Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun

It’s bold to try and balance tense and dramatic scenes with comedic ones. It could easily backfire and make a show less than engaging. With that said, here we have Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun, to showcase the worst outcome of this very problem. A perfect example of how not to do tonal shifts.

It’s presented as a fun, light-hearted adventure. Yet it also chooses to delve into topics such as loneliness and death. Doing so in a tonally much grimmer and dismal way. That is until it remembers that it set itself up as a comedy first and foremost and throws in some of its titular ... slapstick humor in the mix for good measure. The humor doesn't serve to build on the characters, it’s there just for the sake of it. It’s this forced humor that pulls one out of any potential engagement, in service of a cheap laugh. And if the show itself treats its heavier subject matters like a joke, then why shouldn't the viewer? It's a shame because the show has some genuinely good qualities to it.

The artwork for one is absolutely gorgeous. Beautifully detailed backgrounds filled with a warm color palette emits a feeling of comfort and excitement. The character designs are fun and distinct, and come to life thanks to the voice acting. Whoever decided to let Megumi Ogata voice Hanako deserves a raise. He's a fun character to watch which is amplified immensely by Ogata's acting. The other cast members also delivered a solid performance and seemed to have fun with their roles.

Hanako himself was another saving grace that made the show much more watchable. But I grieve over the fact that they only scratched the surface of his character. Giving the show more time to flesh him out could've been very engaging. Sadly a lot of the focus was shifted towards other characters like Nene and Kou instead, who frankly shouldn’t have been main characters at all. Their effect on the story is rather minuscule as Nene's existence revolves around being the person who gets all the exposition dumps, as well as a damsel in distress for white knight Hanako to rescue. Kou's purpose is even smaller as he's often just one of many comic relief characters. They did set a character arc in motion for him which sadly didn't lead anywhere. With this in mind I think that they should've been taken out of the spotlight to instead shine brighter on other characters, like Hanako. The show could've been more focused and serious by doing that which I think would've been beneficial to the show overall.

The animation was also a letdown as it’s basically nonexistent most of the time. Still shots take up the majority of each episode, and when it doesn’t it’s quite stiff and lifeless. It doesn’t take away how good the show still looks otherwise, slightly on par with the manga I would presume. I do however think it's unjustified to make an adaptation if the animation is only as good as the comic it’s based on.

It’s a shame to see a show with a lot of potential ultimately throw it away when the goal was right open. Nevertheless it did have gorgeous art and solid performances to back it up somewhat, and there were a few jokes that admittedly worked fine. Still, it’s not enough to make this worth recommending. Though it seems to be enjoyed by many despite its shortcomings. So give it a go if you want, but I’d recommend you flush that thought away.

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun created high expectations at the start of the Winter 2020 anime season, and didn't deliver. Instead what we got was a dry, formulaic show with little characterization and even less animation.

To start with, the most immediately eye-catching thing about this show when scrolling through seasonals is the art style. Mayuka Itou and the rest of the staff clearly faced a decision when trying to adapt the extremely detailed source material: simplify the designs so that they're easier to animate, or stick to the level of detail of the original manga. Unfortunately, they chose the latter. While it's interesting to see a show ... where every individual frame is so detailed it could be a desktop wallpaper, it comes at the cost of actual animation. Simply put: the characters barely move. The show is so stiff to look at that it makes me wonder why someone wouldn't just go read the manga.

The problems don't end with the animation. The story is a bland Monogatari-series style haunted-school affair, although where Monogatari was creative and had interesting characters, Jibaku has none of those. Our main antagonists are causing supernatural shenanigans, but their motivations for doing so are never clearly stated. Characters are flat and impossible to imagine existing outside the world of the show. The tone of the show also fluctuates constantly; it's like the show doesn't know if it wants to be creepy, funny, or dramatic, so it tries to be all three, sometimes within a single scene. This mish-mash of emotions makes the show come off as tone-deaf. Each episode follows a very repetitive formula: Nene gets into trouble with a ghost, Hanako saves her, repeat. The only real props I can give are to the voice acting. Megumi Ogata (Shinji Ikari from Evangelion) brings her buttery voice to give a fantastic performance as Hanako.

Overall, if the premise of Jibaku seems interesting, maybe read the manga. As it stands, this is an anime safe to skip.

Unfortunately, I did not like the story, as it revolves in a school, and the drawing is as bad as a colorful manga, but it is animated only and has no added sounds.
In the upcoming season, I hope to improve a good drawing, because the reality of bad and bad is bad.
I know that my comment will not be read by an author, producer or director. Unfortunately, this is a bad feeling. It is worse for you to do such a pathetic anime.
The vixen character is pretty and she is a girl in a traditional Japanese robe.

