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[randomreviewer]

Jibaku Shounen Hanako-kun Chapter 120 - Yugi Amane, Minamoto Kou & the Red House

This is my first time making this type of thread, so I hope you will bear with me ^^ I'll talk about the important bits.

Yugi Amane

Chapter 120 explains Yugi Amane's situation in the new present. Even though Nene tried denying it, Yugi Amane was incapable of finding happiness, even if he got to live a little longer. It confirmed he died in his late 20s, and that his soul is but a prisoner to the Red House, forced to obey its orders.

That he's been killing multiple people without him even realizing, as he is unable to defy the House...

And ultimately revealing that, while possessed, Amane had killed both Kou and Sousuke in the aftermath of chapter 118. The Kou we saw in chapters 119 and 120 is nothing but his now trapped soul.

As Kou explains everything, we come to realize the following: It's not just Yugi Amane who is a prisoner of the House, but Tsukasa, their parents and the souls who warned Mitsuba as well. That they're all unfortunate victims that were eaten alive by the House and forced into servitude.

Minamoto Kou

Kou is not immune from the Red House's possession- He is now one of its servants, just like Amane and the other people killed. Just like Amane who forcefully dragged Kou and Nene to the well through the black door, so did Kou lure Nene through the same door.

Finally possessed by the House, he tries to drag Nene down the well, to make her a victim just like the others.

It is then when Teru comes to rescue Nene, but not realizing that the Kou he sees is nothing but his soul, he accidentally exorcises him while snapping him out of the possession.

It is important to note that Kou didn't feel any sort of bitterness towards Amane killing him or towards Teru exorcising him.

After Amane killed him, he just lamented his fate.

Not only did he lament his fate, but also asked Nene to change the world back to how it was. Not only because he and Mitsuba are long dead, but because he now knows how truly messed up the new present is. How no one is truly "happy" here. How it goes against his motivation, which is to bring everyone actual happiness.

That's why he brought Nene to Amane in chapter 119. To make her see how this world actually looks like, to make her want to go back. To make her see that even if Amane lived longer, he was way more miserable than he ever was in the original timeline.

When his big brother exorcised him, he only felt glad. Glad that he couldn't harm Nene, and glad that he doesn't have to suffer the same fate as Amane. Glad that he hasn't succeeded in killing anyone against his will.

Even while disappearing right before her eyes, Kou tries to comfort her. If she succeeds in rewinding the world, they will be able to meet again.

He even compares this new world to a "bad dream", contrasting himself from chapter 118, who considered the old world to be the "dream", then not knowing how truly wicked the new present is.

His last words confirm that Mitsuba has died together with him.

The Well

Teru, shocked by the events, immediately heads over to the well and looks inside.

He falls limp, only supported by the well, in total disbelief. Due to the implications throughout chapter 120, it is safe to assume that in the well lies the corpses of all the Red House's victims, including Kou and Sousuke.

This is further evidenced by Akane's reaction, who is repulsed by whatever is seen inside.

It is then when Akane concludes that this timeline is not stable, as he was tasked to check. The well is enough evidence to back up how twisted the world is.

Conclusions

I'm not sure whether we will see the contents of the well. We see the series through Nene's eyes, and Nene being stopped from seeing what's inside the well meant the readers are stopped from seeing aswell. The implications are evident enough to prove that within it lie numerous corpses, including Kou and Sousuke's.

Akane ended the chapter with a resolution to change the world back to how it was, but they still aren't aware of when to go and what to change. So they will stay within the Red House for the next few chapters for sure.

I'm not sure if the Red House will let them leave. All 4 living humans are all right next to the well where the Red House supposedly eats them alive. It's too good of an opportunity for it not to ambush them in the next chapter.

Teru and Nene, but especially Teru, will 100% go some under serious character development. Not only does Teru exorcising Kou somewhat parallel Amane killing Tsukasa in the original timeline, but Teru sacrificed his entire childhood to protect Kou, only for it to end like this in the New Present. Truly tragic.

