Kuzu no Honkai

To the outside world, Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya are the perfect couple. But in reality, they just share the same secret pain: they are both in love with other people they cannot be with.

Hanabi has loved her childhood friend and neighbor Narumi Kanai for as long as she can remember, so she is elated to discover that he is her new homeroom teacher. However, Narumi is soon noticed by the music teacher, Akane Minagawa, and a relationship begins to blossom between them, much to Hanabi's dismay.

Mugi was tutored by Akane in middle school, and has been in love with her since then. Through a chance meeting in the hallway, he encounters Hanabi. As these two lonely souls spend more time together, they decide to use each other as a substitute for the one they truly love, sharing physical intimacy with one another in order to stave off their loneliness.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yasuraoka, Hanabi Main

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Awaya, Mugi Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Ebato, Sanae Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Minagawa, Akane Supporting

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Kamomebata, Noriko Supporting

Izawa, Shiori Japanese

Kanai, Narumi Supporting

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Kirishima, Atsuya Supporting

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Terauchi, Takuya Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Hayakawa, Mei Supporting

Fujii, Yukiyo Japanese

Moriyama, Take Supporting

Kijima, Ryuuichi Japanese

Higa, Yuuji Producer

Fujiyama, Naokado Producer

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Andou, Masaomi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Apr 7, 2024

tmoverbeck

Recommended

What starts out as a seemingly cheesy romcom premise - we can't have the ones we really love, so let's hook up as each other's substitutes instead - turns into a complex, scandalous and overall compelling story, emotionally charged and beautifully illustrated.

Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya are two high school students, each with a crush on their respective teachers, Narumi Kanai and Akane Minagawa. When they find out those teachers are falling for each other, Hanabi and Mugi, in a state of emotional despair, make a pact to be a stand-in for each other's object of desire, with the stipulation that they can't fall in ... love with each other. Along the course of the twelve-episode run, other young hearts are drawn into the fray, such as Noriko "Moka" Kamomebata, Mugi's friend since preschool who never lost her crush on him, and Sanae "Ecchan" Ebato, a close female friend of Hanabi's who develops deeper feelings for her.

The series allows us to look into the mindsets and emotions of all persons involved. Some have questionable morals and motivations for sure, and hearts do end up getting broken. But Scum's Wish captures genuinely the complexities of emotional and hormonal development of youth and young adulthood, even if the journey does cross a line or two.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Feb 28, 2024

OhsnapitsDavid

Mixed Feelings

I honestly wanted to rate this anime at a solid 10 just for its production quality, but like other animes that miss their mark, I just can't go higher than a standard 7.

The show is gorgeous, don't forget that. But the writing, the story, the characters, are all so surface level they are just like cardboard cut outs. The main female protagonist was the worst to sit through. Actually, the whole anime just felt like a giant slideshow about her inner dialogue that it completely forced me to just sit and wait for her to narrate the story while giving little consideration to other ... characters, their motives, and the plot in general.

From the first episode, to the last, this anime appears like a stretched out soap drama in the perspective of just the main protagonist. Sure, there are reflections of others and seemingly "deep" interactions, but let's remember that even the secondary characters are so shallow they lack their own lives practically--all for the premise of the anime's theme of adolescence.

The more mature parts about this anime felt less of a serious topic and more like a gimmick of a showcase. Which can reflect real life in how some teens undergo "maturity" early on, but the story was just not on par. The mature and intimate parts are showcased, but the story as a whole remained flat and without an substance.

This is an anime you can have a better time in by having it muted, just to watch the beautiful art and transitions.

It's almost a shame, because it starts off so well, but in general, this anime appeals closer to just an ecchi show with a bigger budget for some story. Which is a shame. Because some anime shows attempt to be dramatic and mature with some themes, but become just gimmicks with a bigger budget.

In short, main character had the whole story revolve around her. Side characters were there to reflect the main character. Story? This might as well just be a fairytale once upon a time in terms of no one knows what is even going on behind the set pieces.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 3, 2024

KingSlowDown

Not Recommended

Everyone in this show is a plain loser.
It took me 4 whole years to finish this anime.
I was in a desperate need of a romance anime when someone recommended Scum's Wish to me and I fully regret on watching this boring show, filled with unlikeable characters and straight up dumb decisions.

Just don't watch it. If you want good romance, ANYTHING else is probably better than this.

This review doesn't surpass the character minimum so I need to write a bit, I want to say again just how bad this is, that it took me 4 years to watch 12 episodes. Each episode more boring than the ... last one.

Cheers

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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