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When Nene and Hanako tried to run away, did the spell on the door stop Nene too? Because it seemed like lightning and Hanako was burned after trying to run away xD but Nene didn't seem hurt, so I wonder if it stopped her too or just scared, dunno.

Oooh hmm

It looks like only Hanako gets shocked, and he says “this is...a barrier?!” And the blast was so strong that Nene was blasted back by it, but not burned—

Because like you said, Hanako looks completely burned while Nene is fine, but a bit discombobulated ^^

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Some sketches of an AU where Amane and Shijima switch roles! though I mostly drew Amane because god he is fun to draw

also, yes, Tsukasa does not exist in this au. no rats allowed

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Just pointing out something

It’s a popular theory that Tsukasa inflicted wounds on Amane. 

Hanako hides these wounds with his gakuran uniform, and we’ve never seen his arms and legs. Not even in the beach chapter in the spin-off, where he wears a floral shirt over his uniform.

You know who else is nearly fully covered?

We’ve never seen Sakura’s arms and legs, she even wears a long-sleeved uniform even though it’s summer and most girls wear short sleeves. She doesn’t even appear in the beach chapter wearing a sleeveless sundress as Natsuhiko imagined. 

Do you see what I’m getting at here?

In summary: Tsukasa what the fuck are you doing

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OH MY GOD

I WANT TO MAKE AN AU WITH SHIJIMA MEI AS HANAKO SO BAD

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you can’t tell me this isn’t canon

this is canon

Yashiro: Hey can you open this jar for me?

Hanako: Alright!

Hanako: *smashes it against the floor*

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Tsukasa Theory

I always found it weird how you never see Tsukasa’s face when he was alive. We’ve seen him in the Picture Perfect arc, but that wasn’t really his human self.

Tsukasa’s name has never been mentioned during Amane’s time as a human. Not during the Festival arc. Not even Tsuchigomori mentions him in the slightest. 

The only time we’ve seen him is during Hanako’s flashbacks, and even then we get a vague picture of his body. 

Of course, that could just be Aidairo messing and teasing with us. However it got me thinking — what if the Tsukasa we see now is not actually ‘Tsukasa’?

We know that Tsukasa is almost an identical copy of Hanako. You know who else is a copy of someone else?

The Shijima Meis!

Supernatural Shijima Mei is purely supernatural, but she was birthed from human Shijima Mei’s strong wish to become her ideal, healthy self. 

So what if Tsukasa was never human in the first place?

What if the Tsukasa we see now is a manifestation created by Amane’s real brother? Our Tsukasa grants wishes for the dead, so perhaps he’s the manifestation of the real Tsukasa’s wishes? Or even worse — a manifestation of Amane’s wishes? 

I also noticed some other parallels between the Shijima and the Yugis.

Supernatural Shijima wanted to kill human Mei. Amane killed Tsukasa.

The manga also gave us this:

Could this maybe be foreshadowing??

Or do I just like the Shijima Meis too much? They’re so pretty and I love them so much aagh

I find this theory unlikely, but it’s fun to think about. It also gave me the idea of a prospective new AU haha! I kinda wanna make a Shijima Mei Hanako San AU, featuring Amane as No. 4! 

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#same energy

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she has. a gun

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it’s your favorite potty boy!!!

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uh oh it’s purple hanako

hahaha I’m so funny

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small lil hanako doodle

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outfit swap doodle hehe

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also (manga spoilers):

oh Hanako

beby,,,, he just wants to be included,,,

chapter 30 btw

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another JSHK swap au sketch ahaha

i figured that Yashiro would be more of an emotional crybaby than Amane, so she’s crying in this scene!

maybe I’ll color this and add backgrounds, who knows

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A little messy doodle of a swap AU Hanako/Yashiro!

For the past few days I’ve been drawing nothing but JSHK swap aus so maybe I’ll develop my own au?? Maybe lmao

also i forgot to color in her brooch aarghh

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This was really interesting OP! The eight in Yashiro’s name is definitely important — even the lyrics in the opening song implies an eighth mystery!

Shrines,Gods, And Yorishiro

TBHK has a lot of religious overtones for a series about supernaturals. I thought it was time for a fun discussion therefore, about kami and yorishiros. Warning: Super long and detailed post. I don't know what your criteria for long post is but yeah.

"God will forgive me for it."

The seven mysteries may be supernaturals, but they're also associated with Gods quite often. Even without Hanako's mentions of an unseen God who seems to be watching his actions, the mysteries themselves parallel gods sometimes: or more specifically, kami.

We've all heard the word "kamisama" in anime and manga enough, and "kami" would usually be translated as "god". But they can refer to spirits, to angels, to demons and a multitude of other things! The word kami thus embodies a lot more than just gods. They essentially are like supernaturals themselves, such kami.

Kami are believed to have two souls: a benevolent soul, and a darker, angrier soul. They're also said to have a soul that's visible and a soul that's hidden. I can't help but feel this parallels Tsukasa and Amane!

