English Dub Review: Toilet-bound Hanako-Kun “The Confession Tree”

(Possible Spoilers Below)

Nene remains confused and embarrassed to face Hanako after the awkwardness of it which both her and Aoi misinterpret as Hanako liking her romantically. Coincidentally there’s also been a spike in school couples which also prompts Aoi to tell Nene of the rumor of the Confession Tree, a magical tree where anyone who confesses underneath it will become a couple, this also includes those of the same gender.

Adding on to her fantasies, Hanako confesses to Nene under the titular tree but prompts Nene to reject which seems as out of character of Aoi’s description. This leads to a big reveal that the tree is more than what it seems like the real source of it has been the source of all the odd couples in school this whole time, predictably, this source attempts to attack Nene which prompts Hanako to make quick work of it and make sure it never hurts anyone again. As Nene leaves totally heartbroken and embarrassed due to not given a heads-up on what Hanako was really up to, There are moments of genuine drama when Hanako apologizes to her for getting her hopes up, as the kiss was actually really just a protective charm to ward off more dangerous apparitions.

Later, another character is added into the picture as we meet Kou’s big brother “Teru” who has a different philosophy towards apparitions compared to his little brother. While Kou is willing to work alongside Hanako in his adventures to keep the “Seven Wonders” in line, Teru wants to indiscriminately destroy them as a whole but gives Kou one more chance to make sure he upholds to his job. While the episode ends on a more cryptic note when Nene encounters a mysterious green-haired woman who tells her to visit the “5th of the seven wonders” for answers about Hanako’s past, leading her to learn about the “4-O’clock Library”.

Our Take

I’m glad this episode touches upon the previous episodes in terms of continuity by establishing characters from the previous events, including the shared fish-scale curse, along with her previous meeting with the Mokke creatures. It’s also evident that this Teru guy is pretty popular, yet in a number of ways, he kinda represents the opposite of Kou. As far as this episode, the amount of humor is still pretty evident with the character chemistry. And Nene’s still getting some wild imaginations in her head which are also played to comedic effect.

Overall, this was a good episode that potentially sets up a series of sub-plots and character-growth for future episodes while not losing focus on the core relationship between Nene & Hanako and I look forward to seeing what kind of secrets they’ll reveal about Hanako himself in the next episode.