Long Thoughts: Scum's Wish

Video Version: (coming soon!)

Romance stories always seem to utilize the same plot devices. There are love triangles, instances of unrequited love, innocence levels that barely resemble real life, and the masking and endorsement of relationships that may actually be incredibly abusive. Anime is no stranger to these plot devices, as stories that focus on the building of a relationship are far too common, and it barely leaves any room to explore the most interesting part of any romantic relationship: the actual relationship. Scum’s Wish, on the other hand, is a romance anime that decides to break those trends by looking at them from a different angle. It focuses on characters that are either in a clearly screwed-up relationship or are suffering from the pangs of unrequited love, and creates a web of romantic feelings so complicated it makes Mari Okada jealous. However, being different is one thing; being good is entirely another. Let’s see how Scum’s Wish fares when looked at as a show instead of as an abnormal and interesting concept. Keep an eye out for minor spoilers.

The anime is adapted from the manga of the same name, written by Mengo Yokoyari, and produced by Studio Lerche, who was also responsible for Assassination Classroom and Rampo Kitan. Masaomi Andou, who also directed White Album 2 and...Gakkou Gurashi of all things, is credited as the director. The story follows a group of people who are all having romantic troubles, pretty much creating a love...shape with an indefinite amount of sides. While many different perspectives are shown throughout the anime, the main protagonist is Hanabi, a high school girl who has a crush on her childhood friend, Narumi. This sounds innocent enough, but Narumi is her homeroom teacher, is around five to ten years older than she is, and he is in love with another teacher who is much closer to him in age, Akane.

Things start changing when she meets fellow high school student Mugi. (show picture of Mugi from K-On) No, not that Mugi, though that would be pretty funny, but this Mugi. He has a scummy wish that’s eerily similar to hers; he’s in love with Akane, because she used to be his tutor when he was younger. The two bond over this strange mutuality, and decide to become a couple...sort of. Their relationship consists of pretending that the other is the person that they desire, in an attempt to live with their unrequited love and be less lonely as a result. On top of all that, there are other characters who harbor unrequited feelings for both Hanabi and Mugi, and then there are characters who harbor unrequited feelings for them, and it all results in a huge, confusing mess of feelings and lewd urges.

Instead of taking the easy way out by, say, exploiting its sexual content for the sake of selling figures and/or uncensored cuts of the show, Scum’s Wish treats romantic relationships between teens with the maturity they deserve: they’re confusing, consuming, based entirely on impulse, illogical, and usually amount to nothing. No character in Scum’s Wish views sex as a joke; instead, it’s treated as something relatively sacred, alien, and strange. There are characters that are more experienced with it, and characters that know next to nothing about it. Of course, while the show can get a bit over-dramatic at times, there are no huge shouting matches accompanied by music that forces the viewer to cry. In fact, the contrary is true; Scum’s Wish is one of the quietest shows I’ve ever seen, with music that fades into the background and a heavy emphasis on what’s going on inside the character’s heads.

It is also worth noting that the main relationship of the show, the one between Hanabi and Mugi, is very noticeably unhealthy. One could even interpret it as Mugi taking advantage of Hanabi, since he’s more experienced and she never gives vocal consent to his advances. I like how her consent is kept ambiguous, because it adds to the overall screwed-up nature of their relationship, and in a genre that likes to sugar-coat potentially damaging relationships, this transparency is a breath of fresh air. There are even characters, namely Sanae and Noriko, who see the relationship as unhealthy and despise the fact that they’re together. Of course, this could also be attributed to the fact these characters have romantic feelings for those involved in the relationship, but it’s still an inkling of self-awareness that I appreciate.

Speaking of romantic feelings, I also really like how the show actually focuses a web of feelings instead of shoehorning it in as a plot device. By creating a show solely focused on the web, we are allowed to explore the actual intricacies, complexities, and pain of unrequited love, and how it actually defines the lives of these characters. For instance, Noriko is a character who has a crush on Mugi, because they were childhood friends. An entire episode is dedicated to developing her character, showing how he gained those feelings, and how she’s choosing to live with those feelings, knowing that they will never be reciprocated. This is accomplished by showing her on a date with Mugi, and showing her perspective on the events that follow. Through this, we are able to fully understand who Noriko is, why she’s important in the story, learn that she’s willing to move on from her childhood crush, and ultimately sympathize with her.

