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

Fujiyama, Naokado Producer

Higa, Yuuji Producer

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Andou, Masaomi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 30, 2017

HaXXspetten

Recommended

Have you gotten sick of "romance" anime consisting of nothing but innocent teenagers blushing like tomatoes at the mere thought of holding hands yet? Are you sick of seeing "relationships" implying that there may or may not be a confession in the last minute of the final episode and nothing beyond that? Well then Kuzu no Honkai might be for you, because this anime has more romantic progression in its first five minutes than most romance anime do in their entire runtime, and it manages to break one, two, maybe even three taboos in the process as well.

Kuzu no Honkai at heart represents the ugliness ... of human emotions and carnal base desires. It looks into the darker side of romance and tackles matters which romance anime basically never does. This is not a story about how to woo your would-be waifu of choice, but rather it deals with issues such as how to emotionally cope with having an impossible unrequited love, reflecting on yourself as a human being and opening your eyes to your own flaws, and considering what it must be like for the target of your unrequited affection if you force your own feelings onto them. It showcases how love truly is blind and that you can end up falling for the wrong person against your better judgement, and you just cannot help but desire them anyway. It is a very depressive and heart-wrenching story throughout, but also psychological and packed to the brim with moral lessons to be learned. And it all culminates in one of the most unique, artistic and legitimately fascinating romance anime I have ever seen.

In many ways, Kuzu no Honkai is effectively the polar opposite of most romance anime. Mind you, that does not mean that it is too much more realistic; in fact Kuzu no Honkai is just as exaggerated except in the opposite direction. While the characters are all (more or less) realistic individually, the fact that they all happen to be such emotionally broken wrecks and that they are somehow all connected in one big messy love polygon at the same time is a bit too implausible. However, realism is ultimately not the main purpose of this story, but rather to provide a significantly less glorified outlook on romance that showcases that love is not always easy and not always as beautiful as anime generally likes to make it out to be.

The first thing I really like about Kuzu no Honkai is how it does not beat around the bush. Whilst most anime characters seem scared to even hold hands with their respective crush, in this anime we have Mugi and Hanabi willingly tongue-wrestling with each other within the first three minutes of the first episode. This then proves to be nothing more than a prelude of what is to come as the anime has a lot of actual sexual interaction between numerous different characters over the course of the story. However, it is also done in a way which makes it seem like it is not really a big deal to have sex, and that it is something merely a natural part of relationships or even done just for the sake of emotional comfort. You are never given the impression that the sex scenes in Kuzu no Honkai are anything perverted or something out of the ordinary enough to freak out about. This is also largely attributed to the very artistic directing of the anime. What might otherwise have been written off as nothing but smut ends up coming across as something poetic and emotional, albeit perhaps not straight-up beautiful due to the anime's rather questionable morals. The visuals make great usage of the original manga's design by actually showcasing a lot of screens with multiple manga style panels instead of normal full screen animation. It is a bit difficult to explain without seeing it with your own eyes, but I personally found it very effectual and artistic, and it greatly helped to set the rather melancholic tone of the anime as a whole.

At heart, the anime is mostly about hopeless affections. The two main characters Mugi and Hanabi are both in love with someone else who they know they can probably never have, and only utilize each other as replacements for their actual crushes. But they are not the only outcasts in this anime as amogst the other people involved in the love polygon we have a homosexual, a man-eating slut, and more. Everyone has some sort of deep-rooted emotional issue as for why their feelings are almost assuredly never going to transcend into mutual love along with their crush, and they all have different ways of trying to deal with it, such as self-denial, clouding of judgement, or just selfishly forcing their feelings upon their beloved regardless of the consequences. This all results in the whole situation becoming increasingly messy and entangled with each passing episode, which makes the story both unpredictable and dramatic, but it also fills you with some sort of sadistic pleasure by watching everyone's worlds continuously come crumbling down, solely to then be able to watch in fascination how the characters somehow try to climb out of the holes they themselves created. It is a pretty typical case of curiosity killed the cat.

The main question you have to ask yourself whilst watching this anime is "what is the right thing to do?" in the characters' respective circumstances. More often than not, the logical answer and the emotional answer stand in direct contradiction to one another. Their heads tell them that they should try to let go of their hopeless feelings of affection, but their hearts say that they have to keep pushing forward, no matter the cost. And really, you cannot say that one option is any more or less "correct" than the other. Is it acceptable to sacrifice someone else's happiness in pursuit of your own, and is it okay to keep feigning ignorance of reality just because the current lie you are living in "feels good"? There is not really a right answer here, as regardless of what you do, someone is guaranteed to end up miserable and unhappy in the end no matter what, and Kuzu no Honkai showcases this dilemma to great effect.

