Manga / Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun

From left to right: Hanako, Nene Yashiro, and Kou Minamoto

"Hanako-san, Hanako-san... are you there?"

This page contains unmarked spoilers!

Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun (Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun) is a Japanese manga series created by the artist-writer duo, Aida Iro. It began serialization in Monthly G Fantasy in 2014.

Like many Japanese schools, Kamome Academy has its Seven Mysteries that are popularized by student rumors. The seventh mystery is Hanako-san of the toilet, the ghost of a girl who died in a bathroom years ago and can grant any wish for a price. Nene Yashiro, a first-year high school girl who desperately wants her senpai to return her feelings, decides to take a chance and summon the mysterious Hanako-san...only to discover that despite the very feminine name, Hanako is actually a boy. Through a turn of events, Nene becomes Hanako's assistant and helps him maintain balance between the human and spirit worlds.

An anime adaptation made by Lerche began airing on January 9th, 2020. A four-episode adaptation to the After-School Hanako-kun spin-off manga aired on Fall 2023. A second season of the anime was announced on November, 2023.

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This work contains examples of:

• Abandoned Playground: In the Picture Perfect arc, after Nene's attempts to escape the false world are foiled by Shijima appearing everywhere, she and Amane find themselves in one of these, where they meet a paintbrush that seems to want to help her…
• Academy of Adventure: The series takes at the high school where Nene and Hanako deal with the supernaturals and The Seven Mysteries in the Pocket Dimensions all over the school.
• Accidental Time Travel: In Chapters 37-38, Nene is hit by a bull in a supernatural Tanabata festival. When she wakes up, she somehow got transported to a human Tanabata festival in 1964 where she meets a child Amane.
• Afterlife Express: After the severance causes the supernaturals to disappear from the human world and the boundaries start to be destroyed, the supernaturals including Hanako and Aoi take a train that will take them to the Far Shore, never to return to the Near Shore. Nene, Kou, Akane and Teru arrive to stop the train before it reaches the Far Shore.
• All Love Is Unrequited: There is Nene with her various crushes on many upperclassmen, particularly Teru, who doesn't see her that way or have rejected her outright. Kou has a crush on Nene, but she only sees him as a friend. Natsuhiko has eyes on Sakura who couldn't care less. Akane is madly in love with his childhood friend Aoi and has even asked her out on a date several times, only to be cheerfully turned down each time. Teru is crushed on by several girls, including Nene and an untamed girl in the first chapter who confessed to him, but he gently turned the latter down as he admits there is someone else he likes. Who that person is (if true) remains unknown.
• Almost Kiss: Akane and Aoi are about to finally kiss near the end of Chapter 69, only for Teru to walk in and interrupt them. Akane is obviously annoyed at the Moment Killer.
• Alone with the Psycho: During the tea party arc, Nene is stuck with Tsukasa, Sakura, and Natushiko. Played with in that the only truly crazy one there is Tsukasa, but the other two still follow his orders.
• Animal Motifs: Sakura likens Hanako to a cat - capricious, selfish and childish. Not surprising, given her frame of reference is his twin brother Tsukasa
• Anywhere but Their Lips: Hanako kisses Nene on the cheek earlier on, though it was more to place a protective spell on her. Later on, Nene returns the sentiment by also kissing Hanako on the cheek to try to cheer him up. And when Nene travels back in time and meets a young Hanako, she kisses him on the forehead.
• Arranged Marriage: After the Clock Keepers change the past to undo the disaster at the school festival, it's revealed that in the new timeline Aoi is engaged to Teru because of an agreement between their families, to Akane's horror.
• Awful Truth: In the Clock Keepers arc, it is revealed that Nene will die in a year, and that Hanako has known this all along but kept it a secret so as not to burden the others with the truth. He intended to have Kou forget this as well through the time reversal, though Kou eventually kept his memories with the help of Akane's abilities.
• Badass Family: Teru, Kou, and their younger sister Tiara are from the Minamoto family, a clan of exorcists that traces back to the legendary Minamoto Yorimtsu.
• Bad People Abuse Animals: Although he was obviously shown to not be a good guy from Hanako's horrified reaction to him, what really cements Tsukasa as someone to be feared is when he guts a talking fish only because he wanted to see what its insides looked like.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: Hanako and Mitsuba's wishes in the Perfect Picture arc.
