A kid gets blamed for every disaster caused by a troublemaking clay thing nobody else can control. The comedy lives entirely in that gap between what actually happened and who everyone assumes is guilty. Hanitarou Desu gets its entire energy from watching Yoshio take the fall, episode after episode, while the real culprit sits there looking innocent.

Yoshio finds Hani Taro, a small clay figure that turns up out of a sauceboat, the sort of vessel used to serve curry. Hani Taro loves causing mischief, yet whenever trouble strikes, it is Yoshio who ends up facing everyone's anger instead. This short comedy with a slice-of-life feel ran for 70 episodes in 1997, airing daily as part of the Super J Channel news program.