Reviews for Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun, the 2nd Wonder — Hanako-kun, Hanako-kun, will you grant my wish for a faithful adaptation once more? It's been 5 long years since we last saw mangaka IroAida's Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun a.k.a Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun on the small screen, though we can all collectively agree that it's more on the love-hate side by showing something that is actually quite unique, which is what makes it loveable, but hating it because the pacing went so awfully whack out of order against the source material at the time. And yet, with the MAL numbers being evident, there's no question about it that the series quickly fell off. Sadly,with the sequel being the continuation of said series, that director Yohei Fukui (taking over from Masaomi Ando) and his staff team at Lerche (or Studio Hibari rather, as the parent company) are putting their heads forward to continue the adaptation of the manga and heed no advice by just reshuffling things back to whence they came to restore the pacing for Season 2, does this redeem the overall look of the series? I'd say that the sequel here fixes much of the problems in the prequel, and it has restored confidence that Hanako-kun CAN actually have a decent adaptation.

With Season 2 revisiting Volumes 5 and 6 (where Season 1 skipped to Volume 7 with the Hell of Mirrors arc) then proceeding to Volumes 8 to 11 in coherent pacing for the season's major arc, I'd say: welcome back, Hanako-kun and the gang, it's been a while since you peeps were last seen. Nene Yashiro is still the lovable daikon girl, as is Hanako-kun being the cheeky Wonder No. 7 apparition and Kou just being the complaining dork of justice. New to Season 2 are the newfound school Wonders of Wonder No. 1 of The Three Clock Keepers, which have the power to manipulate time, and Wonder No. 4 of Shijima-san of the Art Room, where reality and fiction blend into one dream-like trance that it becomes the fight of the one entity to save each other amidst the rouse of coercing people into the dream and living out their deepest wishes without the possibility to get out.

Most particularly, I don't know about you, but concerning the story that is Wonder No. 4 of Mei Shijima, the Picture Perfect major arc that covers Volumes 8 to 11 of the manga (that covers the 2nd half of Season 2), I feel that it can be hard to get your head around the dreams and ambitions of the same person creating an alter ego persona depicting an alternate reality if she was alive and well and could live out her deepest desires, only for the real person to falter on life's struggles, which made up an already bad situation even worse. If you do understand, then all power to you. Just the facts to clarify for seemingly the majority who don't quite understand what's going on in the back-and-forth scenarios.

Otherwise, it's the same Hanako-kun that we know and love, with Lerche giving it the adaptation it deserves, maintaining the same consistency as it had back in Winter 2020. And still to this day, Masayoshi Oishi knows what he is cooking with yet another OP song for the sequel, though Season 1's OP will forever be the superior song. The same goes with Akari Kito's ED coming back yet again for another rondo, and I don't know which I like best, but both songs have their own merits and for the same reason that they're good to begin with.

If anything, Season 2 is the redemption that Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun a.k.a Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun needs but severely lacks the numbers that bring the assumption that mostly everyone largely forgot about it. At this point, I just hope that everyone can give the series a second chance to redeem itself after the back-and-forth fiasco that was Season 1 (which some people still remember to this day).

After all, if there's a wish you want to receive, seek Hanako-kun, and he will give it to you.

As a long time fan of Toilet Bound Hanako-kun, hearing we were getting a season 2 after 5 years made me ecstatic, and Lerche delivered with this season ten fold!! All the minor issues and problems that the first season had were fixed and were greatly improved on for this season. Also am a little biased for this season as it adapted my favorite part of the manga and they did it so wellalso improved on a lot as it looks much closer to the manga now than it did before. Lerche somehow found a way to make this season amazing and it deserved it too.

For what this season was adapting, they followed the manga very closely this season. They also didn't reorder anything and just stuck the source and it shows as I feel they really put their all into this season. The picture perfect arc was a fan favorite in the manga and they managed to completely keep it as perfect as it was in the manga and i'm so glad it turned out great.

Super super excited we got a cour 2 announcement for this season as what's coming is my absolute favorite!! Even if we didn't get more after this I was super satisfied with how they handled this season and am so glad <3

I thought I liked Hanako-kun coming into this season, but this totally blew me away. Distance makes the heart grow fonder as they say and 5 years between instalments of this series made me appreciate it even. Combine that with what’s clearly the two best arcs in the franchise thus far and it’s no surprise why Hanako-Kun season 2 gets such a high rating from me. The characters, the unique art style, the mysteries, twists and ships.. there’s just nothing else like this show and I’m so glad they came back with this banger. Season 2 picked up right where season 1 left off which atfirst I thought was sort of detrimental as it has been a long time since this show aired, but after an episode or two I was right back into it. The mysteries at school this time around were so good, the author really knows how to play with your expectations and even if things happen how you thought they would, there’s always some sort of misdirect or just something keeping you on your toes. I really enjoy the unpredictability of the story.

