Houkago Shounen Hanako-kun

Hanako and everyone returned for four episodes of short stories culminating in a Halloween-themed episode and it was nice to see everyone again. Each episode had a good mix of silliness and horror. The animation was also the right mix of cute with a touch of creepy. It made me miss the main anime especially since prior knowledge of characters and world is necessarily to really enjoy these shorts.

If you're looking for something that mixes drama and comedy together like in the regular storyline, you'll be disappointed. Everything's a bit lighter and sillier in this anime. If you've never watched or Read Hanako-kun before, ... you'll want to start there before watching this. That said, if you like the source material and you're looking for something short and entertaining to pass some time this is an anime you might enjoy.

On the one hand, I'm surprised that we actually got an adaptation of After School Hanako (ASH). On the other hand, I'm confused about the timing, since nothing of Hanako came in animated form for years and now this appeared just before the release of the second season / remake (?). Although I'm not complaining about that. The adaptation of ASH is actually really well done for such a mini-series. ASH consists of funny little short stories from Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun. Each episode of the anime consists of 2 chapters and therefore 2 stories. They don't give any further in-depth impression of the world or ... the characters, but are rather intended as short laughs. Some of them can even be really funny. I think every TBHK fan can look forward to more animated content. Everyone else doesn't need to watch it.

What can I say other than... it was just okay? It's fine if you've got nothing better to do and want to see a few little extra omake-like bits for the original hanako, but honestly most of the humor was lost on me. Very quick and short little bits that mainly revolve around the little mokke, sometimes a little of something else. All it really did was make me miss the first season and wish for more story again.

Either way. Art is on point. Seeing the characters you miss is great. But you're not missing anything important or all that fun anyways. At least the ... halloween bit made it just a little worthwhile!