  • Also seems like a general rule at this school is to never say the words "I wish" if you are a supernatural, because Tsukasa will make you regret your words. Luckily for the living, Hanako is a lot more benevolent with his wish-granting
• Beach Episode: In Chapter 15 of After-school Hanako-kun, Hanako, Nene, and Kou go to a beach located at the boundaries in the school.
• Big Damn Heroes: Hanako seems fond of pulling these a lot, saving Nene from the mokke back when they were dangerous, to saving her from Yako, to saving her and Kou in the 4PM Bookstacks, etc. Subverted in regards to Mitsuba however, as by the time he gets there Tsukasa has already been able to change his rumor.
• The Big Damn Kiss: Nene and Hanako finally get to kiss in Chapter 86.
• Bookcase Passage: Tsuchigomori keeps his yorishiro in a hidden passage behind some bookshelves in the 4PM Bookstacks.
• Boy Meets Ghoul: Gender-inverted. The story starts off when Nene, a human girl, meets Hanako, a ghost. He subsequently loses and finds Nene due to problems with supernaturals — and is expected to lose her for good if her lifespan cannot be changed.
• Breaking Speech: Teru to Hanako. Also Fake Aoi to Nene in the Hell of Mirrors Arc, where Nene sees her in the mirror and is brutally insulted over her ankles.
• Breather Episode: Subverted. After the revelations in the 4PM Bookstacks arc, it seems like there will be one of these the following chapter, where Nene and Kou make donuts for Hanako. But at the end of the chapter, Tsukasa appears for the first time.
• Bridal Carry: Hanako holds Nene like this after he rescues her from the pufferfish.
• Broken Pedestal: Kou starts doubting his brother Teru's methods of exorcism after he finally sees Teru's look of hate towards supernaturals in the Young Exorcist Arc, when Teru arrives to exorcise Hanako.
• Broken Tears: Kou weeps these after Hanako is forced to perform a mercy kill on Mitsuba. Later on, in the Picture Perfect arc, Hanako cries these after confessing his deepest wish is for Nene to keep living.
• Caught in the Rain: In Chapter 93, Hakubo and Sumire are looking for Nene and it suddenly starts raining. They find shelter at a cave where Hakubo kisses Sumire... and then starts devouring her alive.
• Caught the Heart on His Sleeve:
  • Nene grabs Hanako's jacket with her fingers when she decides to call him "Hanako-kun" so they start becoming friends.
  • In Chapter 38, a young Amane grabs the sleeve of Nene's kimono when she says she's going to return to her own time.
• Chekhov's Gun: In the first chapter, the pouch with the mermaid scales can be seen falling out of Hanako's pocket when he is searching for the kokeshi doll. Nene later picks it up and swallows one, eventually kickstarting the plot of the series with her as Hanako's assistant.
• Cherry Blossoms: Featured outside the classroom window in the flashbacks to when Mitsuba and Kou first met on at the start of school, as the academic year in Japan begins in spring.
• Childhood Friend Romance: Aoi and Akane have been friends and neighbors since they were toddlers. Akane has a big crush on Aoi and Aoi reciprocates, but there are several issues that keep her from being his girlfriend.
• Children Do the Housework: Kou does all the housework at the Minamoto household, despite being a middle school student. This is because his mother died when he was very young, his father and older brother work as exorcists 24/7, and his little sister is only five years old.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: Supernaturals gain strength from belief in their rumours among the Kamome Academy student body, to the extent that their existences are directly affected by changing rumours. Tsukasa's group has used this phenomenon to change supernaturals such as the Mokke, Yako and Mitsuba, though it can also occur unintentionally (as in Shijima's case).
• Comic-Book Time: All the events of the Picture Perfect Arc seem to occur within one day, despite spanning multiple chapters. Justified In-Universe as it all occurs within a fake world, where everything is under Shijima's control including the passing of time.
• Compressed Adaptation: The 12-Episode Anime adaptation took content from the manga up to Volume 7. The Young Exorcist, The Three Clock Keepers and Searching arcs were cut because there was not enough episodes to cover them before reaching The Hell of Mirrors arc.