The first 8 episodes are great, but the final arc of this cour is easily the best story we’ve had in this show yet. It feels like everything is starting to heat up and we’re getting heavier stakes because of Nene’s race against time situation. Hanako’s villain arc was very fun and we’re getting deeper into the mystical aspects of the franchise. I cannot wait to see what lies ahead.

If you go online, most of the dialogue you’ll see from the fandom is about shipping and to be honest, that’s a big part of why I like Hanako-kun too. We do have a lot of cute ships in this series and in this season it feels like everything got turned up to 100. There were so many cute moments with Hanako and Nene, Kou and Mitsuba, etc., the main ships are all really taking shape and I loved all the development they got in this season!

Hanako-Kun has a very unique charm thanks to the art style, animation and character interactions and this season is just as good as the first in that department. There’s not a ton of fights, but when they come, they always look so good. The direction in the last 4-5 episodes with the Shijima arc is the best the show’s looked in my opinion. It’s such an aesthetically pleasing series

It’s really a shame the hype for this series died out because of the time between seasons, but this was great and it’s only projected to get better from here. If you like supernatural mystery series, this is a no brainer. TBHK is one of the best around!

Hanako-Kun season 2 part 1 gets 9 out of 10.

This was one of my favorites of its cour. It was great to finally get a season 2 to one of my favorite anime. The characters were just as fun and compelling as I remembered. I enjoyed the shorter stories and also the multi-episode stories. The reveal in this season is also extremely intriguing to me and I can't wait to see how that bears on subsequent seasons. That said, there were some moments that weren't for me, but that's typical for the franchise as a whole, which is why it's 9 and not a 10 from me. I'm super looking forward to part 2of season 2 in the next few months.

If you enjoyed season one then I'm sure you'll enjoy this too. If you were iffy on season one, then I would still encourage you to try this part since it does take things in a slightly different direction and fleshes out the situation more.

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun 2 Is a very strong second season to the extremely popular Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun is easily the anime of the season if you ask me (If you count continuing anime) Because starting off the plot is extremely good this time round, (Same as the first season) With it all spanning a singular arc. I am not going to spoil anything but beware the entire season spans a singular arc. The entire Arc itself is extremely well written, No plot holes or nothing if you ask me, And it makes you feel like you are uncovering the "Mystery" With Yashiro Minamotoand Hanako-Kun. Its all extremely interesting and something very easy to get interested in if you ask me.

The Characters are still just as likeable as they were in the second season, Yashiro Still is insecure about her "Big ankles" and Hanako-Kun is still a pervert. Honestly it really does add to there charm if you really think about it, They are just all such cool characters and they all are extremely easy to like and they feel realistic at the same time, They feel really human. The art style still looks extremely nice and unique, It certainly is it's own thing and is incredibly different compared to the usually "Anime" art style that most anime use, Instead having a more cartoony vibe that really does add to this show as a whole's charm.

The OST is better than the first season if you ask me because the OP is certainly alot more catchy and upbeat compared to Season one and the Outro is very mellow. Still nothing to add to your playlist though, Not forgettable but not like amazing either. This anime as a whole is amazing and is just one stop off of perfection, Hopefully we can reach perfection with the extension of season 2 coming out in July 2025.

Overall Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun 2 is a very good second season and is a worthy follow up even if it does just only span one arc throughout. Amazing season 9/10

This season is arguably better than season 1. Everything that I said was good in season 1 is still the case here. I love the characters and their dynamics with each other. I absolutely adore Hanako and Nene and ship them hard, although once again I'm not sure how that will work since Hanako is a ghost, and the humor is pretty great too. And this season goes much more in depth with Hanako's character. The first few episodes shows Nene going back in time to when Hanako was still alive and she befriends him in a time when hewas pretty different to how he is in the present day, but also showing remarkable similarities too. And basically the entire second half of the season has Nene and Kou traveling to an alternate universe where Hanako wasn't dead, but was instead one of their classmates. Although not in Hanako's past, in their timeline. This is the best part as it does a lot to draw Hanako and Nene closer together. Hanako is wounded which causes him to not like to talk about himself. He also believes that there's no way for spirits and humans to be friends or understand each other. It's also mentioned that it's pretty common for ghosts to be "defeatist" and give up easily when it comes to achieving what they want. The whole theme of this season seems to be overcoming defeatism, the "it is what it is" mentality, which makes it much more engaging than the first season in my opinion.

