#Kelsey liveblogs jshk

[daisyachain]

The other funny thing about Kou is that he’s chronically under qualified for everything going on. Mitsuba is the only person who ranks below him in terms of coping with Anything and that’s why he’s important <3

[daisyachain]

I like Hanako-kun (: Nene is mature enough that she really can grasp the severity of her situation both in terms of her own personal doom and the time-locked death of Amane, who she will have to leave behind if she is to survive. A lot of the manga is her acknowledging that is weighs on her, her story is more one of putting aside her silly act to realize that she understands everything going on far better than the people around her credit.

Then you have Kou, whose main thing is that he has no concept of anything happening despite technically having more factual supernatural knowledge. With Teru sheltering him, he can’t grasp the life-and-death nature of the story. By offering to die with Mitsuba so easily, he proves that he doesn’t understand that the dying would happen. It’s only in the last aquarium arc where he physically has to face up to the realities of death (Nene’s—incoming, Hanako’s—long past, Mitsuba’s—tantalizingly ignorable but coming back to bite him) that he starts to realize something is wrong, but even now he doesn’t have the vocabulary to describe what he’s feeling. Nene can articulate just how the switched memories have violated her sense of self, while all Kou can do is nod or shake his head when Mitsuba wonders about him

[daisyachain]

I like that Kou knows he likes Mitsuba but the problem is he can’t come to terms with being (metaphorically and literally) bisexual, and Mitsuba knows he’s gay but the problem is he can’t come to terms with getting attached to a kid who is alive (applies to Mi-tsu-ba), an exorcist destined to hunt him down (also Mi-tsu-ba), and also a total square (both)

[daisyachain]

I know it’s not like that, the Minamoto sibs are handling their rift well, but wouldn’t it be cool to have Ancestral Minamoto’s words to No. 6 come back echoed as Teru to Kou: ‘one day, you’ll realize you love someone and hate me’

[daisyachain]

Has Hanako been Thirteen this Entire Time

[daisyachain]

The bit with Aoi crushing the opposition is fun. However Akane is such a pain in the ass that I am actually rooting for the Teru/Aoi running joke at this point

[daisyachain]

Aoi OWNED.

[daisyachain]

Speaking of Themes what even are the Themes. Hanako-Kun is a straightforward by-the-numbers supernatural slice-of-life romance. The ghosts aren’t obviously a metaphor for being stuck in the past, the supernatural experiences don’t conjure greater questions about the nature of truth, the protagonists’ personal difficulties are standard communication and mortal peril. Compare/contrast some similar series, Mob is anvil-like from the start, Haruhi’s themes come through on the post-Disappearance books, YYH was themeless up to the point that I stalled out (need to pick it back up), Ghost Hunt…I can’t remember enough to judge.

Not that works even have to have Themes; certainly Themes don’t have to be intentional. For all the shining clarity that JSHK delivers, its end goal can’t be summed up easily. At least at this point, the closest thing it has is about being honest with your fellow woman/ghost/creature/man. The unresolved problems of the supernaturals are more unsaid words, the deadly rumours are exactly that—baseless, the doubles keep swapping places with each other or trying to or getting swapped forcibly, Kou’s unable to be honest with Teru because he never listens, and everyone is lying to Yashiro, who along with Tsuchigomori is lying by omission to Hanako. So we’ll go with that for now.

[daisyachain]

If I had a nickel for every time I ran into yuri selfcest where one of the girls has brown braided hair, I’d have 10 cents

[daisyachain]

It is the nature of junior high schoolers that the best way to express your affection is suicide pact

[daisyachain]

Aaaagh that’s so sweet I’m going to jump under the wheels of a cart

[daisyachain]

oh and also the Tsukasa/Amane costume dichotomy rrrrrocks. I don’t necessarily want to see it explored in detail as I’m not sure I trust this kind of story to handle that subtext well. Even so it sure is Something to have Tsukasa represent the pre-war and even pre-Perry style while Amane has the a style that is still classic iconography, but that just seems more modern/assimilated compared to Tsukasa’s…traditionalism?