• Crush Blush: Nene blushes these a lot in the early chapters, over whatever hot guy has caught her eye this time. Hanako also begins to sport these around her, and they increase as the story goes on.
• Cry into Chest: After being misled that Hanako was confessing to her, Nene breaks into tears as she did want a boy to confess to her just one time. Hanako genuinely didn't mean to make her cry so he embraces her and allows her to cry into his chest.
• Damsel in Distress: Nene lampshades how she always needs Hanako to save her several times. But this is also subverted often. Many times Hanako would be unable to save her if she didn't help in some way, and in the Picture Perfect arc the reason they ultimately escape is because she's the one who is able to convince Hanako to let them go.
• A Day in the Limelight: The Young Exorcist arc is focused on Kou and his developing friendship with Hanako. To a lesser extent, the Mitsuba arc could be considered this for him, as Hanako and Nene aren't the main focus.
• Demonic Possession: Hanako possesses Nene in the first half of the Clock Keepers Arc to question Aoi about what she keeps trying to tell Nene.
• Dirty Business: Hanako letting the fake world form and keeping Yashiro in it, with the intention of letting her live in this fake world to keep her alive.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Yako when she was under the influence of the rumours. Dozens of students got turned into dolls for failing to assemble a body for Misaki. Luckily, they got better.
• "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune: The ending theme "Tiny Light" is sung by Akari Kitou, who voices Nene.
• Dramatic Irony: After chapter 27, almost everyone knows about Nene's short lifespan...except for her.
• Driving Question:
  • Why did Hanako kill Tsukasa, his younger twin brother?
  • What will cause Nene to lose her life in one year?
  • How will the cast prevent Nene from dying in a year when it's supposedly pre-determined?
• Early-Bird Cameo: Tsukasa appears briefly at the end of episode 5, before the 4 PM Bookstacks arc even.
• Easily Forgiven: Yako is forgiven quickly despite all the life-threatening situations they had put Nene and Kou through and how they had kidnapped and basically tore apart their fellow classmates. Though the classmates were eventually returned to normal without any further harm and Yako was not entirely themselves.
• Elevator School: Kamome Academy has middle school and high school divisions.
• Entertainingly Wrong: After their first meeting in the library, Nene comes to the conclusion that Sakura is Hanako's girlfriend. Nene later blurts this out when she meets Sakura again in the Tea Party Arc, to hilarious reactions from both Tsukasa and Natsuhiko.
• Everyone Can See It: Everybody can tell that Hanako has feelings for Nene. Even Kou seems to have picked up on it at least a little bit. Akane even uses this to his advantage when Hanako is giving him a hard time about helping him rescue Aoi from the sixth mystery.
• Evil Costume Switch: When Tsukasa first appears in front of Hanako and Nene, he's wearing an identical uniform to Hanako's, before it transforms back to an older uniform when he returns to the broadcasting room. As Sakura notes, he does not usually wear the newer uniform, and only made an exception to match with his twin brother for their first meeting.
• Evil Tower of Ominousness: The 4th School Mystery, Shijima's residence in the fake world is an impossibly-shaped atelier tower near the school.
• Evil Twin: Played straight with Hanako and Tsukasa. Subverted with Mei and Shijima since Shijima is the ideal version of herself Mei dreamed up and Shijima's true intentions are revealed to be benign.
• False Utopia: The fake world in the Picture Perfect Arc. Amane and Mitsuba both seem to be alive and are leading normal lives as Nene's and Kou's classmates... in a world where their fellow students can crumble apart like statues, and somehow everyone but Nene and Kou considers this normal because they'll recover in a while.
• Family Theme Naming: The Minamoto brothers. Kou's name means "light", and Teru's name means "sparkle".
• Festival Episode: Chapter 37 is about Nene, Hanako, and Kou going to a Tanabata festival made by supernaturals within the boundaries in the school.
• Fireworks of Love: In Chapter 38, after getting sent to the past, Nene goes to a Tanabata festival with a younger Hanako/Amane and watches the fireworks with him. Before returning to the present, Nene gives him a forehead kiss, with fireworks going off in the background.
