#oh and tangent: it's definitely a shortening of jibakurei and not some separate mysterious word that's just jibaku on its own

[thevegetablewhichnoonedaresname]

I share this frustration 100%, and I got a good chuckle out of this post. I've been thinking about this for a while now, and since this post seems like it's getting passed around, I thought it might be fun to answer the (probably rhetorical) question.

The kanji 地 by itself does mean "earth," yes. However, it's in a kanji compound with 縛, making 地縛, which is a shortened version of 地縛霊 (jibakurei). Jibakurei are spirits that are bound to the place where they died or to a place that is important to them for whatever reason. So in this context, I think "earth" is too general of a translation. If the ghost is bound to land at all, it's a specific plot of land, not the earth as opposed to the sky or sea.

That said, if we're going to insert a location, "school-bound" might work too. My guesses as to why they didn't do this are:

In chapter 1, Yashiro goes looking for Hanako-san of the Toilet (from the real and well-known urban legend), and Hanako also introduces himself as "of the toilet." (Worth noting that "bathroom" is as good as or a better translation of トイレ.)

Hanako's domain is the bathroom, at least with the information we had in the first few volumes. There are plenty of other supernaturals around the school, but Hanako is specifically in the bathroom. Because of this, I think the toilet/bathroom is actually a pretty logical location to choose.

"School-bound Hanako-kun" sounds like some kid on his way to school. This does not sound remotely interesting. Both Japanese and English marketing and legal departments and company higher-ups tend to be involved in titles more than they are in the rest of the translation process, so many things besides the strictly "best translation" are considered. (On the other hand, my sister and I both assumed "toilet-bound" meant the MC had IBS or something at first, so I don't know if that's better. But at least it's intriguing!)

TLDR: Earth-bound is a literal translation of the kanji, but not the word the kanji are actually taken from. There are a few reasons they might've gone with the title they did, but none of that erases the fact that EVERY TIME I try to recommend it to someone, I have to recite my whole, "yeah that's the title but I SWEAR it has nothing to do with toilets, almost nothing, please would you please just look at a couple of these covers and interior spreads WHY ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY IT'S RIGHT UP YOUR ALLEY JUST READ THE FIRST CHAPTER PLEASE"

WHY did they translate "地縛少年花子くん" to "Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun", it's literal translation is "Hanako-kun, a boy bound to the earth", which makes sense with his whole "I love the moon but I'm not going anywhere" shtick, he's bound to the school not the FUCKING TOILET