Scum's Wish
クズの本懐
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Two teens in love with their teachers use each other as substitutes — an unusually honest anime about using bodies to survive longing.
Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya, second-years at the same high school, look like the ideal couple. They are not. Hanabi has loved Narumi Kanai, the young man next door she grew up calling her big brother, for as long as she can remember; Mugi has loved Akane Minagawa since she tutored him in middle school. Both now teach at their school, Narumi as Hanabi's homeroom teacher and Akane as the new music teacher, and Hanabi sees in one look that Narumi loves Akane. She and Mugi make a pact: they will stand in for each other, meet each other's physical needs whenever asked, never fall in love, and end it the moment either love is returned.
The story fills with other lonely people. Hanabi's friend Sanae, who has loved her since Hanabi rescued her from a molester on a train, forces a kiss on her at a sleepover, and Hanabi, out of weakness, lets a physical relationship begin that hurts Sanae. Moka, Mugi's childhood friend, has adored him since they were small; he comes close to using her as he uses Hanabi, then stops. Akane, adored by her pupils, turns out to enjoy winning men away from the women who love them. When she tells Hanabi she has slept with Narumi, Hanabi tries to beat her at her own game with one of Akane's lovers, and finds she cannot.
At the end of the summer Hanabi and Mugi keep a promise to confess to their first loves. Afterwards Mugi does not come to the meeting they arranged: Akane has taken him to bed, a teacher's sexual abuse of her pupil. On a trip to Karuizawa Hanabi hurts Sanae again, and the two part, promising to be friends one day. Mugi lets Akane toy with him until he sees that the woman he idealised never existed, and says goodbye. Akane, who has both men's devotion and is still not satisfied, begins to understand what she feels; when Narumi asks her to marry him, knowing exactly who she is, she accepts.
In the last episode Narumi tells Hanabi he will marry Akane, and she promises to come. At the festival Moka, self-assured in a wedding dress on the catwalk, has found friends who admire her sewing. Hanabi and Mugi, estranged for months, find themselves alone in a storeroom and, for once, talk instead of touching: they could renew the pact, but each wants a passionate love, which is not what they had. Glad they met, they say goodbye. In March Sanae, her hair cut short, is talking to Hanabi again, and Hanabi cries; Akane gives her a flower from her pupils' bouquet. A later spin-off manga, not animated, reunites the pair.
Starring
Chika Anzaias Hanabi Yasuraoka
A model student in love with Narumi, her childhood 'big brother' and now her teacher, who uses Mugi as a stand-in.
Hanabi Yasuraoka’s story
Hanabi has loved Narumi, the neighbour she called big brother, all her life, and on the day he becomes her homeroom teacher she sees in one look that he loves Akane. She and Mugi make a pact to stand in for each other's loves, physical needs included, and never to fall in love. She lets her lonely friend Sanae into a physical relationship that keeps hurting Sanae. When Akane tells her she has slept with Narumi, Hanabi tries to steal one of Akane's lovers and finds she cannot. At summer's end she confesses to Narumi and waits for Mugi, who never comes. On a trip she hurts Sanae again, and they part. Months later, alone with Mugi in a storeroom, she talks instead of touching, and they say goodbye. In March Sanae speaks to her again, and Hanabi cries.
Nobunaga Shimazakias Mugi Awaya
A popular student still in love with Akane, his former tutor, who makes a pact of substitution with Hanabi.
Mugi Awaya’s story
Mugi has loved Akane since she tutored him in middle school. He makes the pact with Hanabi, and comes close to using his childhood friend Moka the same way before he stops. At summer's end he confesses to Akane, and she manipulates him into sleeping with her, a teacher's sexual abuse of her pupil; he never comes to meet Hanabi. She goes on toying with him, and when he tries to make her his alone, she turns it into another game. After one date she ends it and tells him she will marry Narumi; he sees that the woman he idealised never existed, and says goodbye. Months later, alone with Hanabi in a storeroom, he talks instead of touching; each wants a passionate love they did not have, and they part, glad to have met.
Kenji Nojimaas Narumi Kanai
Hanabi's gentle neighbour and homeroom teacher, blind to her feelings and in love with Akane.
Aki Toyosakias Akane Minagawa
The adored new music teacher, who enjoys taking men from the women who love them and feels empty all the same.
Akane Minagawa’s story
Akane is the music teacher every pupil adores, and what she enjoys is taking men from the women who love them: she goes after Narumi because Hanabi loves him, and tells Hanabi she has slept with him. When Mugi, whom she once tutored, confesses to her, she manipulates him into bed, a teacher's sexual abuse of her pupil, and keeps him dangling. Narumi unsettles her. He does not chase her, and when an old lover mocks her in front of him for her many men, she admits it all and waits to be left; he accepts her. She goes with him to a hot spring, where he asks her to marry him, knowing exactly who she is. She accepts, gives Mugi one date and ends it, and in March hands Hanabi a flower from her pupils' bouquet.
Haruka Tomatsuas Sanae Ebato
Hanabi's closest friend, who has loved her since Hanabi saved her from a molester on a train.
Shiori Izawaas Noriko 'Moka' Kamomebata
Mugi's childhood friend, who calls herself Moka and has seen him as her prince since they were small.
Why it matters
Scum's Wish takes the most flattering idea in teenage romance, the pure unrequited crush, and shows what it looks like from the inside: jealousy, bargaining, and bodies used as painkillers. Hanabi and Mugi call themselves scum for what they do to each other and to the people who love them, and the series neither excuses nor punishes them; it watches. It is unusually frank about teenage desire, girls' desire especially, and about how easily one lonely person becomes another's substitute. Its adults offer no refuge: the most admired teacher in the school treats other people's affection as something to take. The anime aired in Fuji TV's late-night Noitamina slot in early 2017, while a live-action version ran on the same network. The question it leaves is whether loving someone who cannot love back is devotion, or a way of never having to risk anything.