The Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 Anime will have Hanako, Nene, and Kou investigating the supernatural Seven Wonders of Kamome Academy by descending into the Hell of Mirrors. But when will Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Season 2 come out?

The Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun anime is being animated by Studio Lerche, which is known for producing the Radiant anime (see our Radiant Season 3 story), the Astra Lost In Space anime, the Asobi Asobase anime, and the Classroom of the Elite anime.

Astra Lost In Space director Masaomi Ando is helming the Hanako anime project. Carole & Tuesday anime writer Yasuhiro Nakanishi is creating the series scripts. Mayuka Itou is the character designer while Yuji Higa is the animation producer.

The Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 opening (OP) music theme song and ending (ED) have not yet been announced. The first season featured the OP “No. 7” by Chibaku Shonen Band and the ED “Tiny Light” as performed by Akari Kito, the Japanese voice actress for character Nene Yashiro.

The finale, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 12, will air in March 2020. New episodes are available on Hulu with English subtitles. FUNimation Now is streaming the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun English dub as a simuldub.

This article provides everything that is known about Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 (Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Season 2) and all related news. As such, this article will be updated over time with news, rumors, and analysis. Meanwhile, let’s delve down into what is known for certain.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun review: Best anime of the winter 2020 season

With a title that has the word toilet in it, you would expect the story to be a straight comedy with no major plot beyond potty humor. Instead, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun is filled with atmosphere, capable of yanking the mood from light comedy to unsettling horror and heartbreak and back again in a breathtaking manner.

Director Ando is known for leading the eyes with manga panels, which makes the manga seem as if it’s coming to life as the animated scenes unfold in this abnormal fashion. The menacing way in which new story arcs are introduced by the whispers of an old-style radio tie into the plot while also offering a memorable way to end episodes.

The story is filled with poignant moments as the characters are slowly revealed in their full form. The main character Nene Yashiro shows character progression fairly quickly as she undergoes emotional growth during all the intrigue. The main characters in anime often feel static in comparison, but as Nene peels away at the mystery of Amane and Tsukasa she begins to flower and develop into a new, more powerful person.

Several of the episodes breathe empathy into side characters, as well. Kou Minamoto goes from a brash exorcist stereotype to a fleshed-out character trying to grow out from beneath his brother’s shadow. The tragic story arc of Mitsuba the ghost was probably the most memorable, which is ironic since his heartbreaking reason for being a ghost was that he was so forgettable in life.

The only negative is how Studio Lerche animated the series so far. While, yes, the art style is beautiful and vibrant with its ability to alternate between creepy and cute, the animation itself is choppy, often seeming to be missing frames. Complex movements relied on animation tricks to hide the lack of frames and the camera is mostly panning over still scenes.

Still, the animation does its job and some of the artistic choices greatly heightened some scenes’ impacts. For example, reflections were used in several scenes to amplify the emotional impact. In Episode 8, when we see Kou’s terrified face in the now dead-looking eyes of Mitsuba it only added to the horror of the moment.

In reviewing this anime, it’s arguably one of the best anime of the winter 2020 season next to ID: INVADED and the ongoing My Hero Academia anime (see our article on My Hero Academia Season 5). Of course, the main reason the Hanako anime is great is due to the quality of the source material and its magical worldbuilding.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun manga compared to the Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun anime

The story for the anime is based on the Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun manga series by writer and artist Iro Aida. Published in Square Enix’s Monthly G Fantasy magazine since 2014, the Japanese manga series is up to Volume 12 as of December 27, 2019.

Based on history, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Volume 13 (Chapters 61 through 65) will likely release in May 2020.

The official English translation of the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun manga series is being published by Yen Press. Fortunately, it’s not too far behind.

The English digital release is already up to Volume 9, while the tankobon-format print books will be at Volume 2 as of March 24, 2020. The physical Volume 3 is scheduled for May 19, 2020, and Volume 4 for July 21, 2020.

Thankfully, the anime has been very faithful to the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun manga series for most of the episodes.

The first episode adapted the first chapter, while Episode 2 adapted chapters 2 and 3. The two-part Misaki Stairs story arc of Episodes 3 and 4 was based on chapters 4 through 7 (the ending of Episode 3 corresponded to the ending of manga Volume 1).

Episode 5 is when the anime began skimming over manga chapters. Chapters 8: The Confession Tree was adapted in full, but Chapters 9 and 10 showed Kou attempting to gather evidence for his older brother Teru that Hanako was not evil and didn’t deserve to be exorcised.

This also meant that the anime skipped major character progression showing Kou and Hanako beginning to bond as friends. It was in these chapters where Kou reasoned out for himself that the supernatural could be good and began to step out from his brother’s shadow.

Anime-only audiences also lose insight into just how powerful the elder Minamoto is as an exorcist. When Kou attempts to protect Hanako from being exercised the more experienced exorcist quickly overwhelms him. Teru is shown carrying around a sword, but the manga has Teru taking on Hanako directly with his lightning sword powers.

