this was the result of being in a yaoi mood (tshd 1-4 review)

So I read the first four volumes of The Summer Hikaru Died in one sitting because I had heard it had some yaoi elements to it and I for one love a monster bf story. So anyone who has actually read it would know that I was at least slightly disappointed, but keep in mind this is after just the first four volumes, I have not seen anything from volume 5 yet !!!! (but I don't care ab spoilers).

Overall, I thought it was pretty good but it didn't really succeed in making me feel dread that things in the thriller or horror genre should attempt to instill. The main chapters for the first three volumes boiled down to Hikaru saying something freaky because he is an immortal being, Yoshiki getting disturbed briefly, and then Hikaru professes his undying love to Yoshiki. The extras from the first three volumes also read pretty similarly with Hikaru saying something freaky, then Yoshiki is exasperated and teases Hikaru in some way or another.

After finishing volume four, I couldn't help but start to dislike it because it felt like it was trying to backpedal on the homoerotic undertones to Hikaru's and Yoshiki's relationship that were very much planted in the first two volumes. The mangaka can backpedal as much as they want but after going from insides-gate, which I will get to later, to "no no no I said it felt good because it was like eating someone !!! I was fulfilling an instinctual desire !!"

Which I have seen people say that when The Summer Hikaru Died first came out, it had a BL tag on it which was taken away at some point, and that this was because the mangaka didn't want people to get the wrong idea about the work because it isn't a story focused on romance blah blah blah. But I disagree.

I think that in the beginning, there really was a plan to have it be much more of a toxic yaoi situation with Hikaru being crazy possessive and wanting Yoshiki's attention and affection 24/7 which you can see in the chapter where they take the forest trail and Hikaru told Yoshiki that he only wants Yoshiki to look at him from now on and to stay by his side in order to protect him. He was also very upfront about how much he loved and admired Yoshiki in the first couple volumes until more elements were added and their relationship became more and more platonic it seemed like. Not even to mention insides-gate which was a whole thing on its own. 

So, all of those combined with it having a BL tag at one point to not having it now leads me to believe that the mangaka just changed their mind about the story they were writing. Which is fine, but I feel like people love to speak for authors in situations like this instead of listening to what they say combined with what happened and make your own conclusions instead of stating something like it's fact and having everyone else say the exact same thing or else they are entirely wrong about their interpretation of someone's work.

But anyways onto insides-gate which is so infamous that it was the first thing I ever saw about The Summer Hikaru Died back when it first came out a couple years ago. The mangaka can say whatever they want about what was going on there, but that was framed exactly like a sex scene. It was definitely meant to have a horror tone to it, but it looked so much like a sex scene it's not even funny from what they were saying to the expressions on their faces. I don't know someone who blushes and moans when they eat food !!! which is effectively the excuse they gave for why Hikaru found it pleasurable.

Anyways, I thought it was pretty good, but volume four was a drag compared to the three previous ones. I definitely don't hate it but everyone seems weirdly stable all things considered which leads to that lack of dread that I mentioned before. The stakes are high enough for people to start acting or behaving in unusual ways. These kids are under an immense amount of stress, I would expect them to act out more than just attempt to stab the eldrich horror taking the shape of his friend. I want Yoshiki to be more fucked up and have a weird codependency with Hikaru since he is the only thing that helps him cope with the death of the person he loved. I think it would have been wise to stay in the toxic yaoi direction instead of pivoting as it could have strengthened the things the mangaka wanted to bring across as an emotion as deep and complex as love can create a lot of nuance in a work and that intensity probably would have made me feel a lot more dread throughout because I would be thinking "oh my god he's going to do something stupid because of his unnatural codependency". I feel like Peach Girl: Super Pop Love Hurricane succeeds in being a horror more than The Summer Hikaru Died does. 

So all in all, I would probably rate it 4/5 so far since it seems very promising and it has great art. I know it seems like I ripped into it but that's only because I do like the work and I love the horror genre so I would have liked to see it push the boundaries some more.