Skip to main content

Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun (6)


(I gave it 6 points because it's pretty long and I'm up to date on it.)


This is my current fan favorite manga. My friend texted me and was like "It's really cute you should read it." And honestly, I usually don't just go read stuff like this. Then I was up to date within 3 days and couldn't stop thinking about it.

It's about a young girl named Nene Yashiro who tries to summon a ghost who lives in a bathroom stall so she can ask for help with her love-life. To give more context, they're in a school that is known for it's seven supernatural mysteries that are located in different places throughout it, so it's a well-known that you shouldn't do certain things in certain parts of the school. Anyways, she goes to the stall and knocks on it asking for "Hanako-san" which is a Japanese urban legend about a dead girl who haunts the bathrooms. The ghost who comes out ends up being a boy (hence Hanako-kun) around the same age as her and she ends up entangled in his ghostly shenanigans as his 'assistant'. Also Nene is half fish (there's a lot happening) because she eats a mermaid scale and is cursed by it and also is bound to Hanako after that. Technically he also is helping her with love-life because they're.... starting to fall in love? It's very slow and subtle and could technically be friendship but they're a lot friendlier with each other than most people are. Hanako (who's shorter than Nene, mind you) starts to become very protective over her and it's... very sweet. I have never felt so happy to see a relationship in manga like I have for these characters before. It's handled very realistically (for as much fantasy/supernatural elements that there are involved) and there's a BIG plotline about how Nene is actually going to die relatively soon and that's how Hanako could actually interact with her to begin with which is very sad and influences a lot of the themes in the later chapters. So now they go off on adventures with their exorcist friend, Kou and try to uncover all of the seven mysteries of the school.

Overall, the story is about finding friendship in places you never thought you would, and getting to know the people around you. There are other characters who end up trying to disprove prejudices others have about the supernatural beings they meet. Originally, Kou tries to exorcise Hanako and is shown by Nene to be a good person in the end. Kou refuses to exorcise after he realizes this and even goes as far as to convince his older brother (who is also an exorcist) to not kill Hanako. Kou also has his own experience with a friend who passes away and ends up as a ghost roaming the school and tries to help him pass on. 

It does a great job of having a good amount of characters that all have their own parts to play without confusing the audience since each mystery goes by in their own chapters. It also really makes me care about these characters, deeply, while hating others vehemently. Hanako has a twin brother who... he murdered. Which you can tell is why he doesn't want to be close to people in the beginning because he feels like there's nothing that can rectify him murdering his own twin brother, and yet Nene forgives him. And I do too? His brother is psychotic and it's hinted that he abused Hanako to the point he ended up killing himself and his brother. Makes me question my morals actually, but who knows..

Also the art is absolutely beautiful! Especially the colored art. I'm very picky about art style and this is a great one.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Killing Joke (2)

  1. What is your reaction to the text you just read? Eh, it was kind of underwhelming. I'm already not a huge superhero fan, but I do think Batman is probably one of the comics I could probably get into the easiest because I think his dynamic with the Joker is interesting. Since it's an origin story of the Joker, I was really hoping it would clear up a lot more than it did. In fact, I think it didn't really clear anything up at all. It left me with more questions than answers. Why are you going to portray this in a way that relies heavily on mental instability and not approach it realistically? I don't mean this as in I was offended by it or anything, either. I purely mean it in a way that even from a superhero perspective, it was trying too hard to be meaningful and fell flat. It just didn't make sense. His wife dies, they literally do not bring her up ever again, the Joker barely shows emotion towards it, and then he falls into a radio active puddle?? And that...
Post a Comment
Read more

Point Total (93)

FINAL total - 93 points Midterm total   __________________________     - 40 points My Friend Dahmer                                                    - 5 points     Class                                                                     - 1 point     Angel's Hill                                                          - 5 points     Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun                                  - 6 points ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Persepolis (6? Points)

  This story was extremely insightful. It’s best to read as an American since we are so ill-informed of other countries, especially Middle Eastern destinations. It was fascinating to learn about Persian culture and how it evolved just throughout Marjane’s life alone. By the end of the war, I was still a little confused how some women could be all dolled up with their hair visible and makeup on, but majorly had to stick to the regime other times. I think when Marjane met them they were hanging out in private, but I’m unsure. Either way, learning about the mental toll it took on our protagonist to have to mold yourself to fit in with different cultures at just 14 is unimaginable. I wasn’t surprised to see her indulge herself in drugs and get caught in depression later, it was such a hard thing for her to have to go through. Additionally, there’s A TON of political talk that I wasn’t fully understanding but got the gist for the most part. And yes, there’s also a lot I did not agree wi...
Post a Comment
Read more