Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I’m eager to slink back to the tangled drama of Scum’s Wish, wherein Akane most recently consummated her relationship with Kanai. Of course, that wasn’t the satisfying bit for Akane – she actually finds Kanai profoundly dull, a stuttering mess whose perception of romance doesn’t seem to have changed since he was ten years old. But while Kanai may be a boring person and unfulfilling lover, he is nonetheless Hana’s unerring object of affection, and that makes him worth claiming. Akane isn’t really in a relationship with Kanai at all – she’s in a hate-lationship with Hana, and revealing she had sex with Hana’s crush is about as savory of a payoff as she could hope for.
But hey, at least Akane knows what she wants. As for our original leads, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that their variable baggage precludes any sort of healthy romantic partnership. Hana’s childhood abandonment by her father has left her with an inability to exist comfortably alone, meaning she perpetually seeks validation through physical relationships. In contrast, Mugi’s exploitative middle school relationship means he’s never really comfortable with others, his past girlfriend Mei having taught him to see intimacy as uncomfortable and transactional. It’s just a total mess on all fronts, and while the best solution remains “y’all need therapy,” I imagine Scum’s Wish has something very different in mind. Let’s get to it!
Episode 6
“Welcome to the X-Dimension.” As in, the dimension populated by exes? Gosh, all these characters see these youthful romances as so consequential and final. You really never love again like you love as a teenager, utterly certain that this or that crush will determine the fate of your entire life
We get a somewhat lengthier look at Akane’s seduction of Kanai this time. She leads through invitation – as he sets aside his glasses to simply kiss her, she yanks her own shirt off, then looks bashfully to the side, urging him to take the next step
In contrast, her words to Hana portray her true self, gleefully taking charge as she slides the knife in
“She is robbing me of everything, even though she doesn’t really want it.” Akane is basically the person we’d like to imagine whoever’s dating our crush to be – conniving, callous, and in no way deserving of their love
“What does it feel like to play with people’s emotions?” Hana, you’ve sort of already been doing that for a while now, you’re just doing it out of instinctive desires for comfort rather than active malice. And you actually sort of know that, so it’s not much better!
Nice visual overlay for Hana’s shift towards X-Dimension Hana
“There is no way doing that will make you fulfilled.” It’s a telling choice that Hana sees her “voice of reason” or shoulder angel as herself when she was a young child. Our current Hana seems to believe that maturity and being “sullied” or becoming jaded are one and the same, and that only the pure feelings of childhood can be regarded as worthy or noble. This is obviously a myopic misconception, but it’s the natural conclusion to reach given her two pieces of data: she felt pure and angelic as a child seeking Kanai’s approval, and she feels dirty and awful as a teenager playing these emotional games. One of the key lessons of growing up, and one that you can’t really see from a position on the ground, is that everything changes with time. Hana currently feels horrible about her romantic choices, and thus assumes she will always feel horrible about them as she continues along this path. It doesn’t lend itself to pat romantic dramas, but the greatest weapon in overcoming such feelings is not some dramatic shift in your chosen identity, but the natural erosion of emotional intensity that comes with time’s passage
And so Hana sets to work taking everything for herself, starting off by proposing to Mugi that they start actually dating
She then announces that to Ecchan, hoping to create a clean break with the one person she can’t bear to exploit, but Ecchan is apparently just fine being exploited. Hoo boy
“I’ve done something I can’t take back.” Again, this is Hana’s limited frame of reference speaking – this adolescent focus on finality, on the idea that these tiny negotiations of romance and friendship will all have permanent consequences. She could walk up to Ecchan tomorrow and say “I’m sorry about what I said, it was stupid,” and Ecchan would forgive her, but Hana’s mind is just not working that way. She is building a cross and hoisting herself upon it
And see, Ecchan said she won’t let you go! Forgiven already
Ecchan joins Hana in the library, and Hana briefly thinks “ah, she’s trying to act normal for me” before Ecchan goes straight for the leg
“I deserve this punishment.” Ah, accepting being groped by your friend because you misled them into having sex with you previously. Just those quirks of adolescence, you know
