×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (TV + spinoff).




Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Thu Jan 09, 2020 11:13 am Reply with quote


Season 01: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (TV)
Spinoff: After-School Hanako-kun (TV)

Source: Manga (ongoing @ 20 volumes, by Aidairo)

Demographic: Shounen

Animation Studio: Lerche

Genres: adventure, comedy, horror, romance, supernatural

Themes: ghosts, mythology, parody, school, youkai

Plot Summary: If you go to the third stall of the third-floor girls' bathroom in the old school building and knock three times, Hanako-san will appear and grant your wish – for a price. Except when lovelorn high school first-year Nene Yashiro tries, a boy appears from the stall, Hanako-kun.

He's willing to grant her wish, but he warns her that the more supernatural the solution, the more bitter the price and that maybe her wish, for the most popular second-year boy in the school to like her, isn't really what she's looking for. Yashiro is stubbornly insistent that it is, however, and she agrees to use Hanako-kun's down-to-earth solutions out of a self-help book.

When none of those work, though, she seizes on a mermaid scale curse, despite Hanako's warnings, not only cursing herself, but also binding her to Hanako-kun for this life and beyond.

Air Date & Platform:
Season 01: January 9, 2020 (Thursday)
Available on: Crunchyroll, FUNimation

Spinoff: October 12, 2023 (Thursday)
Available on: Crunchyroll

Episode Count / Runtime:
Season 01: 12 episodes
Spinoff: Pending

Total: 12 episodes
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Visit poster's website My Anime My Manga
DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2020 11:21 pm Reply with quote
Episode 12 (finale)

Not talked much about here, but I think that this was one of the popular shows of the season, but I have not really been much of a fan of it myself, thus why I have been quiet. I think one of the noticeable elements that got some positive attention was its style, which I am not very good with all terminology but I think is the kind that would appeal to teenage girls. In general I think could be the kind of thing that could attract female audience or appeal to people drawn in by the striking style, and why I was actually putting it rather high on my list of shows to watch on the days it comes out.

But as I went along watching I kind of felt like I was recognizing that it was a bit more of style over substance than I would have liked. I just did not find that the appeal of the style was worth everything else, feeling a little bit hollow in a sort of fanservice way that just did not appeal to me. You have all these "appealing" and "mysterious characters, such as the titular Hanako, but to me it just felt a bit more like he was mean and maybe even a bit abusive. Take the last episode as an example, where Nene is really thinking about her situation, with Hanako deciding to prank her by messing with her hair in class. And at the very end rather than her make the final decision and say what she wants, Hanako comes in to save the damsel in distress and claims ownership of her. Clearly being a fish is something really would not want, but really feels like it reduces her agency when she is treated as a plaything and property of her undead love interest. This was followed by him admitting to have apparently killed his brother, of which we are clearly meant to think how mysterious and pained he is.

I won't say every piece of the style does not work for me. I did like that episode where they had to find the "body parts" of the girl, and they clearly got silly in not making any of the parts match by having things like a broom for an arm. But I think that often the charm was just not for me, something like Noragami would be a show from this genre that I enjoyed more. Also, there feels like there are a bunch of mysteries that feel more inorganic and made mysteries for the heck of it, like the two Hanakos thing, which I will suppose the other was his younger brother based on his statement at the end. But really also felt like a way that they could make him act as more of an a-hole beyond what they could pass as good fun, while also meaning to be somewhat charming.

My rating for the show would be Decent (6/10), not really a waste of time, but I felt my interest waning as it went on.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1768
PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 4:00 am Reply with quote
So, I was going to post here to talk about the spin-off/mini series that has just started, but man am I surprised to see this topic be so empty. I know the series can be hit or miss though. Anyway, the first episode of the mini series is fun and gives some fun bits of content plus the return of the unique look/style.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Wed Oct 11, 2023 8:12 am Reply with quote
I really dug the first season, although clearly I didn't have much to say about it. I liked the visuals a lot. Given how crowded the season is, I'm glad these are just short episodes.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1768
PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2023 3:04 am Reply with quote
Yeah, it is nice to see a show with shorter episodes when the season is this packed, though it feels like we hardly get any these days. Is it just me, or were there lots more anime with shorter episodes in the past?

Also a fun episode this week (poor Lemon), the vibrant visuals and the mokke make me remember the original show fondly, maybe it is time to rewatch that one.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Wed Oct 18, 2023 6:35 am Reply with quote
No, it's not just your imagination... there definitely seem to be fewer "short" anime these days.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1768
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 10:00 am Reply with quote
The spin-off sure is a welcome gift not only to get re-introduced to the characters and vibrant visuals, but also to have plenty of more Mokke moments. This week was for a large part all about those evil(?) bunnies. I do wonder what we will get after the last episode next week though.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 10:23 am Reply with quote
Is this only supposed to be 4 episodes? That would be weird.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1768
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 10:48 am Reply with quote
All the sources I have seen thus far say 4 10 minute episodes, checking the wiki that means it will animate 8 out of 16 manga chapters. I would love to be wrong though.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Wed Oct 25, 2023 11:24 am Reply with quote
Well, MAL agrees with you and they tend to be pretty accurate with these things.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1768
PostPosted: Tue Oct 31, 2023 2:12 pm Reply with quote
And that was the 4th and final episode. More Mokke action this time (I never get tired of those guys) and the second half was a perfect fit for Halloween. The 4 episodes were amusing bit sized episodes to get used to the zany world of the series again. There was no announcement after the last episode though, so it seems like that was all for now.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
smurky turkey



Joined: 30 Jan 2022
Posts: 1768
PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 11:23 am Reply with quote
Well scratch that, a second season of the main series and the spin-off series were just announced.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Blood-
Bargain Hunter



Joined: 07 Mar 2009
Posts: 23667
PostPosted: Thu Nov 09, 2023 11:49 am Reply with quote
Sweet!

Still, it would suck to be a ghost and be bound to a toilet. Not a glamorous gig, for sure. And poor sweet Nene is probably in for some more supernatural abuse.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> General -> Series Discussion All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Page 1 of 1

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group