There are also good kami, and bad kami. Besides this, kami are believed to be of three types according to the realm. Citing Wikipedia:

Amatsukami (天津神, the heavenly deities), Kunitsukami (国津神, the gods of the earthly realm), and ya-o-yorozu no kami (八百万の神, countless kami).

Eight is the number of prosperity in japan! That is why you'll be seeing the kanji 八 (prnounched hachi or ya), or eight a lot, like the above in yaoyorozu. It's also the kanji in Yashiro's name, by the way.

Speaking of 八, Hachiman (八幡神) was one of the more famous kami. Why did I bring him up, you ask? Well, other than being a god of war, he was originally an agricultural deity, who later became a holy protector of Japan! Not just Japan-- Hachiman was the guardian of the Minamoto clan! What an interesting resemblance to Yashiro: initially a simple girl who's interested in agriculture, but later becomes a divine protector-- a Kannagi! Perhaps she will watch over Kou (or Teru, who knows) in the near future?

Other than this, the animal associated with Hachiman is a dove-- a symbol of peace, something Yashiro has been entrusted with safekeeping. His symbol is a mitsudomoe-- a three headed tomoe, incidentally the shape of the magatama which Nene wears. But hey, maybe I'm reading too much into it.

There are numerous less known kami in shinto religion as well.

For example, toilet deities are a thing! That's right, for all his talk of an almighty God, Hanako resembles a god as well! Benjougami or kawaya no kami are gods of the toilet. They are said to help in childbirth, surprisingly, as well as soil fertility (since manure is used as fertiliser). You would think they help with more toilet related issues, but oh well.

To appease these toilet gods, people were sure to keep the washroom clean, or else the god would turn angry. As a Kannagi, Yashiro's job would be to appease a god. And she does exactly that-- by cleaning the toilets, she is appeasing Hanako. It's safe to say that if Yashiro, his ""cleaner"" as he says, should disappear or leave him, whoever is responsible will incur his wrath. Another way to keep these kami happy was to put flowers in the toilet. And lo, the girl's toilet has a vase of flowers (which, by the way, I always thought was an odd design choice, especially for a school bathroom. My initial theory was that perhaps they were kept out of respect for the students who died there, but now I think maybe it was more out of fear.)

Let's talk more about the "ropes" that have been there since day one (and I'll get to why that relates to kami in a second). They have been shown to be tied to Hanako, mainly, and also to Mitsuba and Yashiro. While people make a fair point when they talk about Amane having rope wounds when he was alive, the ropes we see on the covers seem to be more of a symbolic item.

So what do they symbolise? Well, a few people have speculated that they're ropes of death, since they seem to wrap around the deceased (or about to be deceased): and I agree! However, I want to delve more into this.

The ropes, to me, could be one of a couple of things.

One possibility is (and this is not that likely) they could be kumihimo-- Japanese braided cords. If you've watched Kimi No Na Wa or Your Name, you know what I'm talking about. They're said to encompass musubi, the divine energy binding the universe together. So perhaps it is this divine energy that binds the dead to their fate.

However, as poetic a concept that is, the braiding on the ropes in TBHK are not intricate enough for it to be kumihimo.

So here is the second possibility: shimenawa. They're thicker (I'm talking ultra thick sometimes) ropes that are found in shrines, mostly, or around a yorishiro (even a living yorishiro, in fact! Some sumo wrestlers have such a rope around their waist). They mark the point where mortals are no longer permitted to enter, and only kami can enter. To me, they're like the barrier between the near shore and far shore, and the ones shown tied by it are close to the far shore.

Plus, they're spelled as 七五三縄, which has both the kanji for seven (like Hanako) and three (like Mistuba). It also has the kanji for five, mysteriously. Hm.

However, if you Google shimenawa in shrines, they usually have shide (zigzag paper used for holy purposes) attached to them, which the ropes in the manga do not. But if you look at the red and white shimenawa attached to bells in shrines, or the shimenawa used as wreaths on New Year's in Japan, they're nearly identical. Fun fact: one of the styles of shimenawa is described as "daikon-jime", a radish like shape!

As mentioned before, shimenawa are found around yorishiros. Let's talk a bit about yorishiros for a second.

Yorishiros are, in Shinto religion, objects that are believed to be occupied by gods. The song sung at the night camp during the current arc already refers to this! Common yorishiros include mirrors (like Mistuba) and magatama (like the clips on Nene's hair, interestingly). But people could also become possessed by gods: in that case, they were called yorimashi. So Tsukasa being a "yorishiro" is a bit of a misnomer!

Yorishiros are normally stored in shrines. So if it wasn't obvious enough from the torii gates in the boundaries, or all that talk about shimenawa and gods, a mystery's boundary is like its own shrine!

Also, very very interestingly, the word for shrine is 神社, read as jinjya. However, in ancient texts, it can be read as Yashiro, aka, sacred place, aka, the name of our very own girl. 