Of course that is not to say that there are not a couple of times where I feel like the writers go a bit too far whilst trying to overplay the misery that Kuzu no Honkai has to offer. Especially Akane--who is arguably the real bad guy in this mess (if you can call her that)--sometimes feels a bit *too* malicious. The way she just casually tries to break Hanabi's heart in the most sickening ways possible time and time again feels like it goes a bit beyond what her own motivations seem to rationally justify that she should want to, and there is also one scene where you can see her sadistically licking her lips the way a second-rate villain from some B movie would do... which seems like they writers are trying to force on the image that "this woman is evil" a bit too directly. That is not to say that Akane does not function as a villain though because she is certainly a character you love to hate, but I cannot help but find the way they reached that goal to have been a bit forced at times.

In the grand scheme of things though, the hiccups of Kuzu no Honkai are rather sparse in comparison to how many good things there are about it. It is an unorthodox and exceptionally well-written show with very interesting characters. It also has some very artistic directing in general and even boasts with having some absolutely superb opening and ending themes. And while the story as a whole might still feel a bit implausible at times, it nonetheless gets its messages across in great fashion. Ultimately, what you are left with is one of the most memorable romance dramas in a very long time, and although it is certainly not an anime for everyone given its controversial themes, I think it is also one of those shows which if you manage to see it for what it truly is, then there really are not very many series quite like it. Overall, Kuzu no Honkai is probably the best romance anime I have seen in the last few years, and one I will eagerly recommend people for a long time to come as well.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Mar 30, 2017

Veronin

Mixed Feelings

There aren't many anime as uncomfortable as Kuzu no Honkai. It introduces itself as a melancholic tale of unrequited love, and quickly transforms into something far more ugly. The characters are relentlessly trampled upon, until, indeed, as the title might suggest, they are reduced to human trash.

It isn't necessary for a story to make you feel happy. There exist a wealth of fiction that, while depressing, and perhaps never even enjoyable, are still valuable for the message they are trying to make.

Kuzu no Honkai doesn't have that message. It is misery for misery's sake, existing almost exclusively to make you feel like crap. ... If you found anime such as Aku no Hana and School Days difficult to watch, you might have yourself something of a challenge here, too.

There is seldom a character within Kuzu no Honkai who behaves sensibly or is capable of thinking with any other organ except their genitalia. Hanabi and Mugi are lonely because they cannot be united with their loved ones, and so they seek to find some solace in each other. They can't love each other because they love someone else. They use sexual intimacy as an escape. But they still can't give up on the one they love. And so the cycle, their tedious lives continue.

If that is where the series stood, all may have been fine. But it escalates, and they, and just about everyone else surrounding them, wants more, more, until nothing remains in their hollow lives but sex and sleaze. It becomes impossible to feel any empathy for them and the grief they are constantly plunging themselves into. They're beyond saving. They deserve everything that happens to them. And so I cannot bring myself to care when it tries to play Hanabi as the victim, the tragic heroine. The real victims are Norumi (the male teacher) and Noriko for being deceived by such deplorable people. Love is blind, as the cheesy proverb goes, but in this case they must also be blind in the literal sense.

Most of Kuzu no Honkai's cast is comprised of hypocrites who get upset with their partner(s) for acts they have been committing themselves. They act nonsensically at times, and can change their attitude on a whim, giving up on their love at the end of one episode and then cheerfully encouraging each other to confess at the beginning of the next. They haven't the slightest idea of what they want. Maybe that is to be expected. Love is a tricky thing, after all, and teenagers are at their most confused stage in life. But it becomes a question if what they felt was ever love in the first place when they can so readily find someone else as a replacement, sleeping with anyone who shows them even the slightest affection. It's entirely possible that Hanabi and Mugi only fell in love with their respective partner because they were the first ones to give them that affection. And so how am I to feel bad for the two when their crushes end in disappointment?

While women like Akane undoubtedly exist in the real world (having unfortunately encountered someone similar myself), she is possessed by such an intensely twisted and ugly worldview that it becomes a wonder how she is even able to fulfil her duties as a teacher. She eventually comes to a point of redemption, but makes it quite clear that she is there only to see, to try, potentially ruining a man's entire life merely for the chance of relieving her boredom. I didn't find that heartwarming as it was intended to be - I found it disgusting of her, and that's in the face of all the detestable things she had already done.

