English Dub Review: Toilet-bound Hanako-Kun “The Hell of Mirrors, Part 1”

Overview (Spoilers Below)

Nene enlists the help of Hanako & Kou to investigate an unusual occurrence that surrounds her at random within the school grounds involving spectral hands that randomly pop up and grow when she progressively tries to ignore them. Of course, Hanako discovers they are a low-tier branch of ghosts called “lesser-spirits” who’s only objective is to be noticed only for one of them to pull Nene into a mirror world guided by Mitsuba within the titular place called the “Hell of Mirrors” which is the “3rd” of the “Seven wonders” that’s sort of a limbo Mitsuba’s ghost is somehow stuck in.

And much like Pennywise from Stephen King’s “It”, the Mirrors seem to prey & thrive on the fears & insecurities of it’s victims and converts them into monsters who chase & attack them on sight as exemplified with a running joke involving the thickness of Nene’s cankles which seem to bother her a bit. Worried that they’d make the fear stuff worse within the mirror, Hanako sends out Kou at his behest to rescue Nene, while the episode ends when an unexpected person comes to save Mitsuba & Nene who’s been behind the shadows for a while…

Our Take

Given that this is a two-parter, it makes logical sense that they’d end it on such a hook to bait us in, but I couldn’t imagine looking into a mirror that reflected your own deepest fears back at you. In theory, it’d be terrifying on a personal level. And also the mystery-person to rescue Nene & Mitsuba and the unexpected methods he used were both creepy and brutal.

I also think Nene is adorable, but she obviously has some self-esteem issues, Of course, Mitsuba doesn’t have that excuse for his comments! Mirrors as a whole, have often had a weird fascination with some people in a mystical sense. Having this one be a literal door to another world, or in this case a boundary, kinda makes perfect sense in this weird universe, but I’m more curious what Part 2 will have in store for us.