Anime of the Year 2026 Nominee Spotlight: The Summer Hikaru Died

When The Summer Hikaru Died was announced, I knew it would be one of my favorite anime of the year. As a reader of Mokumokuren’s manga, I couldn’t wait to see how the anime would adapt the story. Not only was it, in fact, one of my favorites of the year, but it’s up for Anime of the Year at the 2026 Anime Awards! NOTE: All images for The Summer Hikaru Died are from Netflix. One day, while hanging out with his childhood friend, Yoshiki Tsujinaka bluntly states that the friend he’s known for so long is not his real friend. He means that literally . Hikaru Indo is stunned to hear Yoshiki say that...

The horror genre has some of the best coming-of-age stories