Mandy Lynn's A5 Planner Showdown: Hobonichi Cousin vs Wonderland 222
Hey everyone!
Today, I’m back with Part Three of my A5 Plannner Showdown! I am going to be comparing the Hobonichi Cousin with the Wonderland 222 A5 Unstacked. These are the most similar; there is also a stacked version, which I'll get discuss later. If you haven't read my other comparisons, you may also enjoy reading those too!
I will go page-by-page comparing these two planners, but first I want to mention that I’ll be comparing the Hon (which I think is the prettiest of the Hobonichi planners) with the All-In-One Wonderland 222 A5 Unstacked.
Each planner begins with a title page, with the planner name and a spot to put your name if you want.
The first printed page in the Hobonichi Cousin is a yearly spread of the current year and then little mini calendars of the previous year and the upcoming year.
In the Wonderland 222, there are back-to-back two-page spreads providing a place for your key and/or your index. This can be used if you're using this planner as a bullet journal and want to keep track of what you’re recording on each page or if you have a key to outline the various markings and symbols you’re using. Following these pages, is a similar yearly index spread. However, instead of one page for the entire year of the current year, the Wonderland 222 has a half-page each for last year, this year, and the next two years.
Personally, I prefer having a big page for the current year and I don't reference these other years very often.
Next, come the quarterly spreads in each planner.
In the Wonderland 222 there are 6 months to a page, giving you two pages for the whole year. Because of this, there isn’t as much room to write as you would have with the Hobonichi Cousin. Also of note, the weekends are lightly shaded on these pages.
In contrast, the Hobonichi Cousin highlights the weekends with color. The formatting in this planner lays out three months to a page, providing one page per quarter. Because these are more spaced-out, there is more room on these pages to write than in the Wonderland 222.
Each planner has a blank section on each of these pages for notes. While the monthly columns are smaller in the Wonderland 222, the blank section is larger than the Hobonichi Cousin.
From here, the Hobonichi Cousin begins the monthly pages, starting with the December of the previous year. However, the Wonderland 222 offers several more pages not found in the Hobonichi Cousin before beginning the monthly section.
First, the Wonderland 222 has two-page spreads for each quarter. On the left, are three monthly calendars and on the right is a corresponding blank section for notes.
These pages are followed by a Routine Tracker Page for all 12 months of the current year with a few extras as well.
These are followed by a notes page and then a December Overview for the previous year. Each monthly spread is preceded by an overview page and followed by a review page (with the exception of December of the previous year).
Now for the monthly spreads! It is important to note that both planners start their monthly calendars with Monday. The Wonderland 222 has shading on the weekend and the Hobonichi Cousin sets the weekends apart with some colored shading.
They each include moon phases; the Wonderland 222 also includes the name of the moon phase. Also in the Wonderland 222, are little month calendars for the previous and upcoming months in the sidebar.
While the Hobonichi Cousin does not include the names of holidays on the monthly spreads, the boxes will appear red. Japanese holidays are included in this for the Hobonichi Cousin. The Wonderland 222 does include the names of the holidays throughout the year.
Both planners count the weeks in the year. The Wonderland 222 includes this number within the box at the start of each week, including a “W” for week in the count (i.e., W1, W2, W3, etc) whereas the Hobonichi Cousin indicates the count with a number only in the sidebar to the left of the week.
The Hobonichi Cousin has all 12 monthly spreads together, while the Wonderland 222 includes the review and overview pages referenced above and also the weekly spreads for each month all together in sequential order.
New in 2024, the Wonderland 222 began offering an unstacked version of their planner – this means that instead of Saturday and Sunday sharing a column without a sidebar, this new version gives each day a column and includes a sidebar and space at the bottom of the each weekly spread for notes. In both planners, the weekends are shaded as they are on the respective monthly spreads.
Both timelines are in military time; the Hobonichi Cousin ranges from 5:00 AM to 4:00 AM and the Wonderland 222 starts at 7:00 AM and ends at 9:00 PM. The Wonderland 222 includes space at the bottom of the pages to continue the timeline or jot down extra to-dos, goals, etc.
They both include mini calendars in the corners with the respective weeks circled. The name of the month is in the top left corner of each spread; the Wonderland 222 includes the date the weeks begin with on the left page and the date the weeks end with on the right page.
The Wonderland 222 includes printed “tabs” (they are designed to look like a tab, but are actually shaded boxes printed on the page). These are on the very edges of right-hand pages of these spreads, reflecting the current month and week number.
The Wonderland 222 also includes page numbers at the bottom of the weekly spreads, but the Hobonichi Cousin does not. They both include the moon phase as well.
The biggest difference to keep in mind between these two planners is that the Hobonichi Cousin provides all the monthly pages together, followed by all the weekly pages, and then the daily pages. The Wonderland 222, however, provides the weekly pages for each month after the monthly spread. This creates some special situations when a month starts during the middle of a week, so it’s entirely a personal choice when deciding which you want! I love using our tabs to help me quickly access the exact pages I’m looking for!
After the monthly and weekly pages, the Hobonichi Cousin provides a spread titled “Turning the page to a New Year”. This can be used as a vision board for the year; mini calendars of December of the previous year and January of the next are in opposite corners of the spread.
Finally, in the Hobonichi Cousin are the dated daily pages. At the beginning of each month, there is a monthly overview page first, and then the pages for that month. Each daily page includes the month, date, day of the week, and the moon phase printed in the top left corner. A short timeline is included, as well as a mini calendar in the bottom right corner that has the respective date circled. Quotes are also included at the bottom of these pages as well. Each page has a number printed on the edge of the right hand of the page indicating the month number (1-January, 2-February, etc). Each month is a different color and the grid on each daily page has that corresponding color.
In the Wonderland 222, after the December Review page begins a section of daily pages. These are not dated but do include a timeline ranging from 1:00 AM to midnight and the pages are numbered. The grid subtly divides the page into quarters and provides a place to include the date at the top right corner of the page. The All-in-One version of this planner includes 376 pages in this section. Wonderland does offer a slimmer planner option that includes 90 of these pages. They offer notebooks that only include these pages as well.
The Hobonichi Cousin includes a handful of blank pages and then several reference pages at the end, along with space for your personal information.
I hope this page-by-page walk-through of the Hobonichi Cousin and the Wonderland 222 A5 Unstacked All-in-One was helpful for you!
Until next time!
~Mandy
