Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun
Cover of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun volume 1 by Square Enix
地縛少年花子くん (Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun)
Manga
Written by	Iro Aida
Published by	Square Enix
English publisher	NA: Yen Press
Magazine	Monthly G Fantasy
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	2014 – present
Volumes	12
Anime television series
Directed by	Masaomi Andō
Written by	Yasuhiro Nakanishi
Music by	Hiroshi Takaki
Studio	Lerche
Licensed by	Funimation
Original network	TBS, SUN, CBC, BS-TBS
English network	SEA: Animax Asia
Original run	January 9, 2020 – present
Episodes	12

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (地縛少年花子くん, Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun) is a Japanese manga series by Iro Aida. It has been serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Monthly G Fantasy since 2014. It has been collected in twelve tankōbon volumes. The manga is licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation by Lerche premiered on January 9, 2020.

Plot

Kamome Academy is known for its famous Seven Mysteries and supernatural occurrences, popularised by student rumours. Nene Yashiro, a first-year occult-loving student who yearns for a boyfriend, decides to summon the seventh mystery "Hanako-san of the Toilet", a girl who died in the bathroom a long time ago and can grant wishes for the right price. However, upon summoning the ghost, Hanako-san is revealed to be a boy. With a turn of events, Nene becomes his assistant and the story follows their adventures in maintaining the balance between the spirit world and the human world, as well as her discovery of the many secrets revolving around Hanako.

Characters

Protagonists

Nene Yashiro (八尋 寧々, Yashiro Nene)

Voiced by: Akari Kitō (Japanese); Tia Ballard (English)

The main protagonist of the story. Nene is a 15-year-old high school student at Kamome Academy known for being a hopeless romantic, which resulted in her summoning Hanako from the school's seventh mystery in order to get a crush to like her back. A desperate measure on her part led her to become bound to Hanako as his assistant, inflicted with a mermaid's curse causing her to develop scales and at worst turn into a fish upon contact with water. Along with her romantic tendencies, Yashiro possesses a kind and trusting personality. Her best friend is Aoi Akane and a running gag in the series are how her ankles are much larger than a normal person's, getting called radishes/daikons and swollen.

Hanako-kun (花子くん)

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata (Japanese); Justin Briner (English)

The title character of the story. Known as the seventh mystery of Kamome Academy, tasked with the duty of maintaining the balance between the spirit and human world. His rumor "Hanako-san of the Toilet" states that he grants wishes to those who summon him provided they pay a suitable price, prompting Yashiro to approach him. As the leader of the Seven Mysteries, he possesses incredible power and fights with a knife. When Yashiro inflicted the curse of the mermaid on herself that caused her to turn into a fish, he ingested the other half of the curse in the form of a scale to help lessen its effects and allow her to only transform upon contact with water, in return for her being his assistant. He is often seen as cheerful, childish, and extremely mischievous, but these frequently serve to mask his emotions. He cares deeply about Yashiro.

Not much has been revealed about his past. Hanako was once a student at Kamome Academy under the name Amane Yugi (柚木 普, Yugi Amane) who was bullied badly during his childhood. As a student, he harbored a love for astronomy and was destined to become an astronomy teacher, until he killed his younger twin brother Tsukasa.

Kou Minamoto (源 光, Minamoto Kō)

Voiced by: Shōya Chiba (Japanese); Tyson Rinehart (English)

Kou is part of the middle school division at Kamome Academy and the second son of a family of exorcists. He initially came to this school to exorcise Hanako, but soon becomes friends with him and Yashiro. Kou possesses a brave, caring and direct personality, preferring to jump into things headfirst, and has the ability to see supernaturals naturally. He tends to get into some trouble due to being rather gullible and inexperienced, but he makes up for it in effort and determination. A running gag in the series is how he wears a good luck charm as an earring on his right ear, which Mitsuba mocks as a "lame traffic safety earring".

Sōsuke Mitsuba (三葉 惣助, Mitsuba Sōsuke)

Mitsuba was Kou's middle school classmate a few years ago who died soon after. With a pretty face and a somewhat narcissistic attitude, Mitsuba has a love for photography, only taking photos of things he liked or things that were important to him. He is also seen having self-confidence issues that he covers up with a cocky bravado. Before death he was a quiet kid attempting to be agreeable, only to realize in death that he made himself forgettable. After his death, he became a ghost haunting Kamome Academy's school lockers until Kou caught him in the act and decided to help him pass on. Mitsuba's regret was that he was not able to make good friends and stay with them forever, drawing out Tsukasa who broadcast an altered rumor of him, turning him into a monster due to his vague initial wish and forcing Kou to defeat him.

