English Dub Review: Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun “Make It Secret”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Nene and Hanako seem to find a possible way out of the painting, but Hanako reveals he wants to stay for Nene’s sake.

OUR TAKE

We continue through this fake painting focused story arc, which I am now starting to get the distinct feeling is taking a bit too long. We already revealed where everyone is, why they got put there, the stakes of if they don’t leave…like, what more information do we need to wrap this up? Well, turns out there is some, as it is fully revealed to us that the Amane here is the real Hanako who, like Mitsuba, does not want to leave. But unlike him, it’s for slightly less selfish reasons, as Hanako wishes to stay in the painting for Nene’s sake. Her fast impending death is only less than a year away, and here, time can stay still forever, so with seemingly no other options, it seems like having them all stay here and let their memories be permanently altered is the best solution to keeping her alive. I can kind of see that logic, since Hanako cares for Nene so much that he would do anything to save her if possible, but we also know that this is not at all what Nene wants, and now is probably the time to explain to her that she doesn’t have long to live so that she can make her own decision about this.

We also get to see a bit more of the horrors of this fake world, namely that every non-real person here is basically an extension of Shijima, being able to turn into her at any given time like Agent Smith in The Matrix. It’ sort of like that song “I’m Blue” where everything is blue, but instead of blue, it’s all Shijima, though that wouldn’t make for a very catchy song. BUT we also see an odd floating pen that begins to give Nene and Hanako directions to a secret emergency exit…until Hanako crushes it, for reasons we have already discussed. So, what’s the deal with that pen? Is it someone trying to contact them from outside and lead them out? Or is a force within that is rebelling against Shijima’s influence? Or could it be Shijima trying to trick them and discourage them from leaving in the first place? Well, we have three episodes left in this season, so I have a feeling we’re going to figure that answer out soon enough. But uh, let’s just focus on getting done with this sooner rather than later, okay?