Hello everyone, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I thought we’d stop back in with Scum’s Wish, wherein Hana continues her death march of causing problems on purpose for basically everyone. “Inspired” by Akane’s gleeful selfishness, Hana has decided that she too will claim anything and everything she wants to, which so far has included Mugi (unfortunately), Ecchan (unwillingly and mostly by accident), and Some Random Dude Akane Fucked (a source of instant regret and immediate take-backs). And what does she have to show for this new venture? You guessed it, a whole bunch of sadness and self-loathing. Who could have guessed!?
From the outside, it is excruciatingly clear that Hana’s current project was misguided from the start. Akane is some kind of sociopathic joy-vulture, finding happiness only in the denial of happiness to others, whereas Hana is simply a mixed-up teenager who doesn’t like herself very much, and thus feels desperate for validation from external sources. Acting like Akane was never going to offer Hana the satisfaction it provides her monstrous instructor, but Hana simply lacks the experience to know that. From her perspective, the only relevant data points are “Akane succeeded in gaining what I desired” and “I believe I am a monster, so I might as well act like one.” She’s conflating the natural insecurity of growing beyond your childhood with whatever unholy motivation fuels Akane, and making some seriously misguided conclusions as a result.
What has become abundantly clear so far is that Hana is unlikely to simply reason her way out of this emotional malaise. She needs a friend who’s not just willing to comfort her, but to actually challenge her; but with all of this show’s other characters wrapped up in their own drama, it’s hard to see any of them playing that role. And in that case, perhaps the right enemy will do in a pinch – so let’s get Moca out here, and maybe have her smack some sense into our poor foolish protagonist. It’s time for Scum’s Wish!
Episode 7
“LOTS OF LOVE.” The perfect title for a Moca episode. The poor girl really ought to just wander off set and see whatever high school romcoms are happening next door, she’s too innocent for this show
“I’ve been on a date just once.” See what I mean!? Everyone else opens their signature episode with a monologue about how their world is already a bleak hellscape of longing and infidelity, and Moca’s just like “I like cute boys and ice cream”
I love the use of these pink lace patterns on the top and bottom of the screen for this flashback. Really emphasizes how childish and idealized this whole situation is, as if we’re looking at embroidered pictures of a treasured outing in a scrapbook
“I’m sure it wasn’t really a date, since ‘he’ was all I could think of. We were just play-acting.” Her words affirm the childish insubstantiality of this whole memory
And our first shot of her room upon waking further emphasizes her childishness, as we see her dresser is topped by both a toy carousel and dolls of a lord and lady. An emphatic underlining of her simplistic, idealized view of “destined love”
Kinda tragic hearing Moca think “it was awful of me” in regards to her play-acting, considering what genuinely awful shit her classmates have been up to. But that’s how self-doubt works, unfortunately; we are frequently our own only comparison point for good or bad behavior, and we can be tremendously strict judges
And as her half-dressed father comes in, we see her express a further preoccupation with maintaining some sort of feigned sense of elegance. She wants to live in a fairy tale
“All of your accessories and clothes seem like so much work.” Her dad is pretty great
“I want to look the prettiest I’ve ever looked. That’s partly for him, but mostly for me. It’s how everyone should act – no one should find replacements for the important people in their lives.” It seems she’s worked her way backwards from her desire for Mugi into a whole value system centered on living authentically. Our minds are very good at constructing ad-hoc philosophies to justify whatever we were going to do anyway
On the screen outside, we see a brief shot of what looks like some rendition of The Little Mermaid. A story all about deception and remaking the self in pursuit of love, with tragic results
Meanwhile, Hana’s out on another date with the Akane squeeze that she doesn’t even like
“Is your head just filled with sex?” “Pretty much.” Hana wants the happiness Akane seems to have, but none of the things that Akane seeks are things that make Hana happy, so she’s just stuck in this perpetual loop of “wait, why am I not having a good time?”
