First off, what's wrong with Handa-kun? Lots of things, when you compare it to Barakamon. While the previous series allowed us to experience Handa's journey as he discovered different aspects of himself and his work in a very comedic and inspiring way, Handa-kun imply reminds us in each and every episode that Handa is incredibly insecure, overly anxious, and surrounded by idiotic Handa-worshipers who read into everything way too much and, in their pursuit of making Handa happy, actually make him pretty miserable.
Putting that aside, Handa-kun will make you laugh, or at least chuckle. It was easier for me to enjoy this series after I told myself this isn't meant to be like Barakamon, it's just a ridiculous high school slice of life comedy that's supposed to show the ridiculous antics of Handa's class mates and how their over enthusiasm affects Handa.
There is no development until the last episode, and I can't even call it development, it was more like someone finally popped the bubble and said "Hey, no one actually hates you!"
The art isn't as good as Barakamon, it actually looked like it took a step down.
The characters were stupid, I'm not kidding here, they were dumb. The only smart one was Kawafuji, but he was barely in the series....
I didn't commit to the series, it took me months to watch all 12 episodes, unlike Barakamon, which I committed to all night and part of a day. It doesn't really add to Barakamon's story, it barely even touches on Handa and Kawafuji's friendship, and if you watched Barakamon and never even considered to watcha Handa-kun, you wouldn't be missing a thing.
In the end, it wasn't all that bad. I laughed, and I even related to Handa (not so much on the popularity scale, but the walls and teen anxiety). Watch it if you want, but you don't have to.....