• First-Name Basis: Used to dramatic effect in the Picture Perfect Arc, where Amane goes from addressing Nene as "Yashiro-san" to just "Yashiro", essentially implying that he's been Hanako all along.
• Flashback: Nene sees memories associated with the yorishiro each time she destroys one. Some other scenes are also shown in flashback, such as a younger Kou watching eight-year-old Teru exorcise a supernatural with the sword.
• Forced Sleep: Nene is put to sleep twice by being poked in the forehead, by Tsukasa in the Tea Party arc, and by Hanako in the Picture Perfect arc.
• Foreshadowing: Tsukasa wears the same seal as the Yorishiros since his introduction. Yorishiros are said to be the most important things in Number's life, and Hanako repeatedly shows that the topic of Tsukasa's death is painful to him. Yorishiros also don't have to be inanimate objects, as shown with Sumire. Chapter 95 spells it out.
• Four Is Death: Some of the school mysteries contain the number 4 as a mystical sign or warning. The most obvious is the second mystery that says you mustn't step on the fourth stair of the Misaki stairs or you'll be dragged to the underground and chopped into pieces.
• Friendless Background: Mitsuba was bullied in elementary school, so upon entering middle school he hid his real self in order to make friends. However, this backfired and led to him being forgettable and unnoticed by everyone.
• From Dress to Dressing: In Chapter 69, Aoi rips off some of her kimono's skirt to put bandages on an injured Akane.
• Go Through Me: Nene does this several times throwing herself in front of Hanako or Kou to protect them from certain individuals.
• Gory Discretion Shot: When Tsukasa kills and dissects the talking pufferfish with a pencil and again when he murders Number 3.
• Harsh Word Impact: In chapter 113, when Aoi reveals that she's engaged to Teru because of an Arranged Marriage, the kanji literally hit Akane and knock him down.
• Has a Type: Nene prefers handsome, prince-looking guys.
• Haunted House: The town has a place called "The Red House" where it's said four people committed suicide 50 years ago. It's also said anyone who goes inside winds up dead and many demolition workers died when trying to tear down the house.
• Headbutt of Love: In the flashback of Chapter 89, Sumire asks her "husband" to spend the night with her like real married couples do. He agrees and pushes her down on the bed... To give her a headbutt and then leaves the room.
• I Ate WHAT?!: Teru adds pieces of oni's hand to a pizza and feeds it to Nene, Akane and Kou before investigating the Red House's well. The three got very disturbed.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Chapter numbers are always written as "The _th Spook". In the spinoff, this becomes "The _th Day".
• Idiot Ball: Kou to a certain extent in the first Mitsuba Arc, since he fails to recognize his ex-classmate until Yako reminds him about Mitsuba. Justified In-Universe by the fact that Mitsuba's personality as a ghost is very different from how he acted as a human.
• Inner Monologue: Played straight at least once for Nene, complete with hand puppets of her and Hanako.
• Instant Sedation: Nene is knocked instantly unconscious twice by Tsukasa and Hanako respectively, by touching her forehead.
• Intertwined Fingers: Hanako does this to Nene in the very first episode/chapter when solidifying their bond.
• Interspecies Romance:
  • Yako, the Second Mystery (kitsune) was in love with Misaki (human).
  • Sumire (human) was in love with the Sixth Mystery (supernatural demon).
• Intimate Hair Brushing: Hanako, along with some Mokke, starts combing and braiding with Nene's hair after the Hell of Mirrors arc while she was in class. Nene muses that Hanako was worried about her when she had been pulled into the mirror boundary. Though it is immediately Played for Laughs that Hanako did up her hair in a ridiculous cone-shaped style.
• Intimate Haircut: Yako used to let the teacher Misaki cut her hair. Her diary describes this as one of her fondest memories.
• Intimate Healing: Played with. After the Misaki arc, Nene is quite exhausted so Hanako kisses her on the cheek as "a magic spell to make you feel better". Turns out he did that to place a protective spell on her. However, when Hanako was depressed with the knowledge that Nene would die within a year, Nene decides to kiss him on the cheek to cheer him up and echoes him by telling him that it's "a magic spell to make you feel better".
• Involuntary Shapeshifting: Whenever Nene is touched by water, she starts to develop mermaid scales on where her skin comes in contact with water, due to her swallowing the mermaid scale. If she is completely submerged or drenched in water, she transforms into a tiny fish.
