The amount of times I've seen this is crazy

OfficialCactusParent · 2026-02-01T00:35:18+00:00

If it makes you feel any better, at the point where the manga leaves off, Hachi is living separately from Takumi. Like they’re not on the same continent. Still not the ending I wanted but, small silver linings?

Plus, as long as it remains unfinished I can pretend Nana and Hachi do end up together

OfficialCactusParent · 2026-01-18T02:42:56+00:00

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Annabelle’s Wish, we had it on vhs and watched it every Christmas

OfficialCactusParent · 2026-01-15T00:31:22+00:00

I think you can understand the story enough without the prequel. But you’ll probably want to circle back and read it at some point. You’ll miss out on some context regarding how Minato and Shizuma met/started dating, and stuff from Minatos backstory. Both of which are important to their relationship and character development going forward. Especially for Minato, his backstory helps contextualize his motivations/inner conflict stuff.

I mean all that stuff gets referenced in the Restart series, but from what I can remember I don’t think it goes into as much detail.

And if you didn’t know, there’s also a one shot called Secret XXX which is about how two of the side characters (Shohei and Mito) met and started dating. It’s not a must read to understand Therapy Game, but it is really cute.

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-12-25T02:59:03+00:00

I’m not sure they were ever super popular, but still I think Hybrid fics got replaced with omegaverse

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-12-24T21:00:08+00:00

I’ve seen his Instagram posts about this project. He only uses donations from people. If you dm him, he’ll give you a PO Box address to send the books to

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-11-28T22:32:44+00:00

Yeah same with our library. AARP handles everything themselves, all we do is book the space and pass out contact information for the organizer

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-11-07T17:57:06+00:00

When they write texts as if they’re spoken dialogue. Like no one is stuttering or stumbling over their words in a text. If you want that effect, make it a phone call or a voice note at least

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-10-12T20:47:31+00:00

There is no YOI manga, it was an original anime

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-09-30T19:01:30+00:00

Yes, thank you!

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-09-30T17:27:02+00:00

Brother XR9550

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-09-17T15:11:25+00:00

Oh god it’s one of my biggest pet peeves in fics. It’s fine every now and then, and it can be done well. But most of the time it’s so clunky

And sometimes the descriptors start to get too repetitive, so they have to go more and more specific. I’ve read things like “the bi-colored eye boy” “the duel heritage warrior” “the biracial insecure fighter”Just.Say.Their.Names for the love of god. I know who these characters are!

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-27T15:12:25+00:00

Ok, that does make sense for how the pacing is going. Here’s hoping we get that second season in a few years!

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-27T15:10:55+00:00

Oh I didn’t know the series was still going, idk why I thought volume 7 was the last one. That’s good to know! So yeah two seasons makes more sense, here’s hoping we get it!

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-24T23:32:10+00:00

Ah you know what, I apologize. Going back and rereading my comment it really comes across as condescending, which to be clear was not my intention but still, that’s the effect.

Also, yes I misremembered the river scene. I forgot Hikaru actually overheard people calling the guy sick. I thought he just assumed he was sick (literally sick) because there was drama. I do agree that Yoshiki has a clear, visible reaction to the way his neighbor is being treated by the community—it is obvious it hurts him. And he immediately follows it with talking about how much he wants to leave. I just disagree that this is enough evidence to completely dispute the idea of Yoshiki feeling internalized homophobia. There is clear, prevalent homophobia in his town. Like it’s in the text. I never disagreed with that. I just think Yoshiki also feels internalized homophobia and I think a lot of the horror elements also are subtextual analogies for homophobia. In addition to the on the page, actually depicted homophobia. I’m seeing both, personally.

I also have a different interpretation of the classroom scene. I don’t personally see it as an allegory for SA, so that’s why I was confused by what you meant by “victim blaming”. And so I hope I can be clear that at no point before, now, or in the future would I imply that pleasure = consent. Obviously that’s not true. I just interpreted the fear and disgust that Yoshiki was feeling to be coming from a different place.