Amane reacted to Yashiro calling Hanako for help. It may be that in the future chapters, Amane will get his memories from the original timeline and help Nene and the others find out what to change. Though I have a feeling, given that he's susceptible to being possessed by the House, that he will take himself down along with the House in order to let them leave. Although again, this is just a random prediction of mine...

This is the first time Nene's hairclip slips from her hair. The shape of her hairclips symbolize good luck, and it was truly good luck. If it weren't for her hairclip falling off, Aoi wouldn't have found her and Teru wouldn't have saved her in time. Albeit this can be also interpreted as limited good luck, as it slipping off would mean that Nene won't benefit from the same luck again.

This was truly the most heartwrenching chapter in the series, but also one of the best written in my opinion, being a huge pay-off for the other chapters of the Alteration arc. However, I have a feeling we're only going downhill from here.

Kou was likely already doomed from chapter 116, when he was first possessed by little Tsukasa. Because he was then sent to the Red House with an envelope that had nothing inside and with circumstances he himself doesn't remember, and as per Kou's words in chapter 120, the Red House uses the souls it captured to bring new victims from the Near Shore. He was fated to die the moment he came into contact with Tsukasa. Mitsuba could've escaped, but he wanted to save Kou and died together with him instead.

I hope you enjoyed my post!

[randomreviewer]

Legend of Exorcism (Bilibili)

Evaluation: worth watching

Spoiler: Originally a love story and now a bromance, I still think the origins are obvious while watching it. However in my personal opinion I think that the amount of main characters detract from the story. There's not enough focus on the two main protagonists and the fact that they always fight against their enemy in a big group like they're the avengers makes the fights extremely unimpressive. Even if it's a villain, it just isn't cool for the main characters to beat them like that.

Oh by the way; I hate the character design of the MC.

However.

The characters are fun and it has a lot of hilarious moments. If you can deal with the things stated above (which isn't too bad imo) it's worth a try!

[randomreviewer]

Sweet Bite Marks EP1 around 5 minutes

Evaluation: makes you want to become a vampire hunter

Spoiler: This is a romance. Haha.

This really starts off with the MC's parents being killed, the humans becoming the bloodbags of the vampires and the vampire prince (sexually) assaulting the MC and then getting so angry when she slaps him that he tells the whole school to bully her. Like what. I don't care that he felt sad his nanny left him. She was probably forced but even if she wasn't imagine treating a whole group of people like trash because your goddamn nanny left what a selfish, self-centered, pompous pot.

He's likely going to act nicer towards her and since he's the prince the situation might even become better for the humans (if the author doesn't simply forget all about it because who cares about politics when there are important things like love rival number 353 appearing). However, forcing myself to watch more than this will give me anger management issues, so I'll stop now.

[randomreviewer]

Mom, I'm Sorry EP1 (Bilibili)

Evaluation: very good so far

Spoiler: There's a reason that the title of the post is "Mom, I'm Sorry EP1 (Bilibili)" and that is because I won't be continuing.

The animation is good and they have managed to make me cry in the first episode, so congrats to the team but I don't like melancholic/ depressing stories or bittersweet endings. Since it's not going to have a happy ending I'm going to spare myself from feeling upset afterwards.

So far it seems like a beautiful story about the bond between a parent and a child so if familial relationships are something you are interested in and you can stand a bittersweet ending, this is for you.

[randomreviewer]

Scumbag System (Donghua)

Evaluation: good. It definitely could be better but it's entertaining enough.

Spoiler: Since it was originally a BL novel the adaption is bound to change a bit but they've mostly stayed true to the novel. It is 3D instead of animated which I think is a shame especially because it isn't the best 3D animation around and sometimes looks a bit funny but all in all it conveys what it's supposed to. It's an isekai story that's mostly a comedy that lives on satire (but loves its tropes regardless) and ends with the master and disciple getting together. That's likely going to be changed to filial piety and bromance, so seeing how they'll pull that off should be entertaining.

