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The upcoming Winter 2025 anime season is stacked great series. Between long-awaited adaptations likeSakamoto DaysandHoney Lemon Soda, to continuations of popular anime of seasons past likeMy Happy MarriageandApothecary Diaries, anime fans will be busy trying to fit all of these bangers and future anime classics into their watch schedule. However, one such continuation of an older series has been overlooked; the second season ofToilet-Bound Hanako-Kunis premiering early in the season, which will be almost exactly five years after its original season aired.
While die-hard manga fans tend to have conflicting opinions towards the anime’s adaptation, anime-only and the less particular were enamored by the unique adaptation of the manga’s art style and enjoyed the first season when it aired in January 2020. While potentially a symptom of being part ofthe early-pandemic anime boom,Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kunexploded on social media and was boosted by it’s virality to secure a spin-off series,After-School Hanako-Kun.
The Original Season’s Premise
For Those Who Need A Refresher
Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kunfollowed the story of Nene Yashiro, a first-year high-school student who wishes for a boyfriend. Instead of her wish, however, she summons the Seventh and “most famous” Wonder, a spirit that haunts the school bathroom akin to Moaning Myrtle ofHarry Potterfame. Nene Yashiro accidently becomes the spirit’s assistant, and has to help him accomplish his spiritual deeds and change the rumors that alter the spirit’s existence, as words have power, to keep the supernatural balance at the school Nene attends.
“I’ll do it. I want to change back! Please, Hanako-san! Make me human again!!”
The first season primarily covered the first 17 chapters, with a random jump to a plotline a few chapters later, but cut out major important information regarding character development and foreshadowing that upset some fans of the original manga. This is where the spin-off series,After-School Hanako-Kunaimed to combinethe spin-off manga of the same name, while also addressing these missed points to prepare for the eventual second season. It is likely the second season will also cover this information, but it is worth noting for those looking to catch up or rewatchToilet-Bound Hanako-Kuncontent before the second season premieres.
Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun Season 2’s Cast And Other Details
Who Is Returning, Who Is New, And What Is Up?
The second season ofToilet-Bound Hanako-kunwill feature the return of the main cast alongside new additions. Returning cast includes Megumi Ogata (Shinji fromNeon Genesis Evangelion), as Hanako-kun, Akari Kitō (Nezoku fromDemon Slayer) as Nene Yashiro, Shōya Chiba (Taiki Inomata fromBlue Box) as Kō Minamoto, and Minako Satō as Aoi Akane. New cast members include Hōchū Ōtsuka (Jiraiya fromNaruto) as Kako and Rie Kugimiya (Alphonse Elric fromFullmetal AlchemistandFullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood) as Mirai, two of theThree Clock Keeperswho we will cover in the next section.
The second season is directed once again by Yōhei Fukui at Lerche studio, with Yasuhiro Nakanishi returning for series composition and Mayuka Itou for character design. For viewers in the United States and other countries with Crunchyroll access, the first season is currentlyavailable for streaming on Crunchyroll, and it has been confirmed via trailers that it will also be streaming on Crunchyroll again this time around. The first episode will premiere January 11th, exactly five years and one day after the first season premiered. The team has made it very clear that the second season is not the reboot originally rumored last year, but a continuation of the original first season.
What Is Season 2 Covering?
Three Arcs Are Predicted To Be Covered In The Second Season
If we look at how many chapters are covered from the beginning of theToilet-Bound Hanako-Kunmanga translated into the first season of the anime, we can guess roughly the same number of chapters will be transformed into the next season. As the manga goes on, the arcs get longer and more in-depth as the world gets fleshed out,so based on this informationwe predict the second season will cover three arcs; the “Three Clock Keepers Arc,” “Summer Lights Arc,” and “Picture Perfect Arc”. While these are of course, predictions, one of these has already been confirmed in a recent trailer; the Three Clock Keepers can be seen midway through the most recent trailer.
The Three Clock Keepers are the first of the Seven Mysteries. The three members each represent a different aspect of time; one for the past, one for the present, and one for the future. Kako is the clock keeperwho turns back time, and is represented by an elderly man with a long braided beard and an owl mask. Mirai is the clock keeper who turns forward time, and is represented by a little girl with long pig tails. Akane is the clock keeper who represents the present, and was tricked into his role in the form of a 6-year contract by the others, and as a ‘contractor’ can stop time for a few minutes at a time, up to three times a day.
Issues begin to arise in school when time starts skipping forward on people’s lifetimes and students begin to age uncontrollably. to stop this, the gang try to find the fabled Clock Keepers tostop the shenannigans they believe to be caused by them. The catch? The Clock Keepers guard a magical clock present in the school that controls the flow of time throughout it. It is said that if anyone touched the clock without the Clock Keeper’s permission, they would steal the time left in that person’s life.
Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun
Cast
Nene and the ghost of Hanako-kun want to stay out of trouble at Kamome Academy, but shenanigans follow them wherever they go.
