TL;DR Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 hasn’t been officially announced, but a series of short episodes released in Fall 2023 may be the precursor to the 2nd season. It’s officially confirmed that the anime project is “restarting” and Anime Geek is predicting 2024 at the earliest. Read more below for a much deeper dive!
The Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 anime will have Hanako, Nene, and Kou investigating the supernatural Seven Wonders of Kamome Academy. But when will Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Season 2 come out?
Beginning on October 10, 2023, a new anime spin-off called After-school Hanako-kun began releasing on Crunchyroll. The series of 10-minute shorts released for four consecutive weeks.
What’s important to know is that the After-school Hanako-kun anime adaptation is the first installment of the previously announced new Toilet-bound Hanako-kun anime project. It’s possible the short episodes is just the lead up to the announcement of Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2.
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, air on March 26, 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.
Is a 2024 Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Season 2 release date possible?
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.
On December 22, 2022, the manga series announced that the anime project was “restarting.” It’s uncertain if this is a Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun reboot or a 2nd season will be a follow-up to the anime shorts released in October 2023.
However, based on the timing of the announcements it’s possible that the production of the 2nd season could be announced in November 2023. If that’s the case, the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 release date will be in 2024 at the earliest.
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.
In light of all the production delays and cancellations, thanks to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun anime voice actress Megumi Ogata urged fans to give animation studios an extra helping of grace. Speaking on Twitter, she asks that fans not complain about animation quality dropping.
She pointed out that with how bad things are in China, Korea, and other countries that it’s amazing that any TV show is still airing. Any changes or cuts to production may be painful, but everyone is working as hard as they can.
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 was up to Volume 20 as of August 25, 2023.
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 caught up, while the tankobon-format print books will be at 19 as of December 12, 2023.
Thankfully, the anime has been very faithful to the Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun manga series for most of the episodes, but it did rearrange the order of the chapters greatly and skipped some material.
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.
The second half of the first season began to rearrange the story greatly starting with Episode 8. 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 continued the story with Sakura Nanamine’s Tea Party arc in Chapters 21 and 22 of Volume 5.
Note: This article was updated after Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 12 aired in Japan.
Surprisingly, Episode 10 and 11 skipped most of Volume 5 and 6 completely and jumped ahead to the Hell of Mirrors arc that runs from Chapters 30 through 35 of Volume 7.
Yanked down into a boundary by disembodies hands, Nene is confronted by… Mitsuba!? The ghost boy may have miraculously survived being sent into oblivion, 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.
While it was odd to see the anime skip a major arc in order to adapt the Hell of Mirrors arc it provided a better ending for Mitsuba by showing his recovery from a supposed second death.
Plus, it made sense to skip ahead since the missing arc, The Three Clock Keepers, contains a major revelation about Nene that’s best developed in Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2. (See the spoilers section below for more details.)
The finale, Episode 12, then went back to Chapters 16 and 17 to adapt a small story arc that was initially 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. (Plus, RIP poor Mr. pufferfish. He didn’t deserve that.)
It was nice to see the anime go back to this skipped story arc since it shifted Nene and Hanako’s relationship slightly and brought one of the sub-plots full circle.
However, the story arc was arguably not the best stopping point for the first season. It left too many plot threads hanging and it does not resolve Nene’s feelings toward Hanako.
A better stopping point would have been Chapter 29 of Volume 6 since it offered a special moment between Nene and Hanako. But to say anything more would be major spoilers.
All in all, Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Episode 12 found a final flush stopping point by first adapting all of Volume 7 only to dive back into Volume 4 for The Little Mermaid arc. Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 will likely start by adapting the next skipped story arc, which runs from Chapters 23 through 27.
The good news is that English-only readers wanting to read ahead of the anime can jump straight to Chapter 23 in digital Volume 5. You can skip Volume 7 completely. However, it’s still recommended to go back and read the skipped chapters noted previously, including the Young Exorcist arc.
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.
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.
Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun Season 2 should open with 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.
…Did you know? No.1 of the school’s seven mysteries is the Three Clock Keepers.
There’s a big, big old clock somewhere in the school. That clock is time itself – the time that flows through the school.
If you move the hands of that clock, the school’s time is yours to command.
But, you see… there are guards watching over the big clock. They are the three clock keepers, who represent past, present, and future.
If anyone touches the clock without their permission the three clock keepers will steal the time from that person’s life…!
Aoi is about to spread one of her many rumors to Nene when they come upon their classroom and they are shocked by the devastation. Everything is covered in dust, the windows are broken, and even the desks are rusted.
But the biggest mystery is that since the morning a small potted plant has grown into a large tree. And then they run into boy classmates who have been transformed into old men!
Hanako confirms that time moving forward so quickly is the work of the supernatural. The first Clock Keeper turns back time, the second Keeper stops time, and the third Keeper moves time forward.
Hanako might be the self-proclaimed “leader” of the seven mysteries, but the last time he saw them he asked about using their powers to do “all the pervy stuff” he wanted. In response, the clock keepers disappeared and Hanako doesn’t even know where their boundary is located
But Hanako does know the clock keeper of the present is disguised as a normal human student. So, they endeavor to track down this clock keeper to lure the other two guardians out of hiding. Hanako suspects Nene’s friend Aoi of being the keeper so he takes possession of Nene’s body for some pervy shenanigans.
These actions cause Akane Aoi to intervene. The young boy was childhood friends with Aoi Akane and he’s harbored a crush ever since they were little. Wielding a bat, Akane is a bit crazy and has frightened away any potential
The rest of the gang recruits Akane to figure out Aoi’s secret. But it turns out Akane has secrets of his own.
The investigation eventually turns up Future Clock Keeper Mirai (her name literally means “future) who has grown bored and is running amuck through the school pranking students with her powers. But catching Mirai is proving to be difficult since she moves fast despite not being very smart.
Mirai even uses her powers to transform Kou Minamoto into an older version of himself… and he looks just as handsome as his older brother Teru! Nene immediately dashes after Mirai, hoping to force the Keeper to transform her into a “beautiful woman with sexy legs.”
But Hanako warns Kou to never let Mirai touch Nene, no matter what, but will not reveal why. Kou’s exorcist powers were upgraded along with his looks so they manage to create a lightning cage to capture the hamster-like Keeper.
Mirai seemingly surrenders, but then abruptly jumps at Nene intending to “make this girl look hotter!” Instead, Nene collapses to the ground and Hanako screams out her name.
Even Mirai is surprised that her powers didn’t work and then everyone realizes that Nene simply has no more time left… With this shocking revelation, Past Clock Keeper Kako is then drawn out of hiding, but his words offer no comfort for the future of poor Nene.
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!
- Updated October 20, 2023: Added reboot/restart and mini episodes info.
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Updated September 18, 2020: Updated manga info.
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Updated April 2, 2020: Revised anime/manga comparison and rewrote spoilers.