Later, Mitsuba is revived by Tsukasa after he preserves a part of his soul. The newly formed Mitsuba is persuaded to eat Mystery No. 3 in order to gain more power and he henceforth becomes the new Mystery and master of the Hell of Mirrors. Despite not being the original, Mitsuba still carries the same personality and dreams of the old one, with his new wish to transform from a ghost to a human to enjoy life with his friends. His wish is deemed impossible though, as there is no going back from being dead, as both Hanako and Teru Minamoto say.

Seven Mysteries

The Seven Mysteries of Kamome Academy are the seven most famous supernatural rumours in the school, and also those that maintain the students' safety from murderous supernaturals. Leading them is Hanako, who is the Seventh and also most famous mystery. Each one of them has a "boundary" in a part of the school where their power is the strongest, and a "yorishiro" that is typically an item embodying the source of their power. Such boundaries are often also gateways to the Far Shore where other apparitions reside. As when a school mystery's yorishiro is destroyed a mystery's seat and power is also removed, it is mostly kept in the deepest region of the boundary or safeguarded by the mystery.

The Three Clock Keepers (三人の時計守, Sannin no Tokeimori)

Voiced by: Shunichi Toki

Known as Mystery No.1, the Three Clock Keepers are a series of clock keepers guarding the clock tower of Kamome Academy, each with the powers to rewind time, stop time or hasten time. One of Yashiro's classmates, Akane Aoi (蒼井 茜, Aoi Akane), is a Clock Keeper by contract who can stop time for five minutes at a time, as well as the student council vice-president. He harbors a one-sided crush on Aoi.

The Misaki Stairs (ミサキ階段, Misaki Kaidan)

Voiced by: Yukana (Japanese); Alexis Tipton (English)

Known as Mystery No. 2, The Misaki Stairs is a staircase in the corner of the school building with the fourth step rumored to being a gateway to the spirit world. Those that then enter the spirit world are shredded to death by "Misaki" and have their blood splattered on the staircase the following day. The portion of the spirit world the Misaki Stairs are a door to is guarded by Yako (ヤコ), a fox spirit that can manifest as a beautiful woman. She once met a schoolteacher named Misaki in Kamome Academy and subsequently fell in love with his kindness, deciding to remember him even after his death. However, as rumors of her staircase changed, she was forced to shred those who entered her boundary in the desire to rebuild Misaki. Yashiro and Hanako managed to revert her back to normal after relinquishing her control over the Misaki Stairs.

The Hell of Mirrors (カガミジゴク, Kagami Jigoku)

Known as Mystery No. 3, the Hell of Mirrors is a boundary controlled by a bird-like supernatural that reveals a person's inner fears and insecurities. He is subsequently killed by Tsukasa and ingested by Mitsuba, who then becomes the next owner of the Hell of Mirrors.

Shijima Mei (シジマメイ)

Known as Mystery No. 4 "Shijima-san of the Art Room", she used to be an arts student at Kamome Academy rumored to have committed suicide when her parents didn't approve of her career choice. Shijima can create fictional dimensions separated from reality through her art, which Hanako decides to use to allow Yashiro to continue living past her lifespan. In actuality, Shijima's rumors about her life were incorrect, as she had died from illness instead of committing suicide. During her stay in the hospital, the cheerful and optimistic Shijima decided to draw a picture in line with an arts' showcase theme "Tower", imagining a fictional world inside her sketchbook where another, alternate her lived healthily, creating the present Shijima who is a pure supernatural who vowed to protect her. When she eventually died and her drawing was showcased, this spawned the present-day rumors and made the supernatural Shijima a school mystery.

The 4pm Bookstacks (十六時の書庫, Jūroku-ji no Shoko)

Voiced by: Kenjiro Tsuda

Known as Mystery No. 5, the 4pm Bookstacks is a mysterious room filled with books about every student's past, present and future, whose door is only accessible at 4pm. The books can come in white, black and red colors, where white record about the living, black record the death, and red refers to forbidden books or chapters, typically about the future. The curator and creator of the Bookstacks is actually Tsuchigomori (土籠), a spider-like supernatural who also has a double persona as a homeroom teacher in Kamome Academy. He was also Hanako's homeroom teacher when the former was a little boy and knows a lot about him.

Kamome Academy Supernaturals

Apart from the Seven Mysteries, there are other, less powerful supernaturals that roam the school. They rely on student rumours to gain power, unlike the Mysteries which already have theirs so popular and widespread among the student body.

