English Dub Review: Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun “The Reaper’s Sacrifice”

OVERVIEW (SPOILERS)

Kou and Mitsuba run into Hyoga, who says he has a way to extend Nene’s life in exchange for trapping the Sixth Wonder. Meanwhile, Nene, Hanako, and Akane enter the Sixth Wonder’s Boundary and find Aoi, who is acting strangely

OUR TAKE

Oh okay, so that WAS Aoi at the end of last episode, she was just being controlled by the Grim Reaper…is what I thought at first, but it’s also possible that these thoughts that she is referring to, of wanting to go somewhere far away because of some distance she felt among her peers, are genuine and just coming out in an odd way. What I can say for sure, especially with how this episode ends, is that despite Nene, Hanako, Akane Aoi, and Aoi Akane all falling into what is meant to be a one way pit to the afterlife…I’m not gonna hold my breath that this is going to stick considering, well, this is only the third episode of this half of the season and these characters are not going to spend the rest of the series dead. Aside from Hanako who is actually already dead. So, this is probably all just a way for them to get to the bottom of what exactly happened to Aoi, and give us viewers a better look at how the afterlife works in this world. Still, it was good to see Akane get to show off for once fighting this altered Aoi and the demons she controlled. The dude has to get SOME wins here and there, you know?

The other half of the episode actually focuses on Kou and Mitsuba getting mixed up with Hyoga, the lackey of Sakura Nanamine, who often works with Hanako’s equally dead twin brother Tsukasa Yuga to spread altered rumors by radio for the purposes of messing with the abilities of the Wonders. Still no clue as to WHY they’re doing that, but we’ve seen them mess with a few of the Wonders already, including the Third and Fourth, with the former being how Mitsuba managed to become the new Third Wonder (in a confusing and vague process that I still don’t quite understand). Now it looks like their sights are set on the Sixth Wonder, with Hyoga taking the lead and trying to lure the Grim Reaper out by sleeping in the school since he apparently likes to go after sleeping people’s souls first for some arbitrary reason. There’s still a lot about this show’s lore that I don’t quite understand but somehow that seems to be part of the point? Perhaps we’ll learn more next week as the arc continues! Or maybe not, I dunno.