[randomreviewer]

Cinderella Chef (Bilibili) S1 -S2 Ep4

Evaluation: boring

Spoiler: It's a cooking anime romance. But mostly a cooking anime. If you like slice of life and cooking you might like it but I found it a drag. It starts of with being kidnapped by bandits, spying and the mc almost getting killed and after that... nothing happens anymore. She goes to a restaurant and cooks. And cooks. And cooks. People are impressed. The romance is basically subplot. The secondary love interest gets a lot of screen time but even he is a side character. But hey, she won another cook off, so that's great, right? No! I'm bored.

[randomreviewer]

No Doubt In Us/ Lian Bu Yi Animation (

Bilibili)

Evaluation: recommended

Spoiler: It's a love comedy with some drama set in ancient china. I am not a fan of 3D Animation but they did a good job for what it is. I don't have much to say about it. If you like love comedy and the premise of an emperor and an empress switching bodies via voodoo magic (and there is much more of that to come - magic exists in that universe), this is for you. Personally I thought it was cute and the characters are likeable.

[randomreviewer]

Wish (Disney)

Evaluation: watchable. Would recommend watching it once.

Spoiler: Disney's wish is a flop and it's not difficult to see why. Leaving aside the animation, the movie itself feels disjointed, which is a real shame, since it could have been a lot better had they readjusted some things. The easter eggs didn't do much to add to the movie and took away precious time that could have been used for other things. I have to admit I'm not a hardcore Disney fan; I've watched most movies but that's about it. You can laugh at me but the two most important easter eggs; that Magnifico was the mirror in Snow White and that Asha was the grandmother fulfilling wishes in Cinderella didn't register. That's basically the most important part of the movie! Getting the backstory of two characters we never thought we would learn more about was a great idea! But it fails. Asha doesn't look or act like the character in Cinderella, so that connection feels completely forced. It's not like it's impossible either. Asha promised to protect the wishes of people. Now that the citizens have finally decided to step up, maybe Asha decides to "secretly" help people out who can't fulfill them on their own at the end of the movie and takes on the form of her grandmother whenever she helps out? In order to introduce the grandmother as a character, the wish of her grandfather could have had something to do with his late wife. Asha's personality would have to be different though. The character in Cinderella is very obviously from a different generation not like Asha who is based on a modern teenager. If that idea feels stupid, that's fine too, I'm not a writer paid by Disney, coming up with an idea to better tie these two things together would have been their job. Magnifico is another mess altogether. They, quite frankly, didn't empathize enough how evil he was. Since he was supposed to be evil and was never going to get redeemed either way, they should have built on this whole "taking their wishes takes away a part of the people and makes them sad/unhappy/listless/miserable" and gone for a more Ursula kind of character. The star is boring. The goat, too. Asha has too many friends. Yes, they're an easter egg. So? None of them got developed very well, so they're a waste of space. Movies don't thrive on easter eggs but on plot. Funnily enough they're also very bad friends? At least if you go by Disney standards. Usually friends in Disney would go to hell and back in order to help you so them being so suspicious of Asha's words left a bad feeling in my mouth. That's not the kind of relationship I expect from Disney.

I've been reading some weird posts about how Wish ruins this whole "wishing on a star thing" and I have to disagree here. Characters in Disney have always worked hard to fulfill their dreams and the star only ever helped them out a bit. Which is exactly what happened in Wish. Asha gets the help she needs in order to help herself and then gets a wand from the star; not in order to fulfill every wish but in order to protect the wishes of those people who can't protect them themselves.

However despite my complaints the movie has good points. I can see what they were going for. It's too bad they didn't put more effort into this. Or maybe they didn't have the right people. I don't know. I'm sure hardcore Disney fans know all about it.

I wish upon a star they bring out a better movie next time.