Scum's Wish (Japanese: クズの本懐, Hepburn: Kuzu no Honkai) is a Japanese manga series by Mengo Yokoyari. It was serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Monthly Big Gangan from September 2012 to March 2017, and has been collected in eight tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation produced by Lerche aired between January and March 2017 on Fuji TV. A live-action television series aired from January to April 2017.
Contents
Plot
High school student Hanabi Yasuraoka has been in love with Narumi Kanai, her older childhood friend who is now her homeroom teacher. But from the look in Narumi's eyes when he sees the new music teacher Akane Minagawa, Hanabi realizes that he is in love with Akane and not her. Hanabi meets Mugi Awaya, another student who is in love with Akane, who was his tutor when he was in middle school. Hanabi and Mugi make a pact and begin a fake relationship to satisfy each other's loneliness from their respective unrequited loves, both sexually and emotionally. They agree to not fall in love with each other and end the relationship if their love is returned from the people they are in love with.
Characters
Main characters
Hanabi Yasuraoka (安楽岡 花火, Yasuraoka Hanabi)
Voiced by: Chika Anzai (Japanese); Avery Smithhart (English)
Played by: Miyu Yoshimoto
A high school student who is in love with Narumi. After finding out that Narumi is in love with Akane, Hanabi begins a fake relationship with Mugi to satisfy their mutual loneliness. She later enters into a physical relationship with her best friend Sanae, but the relationship ends after Sanae decides to give up on Hanabi. Hanabi then decides to quit her fake relationship with Mugi and goes on a different path to find her true love. In Décor, Hanabi hasn't moved on from her feelings of Mugi—despite being with lots of friends during their time apart—she still loves him. While working as a staff member at a concert venue, she sees Mugi again and the two of them accept each other's love and hold hands, possibly starting the genuine relationship the both of them had hoped for.
Mugi Awaya (粟屋 麦, Awaya Mugi)
Voiced by: Nobunaga Shimazaki (Japanese); Greg Cote, Katelyn Barr (young) (English)
Played by: Dori Sakurada
A high school student who is in love with Akane. He and Hanabi begin a fake relationship to satisfy each other's desires. In middle school, Mugi had already been in a secret relationship with his senior, Mei Hayakawa, who took his virginity since he was not able to confess his love to Akane. Mugi had always been aware of what kind of person Akane is, but loved her nevertheless. Later in the series, Mugi confesses to Akane and they go on a date. However, after the date, Mugi realizes that he cannot hold on to his ideal image of Akane he had and bids farewell to Akane with the hopes that he can finally move on from her. Later on, he's shown to have moved on after coming to a conclusion to end everything with Hanabi in order to pursue a better life and find true love. In Décor, Mugi still hasn't gotten over Hanabi despite having a multitude of sexual encounters with different women over the course of their time apart. Eventually, while daydreaming about Hanabi, he declines an invitation to have sex from a woman who approached him at his job, where he comes to the conclusion that Hanabi is the girl he wants. When he finally sees Hanabi again at a concert, he asks God to please let his relationship with her last this time and the two of them hold hands, possibly signifying that the two of them will start the relationship they had wanted.
Others
Atsuya Kirishima (桐嶋 篤也, Kirishima Atsuya)
Voiced by: Shintarō Asanuma (Japanese); Joe Daniels (English)
Played by: Takuya Negishi
Sanae's cousin who has romantic feelings for her. He questions Sanae about her relationship with Hanabi, asking her if she is really in love with Hanabi or is only sexually attracted to her. After Sanae decides to give up on Hanabi, she tells Atsuya that she will trust him more. In Décor, he again confesses his love for her after graduation and promises to be her support even if she rejects him, which makes Sanae depressed, since she highly appreciates his support, but can not reciprocate because of her lesbian orientation.
Mei Hayakawa (早川 芽衣, Hayakawa Mei)
Voiced by: Yukiyo Fujii (Japanese); Christina Kelly (English)
Played by: Shiori Yoshida
Mugi's senior at middle school. Mugi turned to her after being unable to initially confess to Akane and they had sex. Afterwards, Mei apologizes to Mugi for rushing him into having sex.
Takuya Terauchi (寺内 タクヤ, Terauchi Takuya)
Voiced by: Yūsuke Kobayashi (Japanese); Gabriel Regojo (English)
Played by: Hiroki Ino
One of Akane's former students who is in a physical relationship with her. Hanabi approaches him in an attempt to make Akane jealous, but she realizes that she is unable to repeat Akane's behavior.
Media
Manga
Scum's Wish, written and illustrated by Mengo Yokoyari, began in Square Enix's Big Gangan magazine on September 25, 2012, and finished on March 25, 2017. That same day Square Enix simultaneously released the eighth and final tankōbon in a regular and a limited first edition.
The series was published digitally in English by Crunchyroll Manga and in print by Yen Press.
A spin-off manga titled Kuzu no Honkai décor ran in Big Gangan from November 25, 2017, to May 25, 2018. It was collected into one volume.
Volume 7.5, a fan book titled Ambivalent, covering the manga and the anime, was released by Square Enix on December 24, 2016.
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced in March 2016 to air on Fuji TV's Noitamina block beginning on January 12 and concluded on March 30, 2017. It was streamed exclusively by Amazon Prime Video in Japan and worldwide. The series is directed by Masaomi Andō and is animated at the studio Lerche with series composition by Makoto Uezu, character designs by Keiko Kurosawa and music by Masaru Yokoyama. The series ran for 12 episodes released across six Blu-ray/DVD volumes. The opening song is titled "Uso no Hibana" (嘘の火花; "Spark of A Lie") and is sung by 96neko (who later voiced Anne Faulkner in Paradox Live). The ending theme titled "Parallel Line" (平行線; "Heikousen") is sung by Sayuri. The anime has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for digital and home video release. Madman Entertainment released the series on home video in Australia and New Zealand. MVM Entertainment acquired the series for home video in the United Kingdom and Ireland.
Live-action TV
A live-action TV series adaptation was announced in December 2016 and aired in twelve episodes on Fuji TV between January 18 and April 5, 2017.
Reception
The manga had 1.9 million copies in print by November 2017.
The series ranked eleventh in the first Next Manga Award in the print manga category.