• Kissing Discretion Shot: Hanako and Nene share their first kiss in Chapter 86, but the "camera" cuts away right before their lips meet.
• Lost in Translation: The Japanese title Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun is a play on jibakurei - a ghost bound to a specific physical location. The English title changes it to Toilet-Bound Hanako-kun because Hanako's haunting place is the school's girls' bathroom.
• Love Makes You Evil: Played with. Hanako's desire for Nene to keep on living drives him to become the ultimate antagonist in the Picture Perfect Arc, refusing to let Nene and the others return to the real world until Nene persuades him otherwise.
• Love Triangle:
  • Hanako and Kou are both attracted to Nene. Nene eventually admits to being in love with Hanako and gets The Big Damn Kiss with him, while Kou's crush on Nene is heavily downplayed in later chapters in favour of his relationship with Mitsuba.
  • In later chapters, there is one between Aoi, Akane, and Teru: Aoi and Akane like each other, and Teru claims to have a crush on Aoi, presumably to irritate Akane. (He does display genuine interest in Aoi, but it is unclear if his interest is romantic in nature.)
• Lured into a Trap: In Chapter 98, Kou and Mitsuba are lured into an aquarium that's open late at night. After having some fun, they realize the entire place is a trap when the fishes turn into supernatural monsters.
• Magical Library: The fifth mystery is the 4PM Bookstacks, a hidden part of the school library only accessible at 4 pm. It keeps the profiles of every student from their enrollment to graduation, describing every little thing they do. The white books are about the living students and the black books are about the deceased students. Some books contain red pages describing future events, reading them summons a guardian that attacks the offender.
• The Maiden Name Debate: This is why Nene's friend Aoi Akane keeps turning down her Hopeless Suitor, Akane Aoi; not only do their names already sound extremely similar, but if they got married, she'd be Aoi Aoi.
• Malicious Slander:
  • The main villain Tsukasa and his assistant Sakura spread rumors through the school radio about Kamome Academy's supernaturals being more aggressive or dangerous than they really are.
  • After Shijima died from an illness soon after completing a painting despite doctors' protests, the rumors of her death became increasingly exaggerated, making it sound like she killed herself and still draws in the art club room.
• Master of the Mixed Message: In the beginning, Hanako often flirts and makes suggestive comments towards Nene, even kissing her on the cheek earlier on, making her think that he was going to confess to her. Her hopes were dashed in the Confession Tree chapter when he does "confess" to her, just to lure out the apparition. But afterward, Hanako genuinely apologized for leading her on and hugs her.
• Mayfly–December Romance: Hanako and Nene. He's the ghost of a boy who died sometime in the 60s, while she's a human girl who has barely a year left to live.
• Misery Trigger: Any time someone comments on Nene's thick legs or compares them to radishes.
• Missing Mom: Kou's, Teru's, and Tiara's mom died due to her health declining after giving birth to Tiara.
• Mood Whiplash: The series can go from comedic to sweet to downright frightening and back again within a single chapter. A good example is the entirety of the Mitsuba arc, where it starts off humorously with Kou trying to help a loud-mouth spirit, to them becoming friends, and then Tsukasa appears and not only changes Mitsuba's rumor, he ends up getting Hanako to perform a mercy kill on him.
• My Greatest Failure: Tsuchigomori was a teacher to a young Hanako/Amane who was being abused frequently by someone but refused to say who, leaving Tsuchigomori little to do but patch him up every time. There was a brief moment where Hanako stepped on top of an open window and Tsuchigomori panics, thinking the former was Driven to Suicide. And in the end, Hanako's life was tragically cut short when it shouldn't have been. Hanako's death still affects Tsuchigomori in the present time.
• Nightmare Face: Tsukasa is prone to these. Those floating, pitch-black eyes...
• No Sense of Personal Space: Hanako loves to get close to Nene. With darker connotations, his twin brother Tsukasa does this too to others, in particular, Hanako and Sakura.
