Binging Toilet Bound Hanako-kun | Manga Mondays

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!

This week I found myself neck deep in a brand new manga and anime, Toilet Bound Hanako-kun. Angela, my friend whom I've mentioned several times over, introduced it to me. Or begged me to read and watch it, more like. I'm definitely not complaining though, because this series has quickly become one of my favorite manga to date. I'm obsessed. 

There are currently 13 volumes out in English, and 68 full chapters published and translated. Since I religiously check on all of the typical manga websites, like VIZ (specifically for shonen) and Crunchyroll Manga, once I catch up on all the previous chapters I'm anxiously waiting for the next chapter to be published. TBHK is updated once a month, which is much slower than most shonen manga, which are typically updated once a week. But really, the wait is worth it. Because this manga is phenomenal. 

Toilet Bound Hanako-kun follows a first-year high school student, Nene Yashiro (first name, last name), who goes to a high school full of supernatural rumors and things that go bump in the night. Her adventure begins when she tries to invoke the spirit of Hanako, who haunts the third floor girls bathroom in her school. 

Hanako-san is actually a very popular urban legend in Japan, similar to Bloody Mary here in the US. Hanako-san is typically described as a young girl in a red skirt with a bobbed haircut. If you knock on the third stall, in the third-floor girls bathroom of a school, and ask "Hanako-san, Hanako-san, are you there?" she will reply "Yes, here I am" and then reach through the stall door to drag you into Hell, or wherever she desires. She's a ghost story that girls tell at sleepovers, and dare others to provoke to prove their bravery. 

Nene Yashiro hears a similar tale of Hanako-san, however in this one it is said that if the ghost replies to you, she will grant you a single wish, for a steep price. Nene, overcome with the desire to find love, seeks out Hanako-san. Imagine her surprise when she finds not a young girl in a red dress, but a teenage boy in an old school uniform!

Hanako reveals that he is one of the high school's seven supernatural wonders, bound to serve and protect the humans from evil spirits and vicious rumors. If rumors of a wonder change, the wonder changes with them, becoming the projected image that everyone thinks. This includes becoming more violent and horrifying, the more fear is projected onto them. Hanako enlists Nene to help him reign in the supernatural beings of the school, to keep them from attacking the human students to attend there. Nene and Hanako become deep friends, and learn many different secrets throughout the manga, both about each other and about themselves. 

I love ghost stories like Toilet Bound Hanako-kun. Like our protagonist Nene, I've always been a big believer in the occult. Which is exactly why Angela told me I needed to read/watch this series, because she knew I would love it. 

There is currently only one season of the anime out, with 12 episodes. The art style is fantastic, similar to classics like Soul Eater (another favorite of mine). The OP? Beautiful stunning fantastic never been seen before. And the voice actors, for both the sub and the dub, truly bring the characters to life. 

I'm partial to the dub, however, because Justin Briner voices Hanako-kun. Justin is also the VA for My Hero Academia's Izuku Midoriya, so basically every time Hanako-kun speaks I hear villain Deku. It's beautiful. 

Season 2 of the anime is scheduled to release in the spring of 2021. The manga is updated on the 18th of every month.