To be honest, it’s hard to believe Ecchan’s previously established character would be acting like this. That’s definitely one of the limitations of the overall show’s framework, rather than Hana’s in-universe framework: this story defines all of its characters as inherently manipulative and drama-obsessed to some extent, because that’s just the kind of melodrama it’s trying to create. There’s a bit of a disconnect there then, between the show’s demand for continuous dramatic developments and its desire to portray ostensibly authentic human characters
“It makes me want to watch you get filled with darkness.” Another somewhat unbelievable detail here – how the characters are always on such a similar wavelength regarding their perspective on personalities and relationships. The characters are still certainly distinct in a variety of ways, but you can see a bit of communal, authorial meta-perspective bleed in at moments like this
“What’s wrong with having yourself be the only one who knows who you really are?” Now this line is Ecchan all over, demonstrating the actual power of having fundamentally distinct worldviews contrast against each other. Whereas Hana yearns to be understood, Ecchan has already accepted that her heart will always be somewhat closed off
These words spark a key revelation in Hana – noting the sadness with which Ecchan relates this, she realizes there is likely a deep well of sadness in Akane as well
Hana is usually such a tormented mess of emotions that it’s always a funny shock to see a moment like this, when her mom yells at her to go to the store for some groceries. Still gotta deal with all the usual teenage mundanities, Hanabi
She bumps into Akane’s squeeze from the diner, and seizes on the chance to take something from her nemesis
Man, this dude is shameless. Just immediately asks for the number of this high school student
“Will this really fulfill me?” Are you even honestly asking that, Hana? Please take a moment to assess the current things you are doing, and really, truly ask yourself if you think this will make you happy
“I’ve been wondering about something. What’s your relationship with Ms. Minagawa?” Smooth, Hanabi
“This won’t do. This is just sad and pathetic.” Yeah, attempting to tag all of Akane’s boytoys is just not going to hurt her the way you’re hoping to, Hana. Plus, you’ll hate the whole experience, so you’re really just punishing yourself to no actual gain
Nope, she in fact does not learn that lesson, and instead resolves to make this random guy love only her
“It’s a matter of emotions.” “If the body feels good, all that emotional stuff will come later.” This is actually a perfectly reasonable attitude if you’re just looking to hook up – granted that your partner isn’t a high schooler you’re manipulating into having sex with you, of course
“I don’t think someone superficial like you will be able to understand.” Hana is officially done with this experiment
But oh shit, she actually had a key revelation! She’s realized that she’s spending all of her time attempting to prove her worth through the adoration of others, while Akane has actual confidence and a sturdy sense of self-worth. As long as she’s hanging on others for approval, she’ll never be happy – or at least, that’d be the healthy takeaway from this revelation. Knowing Hana, I assume she’ll just use this as another weapon for seducing people she doesn’t actually like
“Making them feel like they’ll fall apart with the simplest rejection, that feeling is what love is.” No it is not oh my god Hana you are such a mess. Still, this makes perfect sense with her character – her defining experience of love is the loss of her father, meaning she can only define love through pain and rejection
Meanwhile, Ecchan’s hard at work convincing Mugi that Hana is cheating on her. Mugi, you need to just walk away from this whole situation and never look back
Oh my god, Mugi is actually into Ecchan’s claim, because it makes Hana more like Akane. Dear lord these people
Suddenly, a wild Moca appears!
And Done
God damn you insane high schoolers, can’t you do one healthy thing ever, if only for your own benefit!? But no, it’s gotta be fake relationships and multiple layers of cheating and all manner of projected feelings, all because you can’t be with the one you really want. Hana really embraced the dark side with enthusiasm this time, doing her best to ensure basically everyone close to her suffers as she puts on her best Akane impression. But Hanabi, you just aren’t her – Akane’s in this for the love of the game, while you’re still clinging to ideals of romance even your fellow classmates have likely outgrown. You’re a loose canon Hanabi, and I’m taking you off the case. Moca, get in there!
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