#hanako and the terrory of allegory

[yunoteru4ever]

@thesafaribaggirl-returns Hey, thanks for following/reading!

(I hope you don't mind me transplanting this Ask over to the aforementioned Future Diary blog, but since I'm about to get heavy on my Sakae Esuno geekery, I figured it was most appropriate here.)

SO: I haven't read the manga / watched the anime for Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun yet for... pretty dumb reasons, honestly, although I should at least mention that Dusk Maiden — both its anime AND the entire run of its manga — predate the existence of even the first chapter of Hanako-Kun's manga. So if anything, that description should be reversed and Hanako-kun is the one that's Dusk Maiden for a different audience. (I infer from your Ask that it's probably mostly aimed at girls? Although I don't know enough about it to be sure of that.) Regardless of which one came first, though, I think it's safe to say that Hanako-kun is much better known and more popular by now. It's been in my "try-this-some-time" list for years now.

But I've not yet touched Hanako-kun largely because I'm just SO emotionally invested in Sakae Esuno's Hanako and the Terror of Allegory manga that I'm lowkey bitter that this other manga starring the same bathroom-dwelling ghost of legend (and featuring their name right in the title) is way more popular and occupies far more space within pop culture's collective unconscious. ........ Even though, yeah, that's inherently dumb and epically silly of me.

Y'all likely know where these mangas stand among Western weebs. If Toilet-Bound Hanako-Kun rates (in the West) around "fairly popular/well-known among seasonal anime/manga devotees" then Hanako and the Terror of Allegory lands at something like "obscure to all Western anime/manga fans to a degree that is hard to quantify." Which I obviously consider to be a goddamn shame.

Ultimately, it's not like I've ever prevented myself from consuming MANY wildly varied interpretations of Sherlock Holmes or Wonder Woman or whoever, y'know? The only difference is really that, as a Westerner, the legend of Hanako doesn't show up on my radar as much as.... idk,King Arthur or whatever common legends we have here.

Besides, the gender identities of these two Hanakos are exact opposites! That ALONE is gonna make them EXTREMELY distinct from one another.

So I hereby vow to give Hanako-kun its fair shake pretty soon.

#sakae esuno #esuno sakae #hanako and the terrory of allegory #dusk maiden of amnesia #toilet-bound hanako-kun #asks #Jibaku Shōnen Hanako-kun #Hanako to Gūwa no Terā #Tasogare Otome × Amunejia