Konnichiwa Hivers, it's me, your ridgette again! For today, I'm going to share an anime about a famous school girl yokai, who was said to be the spirit of a young schoolgirl who met her end in an elementary school bathroom as a result of suicide due to bullying or WWII bombings. This spirit is now said to haunt girls' bathroom, but there's definitely a twist on who Hanako is in this anime.
Honestly, this anime isn't on my to-watch list because I already read the manga, and the plot there was too established, so when the adaptation came, I didn't bother to check it out. The manga of this anime is one of the first mangas I read as an otaku, so I'm definitely expecting the anime to portray the manga well. So here I am now, after six years of following the manga, I decided to try watching the adaptation. Together, let's see how the story of a mysterious toilet-bound yokai unfolds in the anime adaptation of Toilet-bound Hanako-kun.
About the Anime
Toilet-bound Hanako-kun (Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun) is a shounen anime that premiered in the winter of 2020. It aired from January 10, 2020, to March 27, 2020. It was animated by Lerche, and its genre is supernatural. The theme of this anime is school. It has 12 episodes, and it's an adaptation of manga written and illustrated by AidaIro, a combined name of the illustrator and writer duo. Aida is the illustrator while Iro is the writer.
Infested with the usual school mystery rumors, Kamome Academy has its own version of the famous Hanako-san legend. It is said that if one can summon Hanako-san, she will grant whatever wish the summoner would want—but of 'course with an exchange. In return, Hanako-san will take something precious from the summoner. Despite her apparent fear, the first-year student, Yashiro Nene, tried to summon the famous yokai. Fortunately, she was able to summon Hanako—only that it's not exactly the rumored Hanako-san because she discovered that the rumored 'girl' yokai is actually a boy!
Hopeless and desperate, Yashiro asks Hanako to help her in her love dilemma. Her wish was that she wanted a certain second-year student to return her feelings. Hearing out her wish, Hanako finally presents a solution that somehow grants her wish—only that the solution he gave her isn't magical at all. After trying out a series of advices from Hanako, she eventually got fed up with how badly those turned out to be. With her desperation reaching its climax, she makes a decision she can't undo. Stuck with her selfish decision, Yashiro now realizes the true weight of her feelings and how misdirected her efforts were.
Now turning into a fish, Nene finally accepts her new fate, but before she plunges further into the stark waters, Hanako saves her. After temporarily slaying the mermaid, Hanako decided to consume the other scale, thus granting Yashiro another chance to live as a human again. In exchange for that help, Hanako asked Yashiro to be his human assistant. With their fates bound by the mermaid scale, Yashiro finds herself entangled with the supernatural world. In that entanglement, she gradually realized and discovered things that weren't mentioned in the rumors, and part of them are the mysteries behind the yokai she serves. There's definitely a lot more about Hanako, and she intends to slowly unravel the mysteries behind the boy in the girls' bathroom.
I didn't expect it to end that way. I mean, I already knew what would happen next and further, but I thought it would end farther than that part. I'm not saying that it doesn't have a satisfying end; it's just maybe I'm expecting something else. A scene where blank is revealed to be blank or other more thrilling parts. Anyway, I'm glad that they did stay true to the source material. The mystery and comedy were still intact, and in fact, I think the anime did a better job of delivering the comedic parts because of the voice actors and actresses' superb voice portrayals. Their voices enhance the impact of the comedic scenes, and that became one of the reasons why I'm thankful that I watched the anime.
The story of this anime is really riddled with a lot of mysteries, to the point that even season one wasn't enough to give answers to those. Although there are inevitably dragging parts (for me), it usually doesn't last long. They were like breathing parts where you could relax for a little, and then you'd later proceed to the mysterious and thrilling parts. The background story of this version of Hanako was really intriguing, and if you're a sole anime viewer of it, I know you will be really hooked with its mystery. Further, I liked how they subtly put a lot of foreshadowing throughout season one. From the random color difference to dialogues you wouldn't guess would mean anything, season one was full of it—especially the ending song.
As for its visuals, I'm really thankful to the production that they retained Aida-sensei's color palette and art style. Her art style is definitely unique and cute. I loved how their cute art style contrasted with the supernatural genre it has. I don't know, but I find those low-key flirting scenes that Yashiro and Hanako have extremely romantic and cute. Honestly, I really find those cute interactions more affecting compared to the similar scenes that I've watched from the shoujo animes before.
Further, I loved how dedicated the production was to putting up small details in the visuals. Although the animation isn't that smooth, it was pretty decent. It somehow adapted the panel-like action scenes from the manga, but nevertheless, I enjoyed watching those scenes. The emotions of the characters, from the light to the heavy ones, were portrayed well. All in all, the visuals were enthralling, and again, I'm really grateful that the art style—although it isn't the exact copy of manga—somehow emulated the same cute vibes and aesthetic colors.
Overall, my personal rating for this anime is 8.9/10. It's really an entertaining anime with a really interesting plot. The visuals, music, and effects were all well utilized to effectively convey the emotions that they wanted the viewers to feel. This anime is basically a fitting prequel for a much longer sequel, which I will really look forward to in 2025. It is said that next year, its much-anticipated second season will air in January, but before that, the four-episode sequel to After-School Hanako-kun is slated to premiere on October 7 later this year. So if you're up for an anime with cute and eerie adventures, then Toilet-bound Hanako-kun is definitely a must-watch, so catch up now before season two starts!
Before I end this review, I gladly share with you its trailer, so—
That's all for now, Hivers. I hope you enjoyed reading my anime review. See you on my next blog!
Arigatou and tanoshinde ne minna-san~
The pictures that didn't have a source were screenshots from the anime's episode, while the last picture was edited in Canva.