Scum's Wish

Seventeen-year-old Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya look like a model couple at school, admired by classmates and treated as if they belong together. The truth is messier: they started dating to dull the ache of loving people they can never have. Mugi pines for Akane Minagawa, a charismatic young teacher who once tutored him, while Hanabi is drawn to a different adult, a family friend she’s known since childhood. Their relationship is honest in its dishonesty, a place where physical closeness substitutes for emotional satisfaction as each of them tries to cope with longing and isolation. The show follows their fragile arrangement and the toxic patterns that ripple outward, without giving away how their choices eventually play out.

The anime aired in 2017 and adapts Mengo Yokoyari’s manga, with series composition handled by Makoto Uezu. It’s presented in an intimate, character-driven format, and the voice cast includes Chika Anzai as Hanabi and Nobunaga Shimazaki as Mugi.

Critics and viewers gave the series mixed reviews, reflected in a vote average around 6.4 out of 10. Many reviewers praised its unflinching look at adolescent desire and emotional pain, while others found the characters too self-destructive to sympathize with. The animation and vocal performances drew specific notice, even when opinions split on the show’s moral tone.

Major themes are unrequited love, loneliness, consent and how sex can be used to mask emotional voids. The writing focuses on interpersonal dynamics and the consequences of treating people as emotional stand-ins, often refusing to soften uncomfortable scenes so the audience can see the cost of those choices.

The series stirred a lot of online conversation for its frank sexual content and its bleak view of teenage relationships, gaining a devoted niche audience and plenty of fan discussion. It didn’t capture major industry awards, but it has remained a touchstone in conversations about how anime can portray messy, morally ambiguous young adults.