Hopewell Valley Student Podcasting Network Show Name: Over-Analyzing AnimeEpisode Title: Analyzing Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kunGreetings, from the void. You are listening to Over-Analyzing Anime, the podcast with your host and certified loser Hannah Pietras.
In this episode of Over-Analyzing Anime the Podcast we discuss: the themes and symbols within the anime Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun or if you're a pleb, in english, Toilet Bound Hanako-kun.
Segment 1: What's it about?Have you heard the rumor? Kamome Academy is home to Seven School Mysterous, one of them being the enigmatic Hanako-san, a spirit that is said to occupy the third stall of the third floor girl's bathroom in the old school building. To summon her, you must knock on the bathroom stall three times and call out if she is there; if you successfully summon her, she'll grant one wish, in exchange for something you hold dear. Despite the warnings, Yashiro Nene, an occult-loving high school girl, knocks on the bathroom door and waits with baited breath for an answer. And an answer she gets, but Hanako-san is nothing like she expects! Hanako-san is actually Hanako-kun! And because of a wish gone wrong, Yashiro becomes Hanako-kun assistant, entangling herself more and more with the world of the supernatural.
Segment 2: InspirationHanako-san Origin: A elementary school girl who was victim of a bombing raid during WW2. Was hiding in a female restroom stall on presumably the third floor. However, some other explanations of her death are that she was an abused child who was driven to suicide, who now haunts the school as a vengful spirit or that she was a fatality to murder. Some also believe her death was an unfortunate accident, like falling out of the school window. Rumor might have its roots in the notoriously poor lighting of elementary school bathrooms.
She can be summoned the same way as within the manga, calling out to you with a "I'm here, or I'm done", but in an innocent, sometimes scared girl's voice as the stall door cracks open a sliver when you ask if she's there or finished(it varies).
Some people say that they have opened the bathroom stall at Hanako-san's confirmation of her presence and have encountered an eight headed lizard, ravenous for human flesh. Children have also said that Hanako-san is a young girl with a scar across her face wearing a old-fashioned red skirt or dress and a bob haircut. Others have claimed they've seen paranormal activity in the bathroom where Hanako-san is said to reside: the random opening and closing of stall doors and the bathroom faucets dripping blood instead of water.
Most people are unsure of Hanako's exact alignment, but most people think that she pulls her victims into the toilet. How exactly you die when you hear Hanako-san's voice also varies. The Yamagata Prefecture says that when you hear Hanako-san's bone-chilling voice, you will die at the talons of a three-headed lizard. Different prefectures believe different things that appear out of the toilet, like a head, a bloody hand, or a large white hand.
According to legends, the only way to...