It is a bathroom. Seriously. Most supernatural shonen starts in a grand cathedral or a gritty alleyway, but Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1 decided to stake its claim right next to the plumbing. If you walked into this show expecting a generic ghost story, you probably left feeling a bit dizzy. The art style looks like a stained-glass window had a baby with a vintage shoujo manga, and the tone shifts from "aww, cute" to "oh no, everyone is dying" faster than you can blink.
AidaIro’s creation isn't just another seasonal anime that came and went in 2020. It’s a mood. It’s a specific brand of chaotic energy that follows Nene Yashiro, a girl with "daikon legs" (her words, or rather, the show’s relentless joke) who just wants a boyfriend. Instead, she gets a ghost boy living in a stall.
The Weird Logic of Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1
Let’s be real. The premise of the Seven Wonders is old news in Japan. Every school has its legends. But Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1 flips the script by making the "monsters" more human than the living cast. Hanako isn’t some terrifying specter—well, he is, but he’s also a teasing, insecure kid with a kitchen knife and a dark past that the first season only barely begins to peel back.
The first season covers the introductory arcs of the manga, specifically through the "Hell of Mirrors" and the introduction of the primary antagonist, Tsukasa. If you watched it and felt like the pacing was a bit fast, you aren't wrong. Lerche, the studio behind the animation, made some bold choices. They skipped the "Three Clock Keepers" arc entirely in the first run, which confused manga purists to no end. Why skip a vital piece of world-building? Usually, it's about budget or fitting a specific narrative climax into 12 episodes. Regardless, the result was a season that felt like a frantic, beautiful sprint through a haunted house.
Honestly, the animation is the real star here. It doesn't move like a standard anime. It’s more of a living comic book. Some people hated the "slideshow" feel, but others—myself included—think it’s the only way to capture AidaIro's thick lines and vibrant color palettes. It’s heavy. It’s saturated. It feels claustrophobic in a way that perfectly matches the trapped spirits of Kamome Academy.
Who is Hanako-kun, really?
We spent twelve episodes wondering if we should even trust him. He’s the "Seventh Wonder," the leader of the school’s supernatural hierarchy. He's supposed to maintain the balance between the human world and the far shore. But he’s also a murderer. That’s the big elephant in the room that Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1 drops on us. He killed his twin brother.
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Tsukasa, the brother, is the dark reflection of everything Hanako tries to be. While Hanako is about "granting wishes" (at a price), Tsukasa is about pure, unadulterated chaos. He grants wishes to the dead, and he doesn't care about the consequences. The dynamic between them is the emotional anchor of the season. It’s not just ghost-hunting; it’s a domestic tragedy played out in the afterlife.
The Problem With Nene Yashiro
Nene is the audience surrogate, but she’s also kind of a mess. She summons a ghost because she has a crush on a guy who doesn't know she exists. She ends up bound to Hanako because she’s impulsive. This "bound" status is more than just a title; it’s a literal curse. She’s turning into a fish. Or a mermaid. It depends on how much water she touches.
The stakes in Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1 are weirdly personal. It’s not about saving the world. It’s about Nene not turning into a scaly creature and Hanako trying to atone for a sin we don't fully understand yet.
Why the Art Style Divides the Fanbase
You can't talk about this show without mentioning the visuals. Most anime follows the "Standard Shonen Look"—clean lines, 24-frames-per-second fluid motion, predictable lighting. Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1 throws that out.
- The use of manga panels on screen.
- The thick, sketchy outlines that make characters pop.
- A color palette that uses pinks, purples, and deep oranges instead of natural tones.
It’s an aesthetic choice that reflects the "Rumors" aspect of the show. The world is built on stories. If a rumor about a ghost changes, the ghost changes. The art reflects that instability. It’s gorgeous, but it can be distracting if you’re used to the high-octane fluidity of something like Jujutsu Kaisen.
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The Misunderstood Characters: Kou Minamoto
Kou is the "exorcist" who doesn't actually want to exorcise. He starts as a trope—the hot-headed rival. But by the middle of the season, specifically the arc with Mitsuba, he becomes the heart of the show. The tragedy of Mitsuba is perhaps the most gut-wrenching part of the first season. A boy who just wanted to be remembered, turned into a monster, and then erased again. It’s a harsh lesson for Kou: you can’t save everyone, especially those who are already gone.
What Most People Get Wrong About the Lore
People often think Hanako-kun is a romance first. It’s not. It’s a tragedy with romantic elements. If you go into Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1 looking for a fluffy school-life rom-com, you’re going to be disappointed when the child murder and existential dread kick in.
The "price" of the wishes is the most overlooked detail. Hanako doesn't grant wishes for free. Nene’s wish cost her her humanity. This sets a precedent for every supernatural interaction in the series. There is no such thing as a free lunch in the spirit world. This is a classic folklore trope that the anime executes with modern flair.
The Skip: The Missing Clock Keepers
As mentioned, skipping the Clock Keepers arc was a massive gamble. For those who haven't read the manga, that arc explains how time works in the school and gives Nene a lot more agency. By removing it from the first season, the anime focused more on the relationship between Hanako and Nene. It made the story more intimate but left some gaping holes in the logic of the school’s supernatural structure.
Luckily, later projects (like the After-School Hanako-kun shorts and the "re-start" announcements) have aimed to fix these continuity hiccups. But looking strictly at Season 1, it leaves you with more questions than answers.
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Actionable Insights for New Viewers
If you are just diving into the world of Kamome Academy, here is how to actually digest what you're seeing. Don't just binge it and move on.
- Watch the background details. The "Mokke" (those little pink rabbit things) are everywhere. They are more than just mascots; they are the glue of the school's ecosystem.
- Pay attention to the colors. When the screen shifts to deep reds and blacks, the "Rumor" is taking over. It’s a visual cue that the reality Nene knows is being rewritten.
- Don't skip the ED (Ending Theme). "Tiny Light" by Akari Kito isn't just a bop; the visuals in the ending sequence provide a lot of foreshadowing for Nene's fate.
- Read the manga from Chapter 1 after finishing. Because the anime shuffled the order of events (skipping the Clock Keepers and rearranging the order of some introductions), the manga offers a much more cohesive timeline.
Toilet Bound Hanako Kun Season 1 is a masterclass in atmosphere. It manages to be eerie, heartbreaking, and hilarious in the span of twenty minutes. It’s a story about the stories we tell—how rumors can create monsters and how the truth is often buried under layers of school gossip and ancient blood.
The series reminds us that the past is never really dead; it’s just waiting in a bathroom stall for someone to knock three times. If you’re looking for a show that defies the standard "battle shonen" tropes and offers something that looks like an art gallery and feels like a gut punch, this is it.
To get the most out of your experience, track down the "After-School Hanako-kun" spin-off episodes. They provide the much-needed levity that the main series often strips away, and they flesh out the side characters who didn't get enough screen time in the main twelve-episode run. Understanding the Mokke's obsession with candy is just as important as understanding Hanako's trauma. Trust me.