Mokke (もっけ)

Voiced by: Yuri Yoshida

Known as "the Faeries", the Mokke are in actual fact, sweets-loving rabbit-like supernaturals and a monster with a slight case of kleptomania, enjoying committing small, random acts of theft. Due to their timidness and weak appearance, the Mokke tend to merge together to create horrifying creatures to fight off enemies, which scares the student population.

Kodama

Known as "the Confession Tree", it is actually a spirit in the form of a tree determined to spread love among the students, but can be too meddlesome and forceful with its methods. After it is defeated by Hanako, it turns to the size of a broccoli, having been weakened greatly.

Antagonists

Tsukasa Yugi (柚木 つかさ, Yugi Tsukasa)

Hanako's younger identical twin brother. When they were still alive, the twins were supposedly very close until he was killed by Hanako. Like his brother, he possesses a cheerful and mischievous personality, but at the same time a disturbingly brutal side. The two of them have opposing beliefs in that while Hanako stresses the importance of maintaining proper relationships between the humans and supernaturals, Tsukasa believes that the two entities should just behave how they want, even if it means wrecking tremendous havoc. He has also chosen to grant the wishes of supernaturals, just like how his brother grants the wishes of humans who summon him. He wears a black short-sleeved kimono with a grey hakama and a white button up underneath. He has his seal on his right cheek, opposite to Hanako.

Sakura Nanamine (七峰 桜, Nanamine Sakura)

Voiced by: Chika Anzai (Japanese); Kara Edwards (English)

A beautiful 3rd year student at Kamome Academy and forced to be Tsukasa's assistant. Acting as the president of the school's broadcasting club, she helps him broadcast the altered rumors of supernaturals to bend them to his will. She became Tsukasa's helper through asking for her wish to be granted, similar to Nene with Hanako. She decided to start treating the younger Yugi brother as though he were a cat rather than human, making his actions more palatable.

Natsuhiko Hyūga (日向 夏彦, Hyūga Natsuhiko)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima (Japanese); Aaron Dismuke (English)

A 2nd year student at Kamome Academy and a member of the broadcasting club. He is often seen trying to win Sakura's affection and helps in Tsukasa's schemes. His flippant personality tends to lead him into trouble all on its own.

Others

Teru Minamoto (源 輝, Minamoto Teru)

Voiced by: Yuma Uchida (Japanese); David Matranga (English)

The most popular male student in school, Kou's older brother and also the student council president. Like Kou, he is an exorcist, but since young he has been hailed as a genius. Despite his handsome, calm and gentle appearance, he is frighteningly perceptive and ruthless, and harbors a sadistic streak, frequently terrorizing the Mokke to work as his servants. He dotes on his younger siblings.

Aoi Akane (赤根 葵, Akane Aoi)

Voiced by: Minako Sato (Japanese); Emily Neves (English)

Aoi is Yashiro's classmate and best friend, and the school's prettiest and most popular girl. She enjoys listening to rumors about the Seven Mysteries and recounting their stories to Yashiro. Yashiro notes that for some reason, all the stories Aoi has ever told her seem to come true. This is hinted to be related to her origins as someone who possesses the blood of Kannagi.

Lemon Yamabuki (山吹 檸檬, Yamabuki Remon)

Voiced by: Genki Okawa (Japanese); Aaron Campbell (English)

A 1st year student at Kamome Academy and Akane's best friend.

Media

Manga

No.	Original release date	Original ISBN	English release date	English ISBN
1	May 22, 2015	978-4-7575-4662-2	August 29, 2017 (digital) January 28, 2020 (print)	978-1-9753-3287-7
2	November 21, 2015	978-4-7575-4819-0	October 31, 2017 (digital) March 17, 2020 (print)	978-1-9753-9957-3
3	May 27, 2016	978-4-7575-5000-1	December 26, 2017 (digital) May 19, 2020 (print)	978-1-9753-1135-3
4	September 27, 2016	978-4-7575-5112-1	February 27, 2018	9780316517195
5	February 27, 2017	978-4-7575-5259-3	April 24, 2018	9781975354725
6	July 27, 2017	978-4-7575-5427-6	June 26, 2018	9781975302818
7	December 27, 2017	978-4-7575-5572-3	August 28, 2018	9781975327941
8	May 26, 2018	978-4-7575-5732-1	October 30, 2018	9781975356309
9	October 26, 2018	978-4-7575-5900-4	January 29, 2019	9781975357481
10	March 27, 2019	978-4-7575-5900-4	—	—
11	August 27, 2019	978-4-7575-6147-2 ISBN 978-4-7575-6148-9 (SP)	—	—
12	December 27, 2019	978-4-7575-6330-8 ISBN 978-4-7575-6331-5 (SP)	—	—

Anime

An anime television series adaptation was announced in the April issue of G Fantasy magazine on March 18, 2019. The series is animated by Lerche and directed by Masaomi Andō, with Yasuhiro Nakanishi handling series composition, and Mayuka Itou designing the characters. Hiroshi Takaki is composing the music. It premiered on January 9, 2020 on TBS, SUN, CBC, and BS-TBS. Chibaku Shōnen Band performed the series' opening theme song "No.7", while Akari Kitō performed the series' ending theme song "Tiny Light." The series will run for 12 episodes. Funimation has licensed the series for a simuldub.

