Title: Scum’s Wish
Publisher: Sentai Filmworks
U. S. Release Date:9/25/18
Format: Blu-ray / 12 Episodes / 300 Minutes
Genre: Drama
Age Rating: 17+
Overall Personal Rating:B
Synopsis:
Hanabi is a high school girl, seemingly normal but for one thing (I guess it could be more than one thing, depending on how you look at it.). Well, this thing is normal, but it’s how she thinks and reacts to it that is outside the norm. She is in love with Narumi, but what adds the twist is they have a history together and this year his new job makes him a teacher at her school. Their families have been friends ever since she was a little girl. His mother had died and her father had left. Narumi came to her house for home cooked meals and was always kind and brotherly toward Hanabi, stepping into the role of protector for her. Already when she was a young girl, she fell in love with him.
Hanabi’s deep, true love and desire for Narumi is not reciprocated. He sees their relationship as friends or family. He is the big brother oblivious to her feelings that go beyond that roll. He warns her that they must not act familiar at school. Right away, Narumi is attracted to the music teacher, Akane. In despair for her unrequited love, Hanabi enters into a relationship of agreement with a fellow student, Mugi, who also has a hopeless love (for Akane). Since they can’t have who they desire and their feeling are too strong to let go, they turn to each other, basically as surrogates. They use each other to explore their physical desires and pretend emotional attachment with each other.
It doesn’t end there. Sanae is in love with Hanabi, so Hanabi takes advantage of that with Sanae’s permission, Noriko loves Mugi and will take whatever pathetic attention he will give her. Atsuya confesses to Sanae. Mei and Takuya use whoever they want and get used in return…phew, it gets tangled and even crosses the student and teacher divide.
Commentary:
What did I think about Scum’s Wish? First, this is definitely for an older, mature audience. Although they talk about love, they really are exploring sex and sexuality as a major part of the anime. There is no nudity, but things are pushed pretty far and its obvious what it is they are doing. Also, someone older would be better able to sort out the characters weird confusion of love and loyalty with obsession and being a martyr.
I was definitely intrigued by the drama, interested to see what would happen in this set of love webs. What I got tired of seeing was the pathetic streaks the characters had. Their concepts of true love, specifically one that doesn’t give in, will wait forever and take what they can get. As in, how can you dare think of someone else when the one you love doesn’t love/like you back? Overly dramatize self-importance, like they are some sort of special person who can feel deeper love than most. Uh, no, just more of a fool. People were claiming love, but using each other selfishly or letting themselves get crapped on and appreciating the attention.
I think the title is off-putting. It can lose and audience with a title. I understand where it comes from, the characters who are using another person for their own purposes without regard for them, some of them feel bad about it, so, knowing they are scum. Yet it doesn’t stop them, They desire/wish for what they think is true love to be reciprocated.
The characters are interesting enough. All plausible, they give back story to prove it. Luckily, there is character growth for almost everyone. I never thought that they were standard. Even though some were annoying or socially creepy, they held my interest and I cared about what they might do and what their future held.
A few last comments. I watched the the English dubbed and thought it was good. A little over done on the sound of whispering-thinking-inside-their-head dialogue, it got a little grating. I enjoyed the animation style too. It really seems to support the story.
Overall Grade: B A different sort of drama than regular anime stock. Interesting to watch for a mature audience.