• Not a Date: In Chapter 98, Mitsuba suddenly asks Kou to hang out with him for a night, but neither of them has any idea of where to go at such a late hour. Kou makes a group chat to ask Nene, Aoi, Akane, and Teru of a place to go on a night out, but he gets annoyed when they all end up thinking he's going on a date. After having lots of fun with Mitsuba at an aquarium, Kou seems to realize their outing might be feeling like a date after all.
• Opening Narration: Nene makes a narration at the start of certain chapters.
• One-Steve Limit: An interesting case; there's a character named Aoi Akane and another character named Akane Aoi, though their names are written in different kanji. It's even lampshaded since Akane is in love with Aoi, but she refuses him because if she married him she'd be known as Aoi Aoi.
• Or Was It a Dream?: In Chapter 38, Nene finds herself in 1964 after getting hit by a bull in the supernatural Tanabata festival. In the past, she meets with a child Amane. To return to the present, Nene lets herself get hit by the bull procession of the festival again. She then wakes up with Hanako and Kou watching over her and they say she was unconscious since the bull sent her flying. Nene thinks her travel to the past and her meeting with the little Amane was a dream, but we then see the little Amane hanging on the bamboo the paper where he wrote his wish: to meet Nene again someday.
• Order Versus Chaos: Hanako and Tsukasa. As part of the Seven Mysteries, it is Hanako's duty to rein in the school's supernaturals and eliminate those who may harm students, while Tsukasa does the complete opposite, believing that supernaturals should be free to do as they wish.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Hanako, Mitsuba, and Tsukasa look and act the same as they did in life, except they're vaguely transparent. Only humans connected to the supernatural can see them. They retain their human feelings and emotions, but they can lose them if their rumors get changed and make them more monstrous, as what Tsukasa does to Mitsuba.
• Our Mermaids Are Different: When Hanako first explains the mermaid scales to Nene, there is the image of a typical beautiful mermaid... which looks nothing like the mermaid who eventually turns up to collect Nene as her slave.
• Our Zombies Are Different: In the Mokke of the Dead Chapter, almost the entire school population (whether supernatural or human) are turned into candy-obsessed zombies.
• Parental Abandonment: Despite a majority of the cast being minors of schooling age, their parents are almost never mentioned in the manga, with the minor exception of Aoi's mother who Nene called during the Misaki Stairs Arc. Only Nene's and Mitsuba's school entrance photos have adults in them (presumably older relatives, though their faces are scrawled over and not visible), and Nene appears to live alone in an apartment. In Chapter 13 of the spinoff, Tiara (Kou and Teru's younger sister) states that their father is working and their mother is not around.
• Piggyback Cute: At the end of Chapter 100, Kou gives Mitsuba a piggyback ride, since the latter's foot got injured in the battle earlier in the chapter.
• Please Wake Up: A variation occurs with Yako. As a stone fox statue, she did not understand the concept of death and when she first heard the news that Misaki died, she wondered what it meant and mused she would ask the latter the next time they came by. After a long time, Yako figured out what it means "to die".
• Point of Divergence: After Tsukasa and his minions unleash supernaturals on the school festival and destroy the school's clock, the Clock Keepers decide to fix everything by changing the timeline into one where Amane and Tsukasa never became Hanako and his Yorishiro. In this new timeline, Amane grew up to become a teacher, people like Sousuke Mitsuba and Mei Shijima didn't die either, and the school festival isn't attacked by supernaturals. However, Nene didn't have her adventures with Hanako and Kou, and now Tsukasa is a school mystery.
• Previously on…: Some chapters begin with a brief recap narrated by Nene, which serves to refresh readers' memories given the month-long gap between new chapters.
• Rapid Aging: Happens to both items and students touched by Mirai in the Clock Keepers Arc, until Kako later reverses it throughout the whole school.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Kou is actually a very good cook and is the one to do all the housework.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Minamoto Teru dishes one out to Hanako in chapter 10. Nene also gives one to Yako in the Misaki Stairs Arc, pointing out that Yako has been doing this all along for her own sake rather than Misaki's.
  Teru: [to Hanako] A trouble-some ghost that goes unstable at the drop of a hat... and harms the living at the slightest provocation. Self-serving and violent... You took life from another... and yet you cling stubbornly to the near shore and refuse to accept your own death. To be perfectly honest... It's painful to look at.
