Hello! I’ll be reviewing Episode 9 for Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun (a.k.a. Toilet-bound Hanako-kun). In the last episode, we learned about Mitsuba and what became of him due to the consequences behind his wish granted by Hanako’s twin brother. We can only question what’s going to happen next.
What story shall we hear this time around?
Disclaimer:
Please be aware that I’ll be relaying information that may or may not contain spoilers. Read at your own discretion. Without further ado, let’s dive right on in then.
Episode 9 – Tea Party
We get to see Nene’s thoughts on the matter between her and Hanako-kun. Ever since the donut incident between them, things have been awkward. She hasn’t managed the courage to bring up directly about the boy who appeared before Hanako-kun. So, she escapes from reality with her Idol games.
Aoi calls out to Nene and informs that she recently got an invitation from a “cool looking older boy”. Aoi tells Nene she’s got guys falling all over her. Nene denies it of course, but her imagination gets the best of her and she thinks it might be a confession!
Nene meets up with the boy who now formally introduces himself as Hyuuga Natsuhiko. He continues to talk about himself and notes that he is always in the market for a girlfriend. Nene wonders and asks why he invited her over?
Natsuhiko smoothly tells her she’s a special girl. She inquires about the fish bowl he’s holding and ends up getting tricked. Tsukasa ambushes her with a splash of water. As soon as Tsukasa turns her into a fish, she faints from his …rather teasing gesture to eat her. But he doesn’t.
Nene wakes up in a different set of clothes and tea party snacks in front of her. What a beautiful room I must say. Sakura walks in and she informs Nene that she meant for the boys to be gentle to her when they brought her in.
A misunderstanding occurs and Nene exclaims that Sakura may be Hanako’s girlfriend. Only for her attempt to deny it. We see the playful banter between the two boys, and we see that she actually isn’t.
Nene notices the boy who looks like Hanako-kun and keeps her guard up. She apologizes for her late introduction and introduces herself as Nanamine Sakura. She explains that she is a human girl who has a bond with an apparition in payment for a wish, just like Nene does. The two girls talk over tea.
Nene originally planned to not be taken in by Sakura’s intentions, but Nene couldn’t help it. The sweets and teas were too good. She vents about Hanako-kun and Sakura sympathizes with her about Tsukasa as well.
Tsukasa introduces himself as Amane’s younger twin brother and we see him on his good side…at least for now. Nene is surprised to learn that he’s Hanako-kun’s brother. Tsukasa catches her by surprise by asking if they both smooched already. Nene frantically denies it of course.
Nene thinks to herself and sees that they don’t really seem like bad people. A moment later and Tsukasa signals to Sakura with the ‘stare’, only for her Sakura to look down regrettably. Sakura mentions that neither of them have it easy and are unable to defy their master’s orders, however much they might want to. Nene responded in agreement.
The room turns eerily green and dark. Sakura has her trapped by the mouths of the chair. The room becomes a liquified green dribble. Caught unaware by Sakura’s trap, Nene is panicking. Sakura assures her that she really didn’t want to do this. Tsukasa then explains that he and his brother are polar opposites, so they are rivals or archenemies. In other words, Nene must disappear.
The door closes and we find Natsuhiku being stuck with Nene too? The room continues to sink and she wakes up to find Natsuhiko making an attempt to kiss her. Like a knee jerk reaction, she jumps away and regrets it.
She snaps out of her delusion and remembers he’s friends with bad people. We then see Mokke-san holding onto the radio with Hanako-kun on the line. Hanako-kun deduces that Nene must have gotten tricked again and helps her.
After Nene apologizes, Hanako-kun instructs her to search for doors that she’s familiar with while he utilizes his haku-joudai / wisp to search and rescue her. Each of the doors connect to a different place in a different world. Even different timelines like the future or the past.
Natsuhiko ignores the danger and proceeds to open many doors. It’s all fun and games until he gets dragged off by a weird entity.
The cute Mokke are setting flowers for him. How cute.
Nene listens to the music she recognizes and follows along as a hint to find the right door only to be scared by the terrifying face and abruptly closes it. I ended up jumping too! She decides to follow the Mokke which is actually behind the door.
Nene finally found her way back to the classroom she recognizes. She jumps excitedly until she finds the past Hanako-kun. She inquires about his injury and how painful it looks. Past Hanako-kun mentions it’s nothing only to rub away his tears and runs off. He accidentally drops his key and Nene tries to stop him.
I wonder what those keys lead to? I’m curious.
Hanako-kun finally finds her and swifts her away back to her original world. She falls out of the girl’s bathroom stall. Heh. Hanako-kun catches her and takes notice of her weird clothes. He takes a moment to apologize to her for ruining the donuts the other day and asks for her forgiveness. She nods.
Hanako-kun reverts her back into her normal usual clothes and tells her he likes her better like this. He welcomes her back with a smile. And she smiles back.
Nene takes note of all the times Hanako-kun has saved her and she wishes she could protect Hanako-kun too.
The screen pans off to Tsukasa destroying and making drawings out of tiny apparitions all over the walls. So much blood. Maybe he’s performing a ritual?
Enjoyment: 9 of 10
Nene’s outfit at the tea party is so adorable! I’ve always wanted a tea party, but without the whole trickery. I am honestly not surprised that Nene gets tricked. Although I wish she could go on dating Hanako-kun already so that she doesn’t have to chase after hot guys and apparitions.
Gah! She’s adorably airheaded. From the very beginning, I didn’t want to trust Sakura, Tsukasa, and Natsuhiko. Sakura didn’t seem that bad in the beginning on their first meeting, but then she traps her in that infested grimey green room. There’s many scenarios where things can go wrong and I’m not sure what can happen next.
Tsukasa may be manipulating Sakura and I wonder if there might be a way to have her break free from him. Tsukasa acts innocent just like Hanako-kun, but he’s secretly more sinister than he lets on.
On another note, I’m shipping Hanako-kun x Yashiro Nene. Please. I’m also curious about the key she has clutched in her hand.
If you stick around to the very end of the theme song, we get to see the past Hanako-Kun’s first impressions on Nene and her…fat ankles. The poor girl can’t catch a break from those legs.
What’s Next?
Go watch it on Funimation!
Episode Review List
- Episode 1 – Hanako-san of the Bathroom
- Episode 2 – Yousei-san
- Episode 3 – The Misaki Stairs, Part 1
- Episode 4 – The Misaki Stairs, Part 2
- Episode 5 – The Confession Tree
- Episode 6 – The 4 O’clock Library
- Episode 7 – Donuts
- Episode 8 – Mitsuba
- Episode 9 – Tea Party
- Episode 10 – The Hell Of Mirrors, Part 1
- Episode 11 – The Hell Of Mirrors, Part 2
- Episode 12 – Little Mermaid
- Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun: Final Review