The main theme of each episode is who is going to make out with or bang whom. It's an endless rotation, much like a hentai, the characters seemingly unaware of or passive to the concept of cheating, and incapable of guilt. Everyone loves someone else, and seemingly nobody in the world is capable of a happy, fulfilling relationship-- even Hanabi's friends (who are never otherwise shown) are revealed as having their partner cheating on them. Maybe it's a good thing I detest all the characters, as I don't think I would want a character I actually like to be in a story like this. Any time Noriko appeared, the one I disliked the least, I was dreading to see the mess she might be dragged into. And Narumi, while naive to painful extents, is never really deserving of the awful situation Akane puts him through. The only joy you could possibly extract from something like this is some sadomasochistic desire to see everyone in pain and despair. I can't say I possess that desire.

The main rebuttal, I would imagine, is that the characters are meant to be human trash, and so it is okay that they are trash. I could concede to that point, as stories do not require respectable characters. But even trash are human, and so it is expected that they still behave like humans, a detail that Kuzu no Honkai seems so ready to forget.

Sanae, for instance, has such an intense (and frankly creepy) attachment to her loved one that it almost seems a crime for her to not be locked away in some mental hospital. There can at times be a desire to stay with someone you love even when you know you cannot have them or that they are bad for you, but she long crosses the boundary of how real people would react in her situation. There is a difference between being a confused teenager who seeks sexual gratification, and being a psychotic almost-rapist who believes people are their property. If they have done as she does, then they've probably gotten to know prison life pretty well.

It's also questionable why the author decided to complicate things further by giving Sanae someone who one-sidedly loves her as well, considering how little is ever done with them. You could write them out completely and it wouldn't affect much of anything. They exist solely, I would assume, to create more despair, as if the show hadn't enough of that already.

Kuzu no Honkai's detestable cast is, if nothing else, well-realised, thanks to the frequent monologuing and backstories. Each of the main six get their turn to narrate on numerous occasions, which does well to explain their motivations and feelings and to make them feel like proper protagonists rather than mere accessories to the carnage, even if some (namely Sanae) receive significantly less characterisation than others. To merely show two characters having sex or making out with each other is not nearly as meaningful as when it is accompanied by narration. It leaves less to the imagination, but, unlike other intensely uncomfortable and cringe-filled anime such as School Days, gives substance to the scene and makes sense in the context of the characters. When timed with the anime's emotional soundtrack, some of the dialogue can almost feel captivating, and a kiss can carry power, even if it is between two people who really have no business kissing each other in the first place. It's nice to have an anime courageous enough to portray sex in an honest manner, as most use it purely for pornographic purposes, or seem afraid of touching upon it altogether, as if humans are somehow sexless creatures. I just don't think that real people are nearly as defined by it as they are in Kuzu no Honkai.

I'll fully admit that I hated every second I spent watching Kuzu no Honkai, and felt relieved when it was over. This isn't because it is a particularly bad anime, but because it aims to say or do little else but make the viewer feel terrible. It pushes you, kicks you, and then throws another punch to your gut once that is over. It is filled with moments where you want to shout at the characters to stop, to not be stupid. There are times where you will have to pause and take a breather because of all the cringe and madness that is unfolding. Kuzu no Honkai is about as far from a pleasant anime as can possibly be, and it never really aims to fill that gap with much substance or meaning. Its starting and ending points are the same. It wants to say that people are stupid, that love hurts, and more than that, it wants you to hurt, too.

Some people will be fine with that. Maybe they want to feel awful. Maybe they just want to feel emotion, any emotion.

I'll give them that - it certainly makes you feel something.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Dec 12, 2023

Bebelman

Not Recommended

Funny

This is the most cringey, edgy, 'look how deep and conflicted I am', garbage I've ever set my eyes upon. Absolutely no decency, no self-respect, no genuinety, no common sense, no nothing.
It's just another reminder of a perpetually morally bankrupting society nowadays. Thanks!

Characters are terrible - contrived, unlikable, and honestly just plain disgusting. No, I would not passionately make out with a random stranger as a substitute for my unrequited love. I guess that's just me, though. Throw in bunch of forbidden unrequited love (student-teacher, incest, lesbianism) in and envelop it with 'passion', a.k.a. perversion and you got yourself Kuzu no Honkai. And what's with ... the completely out of place and unnecessary comedy? Is that an attempt to bring lightheartedness into this filth? Because it's not working.
Sodom and Gomorrah - the anime.

I would rather watch School Days on repeat and cringe for three days than feast my eyes on this trash for another second.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

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