nobahn's Anime

To say that the characters of Scum's Wish could stand to make better personal choices is a wild understatement, and I wouldn't blame any newcomers if they started running for the hills at that plot synopsis. The way that Hanabi and company go about conflating lust, love, identity, and self-worth is so painfully accurate to teenage life that watching just one episode of Scum's Wish can feel exhausting; sitting through eleven more might very well be more than many viewers can bear. I got my enthusiastic recommendation out of the way up front, because just describing the plot of Scum's Wish doesn't do the series many favors.

Most importantly, Scum's Wish is not out to criticize. It doesn't intend to coldly analyze its characters, to indict or humiliate them, or to study them as nostalgic artifacts from the writer's bygone history. Hanabi, Mugi, and Sanae are actively trying to navigate the stormy waters of young adulthood, and Scum's Wish invites its audience to take that journey with them in the present tense. It's a messy and uncomfortable experience, filled with mistakes and regrets and all of the tiny bad decisions that make up teenage life, but Scum's Wish invites the audience to empathize with its characters' faults, to fully understand the collective confession of so many confused and misguided children. If nothing else, this empathy is what makes Scum's Wish an absolutely invaluable work of art.