Another aspect of Scum’s Wish that really elevates it is that it allows us to see the perspectives of numerous characters, which therefore allows us to understand their actions more. The anime loves to utilize interior monologues, and while many of them belong to Hanabi and Akane, most episodes feature at least one other character’s perspective or backstory, which greatly adds to the mature feeling this anime creates. After all, a romantic relationship, unrequited or not, does involve two parties, so ultimately, we learn more about those relationships by understanding the mindsets of both participants.

This does lead to a downside of the show, though; the show sometimes spends too much time telling instead of showing. The interior monologues are valuable, but they aren’t subtle, which unfortunately makes them a little less impactful in a visual medium like anime. No character is a bigger victim of this problem than Akane, whose mindset is simply explained to us via interior monologue and accompanying visuals in the beginning of an episode. Then, we see her talking with Hanabi, and the same thing happens; her emotions are expressed visually, but also via her thoughts. This is valuable insight into her perspective on the events unfolding, but the show feels it necessary for her thoughts to always be stated aloud, even when the audience can piece it together through the visuals and previously provided information.

Another potential problem of the many perspectives is that many of them do blend together. They’re all delivered in a monotone voice with similar imagery, and while the backstories are different enough to stand on their own, it’s made obvious that the character’s personalities and thoughts are all focused around their romantic lives, or lack thereof. While the flat characters do serve a thematic purpose - most of the characters feel empty, don’t know much about themselves, and are consumed by their love lives because those are the only aspects of their lives that make them feel fulfilled - it does make it hard to identify with the characters beyond that, which unfortunately can be a huge problem for any viewer.

This is probably the reason many anime fans haven’t gravitated towards this show, or showered this show with appraisals. The characters, while being justified and relatively sympathetic, are all pretty awful and pathetic. Every character seems to be going through the motions, and they barely take any meaningful action based on their feelings. When they do, it rarely results in a happy ending, and passive, pathetic characters aren’t exactly people we want to sympathize with, beyond thinking, “Thank god I’m not him or her.” This doesn’t mean that the characters in Scum’s Wish are badly written or anything, but sometimes it is hard to emotionally invest yourself in characters that don’t have any meaningful, distinct, or strong emotions about anything. However, I would argue that this is the point; the characters all feel dead inside, and are all trying to find a means of connecting with other people. The main goal of these characters is to find something passionate to grab on to, but they are unable to, and continually attempt to rationalize and logically think through their emotions to find a solution, thereby sucking all the emotion out. Then, they believe that that solution is the only solution possible, in an attempt to remain in control of their own situation. These thoughts that the characters have are not necessarily logical, but they are not supposed to be, because these characters are emotionally immature, particularly Hanabi and Akane.

These two characters basically share the spotlight as the main protagonists, and are very well-developed. What makes them interesting is the fact that they are foils for the other, and develop in completely different ways. Hanabi is inexperienced, slightly awkward, and exerts no control over herself or the people around her. She never takes any action, because she’s always afraid of the ramifications, and just lets her feelings boil up inside without the willingness to act upon them. She also lets other people control her, almost willingly, as shown by how submissive she is whenever Mugi tries making advances on her. As the show progresses, Hanabi finally takes action and learns how to be more independent and less pathetic, gradually becoming more likable as she learns her life lessons. Hanabi transforms from a character that always seems sad, discontent, and trapped in her own inability to act to one who is willing to move on and look beyond her present predicaments, and it’s fairly satisfying to watch. Even if you don’t (understandably) relate to her struggles in the beginning of the show, I think most people can relate to her ultimate desire to change and become a better person as a result.

Akane, as stated earlier, is the complete opposite of Hanabi. She only feels comfortable when she controls other people, is very experienced when it comes to sex, and loves it when men shower her with attention and she sees the jealous glares of girls who aren’t as lucky. She has a strong sense of self-validation, but needs to keep reinforcing it by being with men, whoever he might be. However, despite all that, her life can still be seen as hollow. Akane has a difficult time forming true connections with other people, to the point that the only way she can get by is if men are fawning over her. She’s never felt the pangs of love, the embarrassment of the high school crush, or the simple joy of being with someone she legitimately cares about. While the resolution to her character arc is fairly predictable - she finds someone who she finally begins to share a mutually loving relationship with - she is undoubtedly the most interesting and realized character of the entire show. Her arc is so satisfying that I kinda wish there was no love web and the show just focused on her for its entirety, but at the same time, I’m good with a few episodes that are completely focused on her.