Does it represent Tsukasa being stuck in the past while Amane has moved forward? Or Tsukasa never having grown up past their shared childhood? Is Amane’s uniform meant to come off as slick? It’s introduced as a starkly old-fashioned choice right up until Tsukasa’s hakama shove us another 50 years back in costuming time. Or, is it simply a matter of the supernatural being ancient? Yako wears traditional getup as part of her shrine guardian thing, but no, Tsuchigomori and the Clock Keepers have costumes from different eras again.

The twins were born and died in a period of fast techno/cultural transition that capped off a (longer-term) period of fast techno/cultural transition. One is the face of ye olde, one is…not the face of the new, not the face of the modern, but a recognizable face. Amane is retro rather than renfaire. But then, they both share the same hat.

[daisyachain]

Aa Hanako-kun. The verticality that the artists (? I assume AidaIro both do the art since it’s so gonzo detailed) like to use is always so fun. People are just zooming up down in and out of the supernatural spaces.

The sense of three-dimensionality in backgrounds/setting also makes the characters’ movements so much more fun when they cross from one plane to another. How to say. The confrontation in the Hell of Mirrors has the protag gang on a solid ledge and the antag gang floating in midair, looking down, so when Kou bounds up to stand on the railing he’s not just going to the edge or approaching Mitsuba, he’s crossing from the 2 dimensions of the protagonists/humans to the 3 dimensions of the antagonists/supernaturals. it’s lovely (:

[daisyachain]

JSHK just a pure joy to read. Opening up each chapter feels like getting candy from the 7/11 down the road of an afternoon in junior high. Not to say that it’s dazzlingly creative; what makes it stands out is how it nails each beat! Nothing could cater to me better except for a series with more girl characters and more masculine ones.

Leaving aside the art for a sec—Nene is a pretty middle-of-the-road girl protag, plain but not uncute, clumsy, etc. What makes her stand apart from the dozens of other identical mcs is her dynamic with the male lead. The typical counterpart for her would be the tall, reserved, handsome guy from every female-targeted series I’ve read (somewhat exaggerating. Not really). Instead, Nene gets the bonkers Hanako. It pushes their relationship from the sexist wise-guy-dumb-girl dynamic that I hate into a more even footing.

Hanako himself is a gender swapped version of the shounen romance lead (think Haruhi, Asuka) instead of the shoujo one. Besides the ace design, he’s just fun to have around! Rather than constantly being a condescending wet blanket Prince-type, he’s wild enough that Nene can take control of the story in places. Their chemistry is believable and their friendship more so. The romance isn’t a plot-draining leech as it is in some other works I’ve tried and bailed on.

Last of the MCs so far, Kou also is cleverly deployed as junior high schooler to keep Nene secure in her lead position. He brings into the plot such wonderful things as, my favourite, Sibling Issues, but he’s also my fave male archetype of the easily humiliated blonde on the cusp of self-discovery. He ably carries the character aspects of the series by development where Nene and Hanako have to be slower-moving for premise reasons.

The story has been enjoyable enough just as an episodic adventure, so here’s hoping it stays good as it shifts into serialized. Boy am I on board for that

Closest comparison for what it does might be Witch Hat Atelier (has more girl characters and more masculine ones). Neither reinvents the wheel. They both are the end of a very long line of stories that do exactly the same things, they both have electrifying sequential art packed with illustrator-level details and composition.

[daisyachain]

fans of House media would love Hanako-kun. That sure is a house and a half. Any avid readers Shirley Jackson, Susanna Clarke, Mervyn Peake looking for a refreshing dessert of beautifully-styled antics centred around a House can turn to Aidairo’s best and only work. Let’s hear it for the House.

[daisyachain]

I like that Nene as a neat 37th percentile human being is eminently more able to handle her impending death, Hanako’s mystery, basically everything more than Kou, whose job raison d’être etc is to handle these things. He doesn’t just feel powerless, he’s demonstrably less powerful and the tag-along kid in the scenario.