The Summer Hikaru Died manga series is getting a stage play. The play will run next year from January 9, 2026, to January 18, 2026, at the Kinokuniya Hall in Tokyo. A key visual featuring Hikaru and Yoshiki was also revealed on their official X/Twitter.
The main cast and character visuals were also announced. Junsei Motojima will play as Yoshiki Tsujinaka, while Hikaru Imamaki will play as Hikaru.
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会 
©モクモクれん／KADOKAWA・舞台『光が死んだ夏』製作委員会
Other cast members include:
- • Mei Tachibana as Asako Yamagishi
- • Miki Matsuo as Yuta Maki
- • Rio Sawada as Yuki Tadokoro
- • Umi Yamano as Rie Kurebayashi
- • Shoichiro Akaboshi as Hajime Takeda
- • Mitsuru Murata as Tanaka
- • Karen Tachibana
- • Nanami Hatokawa
- • Ryotaro Murakami
The Summer Hikaru Died: The Stage is directed and written by Sotaro Fujii. Sano Mikihito will be in charge of the music for the stage play.
There will be advance/early ticket lotteries for the stage play. Applications for the advance/early ticket lotteries will open starting on October 3 and will remain open until October 26. There will also be an English ticketing website for overseas audiences. It will open the same day as general sales tickets on November 22, 2025.
The Summer Hikaru Died is a Japanese horror slice-of-life manga series written and illustrated by Mokumokuren. It started serialization in August 2021 on KADOKAWA’s Young Ace website. As of September 2025, seven manga volumes have been released. It has inspired an anime adaptation, which is currently streaming on Netflix. Its adaptation started airing in July 2025.
Yen Press is publishing the manga in English and describes the manga as:
It has Hikaru’s face. It has Hikaru’s voice. It even has Hikaru’s memories. But whatever came down from the mountains six months ago isn’t Yoshiki’s best friend. Whatever it is, it’s dangerous. Carrying on at school and hanging out as if nothing has changed—as if Hikaru isn’t gone—would be crazy…but when it looks so very like Hikaru…and acts so very like Hikaru…
Sources: Nelke official website, official X/Twitter
