Manga Review: Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, Volume 2, by Aidalro

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: March 2020

Volumes: 13+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 1. 3.

Goodreads Synopsis:

Nene Yashiro has made a pact with "Hanako-san of the Toilet," aka Hanako-kun, to hold off the curse that has been placed on her. To rescue her friend from the clutches of one of the school's infamous Seven Mysteries, she and Hanako-kun infiltrate the Misaki Stairs. The second volume of the retro horror romantic comedy about an occult girl and an inhuman supernatural boy is finally in print!

Review:

The first half of this volume continues the stair-case ghost story. It gets a little dangerous, and rather sad/disturbing when we discover the reason. It's rather fun to follow, though, but maybe it's just been a while since I've had a good high school ghost series.

In between the next plot, we get a little romance-inspired chapter between Yashiro and Hanako. He's giving her mixed signals, and she's very romance-focused, so she jumps to conclusions. It was a cute chapter, but it also ends in a really sweet way. After that, we meet Minamoto's older brother, who is a surprise, but also is very against ghosts and wants them all exorcised. It's a bit conflicting here, because Minamoto is having second thoughts about his first motivation to exorcise Hanako. This plot is definitely going to get deeper, since we're briefly introduced to couple other characters but not given much about them.

We're getting lots of mixed signals from Hanako, and I'm curious what it means. He generally acts light-hearted, but he's shown equal moments of vulnerability and of violence, and it's hard to tell which ones are real and what they actually mean. He's clearly hiding things, including how he ended up here, and I'm curious when we'll learn more and what it all means.

I hadn't expected to be interested in this series, and I'm really not a fan of the name, but I'm surprisingly hooked. This was another really fun and interesting volume, and I want to read more.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!

Manga Review: Toilet-bound Hanako-kun, Volume 1, by Aidalro

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: January 2020

Volumes: 13+

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volume: 2.

Goodreads Synopsis:

"Hanako-san, Hanako-san...are you there?" At Kamome Academy, rumors abound about the school's Seven Mysteries, one of which is Hanako-san. Said to occupy the third stall of the third floor girls' bathroom in the old school building, Hanako-san grants any wish when summoned. Nene Yashiro, an occult-loving high school girl who dreams of romance, ventures into this haunted bathroom...but the Hanako-san she meets there is nothing like she imagined! Kamome Academy's Hanako-san...is a boy!

Review:

Yashiro hears about the seven mysteries in her new school and immediately goes to the girls bathroom in the old school building and calls for Hanako-san. Only to discover that, not only is Hanako-san a boy, but he also doesn't seem to do much magic, and thus isn't very helpful in her quest for romance and to get her crush to notice her.

Yashiro apparently likes occult stuff and ghost stories, or at least her classmate thinks so. She's definitely a scaredy-cat, though, so I don't see it. She definitely is a romantic, however. She's been rejected before, and yet she still falls for boys without knowing anything about them, and dreams of a prince falling from the sky to her rescue.

Yashiro and Hanako form a bond through friendship, but also through a surprising mermaid curse. It's quite cute, honestly, though they don't seem to have any romantic feelings at this point. Yashiro also has a friend in her class, and then we meet a boy who's determined to exorcise Hanako, and this gives hints to Hanako's dangerous past.

We're left on a bit of a cliffhanger. Since it felt a bit like Hanako was overpowered in the first couple of chapters, I'm curious to see where this plot goes next. This was quite a fun volume. The artstyle is very pretty and the characters are rather cutesy, but there are a lot of dark strokes and inks used, too, and there are definite hints of something darker coming that intrigues me.

I know this series has hit quite big, so I'm intrigued to read more. It's been a while since I've read a high school ghost series, too, and that's a theme I enjoy.