It also helps that these two characters are elevated by incredible performances in the Japanese dub. Chika Anzai, the former voice of Reina from Sound! Euphonium and Merry from Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, does a terrific job voicing Hanabi. She nails the despondency and loneliness of the character, gives her a suitable lighter side during scenes of levity, and nails it whenever Hanabi is feeling bitter or upset. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard a voice bring a character to life in such a way, and it’s a welcome change from all the high-pitched happiness we normally see from female characters in anime. However, Aki Toyosaki, who also voiced...Yunyun from Konosuba and Yui from K-On...wow, that’s unexpected...definitely steals the show with her performance as Akane. She’s able to capture Akane’s fake innocence extremely well, but also is truly excellent when we see Akane’s true sly, petty, and self-centered personality. There’s a certain drawl to her voice that just fits perfectly. The other performances as also good, but these two really stand out, and the combination of the voicing acting and accompanying visuals really bring this show to life.

Scums’ Wish opts for a dusty, unfinished, chalky-looking characters and world, almost as if it were an actual moving drawing. The character designs look like typical shoujo designs, except with a more dreary edge, and there are no bright colors to be found; everything feels like it’s tinged with grey, and is desaturated. It looks weird, but it adds to the disconnected and sorrowful mood the show is clearly trying to convey. Characters always look like they have something else on their minds, with eyes that rarely seem passionate, even when the character is supposed to feel that way. It makes their interactions feel meaningless and empty, which, mixed with the dialogue and the show’s overall intent, is a perfect design choice. The lack of passion displays how each character is still looking for something - or someone - to fulfill their lives, but they're constantly failing. The actual animation is fairly consistent and fluid, with no huge drops in quality or major sakuga moments, but it’s nice to look at.

The show also likes to use split screens a lot, cutting away to a closer shot of a character’s face or something while maintaining the previous shot. As cool and different as it is, though, I personally think it's overused. There are some instances where it’s used perfectly, allowing us to see a more subtle emotion on a character’s face. For instance, there’s a scene in episode 9 when Hanabi and Sanae are in a car, and when Sanae mentions something about their close relationship, the screen adopts a white border around the scene. Right after, the shot goes back to full screen. This sudden change shows how Hanabi has trouble processing or understanding what Sanae just said, and is trying to put it out of her mind. It emphasizes the awkward nature of their relationship, and how Hanabi always tries to dodge huge, emotional discussions, which perfectly builds up to the episode’s resolution. Other times, however, it's completely unnecessary. It also doesn't help that the overuse diminishes the technique’s impact, and that does happen after a few episodes, unfortunately. If you want more insight into why Scum’s Wish uses this aesthetic technique, AniTuber RogerSmith2004 already made an excellent video about it, which I’ll link in the description.

The music of Scum’s Wish was composed by Masaru Yokoyama, who also composed for Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Maiyoga, Rampo Kitan Game of Laplace, and Your Lie in April. It mostly consists of soft piano that perfectly accompanies the somber mood of the show. There aren't many pieces that particularly stick out, but the main theme is a beautiful piece of melancholy, perfectly capturing a feeling of loneliness and despondency. Unfortunately, the soundtrack isn’t easily accessible for those who just want to listen to it casually, so apologies for those who wanted to check it out.

The opening, on the other hand, is my favorite song within the show, mainly because it's so freaking over dramatic that it's enjoyable, but it also oddly fits the show. The noise, dramatic instruments, passionate voice, and lyrics that contain every love cliche on the planet adds to the anime’s empty feeling, like the characters are struggling to find happiness through traditional means and completely failing. Regardless of its meaning, though, it is a pretty fun song, and is accompanied by pretty visuals that garner more and more meaning as the show progresses. I never skipped it, and it always put me in the mood to watch more. The ending is also pretty great, though overall less interesting and the visuals are simply...strange, to say the least. Still, it fits the show, and it’s worth listening to at least once or twice.

Overall, would I say that Scum’s Wish is worth watching? Well, despite its flaws that might turn some people away, I'd say definitely. It's not something that is absolutely required viewing, but in terms of being simultaneously different, interesting, and entertaining, it's a very solid entry into the romance genre, which sorely needed some shaking up. I would not recommend it for people who are simply too immature to watch sexual content, however. I'm not going to slap an age limit on this show, but if you're unsure, I would read up about it and decide from there. For those of you who have seen Scum’s Wish, do you agree or disagree with me? Leave your answer in the comments, and I'll see you guys next time!