English Dub Review: Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun “Make a Wish”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Nene learns of her unfortunate fate and Hanako’s intentions, but also meets the real Shijima.

OUR TAKE

We’re sure taking our sweet time getting to the end of this arc, aren’t we? It’s definitely proven to be the longest one in the show so far, and I’ll have to get through the rest of it to be sure, but part of me wonders if it really needed to take this long to get to the point. Regardless, we do at least get some payoff from the beginning of this season, namely that Nene finally learns that she is doomed to die, the big thing that was revealed in the second episode. It was kind of expected that she would find that out, though I don’t think I expected it to be in a living painting. And as speculated, Hanako is here in the painting and trying to keep Nene there in order to preserve her life for as long as possible. According to Shijima, weird alternate fix fic worlds like this are things Hanako hates and tries to put a stop to if possible, but because this is actually a chance to keep Nene alive, he’s actually sticking around. This is, on paper, a very nice and sweet thing, showing how much their friendship, and dare I say relationship, has grown and developed over time. But it is also rather tragic that he thinks the only possible solution is for the two of them to live in what is essentially a lie.

As for Shijima, the cause of all this, we learn a bit more about HER goals. Specifically, that the human she is tied to is not actually dead, unlike Hanako and some of the other Wonders. Like all of them, they have a rumor floating around about how their human selves died, but it Shijima’s case, her supposed “death” IS just a rumor. Or at least until Wonder Shijima gets her way of killing off the real one for…some reason. Nene manages to get the real Shijima out of her coma somehow and has now made another ally, but now she’s even more alone than she was before, with even her closest friend out to keep her locked away in this fake world. That just leaves with the last two episodes of the season, where I assume Hanako will finally come to his senses like Mitsuba has and finally get them out, though there is also the question of his brother Tsukasa showing up and probably being the antagonist for the remainder. I guess we’ll find out!