So I'm writing this review waay too late and as a longtime fan of the manga. When this anime was first announced I was super hyped, the manga was pretty underrated and I already really enjoyed the story of JSHK anyway. To say that this anime disappointed me would be an understatement. They honestly could've done so much more with the material they already had.

The anime was 12 episodes long and covers the first few chapters of JSHK, the thing about this is that the first few chapters aren't really that driven by any plot at all. It started to even out when Mitsuba was ... introduced but that was way too late in the series to really make an impact on the watchers. If I only watched the anime for JSHK I honestly don't think i would be invested enough in the series to make this review lol. They should've cut some stuff out because honestly this anime is just moving manga without Aida's amazing artwork.

This brings me to the moving manga part because honestly the animation sucked. There's really no other way to put it. The animation was just moving stills most of the time and it was AWFUL. The "fight scene" in episode 1 with the mermaid is a warning for the garbage pile of animation that this show had to offer. The colors were also pretty blegh, like if you compare them to the colors used in the actual manga they're two very different color schemes. The best way I could describe the color palette in this anime is that everything seems majorly oversaturated.

If you're super hyped about watching this series, please just don't. The manga is miles better in every regard and you'll be able to enjoy the series loads more if you just read the first few chapters of the manga instead.

As much as I enjoyed the artstyle I would say this series is pretty average and doesn't really present anything original. The fight scenes were anticlimactic because of the animation style, and for me personally it was hard to get emotionally invested in any of the characters since the show either presented the characters backgrounds, personalities and lives too fast or too slow. Like with Mitsuba. It just killed any form of emotional reaction to anything that happened in the show.

This is however just the first season. I haven't read the manga so if the characters show more substance in the future maybe I'll give ... it a go.

As of right now the anime was just... Plain

i thought this anime was horrendous, but before i slander it i think that i should at least put some things i enjoyed about it:
- the art was unique
- there were many interesting side characters
- it is comedic at times
(thats it)
nene, the female lead was one of the worst i've seen of the last few years. she is completly reliant on hanako-kun. whenever they get into danger, nene gets into danger and just as shes going to die hanako comes and saves her as his damsel in distress. it happens in every episode. nene shows no desire to grow stronger. ... her only characteristic is being attracted to hanako kun.

the writing is much good either; like i said that same plot repeats every episode, but the author also doesn't seem to understand what she wants her work to be. it switches between a comedy, romance, action, and drama too quickly. its very poorly written.

well i started to enjoy the show 4 episodes into airing so i stared the manga.
i returned to the show to find myself disappointed with the lack of animations in some ares it was like at times they really tried but then at others they just gave up.
i'm my opinion the story line is very unique but the animation of the show just doesn't add up. i'm now one who dislikes different animation its just that i felt they hadn't tried very hard at all this the anime.
i would suggest reading the manga tho.

the characters are really unique and all the backstory ... to each one are very well thought out. and the story-line ans setting is magnificent. all id say is the animation disappointing.

I was kind of disappointed in this anime. I heard great things about it but when I watched the show it felt... flat almost? And not because of the art style haha.
There wasn't nearly as much comical value as viewers claimed, points of supposed humor were almost ribald, less in speech and more in actions. I found the main female character stereotypical and annoying, a damsel in distress too common in the anime scene. It would have been more bearable if it were actually humorous, but it really wasn't, so I wish they had gone deeper with character and plot.

this is my first reveiw coming from a middle schooler lol. so i tried to like this show i really tried to like this show but i just couldnt the characters annoy me and the community is complete garbage the only thing i personaly think this show is good at is the art i really really enjoy looking at it i think its just me but the story dosent really make much sense its all over the place. i just personally just really dont like the show if you like the show thats fine i just wanted to say all of this ... in some way

Very boring. Honest to god, I yawned at least once every episode. Given the very boring story and characters, the art and music was surprisingly good. It’s nothing special AT ALL. Not worth a watch, and I wish I could have my wasted time back. Pathetic to say the least. Way too overhyped in my personal opinion. Not worth the watch, unless you’ve read the manga. Even then, you’ve wasted even more time on this weak story.

For some reason it requires a longer review. I have nothing more to say. I was bored out of my mind. So let me reiterate.

Very boring. Honest ... to god, I yawned at least once every episode. Given the very boring story and characters, the art and music was surprisingly good. It’s nothing special AT ALL. Not worth a watch, and I wish I could have my wasted time back. Pathetic to say the least. Way too overhyped in my personal opinion. Not worth the watch, unless you’ve read the manga. Even then, you’ve wasted even more time on this weak story.