The emotional confrontation between the two brothers ends in Kou taking responsibility for Hanako, so it’s too bad Studio Lerche was forced to condense the manga’s story due to time constraints. Hopefully, they’ll simply shift the scene to Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2.

Episode 6 picked up the story again with the last several pages of Chapter 10, which was also the ending of Volume 2. Unfortunately, the episode skimmed Chapters 11 through 14 by only hitting the major plot points and skipping certain panels and dialogue.

Some of the flavor missing was introducing 4 PM Bookstacks curator Tsuchigomori as a human homeroom teacher, never mind the complaints about Kou constantly going into the girls’ bathroom! Both humans revealed way more personal secrets (“I practice kissing with my pet hamster!”) to Tsuchigomori in a panicked attempt to prevent the ghostly arachnid from broadcasting over the school intercom.

There were also references back to Teru almost exorcising Hanako. More importantly, some of the missing panels blatantly showed Kou starting to fall in love with Nene. That important character development was hinted at in Episode 7: Donuts, which adapted Chapter 15, the end of Volume 3, and parts of the next several chapters up through Chapter 18.

Chapters 16 and 17 contained another small story arc that was skipped. It tells the tale of ghostly fishes coming to Nene to tempt her with the idea of becoming a mermaid princess with a princely harem. While Nene considers it, there’s a dark twist to taking the deal.

Again, it’s too bad the anime skipped chapters since this story arc shifted Nene and Hanako’s relationship slightly. Plus, RIP poor Mr. pufferfish. He didn’t deserve that.

Thus, Episode 7 ended by adapting only part of Chapter 18 and Episode 8 finished up in Chapter 20, the ending of Volume 4. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 9 continues the story with Sakura Nanamine’s Tea Party arc in Chapter 21 of Volume 5.

Note: This was initially published before Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 12 aired in Japan and will be updated.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 10 should adapt Chapters 23 through 25 (Volume 5 ending), the story of The Three Clock Keepers, Number One of the Seven Wonders, since it develops the characters of Nene’s friend Aoi Akane and her crazed stalker childhood friend Akane Aoi. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 11 would then introduce Past Clock Keeper Kako and cover the huge revelation about Nene in the story arc that ends in Chapter 27 of Volume 6.

All in all, it’s expected that Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 12 will find a final flush good stopping point in Chapter 29 of Volume 6. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 will be necessary to adapt the next story arc, which is six chapters long and ends in Chapter 35 of Volume 7.

The good news is that English-only readers wanting to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Chapter 30 in digital Volume 6. However, it’s still recommended to go back and read the skipped chapters.

Better yet, there is plenty of source material available for making Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2. In fact, by the end of 2021, the monthly manga should have enough chapters for making a Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 3 anime.

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Season 2 release date

As of the last update, Square Enix, Lerche, or any company related to the production of the anime has not officially confirmed the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 release date. Nor has the production of a Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun sequel been announced.

Once the news is officially confirmed this article will be updated with the relevant information. In the meantime, it’s possible to speculate about when, or if, the Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Season 2 premiere date will occur in the future.

The Hanako anime has been well-reviewed on the FUNimation Now streaming platform. Although streaming revenue is now the most significant factor influencing the decision to greenlight a second season, good reviews don’t ensure a sequel. Let’s just hope it’s been popular enough.

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 spoilers (plot summary/synopsis)

Anime audiences should know by now that the story isn’t nearly as innocently cute as it seems to be at the beginning. Silly romantic interludes and investigations into sinister-but-then-suddenly-harmless monsters are over and the step down into darkness has only begun.

Yanked down into a boundary by disembodies hands, Nene is confronted by… Mitsuba!? The ghost boy may have survived, but now both find themselves trapped in the school’s third wonder, the Hell of Mirrors.

…Did you know? No.3 of the school’s seven mysteries is the Hell of Mirrors. It’s a wonderland on the other side of the looking glass.

There are mirrors there that reflect the hearts of all those who wander inside. Someone with a beautiful or brave heart will be just fine. They’ll be able to return to their world without any trouble.

But if their heart contains even the smallest bit of ugliness or fear the mirror will reflect it and the world will change instantly, becoming a dark hell to attack its victim… or so they say.

The boundary is run by Number 3, a bird-faced creature with human arms and a dark cape. Number 3 uses the power of the mirrors to reflect back their insecurities and trap them by tormenting them with their deepest fear. (As might be expected, poor Nene has radish legs.)

Number 3 and his nightmarish minions intend to capture human souls and replace them. Specifically, he wants to take over the identities of Nene and Mitsuba.

Seemingly trapped, the pair are rescued by Hamako’s evil brother Tsukasa. The impish ghost boy kills Number 3 and forces Mitsuba to eat the creature’s heart so that he can assume control of the Hell of Mirrors by becoming the new Third Wonder. But that’s just the beginning of the conflict!

Unfortunately, anime fans will have to wait until the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 release date to watch how Nene gets out of this mess. Stay tuned!