English Dub Review: Toilet-bound Hanako-Kun “The Misaki Stairs Part 2”

 

(Possible Spoilers Below)

As the three encounters the body of a hideous doll, its parts assembled by them. They are then greeted by the caller, a beautiful woman dressed in traditional Japanese robes, whom Hanako recognizes as “Number 2 of the Seven Mysteries”. As Number.2 tries to make the doll walk, it fails and she shows them the bodies of all those who wandered into her boundary and failed to accomplish the same task she made them do, now carved into faceless dolls. Hanako and Kou begin fighting against her, but they are at a disadvantage due to the area being her territory, hence amplifying her power. Deducing that the deepest part of the barrier is likely to be below the submerged ground where they had been standing on, Hanako pushes Nene off a cliff, and she awakens in a sunlit shrine.

Nene finds an exercise book with diary entries written in sloppy children’s handwriting, where every entry contains the teacher’s comments from “Misaki”. Each page details the child’s growth as she becomes more cheerful and outgoing, and her handwriting improves as well. About halfway through the book, it paints a sad picture when the teacher’s comments disappear and each entry begins recording a day where Misaki doesn’t return to the shrine, as well as an incident where a teacher fell down the steps and died along with a creepy ending where the child decides to “make a Misaki”.

Just then, “Number 2” arrives, and despite Nene’s pleading that Misaki would never wish for her to do anything terrible, it remains stubborn and determines to slice her up, but Hanako jumps in to make a save. Nene then successfully locates a photograph of with an image showing school children and Misaki in the shrine which turns out to be as Number 2’s “Yorishiro” (which is properly explained in part 1) and destroys the seal upon it, causing the boundary to collapse. Returning to the school, Hanako reveals the real identity of No.2 to be a talking fox statue called Yako, and kisses Nene on her cheek, calling it a “protective charm”. While Kou is now left in an uncertain situation. Meanwhile, the episode ends on a more ominous note as a large black bird that’s been observing the three returns to its masters, who turn out to be a boy and a mysterious girl who is likely the source of rumors around the school.

Our Take

This was a really good episode, You can make the argument that Nene is the prototypical “Damsel in Distress” but You need to take into consideration that compared to Hanako and Kou who are well suited to handle situations like this, She’s not like them. She wasn’t gifted with abilities to fight dangerous spirits or was raised in a family of exorcists like Kou was. If we were in her place, we would be exactly like her. However, what she lacks in fighting she makes up for in doing well in her duty as Hanako’s assistant.

She’s the one who was the most focused in finding Misaki’s arm, she’s the one who found out what Yako’s yorishiro was and destroyed it, she’s changing the rumors so that the apparitions no longer cause harm or death to the students, and so on, all while developing as a character. For a regular high school human in this new world, she had no idea was real until she contacted Hanako, She’s a 15-year-old girl with no abilities, don’t expect her to suddenly be some fighting expert. She still gets development and so far helps fans ease themselves into this universe.

Overall, the art style remains beautifully drawn and remains consistent with the plot. I also like how the colorful art is also a clear contrast to the haunting atmosphere, macabre nature & themes but most importantly, It never got boring, I’m also curious who the hell these other characters are in the cliffhanger.

Hopefully, we’ll find out in later episodes.