Kuzu no Honkai/Scum's Wish

[bomaye]

I've made a few posts about this in the Winter 2017 thread, and the Entertainment joys thread, so might as well go for it

First and foremost, this is a really sexually explicit series. It doesn't show everything in the anime, but there's points where I was wondering how far they would actually go, there's a few times where it's more or less a hentai without showing anything they'd have to blur out. I have no idea if the manga goes farther, but it is seinen/adult manga, so it absolutely could just be full-on porn mode there.



Kuzu no Honkai/Scum's Wish is an ongoing manga and a current-season anime (it's a Thursday show, we're up to 5 episodes out of 12) and also apparently has an IRL drama adaptation. I assume the anime is going to get an original ending and the manga will continue past a certain point

The story is about a high school couple, Hanabi and Mugi, who both hold unrequited love for different teachers (in Hanabi's case, an older boy she grew up with who is now a teacher at her high school, in Mugi's case, an older girl who was his tutor and is a new music teacher at the same school), and use each other as surrogates to try and fill the emptiness and loneliness they feel. There's a lot of slurpy kisses, awkward sex, different reactions to emotions and feelings, and there is one character who's revealed later who's just the fucking worst (it's a similar feeling to how the killer from Erased toyed with people, but without the violence).

So I don't get a lot of feels from this, but it's more something that makes me lean forward a little bit because they're really pushing for something here and it's super interesting because they're putting a lot of effort and thought and style into everything. And they say things that I've thought before but I've never heard mentioned elsewhere before. Considering the origins of the nerdlounge as a dating site, this might fit into the theme of the board's DNA too.

(Speaking of Erased, the outro is from the same person who sung the Erased outro)

[Prajnaparamita]

I mean, I think Scum's Wish might be a YMMV on how much of what the characters are doing are stuff you've been through yourself. Here's the thing--there's an older male friend of mine who looks to me like a little sister and who has watched me grow up who I had a crush on for years, and perhaps I hate to admit it, I still have feelings for, as I am planning to eventually move across the country eventually to live with him (platonically). Yes we're great friends, and yes we've been through a ton together and I know he doesn't see me like that, but during my teenage/early twenties, I was totally obsessed with him, I couldn't think of anyone but him. And yeah, I bounced around a whole bunch of meaningless relationships trying to find something to fill it, seeking men who were emotionally unavailable to me. And so there's a fuck ton in the anime that makes me just want to stop and shout at the screen "HOLY FUCK THAT'S MY LIFE", like the apathetic way you sort of look when you feel like nothing but this one person can make you happy, or the way your mood can turn on a dime when you think of them. It brings back all the memories of unhealthy obsessive crushes, the wondering of "do I wish I had never met you so I never would have felt this pain?"

Spoiler:

Also like I'm loving the series as someone who really likes sex, and really likes hentai, because there's this fun game of "is that really realistic or is that just hentai", like for example the kiss in the first episode where you see a trail of spit linking their mouths--that's a classic hentai trope, but doesn't actually happen IRL really? But other things, like, say, not knowing how to touch a dick

Spoiler:

are so goddamn spot on for the sheer awkwardness of teenage fooling around.

Anyway, more assorted thoughts hidden under the spoiler tag, for episodes 1-3

Spoiler:

Finally, my thoughts on some of the show as a crisis counselor (because it sucks, but I guess I kinda can't turn off that part of my brain anymore.

cw: rape, child abuse :

[Enail]

I read the first few chapters, and I'm not really into it enough to keep going.

Ch1-5:

[bomaye]

I read the first few chapters, and I'm not really into it enough to keep going.

Spoiler:

I'm gonna do more thorough replies a little later or maybe tomorrow

[bomaye]

I mean, I think Scum's Wish might be a YMMV on how much of what the characters are doing are stuff you've been through yourself. Here's the thing--there's an older male friend of mine who looks to me like a little sister and who has watched me grow up who I had a crush on for years, and perhaps I hate to admit it, I still have feelings for, as I am planning to eventually move across the country eventually to live with him (platonically). Yes we're great friends, and yes we've been through a ton together and I know he doesn't see me like that, but during my teenage/early twenties, I was totally obsessed with him, I couldn't think of anyone but him. And yeah, I bounced around a whole bunch of meaningless relationships trying to find something to fill it, seeking men who were emotionally unavailable to me. And so there's a fuck ton in the anime that makes me just want to stop and shout at the screen "HOLY FUCK THAT'S MY LIFE", like the apathetic way you sort of look when you feel like nothing but this one person can make you happy, or the way your mood can turn on a dime when you think of them. It brings back all the memories of unhealthy obsessive crushes, the wondering of "do I wish I had never met you so I never would have felt this pain?"

