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	11
Anime television series
Directed by	Masaomi Andō
Written by	Yasuhiro Nakanishi
Music by	Hiroshi Takaki
Studio	Lerche
Original network	TBS, SUN, CBC, BS-TBS
Original run	January 9, 2020 – scheduled
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 ten tankōbon volumes. The manga is licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation by Lerche will premiere 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

Hanako (花子)

Voiced by: Megumi Ogata

The titular character and the male protagonist 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 rumour "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.

Hanako was once a student at Kamome Academy under the name Amane Yugi (柚木普). As a student, he harboured a love for astronomy and was destined to become an astronomy teacher, until he killed his younger twin brother Tsukasa. Other than that we know he was severely bullied in his youth and that he had to deal with his brother getting violent when he didn't get what he wanted.

Nene Yashiro (八尋寧々)

Voiced by: Akari Kitō

Yashiro is the cheery female protagonist of the story. She 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. Despite her romantic tendencies, Yashiro possesses 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 and swollen.

Kou Minamoto (源光)

Voiced by: Shōya Chiba

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 do 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 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 rumour 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

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) 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 harbours a one-sided crush on Aoi.

The Misaki Stairs (ミサキ階段)

Known as Mystery No. 2, The Misaki Stairs is a staircase in the corner of the school building with the fourth step rumoured 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 rumours 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.

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 rumoured 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 rumours 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 passed away and her drawing was showcased, this spawned the present-day rumours and made the supernatural Shijima a school mystery.

The 4pm Bookstacks (十六時の書庫)

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 colours, 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

Mokke (もっけ)

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.

Antagonists

Tsukasa Yugi (柚木つかさ)

Tsukasa is Hanako's younger identical twin brother. When they were still alive, the twins were supposedly very close until he was killed by Hanako. Young Hanako says in chapter 38 that his brother ditched him and gets violent if you try and stop him. 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)

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 rumours 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)

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 personality tends to lead him into trouble all on its own.

Others

Teru Minamoto (源輝)

Voiced by: Yuma Uchida

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 harbours a sadistic streak, frequently terrorising the Mokke to work as his servants. He dotes on his younger siblings.

Aoi Akane (赤根葵)

Voiced by: Minako Sato

Aoi is Yashiro's classmate and best friend, and the school's prettiest and most popular girl. She enjoys listening to rumours about the Seven Mysteries and recounting their stories to Yashiro.

Lemon Yamabuki (山吹檸檬)

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

Media

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 is set to premiere on January 9, 2020 on TBS, SUN, CBC, and BS-TBS. Chibaku Shōnen Band will perform the series' opening theme song "No.7", while Akari Kitō will perform the series' ending theme song "Tiny Light." The series is listed for 12 episodes.

External links

• Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun at Monthly G Fantasy Template:Ja icon
• Anime official website Template:Ja icon
• Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia