Yoshiki, the protagonist, is explicitly portrayed as a closeted gay teenager whose unrequited love for his best friend Hikaru forms the central emotional conflict, intertwined with the supernatural possession plot; the eldritch entity impersonating Hikaru even confesses love to him in homoerotic scenes, including invasive physical explorations. This queer bond is not incidental but foundational, as the creator Mokumokuren has stated it is unequivocally a 'queer story' regardless of genre labels, with village homophobia and conservative rural pressures amplifying identity struggles as key tensions.

Such elements intrude as a focal point, turning a potentially universal grief-and-horror tale into one revolving around same-sex desire and acceptance in a traditionally non-queer Japanese setting, diluting pure supernatural dread with romanticized identity exploration. No race or gender swaps occur, and casting remains standard Japanese voice actors without forced DEI, but the centrality of queer normalization and subtle homophobia critiques elevates the ideological intrusion, evident in widespread reception framing it as 'queer horror' or 'gay romance' rather than straightforward terror.