Phantom of the Toilet

The movie is based on a Japanese legend about Hanako-san, a young female spirit that haunts elementary school restrooms. She opens and closes doors mysteriously, and if someone calls her name strange things happen.

This movie is based on that legend but also covers another topic of major interest, and that is ijime, or bullying, in Japanese schools. Where American schools are prone to violence and defiance, Japanese schools do not show anywhere near the level of violence that American schools have, but they do have a problem with bullying. The focus of Japanese society is to fit in, and when a student is bullied, he or she is effectively forced out of that comfortable familiarity of the group. Students at times will even commit suicide over being bullied.

This movie takes place at an elementary school where, in one grade, a girl named Matsumi briefly helps out a new student named Saeko. She is in the sixth grade where Takuya, Matsumi's older brother, is class president.

There have been some students killed and/or missing recently and the students are worried that something may happen at there school. Then Saeko enrolls, and a girl jealous of Saeko's looks and intelligence leads an effort to claim Saeko is Hanako herself.

This leads to a lot of bullying on the part of the other students, all the way to the point where Saeko is forced to stay overnight in a particular toilet (Hanako's toilet), not knowing that the killer is in the school that night.

It's a scary movie, and very insightful in relation to Japanese society. It's basically a mystery/horror story, with some supernatural elements thrown in relating to the Hanako-san legend.

Phantom of the Toilet Synopsis


Main index page

Japanese Dramas Main Index Page