In fact, 社 is the usual way to write Yashiro. AidaIro went out of their way to put the kanji for eight in her name. I wonder why that is: I'm personally a sucker for Yashiro becoming the eighth mystery. 

Anyway, that's all for now haha. Hopefully some of these info dumps was interesting to you. 

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JSHK theory : Hanako was using Yashiro from the start

Hello there! While rereading the entire manga again (which I now realize was a very bad decision) I thought of a new theory! Well, it’s less of a theory and more of connecting already available but subtle information, but whatever.

Anyways, my theory is that Yashiro was being used by Hanako, and that he specifically manipulated her to make her work for his plan.

Hanako has a plan to remove all the mysteries from their seats by destroying their yorishiros, and he does this because of the changing rumors (caused by the Tsukasa gang). Currently there is also unrest in the boundary between the near and far shore as Obon/Urabon comes near.

The seats aren’t very happy with Hanako’s decision, and it’s implied that destroying their yorishiros will do more than just cut off their power over their boundaries.

The mysteries protect their boundaries, and losing control over it means that supernaturals can roam free, in and out of the near and far shores.

Yako’s already said about how they keep causing trouble in her own boundary.

Hanako has a plan, but we don’t know what his plan is or why he’s doing it. He says that he’s performing his duty as no, 7 and that God would forgive him for letting the supernaturals roam free. So, I think he’s doing some ambitious but risky plan to let him fully ��fulfill’ his role as No. 7, thus finishing his sentence and have his sins forgiven. 

To do this plan, he needed someone to destroy the yorishiros. Apparantly this can only be done by Yashiro.

Yashiro is referred to as a kannagi girl, or as Hanako calls it, his assistant. A kannagi is sort of like female spirit mediums, who are able to interact with supernaturals.

So, only kannagis are the only ones able to destroy the yorishiros, and these kannagis may have to be bonded with a supernatural to be considered a kannagi (which is why Kou/Teru aren’t considered kannagi, even though they can interact with supernaturals, though it might be because kannagis are a female only position?)

Hanako’s plan specifically required a kannagi/assistant, so when Yashiro made her wish, he saw an opportunity and took it.

He didn’t care about Yashiro’s imminent death at first,

So he specifically manipulated her into making a bond with him to become his assistant. In chapter 1, one of his haku-joudais bring her the mermaid scales after Yashiro and Hanako’s failed attempts to achieve Teru’s love. They most likely brought them to her on purpose.

Then, Hanako baited her to make the scales irresistible by using the one thing Yashiro desperately wished for.

He knew the mermaid would come afterwards, and he knew Yashiro would beg for her life back (because she’s predictable).

When Hanako says this :

He uses it as a justification of him ‘fulfilling’ her wish by making the mermaid bond with her. Therefore, technically, since Hanako fulfilled her two wishes (give her a bond with someone and make her human) Yashiro is obliged to do as he says. Just according to plan.

Originally, Yashiro truly was a tool for Hanako to help him fulfill his plan. But she is his only tool, so he had to protect her, or else he wastes this literally once in a lifetime opportunity (how often does a person near death come wishing to you?)

But then she became to mean much more to him, and that he wanted her to live. It’s awfully sweet, really.

He thought that he would be able to use Yashiro for his purposes, then let her die as predicted. Turns out he can’t do that after all, aw.

Anyways, coming back to the topic of kannagis, we now know they’re important figures that can interact with supernatural’s yorishiros.

Does that mean Sakura is a kannagi as well? Since she’s bonded to Tsukasa? I feel like that may be important later on in the story.

Additionally, in chapter 61, Aoi is referred to as a kannagi by Shinigami (no. 6). I think that something happened that formed a bond between Shinigami and Aoi, as it has been implied that they have met before. It is also implied that Aoi can see supernaturals (although only sometimes, which is kind of odd) Thus, Aoi may be Shinigami’s kannagi, or assistant.

This is further proved by this line at the beginning of chapter 60, which implies that the kannagi weaves a basket that becomes God’s (Shinigami’s) yorishiro.

Here, Aoi weaves a perfect basket that glows in Shinigami’s boundary when she’s nearby.

This may mean that that basket is Shinigami’s yorishiro, but I can’t say for sure.

And, isn’t it ironic that Yashiro, a kannagi, destroys yorishiros while Aoi, also a kannagi, creates them?

Anyways, that was just something I thought up about.

Okay let’s recap!

We’ve discussed so far that :

-A kannagi is a person from the near shore who is able to interact with the far shore and destroy yorishiros

-A kannagi may be someone who has made a bond with a supernatural

(Yashiro, Aoi, maybe Sakura?)

-Hanako has a plan to let supernaturals roam free in the near shore for whatever reason

-To fulfill his plan, Hanako needed a kannagi/assistant

-Hanako purposefully manipulated Yashiro into becoming his assistant so he can commence his plan

-Originally, Yashiro was a simple tool for him, but we all know that’s not true anymore haha.

I hope this makes sense haha. Anyways, hope you enjoyed!