Spoiler:

... Are you sure you aren't writing this series?

Also like I'm loving the series as someone who really likes sex, and really likes hentai, because there's this fun game of "is that really realistic or is that just hentai", like for example the kiss in the first episode where you see a trail of spit linking their mouths--that's a classic hentai trope, but doesn't actually happen IRL really? But other things, like, say, not knowing how to touch a dick

Spoiler:

are so goddamn spot on for the sheer awkwardness of teenage fooling around.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

-Okay, I am never going to get over how much I love the paneling in the animation--its like they're animating pages of manga (I mean yes they literally are, but you know know what I mean). The use of negative space and closeups is just fantastic for sure.

Love that shit too

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

... Careful/wish for etc

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Finally, my thoughts on some of the show as a crisis counselor (because it sucks, but I guess I kinda can't turn off that part of my brain anymore.

cw:

Spoiler:

[bomaye]

Ep 4 stuff since it was fairly recent. This is where it feels like the story really gets going

Spoiler:

Ep 5

Spoiler:

[Enail]

[quote="bomaye"]

I read the first few chapters, and I'm not really into it enough to keep going.

Spoiler:

If there were particular bits you think might be interesting, I could skip ahead and reading some, I'm just not engaged enough to read the whole thing.

[Enail]

I read the first few chapters, and I'm not really into it enough to keep going.

Spoiler:

If there were particular bits you think might be interesting, I could skip ahead and reading some, I'm just not engaged enough to read the whole thing.

[Prajnaparamita]

... Are you sure you aren't writing this series?  

See Enail, I think this is pretty much the reason why for you and bomaye, the series is kinda meh, like its pretty and all but not captivating. For me its like HOLY SHIT STORY OF MY GODDAMN LIFE. Like, I don’t give a damn that the characters are largely unsympathetic and their issues all of their own making. At that age, I was a lil shithead and my obsessive so-called love of the man I desperately wanted to be with was also a problem of my own making. It felt like the biggest, most pressing issue any human being could possibly face, and I wallowed in the melodrama of the problem I had created for myself. Also like the animation (and a lot of the animation decisions) are goddamn beautiful and unlike pretty much anything else, its one of the few series where I’m preferring the anime to the manga.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

So from stuff I've gathered, the Japanese are still very conservative about sex as a taboo. A lot of their love tropes are still about like "oh no, we accidentally bumped into each other doki doki" or "take a bit from your ice cream? But isn't than an indirect k-k-k-k-k-kissoo", so I think their sex tropes lead to them more awkwardly playing expected roles rather than doing what's natural, like the man being dominant or forward and the woman being passive and receiving.

Okay, okay, all that is true, but…

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

... Careful/wish for etc

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

[bomaye]

See Enail, I think this is pretty much the reason why for you and bomaye, the series is kinda meh, like its pretty and all but not captivating. For me its like HOLY SHIT STORY OF MY GODDAMN LIFE. Like, I don’t give a damn that the characters are largely unsympathetic and their issues all of their own making. At that age, I was a lil shithead and my obsessive so-called love of the man I desperately wanted to be with was also a problem of my own making. It felt like the biggest, most pressing issue any human being could possibly face, and I wallowed in the melodrama of the problem I had created for myself. Also like the animation (and a lot of the animation decisions) are goddamn beautiful and unlike pretty much anything else, its one of the few series where I’m preferring the anime to the manga.

The animation and the style are one of the main draws for me, I think, though I wasn't really expecting any of the characters to be super sympathetic (Scum's Wish) or anyone I could really relate to. And it's a noitamina block show, and those have a rep for being interesting at the very least.

Spoiler:

Yyyyyyyyuuuuuppp. It's somewhat like a sexual car-crash with immature people, and you're just wondering what awful thing is going to happen next half of the time <.<

[Prajnaparamita]

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Yyyyyyyyuuuuuppp. It's somewhat like a sexual car-crash with immature people, and you're just wondering what awful thing is going to happen next half of the time <.<

I feel like for maximum accuracy, Kuzu no Hokai should be narrated by all the characters on their therapists’ couches, twenty something years later down the line as they try to figure out their broken marriages and trust issues lol

[Prajnaparamita]

Spoiler:

Okay, question ya’ll—how the fuck do all these teenagers have such nice lingerie on all the goddamn time!? That stuff is expensive you know, how the hell do they afford it all the time? And why are you always wearing it? I mean, sure if you know you’re getting laid, but the amount of spontaneous morose fucking that happens in this show where it so happens that everyone has their nicest pair on is just absurd! Is no one wearing their period panties?