• Rescued from the Underworld: Akane and Aoi fall into the Far Shore. Teru appears to bring them back to the world of the living, but only Akane can return because Aoi has no supernatural powers and therefore already "died" when she arrived at the Far Shore. Akane refuses to give up on Aoi and asks Nene's help to bring Aoi back.
• Ret-Gone: Every human who is transported to the Boundary of the The Misaki Stairs has all traces of their existence erased and everyone (except those connected to the supernatural) forgets about them.
• The Reveal:
  • At the end of Chapter 17, Hanako reveals to Yashiro that the person he killed was his brother, Tsukasa.
  • Chapter 27: Nene is going to die within a year; Hanako has known this the whole time, but did not say anything so as to not burden the others with the truth.
• Ripple-Effect-Proof Memory: After the Clock Keepers alter the timeline so Amane Yugi never became Hanako, only Nene, Akane and Teru still remember the original timeline right after they're transferred to the new timeline. However, Akane says they're going to lose their memories as well after three days.
• Role Called: The title refers to the male lead Hanako who is a ghost bound to the school's restroom.
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Played with. Mitsuba tries this when Tsukasa forces him to fight Kou, Hanako, and Nene in the Hell of Mirrors. Unfortunately for him, he's too scared of Tsukasa to actually go through with it.
• The Seven Mysteries: The series has this trope in spades, with the seven mysteries of the school being like a league of supernaturals that try to keep a balance within the grounds. Hanako himself is the 7th Mystery and happens to be the leader of the group, though he easily admits that there may be a traitor within the group.
• She Cleans Up Nicely: Both Hanako and Kou are struck silent when they see Nene dressed up in a yukata.
• She Is All Grown Up: A gender-flipped version where Mirai, the Clock Keeper who can cause time to go forward, hits Kou with one of her spells, causing him to age a few years older. Everyone is surprised to see he resembles his handsome older brother Teru a lot. Nene blushes and tells him to stay away from her as she fears she might start liking him.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: Hilariously inverted, with Sakura having to proclaim that she is not Hanako's girlfriend. Played straight with Nene in the No 6 arc, where she insists to Aoi that Hanako is NOT her crush and to Sumire that she is NOT "Gon's" lover...she didn't manage to convince anyone
• Shipper on Deck: In the Picture Perfect arc, it seems the entire class is this for Nene and Amane, whispering excitedly as he asks her out on a date.
• Ship Tease: Nene and Hanako, so so SO much. Hanako flirts with her a lot, and even after toning it down when he realised he was leading her on he blushes an awful lot because of her. As for Nene, despite her denying he's her type, she did admit in Confession Tree arc that he can be cool and readily accepted the possibility of going out with him. In the Picture Perfect arc, Hanako disguised as Amane in the false world, even asks her out on a date. She even says "The person I like isn't here," meaning Hanako. In the Study Camp Arc, she's asked if Hanako is her crush and her lover, in that order, the latter by a complete stranger
• Shout-Out:
  • The guy Nene confessed to in episode one looks a lot like Shinji Matou. Same smarmy attitude too.
  • During the Tea Party Arc, there is a door in the boundary showing a skeleton giving a thumbs up in a pool of lava while saying, "I'll be back..."
• Sibling Murder: Sometime in the past, Hanako murdered Tsukasa, his younger twin brother.
• Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: Nene's crush on Teru is mostly due to the fact that he's a popular upperclassman who also happens to be the Student Council President.
• Skewed Priorities: During the Misaki Stairs arc, when the trio was supposed to be finding Misaki's arm before time runs out to be able to find Aoi and the other missing students, Hanako proceeds to find some female magazines to tease the hell out of Kou. Meanwhile, Nene finds an ultra-padded bra and wears it for fun.
• Slasher Smile: During his more unstable moments, Hanako sometimes smiles these. Tsukasa does this much more frequently.
• Sleep Cute: At the end of the Hell of Mirrors arc, there is a shot of Hanako, Nene, and Kou all sleeping next to each other.
• Spared by the Adaptation: A minor case. Since "The Little Mermaid" arc is moved to the last episode rather than directly after the "Donuts" arc, the talking pufferfish avoids getting gutted by Tsukasa.