Oh my god, Moca’s outfit is so much. A real testament to her ornate childishness, overburdened with bows and ruffles
At the mermaid movie, Moca’s mind spins back and forth on whether a doomed love is better than no love at all
“I’d have felt bad if the movie was boring, because I picked it.” “If it was bad, it would be the movie’s fault. Don’t worry about it.” Unfortunately, Moca cannot simply coexist with Mugi; she’s always walking on eggshells, treating him as if he’d vanish the moment she does anything that displeases him. A one-sided adoration like that can’t really flourish into an equal or rewarding relationship – it actually puts Mugi in a similar position to Moca, perpetually worried that she’ll fly into some fit of anxiety over some perceived failing. But that’s par for the course with an infatuation like Moca’s, where the bridge between “I’ve always admired them from afar” and “we’re now happily in love” involves some remarkably optimistic reframing of their relationship
“Apparently if you go to sleep holding hands, you’ll both have the same dream.” I appreciate this author’s ability to get into an entirely different but equally common adolescent headspace relative to Hana and Mugi’s. Moca is still stuck in middle school-era fantasies, and the writing is capturing them as honestly as it does the others’
The color palettes match the character moods, as we shift from the saturated light of Moca’s fantasies to the gloom of Hana’s despair
“All that I’m left with is my stubborn pride. That’s all.” Well, I’m not sure you should be regretting not going with that guy, but it does seem like you’re learning about the very simple instincts that often drive other people
“I want to be obsessed over. And I won’t give them anything in return!” Hana’s fascination with Akane’s attitude frankly feels like a weird form of chuunibyou. It’s a simplistic fantasy role, not an actual worldview
Meanwhile, Mugi’s realizing that play-acting romance can’t really sate your appetite
“I can make the perfect dream in my head, and just play it back over and over.” Yes, I’m sure that will sustain you for the foreseeable future, Moca. You are so good at this
Oh dear. And Moca just makes such a sad spectacle while resigning herself to eternal longing that Mugi actually kisses her. Surely this will clarify and clean up their personal relations!
I mean, in a just world, this relationship actually would fix things. Moca actually possesses the qualities Mugi falsely admired in Akane, and there’s absolutely no healthy future in any romance between Mugi and Hana. Moca and Mugi are genuinely the least toxic pairing in this whole production, though that’s admittedly not saying much
Now in Mugi’s room, Moca can’t help but acknowledge all the ways their desires have always been disjointed. Even back in elementary school, Moca was always attempting to fit Mugi into a fantasy he didn’t even want
Oh, I love this! Moca’s accepting that she’s always used her alleged innocence and fragility as a front to get her way, but she’s now going to honestly impose her will and seek her desires. It’ll be painful ripping off that bandaid, but ultimately better for everyone, and basically the only way she and Mugi could ever hope to connect as equals
“Now that I know this sweet taste, there’s no turning back.” Yeah, there’s basically an infinite gulf between context-free adolescent longing and actually experiencing romance. You can’t really return to “I’ll be satisfied by his fond glances for a thousand years” after crossing the gap
Moca’s first experience with adult romance is contrasted directly against Hana’s more childish instincts; we see her make a wish on a shooting star, pan across her bedroom of stuffed animals, and then listen to her vow to “go for it” if she gets a popsicle stick in the trash bin in a single throw. A juxtaposition that pointedly demonstrates how the two aren’t really different at all in terms of their emotional development
Moca succinctly describes how Mugi sees her: “a special ornament that can’t be touched.” After that earlier resolution, it’s much easier for her to describe things clearly
And Moca herself was happy to play that role so long as it kept Mugi close to her. But now she realizes she’s outgrown this stasis, visually realized as another captured film romance
Though their paths towards this revelation were quite different, both Mugi and Hana have come to the same conclusion: they’re sick of all the lies, and will make a clean confession to the object of their affection before the end of summer break
And Done
Holy shit, they’re actually doing it! They’re finally taking positive steps towards resolving all this ambiguity, and perhaps even leaving the past behind them! Of course, I can’t believe things will turn out nearly so cleanly as that, but it was still incredibly refreshing to see Hana and Mugi actually acknowledging some of their mistakes, and taking positive steps towards moving past them. And Moca, goddamn! Her shrill sincerity won me over from the start, but this episode served as an incredibly rewarding dive into her worldview, capped off with the most efficient moments of personal growth we’ve seen out of any character in this show. Moca might have started in the rear maturity-wise, but she seems to already be rejecting the kind of destined love that Mugi and Hana are preoccupied with, and preparing to seek her desires with honesty and clarity. Go get ‘em, Moca!
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