Scum's Wish
2017
Original language: Japanese
- animation
- drama
The story
Seventeen-year-old Mugi Awaya and Hanabi Yasuraoka appear to be the ideal couple. They are both pretty popular, and they seem to suit each other well. However, outsiders don't know of the secret they share. Both Mugi and Hanabi have hopeless crushes on someone else, and they are only dating each other to soothe their loneliness. Mugi is in love with Akane Minagawa, a young teacher who used to be his home tutor. Hanabi is also in love with a teacher, a young man who has been a family friend since she was little. In each other, they find a place where they can grieve for the ones they cannot have, and they share physical intimacy driven by loneliness. Will things stay like this for them forever?
What it’s like
Soft golden-hour light through classroom windows, muted interiors, and lingering close-ups on faces that say more than the dialogue does give this anime a warm but aching look, with its school days cast in a dusky, slightly washed-out glow. The mood is wistful and lonely, the kind of quiet hurt that settles in after a long day, with music that leans on gentle, melancholic strings and long pauses between lines. The rhythm is unhurried, letting small looks and awkward silences carry the weight. Its emotional register sits in unrequited longing and a slow, uneasy intimacy between two lonely teenagers who lean on each other while still pining for someone else. The intensity is high on sexual content: the physical scenes are frank and ecchi-tinged, with partial nudity and suggestive material, while the psychological strain is constant and sometimes cruel, with no violence or gore. It suits a late-night watch alone rather than background viewing, and it is for viewers who want a messy, bittersweet coming-of-age story about loneliness and the people we settle for. It is not a gentle pick.
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