Also, bomaye, is the series only out to episode 5, or is the site I've been using just lacking?

[bomaye]

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Okay, question ya’ll—how the fuck do all these teenagers have such nice lingerie on all the goddamn time!? That stuff is expensive you know, how the hell do they afford it all the time? And why are you always wearing it? I mean, sure if you know you’re getting laid, but the amount of spontaneous morose fucking that happens in this show where it so happens that everyone has their nicest pair on is just absurd! Is no one wearing their period panties?

Parental allowance ofc

Also, bomaye, is the series only out to episode 5, or is the site I've been using just lacking?

Yep, just five so far. Next ep is out Thursday

[Prajnaparamita]

Also, bomaye, is the series only out to episode 5, or is the site I've been using just lacking?

Yep, just five so far. Next ep is out Thursday

Sweet! I haven't watched a show while its coming out simultaneously in Japan since... Geez, FMA: Brotherhood lol. Feels like I'm getting in on the ground floor!

[Prajnaparamita]

So that moment when

Spoiler:

hit me surprisingly hard and, well I think I actually began to ship Kanai and Hana. Look, I know she has no chance and it would totally not be a healthy relationship (I mean, if you wanna bang a woman you knew as an elementary school student back when you played daddy to her you’ve got issues) but damn, it brought up feels. Idk why this anime has become Prajna’s Emotional Confession zone, but no one else knows about this and most of you guys don’t know me IRL so it seems like a safe place I guess… The guy I’ve had a crush on for years, ever since I was a teen, recently told me he had something to confess to me, but before he would tell me what it was, made me promise I wouldn’t freak out on him or anything.

And well, I’m in a happy, stable relationship now, I had sworn I was over him, but just with that everything came rushing back—I was already mentally preparing my answer, “I’m in a relationship now, and you’re thousands of miles away, but maybe when you come to the states, well, we can take it one day at a time and see where things go” *mentally starts planning wedding announcements*

Of course though, that wasn’t what he was planning on telling me, he’s not into me and I lost my chance with him a long, long time ago. He was letting me know that his depression had come back and he was starting to have passive suicidal ideation and he didn’t want me to freak out at him (as he knows how much I care and how tempted I’d be to jump on the next flight to Australia for him). I did a risk assessment, checked in on a self care plan, and promised I’d be in touch, while being fucking glad we were doing this through text so he couldn’t hear the disappointment in my voice. Of course I’ll always be there for him, and of course I’m glad he told me, but I also still can’t forget the fact that he’s coming to the states not to be with me (or really even for the career reasons he claims) but to chase after a second chance with his ex girlfriend, a woman I know I could never compare to (tall, thin, model pretty and oh, is a brilliant doctor with a prestigious research position at Harvard and did I mention that she has perfect silky long flowing hair—thanks Scum’s Wish, #tooreal)

Welp, here’s hoping that watching Hana get her dreams crushed will be cathartic in a way for me, having her move on and find happiness in a way that is actually obtainable perhaps could be a lesson for me. Anime as therapy, who would have thought.

[Enail]

Anime is the best kind of therapy

[bomaye]

New episode is out

[Prajnaparamita]

New episode is out

Where are you watching it? I've not been able to find it

[bomaye]

I'mmmmmmmmmmmmm acquiring it, not streaming it, let's say

[Prajnaparamita]

I'mmmmmmmmmmmmm acquiring it, not streaming it, let's say

And mayhaps, dear chap, a chance of you so generously informing a young lady such as I by what means she might come to acquire such a thing for herself?

[bomaye]

First half of Ep 6 (got interrupted)

Spoiler:

Second half of Ep 6

Spoiler:

[Prajnaparamita]

Welcome back one and all to the series I shall now and forever refer to as “Miserable People Fucking Morosely”, sorry for the delay in getting to it, the past couple of days, I’ve just been too depressed for this shit. Anime therapy, lets start exploring that trauma!

episode 6:

[Prajnaparamita]

Second half of Ep 6

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

MAKE AN ACOUSTIC VERSION OF THE OUTRO ALL ETHERIAL AND EMOTIONAL AND SHIT AND I WILL LISTEN TO IT LITERALLY FOREVER

[bomaye]

Ep 7

Spoiler:

That transition into the outro, every fucking time, especially because it the same voice who haunted us after every Boku Dake Ga Inai Machi/Erased cliffhanger.

[bomaye]

Ep 8 is out

Spoiler:

AGHHHHHHHHHHH

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