I’m not sure I like this.
I was upset and uncomfortable, very uncomfortable, the entire time. Angry, sad, worried, all of the above. Except happiness. Reading the synopsis, I thought this would be the type of show where the couple would be in love with different people, and they would need to figure out their emotions and work on the relationship. But…this is not what I was expecting at all.
The story is simple. Hanabi is our main girl, who is in love with her homeroom teacher, Kanai-sensei. He’s someone she’s known her entire life, and she calls him Brother. They’re not related, he’s just a neighbor that she grew very close with and developed feelings for. Mugi is our main boy. He’s in love with the new music teacher of the school, Minagawa-sensei. She is also someone he knows from when he was younger, as she used to be his tutor. We didn’t get Mugi’s viewpoint so we’re supposed to assume the situation is the same as Hana’s. So, Hana loves Kanai. Mugi loves Minagawa.
Problem? It’s extremely obvious that Kanai and Minagawa like each other. And that just makes Hana and Mugi upset. They both love their love interests a lot, and they both mope with each other about this. All of a sudden, they start to hang out more often. Now, even though they love other people, why are they dating each other?
They both made a pact in their sadness and loneliness, where they agree to enter a relationship with each other, where the other is going to be the replacement for the love interest they long to be with. A friends with benefits thing…except without the sex. Maybe. They won’t have sex, they won’t develop feelings for each other, and if either one of them gets to be with the person they love, the “relationship” ends.
I…can’t explain how uncomfortable this makes me feel. The decision they made is sad, stupid, and really shitty. I was irritated when Hanabi would glare at Minagawa-sensei. I mean…they’re both adults. Two mature adults, and then we have two stupid kids that are so desperate to be with the person they want that they’ll enter this messed up relationship, it….just isn’t right! I was scared during their intimate scene, screaming that they wouldn’t take things too far and both of them give up their virginities to someone they don’t even like. Thank god they didn’t, but Hana did waste her first kiss on him. I mean, neither of these two are likeable. Hana is a bitch, and Mugi…well, we actually don’t know too much about Mugi, but he has this robotic personality that was super creepy during the intimate scene. I can’t even imagine how this show is going to play out.
The OP and ED are fantastic. The animation and style choice they used for this show, some scenes playing out like a manga, is beautiful. It’s just the story itself and our two main characters that’s just not doing it for me. I mean, this is just not a healthy relationship. Friends with benefits things happen, I don’t approve of it, but whatever it happens. But the reason they’re doing this is ridiculous and clearly shows just how immature they are.
But I guess that’s the point, isn’t it? Literally the English translation of this show is Scum’s Wish. Would I call Hanabi and Mugi scum? Not really, just stupid. But apparently there’s going to be two more characters introduced, and I think that’s when things are going to get scummy.
And now I’m getting worried. The characters being introduced are two girls. Seeing as how nasty and dark this show seems, this won’t be good. One of the girls is small and cute, and she looks like she has the same sweet demeanor as Minagawa. And the other girl is really pretty. I’m going to be afraid that since Hana won’t go as far as to have sex with him, Mugi might make a pact with one or both girls and have sex with one of them, and it’ll be like this really fucked up harem of fake Minagawas for Mugi, and then this’ll make for some serious drama. Or they might have different roles, but I’m going to guess that’ll happen just from the images we got in the ED.
I’m not sure how I feel about this show. This is not the type of romance I’ve ever seen in anything. I know this’ll be a controversial show and I suppose I’m interested to see how it’ll all play out. I’m gonna guess that these two, or at least one of them, is going to actually fall in love with the other and it’ll really affect things. I’ll give this show a few more episodes and I’ll see if I stick with it.
Possibility of watching: Moderate
Possibility of blogging: Moderate
As a reader of the original source I’m going to tell you that this story isn’t supposed to be “healthy”. It’s incredibly realistic to me, and the focus is on the bad side of relationships. I mean the genre is written as a seinen so the concepts are mature.
Mugi and Hanabi are children. They’re supposed to make mistakes and do things they’ll probably regret. That’s the realistic part of it. Because no one lives a rainbow-happy life and Yoko sensei does a great job of portraying that side of life.
Yeah I get what you’re saying. A lot of people have been saying that so it at least makes me interested in seeing what else this series has to offer. I’m just not sure I can stomach this show, depending on what happens later on. I watch shows to be happy and have fun, and this show’s first episode didn’t do that. Not that it was bad, just maybe not for me. But I’ll soldier on for now.