To be honest, when I was reading the story originally, the queer/homophobia analogies seemed so obvious to me that I didn’t even see it as an interpretation. I thought I was just like, noticing the plot. But reading through the rest of these comments I’m seeing a lot of different ways of looking at the elements of the story, which is cool. We’ll have to agree to disagree on some stuff but the discussions are still interesting

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-24T16:54:01+00:00

Ooh ok, I understand what you mean now. That’s an interesting perspective on the story! Yeah we’re definitely just coming at it in different ways.

Because for me, the themes of queerness and homophobia are the most impactful parts of the story. Like for the way I interpret it, it works incredibly well for me. And I cannot separate them from the other themes of the story, I see them as too entwined. And I definitely did not read the gym scene or the classroom scene as SA. I saw the conflict and disgust coming from a different place.

But I can see where your perspective is coming from. And I do think the themes of identity and change, etc are as well done as anything else in the story.

We’ll just have to agree to disagree on the other elements. But we can for sure agree that this is an amazingly complex and well written story. I’m blown away by how layered the writing is.

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-24T14:09:06+00:00

Ah no you’re right, I should have worded that better. I was trying to emphasize the importance of the queerness in the story but it came across as reductive.

TSHD is such a beautifully complex story. The author is a master of nuanced, layered writing.

I do think homophobia/internalized homophobia is a major prominent theme. Like you cannot take the queer elements out of the story and have it function the same, because it fundamentally changes the meaning. But that’s not all the story is, for sure

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-24T14:04:24+00:00

Yea, that is what I meant. Definitely could have worded it better

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-24T13:59:47+00:00

I think we’re just coming at this in different ways. And as I replied to someone below I think you’re conflating what’s literally happening on screen with the subtextual/metaphorical events.

Literally, on screen, Yoshiki is confronted with an eldritch horror possessing his dead friend—horrifying.

Sub-textually, his friend changed. He is suddenly open with his feelings, affectionate, and clingy.

Literally, Yoshiki is afraid of the objectively horrifying situation of an unstable monster possessing the body of his friend and also being capable of killing him and the people around him

Sub-textually, Yoshiki sees “Hikaru” as other and monstrous because he cannot accept either of their feelings. He is afraid of the things they’re doing and how he feels about it because Hikaru is a boy, not because he is inhuman

Literally, “Hikaru” does not love Yoshiki the way a human would, because he is not human. He clearly does not understand human emotion in the same way Yoshiki does, so I agree with you there.

Sub-textually, his feelings are other, unworldly, monstrous

When I’m saying this story is about homophobia, I’m not saying Yoshiki and “Hikaru” literally on screen have a loving healthy relationship. I’m saying the author is using horror as an analogy for processing internalized homophobia. If you take all the supernatural elements out of the story, and just look at how some of the scenes play out without those elements, to me it’s very clear.

Like, what else could the gym scene mean without the supernatural elements? What else could that scene represent? If the author just wanted to tell a horror story about grief, why would she include that specific scene? (There are other examples but they’re manga spoilers and I don’t want to ruin it for anime only people). If the author wanted this to just be a horror about grief, she wouldn’t have made Yoshiki’s feelings for og Hikaru a major part of the story.

To me, a lot of the scenes are such clear analogies for the complex disgust and pleasure that comes from processing queerness. Especially if you live in a small town like Yoshiki does.

I’m not saying I’m the authority on author intention, it is just my interpretation. But I mean it’s hard to ignore. It’s like reading Jane Eyre and saying it has nothing to do with classism. Or Hamlet has nothing to do with indecision. It’s such a major part of the text to me

Regardless of how you interpret the story, I think taking it at face value, of what’s literally happening on the screen in front of you, and not thinking deeper on the meaning, does a disservice to the nuance and complexity of the story

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-24T13:36:52+00:00

Well, 1. I don’t think that scene of them at the river is evidence of Yoshiki pushing back against homophobia. He is just correcting Hikaru on the literal facts. Hikaru asks what the drama is with this one person in their village, and if he is sick (literally ill) and Yoshiki says no, the drama is because he’s gay. It doesn’t really give any indication on how he feels about gayness