No.	Title	Original air date
1	"Hanako-san of the Bathroom" Transliteration: "Toire no Hanako-san" (Japanese: トイレの花子さん)	January 9, 2020 (2020-01-09)
In Kamome Academy, there are seven mysteries. The seventh, and most famous one of all, is "Hanako-san of the Toilet", a ghost girl said to reside in the third stall of the girls' bathroom on the third floor, with the ability to grant a single wish for the appropriate price. Yashiro Nene, a first-year student, approaches the cubicle intending to wish for a happy romance with her crush and popular senior student Teru Minamoto, only to realise that the "Hanako-san" of the rumours is actually a boy! Yashiro and Hanako work together, consulting tips and tricks from a self-help book, only to fail every time. As Yashiro laments Hanako's lack of ghostly magical items to help her, she discovers a pair of mermaid scales from him that are traditionally used in match-making: the people who swallow these will be cursed greatly, but tied by an unbreakable bond. Yashiro swallows the scale but inadvertently overhears Teru revealing that he likes a girl. Without anyone to share the curse with, she turns into a fish – the servant of a monstrous mermaid. Yashiro apologises for her behaviour, realising that she was actually fine with anyone so as long as she was loved. Hanako defeats the mermaid as it comes to collect its new servant, and agrees to swallow the other scale, reducing the curse on her so that she will only turn into a fish when she comes into contact with water, and allowing him to manifest a physical body. At the same time, she now shares a bond with someone, fulfilling two of her wishes.
2	"Yousei-san" Transliteration: "Yōsei-san" (Japanese: ようせいさん)	January 16, 2020 (2020-01-16)
Yashiro becomes Hanako's human assistant and is forced to spend her afternoons cleaning the toilets for him. Incidents of people losing things suddenly spike in school, culminating with even the loss of the school's locker doors. Aoi Akane, Yashiro's best friend and the school's most popular girl, tells her of the recent rumour "Yousei-san", horrifying faeries that purposely steal from humans, and the warning never to look these apparitions in the eye. Yashiro accidentally stumbles upon a trail of the lost things and espies a monstrous creature with multiple eyeballs, but Hanako saves her from it. The creature splits into numerous small, pink rabbit-like supernaturals known as Mokke, kleptomaniac supernaturals that have lived peacefully with humankind for thousands of years. As supernaturals are unable to go against their rumours lest they disappear from the world, Hanako asks that Yashiro change the Mokke's rumours for him that is charged with the duty to maintain the school's supernaturals. Yashiro starts calling Hanako with a "-kun" as a suffix to show that they are friends. A young first-year exorcist Kou Minamoto arrives at the rooftop to exorcise Hanako. As Yashiro defends him, she is disturbed by Kou's warnings that Hanako is a dangerous and murderous spirit, who uses a kitchen knife as his weapon of choice due to him having killed someone with it. Although Kou initially gains the upper hand with his Minamoto family's sacred lightning weapon, Hanako successfully incapacitates him and expresses hope in the young boy's potential. He then vows that he will not disappear because God gave him this role of managing supernaturals to atone for his sins when he was still alive. Yashiro expresses her concerns for him after the skirmish, to which Hanako comments that she can still be friends with a murderer and walks off cheerfully. It is only then that Yashiro realises she doesn't know anything about him.
3	"The Misaki Stairs Part 1" Transliteration: "Misaki Kaidan Sono Ichi" (Japanese: ミサキ階段其の一)	January 23, 2020 (2020-01-23)
To cheer Yashiro up, Aoi tells her of No.2 of the Seven Mysteries, the "Misaki Stairs", a staircase outside the art room of the school where the fourth step is the entrance to the world of the dead. Anyone who enters is then shredded to pieces and has their blood dripped on the staircase at twilight. The next day however, Yashiro discovers that Aoi's very existence has disappeared in the school, from her items to even everyone's memories of her. Frightened and confused, Yashiro seeks out Hanako's help, and Kou also reveals how his classmates Yokō and Satou are missing. Hanako guesses that the students have wandered into "boundaries", areas of the Far Shore where apparitions and forgotten things reside separate from the Near Shore, where the living stay. Of the seven boundaries in the school that link to the spirit world, one of these gateways is the fourth step of the Misaki Stairs, guarded by the second mystery. The three venture into the Japanese shrine-like environment of the boundary. They are greeted by a phone call from the mystery herself, introducing herself as a schoolteacher named Misaki that died here, and requests that they find her body parts. Finding one body part will open a single gate for them reaching towards the top of the boundary. Should they fail to do so within the time limit, a huge pair of scissors starts chasing them, along with faceless Japanese dolls. They resolve to destroy No.2's yorishiro, a precious object that gives power to the mystery, so that she will relinquish her boundary. As they approach the final gate, Yashiro wonders who is the one making the phone calls if they need to find "Misaki"'s body for her.
