for the series. Yūichi Takahashi is in charge of character design and animation direction for the show. Masanobu Hiraoka is working as an animator on the series under the title "Dorodoro".

TOOBOE performs the ending theme song "Anata wa Kaibutsu" (you are my monster).

Yen Press licensed the manga for English publication, and describes the manga:

Two boys lived in a village: Yoshiki and Hikaru. The two did everything together...until the day Hikaru was encompassed by a mysterious light. That was when everything changed—Hikaru most of all. Yoshiki still wishes from the bottom of his heart to always stay by his side...but is there even a Hikaru left to be with?

In August 2021, Mokumokuren released their manga series on Kadokawa's Young Ace Up website. By December 4th of that same year, they had published six compiled book volumes of the series. At that point, it had already exceeded three million copies in circulation. On March 25th of this year, Yen Press released the fifth volume of the series. Additionally, there is a light novel adaptation of the series by Mio Nukaga that is set for release in December 2023. According to Mokumokuren, the series is planned to reach ten volumes in total.

The manga received recognition in several prestigious awards, including being nominated for the 16th Manga Taisho Awards and being included in the New York Public Library's Best Books list for teens in 2023. Additionally, it made it onto the American Library Association's (ALA's) Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens in 2024.

This year, both the manga and its creator, Mokumokuren, received nominations in the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. Specifically, the manga was recognized in the Best U.S. Edition of International Material-Asia category, while Mokumokuren was considered for the Best Writer/Artist category.




Source: Email correspondence