English Dub Review: Toilet-bound Hanako-Kun “Donuts”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

After learning about Hanako in the previous episode, Nene has no idea how to face Hanako or even approach him without feeling awkward. Recalling that he enjoys donuts, Kou asks for Nene’s help in making them and the two grow closer, promising to support each other in their quest to find out more about Hanako.

Kou stands up to his brother and declares that he will watch over Hanako and learn more about him instead of exorcising him straightaway, prompting his strict brother Teru to continue observing the situation from afar for now. On the rooftop, Nene offers a happy Hanako his donuts, although their peace is interrupted by an unexpected guest that looks and sounds exactly like Hanako, traumatizing him greatly.

In the broadcast room, the uninvited guest is revealed to be someone tied to, Hanako’s past that we the audience even didn’t know about, but this individual is revealed to be the perpetrator behind a series of altered school rumors, alongside the mysterious girl and a boy named “Sakura Nanamine” “Natsuhiko Hyūga” respectively, But the episode ends when Sakura spreads another rumor about a ghost boy haunting the middle school shoe lockers, which gets Kou’s attention…

Our Take

In terms of friendship dynamics, this trio (Nene, Hanako, and Kou) might take a while to fully open to each other friendship-wise, but they certainly care for each other to some degree and know they aren’t alone. Kou’s brother also isn’t as unreasonable as I thought he was at first. And also we learned what atrocious crime Hanako Committed that got him stuck haunting the school grounds, though a plethora of other questions still remain. And I thought those mysterious two were normal students for a moment, but I guess that explains how they know so much about Hanako himself and that library the last episode.

If I’ve got any minor complaints, the pacing is going way too fast and not letting us get to know other characters and just trying to adapt as much as It can. You’d think a manga to anime adaptation would take its time and effort to properly present story & character details with the proper care and attention like Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure does. It’s not impossible to adapt everything from the source material, but at least don’t do more than you can handle. The scenes barely have any impact at this point since it goes from one point to another in the same episode and Hanako’s last line near the ending while comical, was a spit-take moment if I ever experienced one.