• Spooky Painting: When Nene and Kou visit the mysterious tower at the picture world, there's a painting of the fourth school mystery Shijima that opens its eyes and stares at Nene and Kou as they pass by.
• Stairway to Heaven: The copy of Shijima's human self goes to the painting's exit through glass stairs into the clouds, knowing that she can't live if she goes outside.
• Stargazing Scene: In Chapter 46, Nene and Hanako sit together at the school roof at night and watch the stars while Hanako tells Nene about the stars of the Scorpius constellation.
• Stock Animal Diet: Subverted with Tsuchigomori, the spider apparition. Kou brings him lots of insects to try to bribe him to tell him how to prevent Nene's upcoming death, but Tsuchigomori is disgusted by bugs in general.
• Theme Naming: Multiple instances. Akane and Aoi's names sound like "red" and "blue". Mitsuba and Shijima have the kanji for "three" and "four" in their names (and are the No.3 and No.4 School Mysteries). Yashiro Nene and Nanamine Sakura also have "eight" and "seven" in their names. Two of the Clock Keepers are named Kako and Mirai (literally "past" and "future"), though this is justified in-universe as they were named by Akane.
• Temporal Paradox: Implied. In the Star Festival mini-arc, Nene is brought to a supernatural festival by Hanako and accidentally travels to the past, meeting a young Amane. Nene initially approaches Amane for his festival slip, the last one she needed to make her wish to go back to her own time. By the end of their conversation, Nene decides to give her slips to Amane instead so that he can make his wish come true. While Nene manages to go back to her own time, Amane makes his wish: I hope that I can meet Nene-oneesan again. Rumor has it that a wish made with these slips will always come true, thus a paradox where Nene traveling back in time because of Hanako somehow leads to Amane becoming Hanako and meeting Nene.
• Through His Stomach: Both Nene and Kou make donuts for Hanako after finding out that is his favourite food.
• Time Travel: On two occasions, both times with Nene traveling to the past and seeing/interacting with Amane.
• Time-Travel Romance: A young Amane meets Nene at a festival after she got magically transported back in time. He develops a crush on her, meaning that Nene was already Hanako/Amane's First Love before she met him in the present.
• Toilet Horror: Subverted. Amane's rumor comes from the Hanako-san urban legend, yet Nene at worst experiences a Jump Scare.
• Two Guys and a Girl: The three main characters are two boys (Hanako and Kou) and the girl they both have a crush on (Nene).
• Unexplained Recovery: The effects of most supernatural occurrences are eventually reversed, most notably the students turned into dolls at the Misaki Stairs, and the Rapid Aging in the Clock Keepers arc. Averted hard with Mitsuba, to Kou's dismay.
• Wager Slave: In Chapter 100, Kou and Mitsuba must destroy all the fish monsters at a supernatural aquarium. Mitsuba offers a bet where the winner kills the most fishes and the loser must do whatever the winner says. Mitsuba planned to order Kou to exorcise him if he won, but Kou ends up winning and his order is for Mitsuba to go with him to the School Festival.
• Wham Episode: Chapters 16 and 17, in which Tsukasa appears for the first time, and things begin to get much darker. Also chapter 27, in which Nene's short lifespan is revealed.
• World of Technicolor Hair: Quite a few characters have unusual hair colors that nobody ever comments on; main heroine Nene has silver hair with green tips, and other characters have blue, green and pink hair.
• Would Hit a Girl: Just because the Misaki Stairs is a woman, doesn't mean Hanako and Kou aren't willing to fight her. Played with in regards to Tsukasa; although he says you should be nice to girls, it could be a case of Blue-and-Orange Morality, as he basically attempted to have Nene killed in the Tea Party arc.
• You Can't Fight Fate: Both Hanako and Tsuchigomori have pointed out to Kou that no matter how hard he tries or want things to change, he cannot stop Nene from dying within the year, as it was predestined from the moment they were born and there are things in the world that cannot be changed.
• You're Not My Type: Nene insists repeatedly that Hanako is not her type. Though she became very excited at the possibility of him confessing to her.
• Zombie Apocalypse: Parodied in the "Mokke of the Dead" Chapter where supernaturals and humans in the Kamome Academy become "candy zombies" because Teru brought a Mokke infected with The Virus to school. This can be cured with salty water.

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