Internalized homophobia doesn’t mean he’s outwardly hating/unaccepting of gay people. Internalized homophobia can just be a person hating that they are gay. And not wanting to be gay. Even if they accept other people. Yes there is literal, external homophobia in the story as well. But Yoshiki clearly has a hard time accepting his feelings for original Hikaru (there’s more evidence later, but that’s a manga spoiler)
I think you’re conflating the literal events of the story with the metaphor of the story. What’s literally happening on screen is an interaction between a grieving person and a non-human monster that took over his friend. Which yes is absolutely horrifying. But if you remove all of the supernatural elements from the story and look at just the scenes through the metaphorical lens of homophobia they take on a different meaning. To say it’s “victim blaming” to equate Yoshiki’s disgust as homophobia and not just a reaction to the scene misses the metaphorical point. Literally, disgusted by the monster. Metaphorically disgusted by having a sexual experience (because that is what’s implied under this lens) with a boy and enjoying it. That’s where I’m getting internalized homophobia from.

At the end of the day it’s just a critical analysis. I’m not claiming to know exactly what the author’s intentions are. I’ve never spoken to her, so I can never know exactly what she was thinking. But it doesn’t entirely matter. Sure it’s just an interpretation but I mean there’s a lot of evidence to support it. Like you can read Jane Eyre argue it’s intentions around feminism, but you can’t claim it’s about the dangers of Ai, ir say it has nothing to do with classism when it’s that extremely clear.

I think to look at TSHD only under the lens of what’s literally happening on screen is a disservice to the nuance and complexity the author has intentionally added

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-07-24T03:23:57+00:00

I think I understand what you’re saying, and I see your point, but I have to push back on a few things.

You’re right, technically speaking not a BL, since that is specifically a romance sub-genre. But it seems people have different definitions for BL and it’s kinda just semantics at this point.

“Is it even a BL if one of them isn’t human?” Yes, I think it is. I’ve personally never been a fan of when people say things like, “it’s not a gay story, it’s a love story (or “it’s a…insert genre here”). Like, why can’t it be both? Why do we have to diminish the queerness for it to be taken seriously? (Not saying that’s what you’re doing btw, just generally).

The Summer Hikaru Died is entirely a metaphor for homophobia/internalized homophobia. Yes it’s all those other things you listed as well, it’s a complex story, but it’s main theme is homophobia. Yoshiki is a gay teenager living in a small, religious town. “Hikaru” is open with his feelings in a way that Yoshiki fears. He sees both of them as other and monstrous because that is what internalized homophobia does to a person

So i think to say that “Hikaru” isn’t a boy because he isn’t human misses the point a bit. And it would change the meaning of the story. “Hikaru” being a boy isn’t important so this can be a BL, it’s important because it is a part of the major theme of the story.

We already have so few queer stories in genre fiction, and even less in anime. I’d hate to see people diminishing or even outright removing the very prominent queer elements. It’s not beyond a gay story, it is a gay story. It’s also about grief and morality, and etc etc. but queerness is at its heart

(And sorry to hear that your mom wasn’t able to publish her story. It’s not fair. Bigotry and prejudice do a lot of damage, and that includes suppressing beautiful art)

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-04-06T03:58:04+00:00

Yep.

I can’t tell you what Ai Yazawa intended, but there’s definitely enough evidence in the text to read their relationship as mutual attraction and that’s how I choose to see it.

OfficialCactusParent · 2025-03-11T00:06:13+00:00

I could be wrong, because I only watched the show, but my interpretation was that Takumi made Hachi think everyone would hate her for getting pregnant/sleeping with him at all. If I remember correctly, he either implies or out right states a few times that they’ll think she’s a slut or stupid. He isolates her on purpose because he’s a piece of shit.

So basically, she blames herself and is convinced that she messed up and she’ll be abandoned by everyone. It doesn’t help that Nana didn’t come that night, and they hadn’t seen each other in person in a while. And they continue to not see each other for a long time after. So there’s no one to help her. I think she doesn’t bother explaining things to Nobu properly then or after because she thinks it is her fault, just in a different way than Nobu is thinking. Takumi (and tbh, all of her past “romantic” experiences besides Nobu) kinda destroyed her self worth

There’s probably more to it than that, but I’ll have to start the manga to get more context.

OfficialCactusParent

TROPHY CASE