4	"The Misaki Stairs Part 2" Transliteration: "Misaki Kaidan Sono Ni" (Japanese: ミサキ階段其の二)	January 30, 2020 (2020-01-30)
The three encounter the body of a hideous doll, its parts assembled by them. They are then greeted by the caller, a beautiful woman dressed in traditional Japanese clothing, whom Hanako recognises as No.2 of the Seven Mysteries. As No.2 tries to make the doll walk, it fails and she shows them the bodies of all those who wandered into her boundary and failed to accomplish the same task she made them do, now carved into faceless dolls. Hanako and Kou begin fighting against her, but they are at a disadvantage due to the area being her territory, hence amplifying her power. Deducing that the deepest part of the barrier is likely to be below the submerged ground where they had been standing on, Hanako pushes Yashiro off a cliff, and she awakens in a sunlit shrine. Yashiro finds an exercise book with diary entries written in sloppy children's handwriting, where every entry contains teacher's comments from "Misaki". Each page details the child's growth as she becomes more cheerful and outgoing, and her handwriting improves as well. About halfway through, the teacher's comments disappear and each entry begins recording a day where Misaki doesn't return to the shrine, as well as an incident where a teacher fell down the steps and died. The book ends on a chilling note as the child decides to "make a Misaki". Just then, No.2 arrives, and despite Yashiro's pleads that Misaki would never wish for her to do such a thing, remains stubborn and determines to slice her up, but Hanako arrives to protect her. Yashiro successfully locates a photograph of a class of schoolchildren and Misaki in the shrine as No.2's yorishiro and destroys the seal upon it, causing the boundary to collapse. Returning to the school, Hanako reveals the real identity of No.2 to be a talking fox statue called Yako, and kisses Yashiro on her cheek, calling it a "protective charm". Kou, who had been turned into a stuffed doll, is left forgotten. Meanwhile, a black crane that has been watching the three returns to its masters, a boy and a mysterious girl who is likely the source of rumours around the school.
5	"The Confession Tree" Transliteration: "Kokuhaku no Ki" (Japanese: 告白の木)	February 6, 2020 (2020-02-06)
Yashiro is confused and embarrassed to face Hanako after the kiss, which both her and Aoi misinterpret as Hanako liking her romantically. The recent increase in school couples also prompts Aoi to tell Yashiro of the rumour of the Confession Tree, a magical tree where anyone who confesses underneath it will become a couple, even those of the same gender. Adding on to her fantasies, Hanako confesses to Yashiro under the Tree, but prompts Yashiro to reject. This summons a kodama supernatural from within that has been the source of all the odd couples in school, which Hanako defeats and reduces to the size of a broccoli. As Yashiro leaves totally heartbroken and embarrassed, Hanako apologizes to her for getting her hopes up, as the kiss was actually really just a protective charm to ward off apparitions. Yashiro decides to find out more about Hanako herself. On the school rooftop, they encounter Teru, who is revealed to be Kou's older brother. Teru gives the indecisive Kou one last chance to exorcise Hanako. Failing to get information from Hanako about himself, Yashiro turns to library books, encountering the boy and the girl who have been watching them, although this is unbeknownst to her. The girl encourages Yashiro to seek out No.5 of the Seven Mysteries if she is truly keen on learning more about Hanako. Aoi tells Yashiro of the fifth mystery "the 4 o' Clock Library", a special repository in the library filled with books of the past, present and future of every member of the school, and can only be entered at 4 o' clock, hence the name. Of these books, the white ones are about the living, the black about the dead, and the red ones are simply forbidden books. As Yashiro contemplates finding Hanako's book, the mysterious girl and boy watches on the scene, a figure resembling Hanako behind her.
6	"The 4 O'clock Library" (Japanese: 16時の書庫)	February 13, 2020 (2020-02-13)

External links

• Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun at Monthly G Fantasy (in Japanese)
• Anime official website (in Japanese)
• Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia