Toilet-bound hanako-kun vol 8 by AidaIro

The school and its students gear up to enjoy a summer festival, but as it’s outside the school grounds, Hanako-kun can’t attend. Instead, he suggests Kou and Nene join him for a supernatural festival within the school’s Mysteries. He disguises both as supernaturals so they can attend, but Nene once again falls into trouble when she is strangely sent back to the 1960s. Here, she meets a young boy who is extremely familiar. The young boy turns out to be a very young Amano, or Hanako-kun as she has come to know him. Amano confesses to Nene that he wishes to be an astronaut, but his comments also tell her that he wishes his brother would reciprocate his affection. Nene can’t help but feel distraught for the young version of her supernatural friend.

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I really wonder if Nene’s jump to the past will have any bearing of Hanako-kun in the future, but my gut says it won’t, that the flashback was more of a facet of being inside the Mystery instead of being a snippet of Amano’s actual life. Either way, it's nice to see a younger version of Hanako-kun before becoming a ghost. He has some redeeming qualities and innocence, which probably only makes Nene like him even more! This time, I was happy for Nene to get herself into trouble, but let's hope we get a little more variety of plot devices in the next few volumes.

Sara's Rating: 9/10
Suitability Level: Grades 8-12

Reviews of previous volumes in this series: vol 1, vol 2, vol 3, vol 4, vol 5, vol 6, vol 7

Publisher: Yen Press
Publication Date: March 23, ​2021​
ISBN: 9781975311407 (Paperback)

Tags: Rating: 9/10, Suitability: Middle School, Suitability: High School, Manga, Supernatural, Yen Press