Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「L’oN」 by (Masayoshi Oishi)
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「三人の時計守」 (Sannin no Tokei Mori)
“The Three Clock Keepers”
It’s been a long 5 years since the first season, but boy am I glad to finally get a continuation in anime form, at last, of Hanako-kun. Funnily enough, this brings things full circle for me. When S1 aired, I was still a baby anime fan and had only just started following RC, and now here I am 5 years later, blogging the premiere on the site. I instantly loved the anime the first time around- the art style was like nothing I’d seen before, not to mention the charm and quirkiness of the characters and story. Once I started reading the manga, I loved that too, and reading into the later arcs, really hit home just how much a season 2 was needed.
So, here we are, episode 1 of the much anticipated S2, and how did it do? Fairly well, I think. I was a bit worried if the art and overall direction would take a hit, considering a different director is at the helm. However, it seemed just fine. One of my favorite things about the first anime and the manga was the story bookesque illustrations, as well as the way the mangaka plays with light and shadow that almost creates this gorgeous distortion or blurring between fantasy and reality. The art direction continued to carry this through in the premiere, thankfully, and left me satisfied.
The episode kicks things off with a brief refresher on the set up for those who may have forgotten. It was clever how they framed it as Nene (Kitou Akari) trying to film a diary of her life with Hanako-kun (Ogata Megumi) at Kamome, blending it into the general narrative as opposed to just a cold recap. For those who need the refresher, Nene is a high school student who gets drawn into the world of school spooks though the toilet ghost, Hanako-kun, who saves her from mermaids, after which, they have various after school adventures along with Minamoto Kou (Chiba Shouya).
Nene’s close friend, Akane Aoi (Satou Minako), is the opposite of Nene- the popular girl at school and perpetual dude magnet. She seems to have a radar for the supernatural, as her stories about the school mysteries always turn out to be true, though she never seems to be directly involved with them, at least so it seems.
The latest oddity at school appears to revolve around rumored time keepers– 3 of them- Past, Present, and Future who can manipulate time. No sooner than Aoi spreads the rumor, hell starts breaking loose. Nene and Aoi’s classroom appears to have jumped into the future and now looks like it’s been abandoned for years, with today’s bentos rotting, young plants growth spurting into old age, and the poor haniwa smashed. Strangely, only Aoi and Nene’s things are left untouched- coincidence, I think not. It’s not just the high school- the middle school has it’s own happenings- Kou rushes into Hanako-kun’s bathroom after school, visibly shook after finding two of his classmates have aged into a pair of oji-sans.
Our trio decides to (or rather, Nene and Kou drag Hanako-kun along to) hunt down the time spook and get things sorted out. The only problem being, they don’t know where the time keepers are, Hanako-kun having burned that bridge from the get go with his pervert act (not that I can blame the time keeper for immediately distancing themselves after that). The only clue they have to go on is that the Time Keeper of the Present blends in at school as a student. Which immediately shifts suspicion towards Aoi, given her timely spooky radar and recent secretiveness. The narrative did smoothly set the stage for this- a little too smoothly one might say, but that could just be the hindsight bias talking.
Hanako-kun decides to take things in his own hands and possesses Nene to corner Aoi, with disastrous results, depending on whose point of view we’re looking from. I’m with Nene on this one- I’d be horrified too, if a ghost hijacked me to get seductively threatening on my bestie while everyone else just stared on. It’d be kind of hard to move on after that one. However, I don’t know think Aoi was Hanako-kun’s target- she was just the bait. And the fish who latches onto that bait is Aoi Akane (Toki Shunichi), the boy who’s relentlessly pursued (and been rejected by) Aoi- over 3,000 times. Akane’s clearly berserk when it comes to the girl and even Kou’s big bro warns him away from the guy. I’m not sure why Aoi puts up with him like that, I’d be pretty fed up and put a restraining order on him, but that’s a mystery for another time. Akane’s super pissed and beats Hanako-kun out of Nene, so I guess something good came out of that mess. Convinced Aoi has a secret, the trio becomes a quartet, allying with Akane, then shadowing her.
Things take a turn when the budding sleuths follow Aoi into the auditorium, only to realize this was a trap set by Hanako-kun. I know we’ve seen this side of him before, but boy is this ghost ruthless- setting a chandelier loose on the unsuspecting girl to draw out the Time Keeper…who turns out to be Aoi, but not the Aoi we were expecting- Akane (the boy crushing on Aoi- it really is hilariously confusing that the two have the same name but opposite order). I mean, it makes sense. If it wasn’t Aoi, the next suspect would be Akane, given his close proximity to her and his “I’ll protect her no matter the cost” kind of gave it away (again, that could be hindsight bias). I will admit, I was a little disappointed that they did the big reveal right at the end. I read the manga, so I knew it was him, but was still hoping they would end it on a cliff hanger and wait until the next episode to show and tell. That aside, I enjoyed having Hanako-kun and Nene back and am looking forward to the rest of this season.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「With a Wish」 by (Akari Kitou)
End Card
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