The second season solves the biggest problem of the first season: the pacing. The pacing was just right this time. Also, this time Nene and Kou had more impactful roles. Nene pretending to be asleep while Hanako and Kou were talking was clever. Kou got stronger; also, we saw more sides to his brother. Hanako is, as usual, fabulous. It's just I don't ship him with Nene. I love both as characters. Since they met, Hanako has been crossing her boundaries. Both emotional and physical. I ship Nene with Kou. Kou always supports her and never crosses her boundaries. Hanako locked Nene inside a fictionalworld so that she will live longer. It might seem sweet at first, but he didn't talk with her if she wanted something like that. He just decided on his own even though this is completely about Nene and she should have the final say in things like this. I like flawed and complicated characters. I'm just saying my reasons for not shipping them. The star of this season for me is Mei. She is a wonderful addition to the cast. I loved her character and how her friendship with Nene developed. I just got bored while watching the first episode since it was a recap; the rest is magnificent.

I watched this intermittently while it was airing so I usually waited for 2 episodes to release then watched them at the same time. I think this season was really well done. Note: I have not read the manga as I started watching Hanako-kun on a whim. I was drawn in by the art style and the character interactions in promotionals. One quick ***spoiler warning*** before we get on with my deeper thoughts about the series. Something I think this series does well is tying together slice of life elements with the supernatural ones. This season in particular opens up more about Hanako’s past, andhis time as Amane. His trauma and actions shape his character in such an interesting way. He’s shown to be selfish this season, but not out of malice, it’s instead out of fear. The bond he shares with Nene has grown a lot since the two first met, and his positive opinion of her has translated over into Hanako treating life as if it’s precious as well. So when faced with the fact that Nene is scheduled to die, he’s willing to take on the guise of being the villain so she can live on in some kind of manner.

But his actions are very believable given everything we’ve learned about his past, and his character. And of course, because of the relationship he and Nene have, it wins him over. And his selfishness goes from manifesting as acting against Nene's wishes, to granting them. I really liked that detail.

In my honest opinion though, the real star of the season is Shijima. I like that she and Nene have parallel character conflicts (premature deaths while still young). It’s interesting to see that Shijima initially is harsh on Nene and reminds her that she’s going to die, but once she confronts the part of her past that made her into the Shijima we see (cold, calculated, devoid of empathy), she ends up being the perfect person to support Nene through her troubles. She understands what it’s like to die young, after all.

I don’t have many complaints about the season overall. I think some people were pretty critical of season 1, but I’ve really enjoyed both. I think I have one nitpick that won’t be very popular with fans though. I think Mitsuba’s character is kind of underdeveloped, and at times, seems to be a tad inconsistent. This isn’t really surprising since this series really cases in on emotional moments and angst, and Mitsuba’s corruption and draft into being a school wonder did shift a lot of his personality. But there’s a theme in this series of granting wishes for those you care about, and as close as Kou and Mitsuba are, it’s strange to see Mitsuba spending more time with the broadcast club and Tsukasa even when Kou is the one who has promised to grant Mitsuba's wish. So if he goes back to that after developing a lot with Kou in Shijima’s realm, I do think it’ll feel like character regression.

I also do appreciate that the story is progressing in a way where it has slightly longer arcs, but I think those arcs should include some more information on important characters and their pasts. There is a lot more to Tsuchigomori’s character than we currently know, and it is getting a bit old to be teased with important information from Hanako and Tsuchigomori’s past only to learn very little. Hopefully we get a deep dive about the past, and what really happened when Amane died.

I want to throw in some quick appreciation for Aoi and Akane. Their relationship is quite complex, but I think it adds some nice humor and lighthearted moments among the rest of the events that take place.

Overall if you want to watch something emotional with an absolutely gorgeous art style, this show will probably agree with you.

Final opinion: Recommended

Animation: 8/10

Story: 7/10

Characters: 9/10

OST: 7/10

Art direction/creative liberty: 8/10

Overall rating: 8

Notable characters: The toilet trio (Hanako, Kou, and Nene), Shijima, and Tsuchigomori