Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun: Discovering Japanese folklore!
After having plunged into post-war Japan or heroic adventures , we are now transported into Japanese folklore. Discover Toilet-bound Hanako-kun .
Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun T01
Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun is a 15-volume shonen by Aida Iro currently being released in Japan. In France, three volumes are currently available from Pika Edition .
“There is a rumor that there are seven mysteries that haunt the walls of Kamome School. Among these unexplained facts is that a spirit named Hanako is said to be on the third floor of the oldest building and will grant the wish of anyone who comes to find him. In second grade at this school, Nene Yashiro has a crush on a boy. Yet, despite her best efforts, this love remains one-sided. The young girl sees only one solution: to rely on the legend of Hanako, without realizing that achieving happiness always requires a counterpart… ”
Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun takes us to a Japanese high school that is said to house seven mysteries. In this first volume, we discover some of them with great pleasure. In addition, rest assured, this series is not a horror or horror series, Aida Iro approaches Japanese folklore with a lot of humor.
Japan has a very large number of urban legends, each one as intriguing as the next. Our journey begins with the most famous of them among young Japanese, the legend of Hanako-san. Legend has it that the spirit of a young girl would haunt school toilets. She would particularly haunt the 3rd cabin of the girls' bathroom and would appear when her first name is said three times. However, in this first volume, Hanako is none other than a boy!
Nene, the main character, wants to call on him to grant one of his wishes. However, not everything goes exactly as planned. Following her vows, Nene becomes a mermaid. But, do not imagine our beautiful Ariel, princess of the oceans, but rather the sirens of Japanese tales, malicious beings.
So here we are on an adventure with Hanako, a spirit that seems to us, in this volume one in any case, benevolent, but somewhat joker; Néné, a high school student under the orders of a spirit and Minamoto, the descendant of Minamoto no Yorimitsu, a famous Japanese exorcist.
A playful adaptation!
This first volume was very pleasant to discover. Indeed, as said above, the mangaka approaches Japanese folklore with humor, which results in a scenario combining mystery, action and comedy at the same time. Everything is very well balanced, which makes the discovery very pleasant. In addition, the graphics are magnificent and plunge us into a sometimes dark atmosphere, then, a few boxes later, into an atmosphere full of mischief and joy. The stroke of a pencil makes this first volume very pleasant to discover. It allows you to dive with even more enthusiasm into an already very attractive scenario.
As for the characters, the trio is very appreciable. Indeed, each has a personality of its own and goes well with the rest of the group. We must also admit that Hanako's spirit is endearing, although it probably holds some surprises in store for us. Other characters full of surprises should also appear in the next volumes. As the series has more than ten volumes, we wonder about the future of our trio and the adventures it will have to go through.
Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun is therefore a very nice discovery that will delight all followers of Japanese folklore. Combining an intriguing story, quality graphics and endearing characters, we can only advise you to check out this first volume as soon as possible.