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Just as I had given up on the romance genre in anime, here comes along the title I always wanted. A good School Days.

Sex and anime is a weird pairing. On the one hand you have the sentiment of romance which is so completely detached from reality that there is an entire jokereddit devoted to the lewdness of hand holding. And on the other end you have the gratuitous fan service embedded into pretty much every genre. Sex simply does not exist for the characters in the world of anime. It only exists for the pleasure of the viewers who get bombarded with suggestive ... angles and slapstick humor. School Days was the only anime that I've ever seen that not only included sex for the pleasure of the viewer but had profound impact on the characters and the story. Along comes Kuzu no Honkai, a title that embraces all aspect of lust, love and thus life.

Scum's wish is a completely character driven anime. The plot is moved forward by the characters' emotions, relations and backstories. And calling these characters flawed would be a huge understatement. There is no one to root for in this title. The closest we get to a nice person is portrayed in such a clumsy way, he becomes annoying in contrast to the rest of the cast. And that is exactly what makes this anime great.

Like humans, these characters act inconsistent towards their feelings and desires. Rarely in anime do characters behave logical but in this case, the characters behave illogical but in a realistic way. The one returning aspect for every character is the ever cliched unrequited love. And instead of confronting the pain and loss that comes with rejection, each character finds their own way to run away from reality. In this dealing with their pain each character shows a different facet of human behavior which is painfully recognizable.

One of the frequently returning ways to fill the void is the reason for my rather ranty intro. Every character, as will nearly every human, is one day confronted by the allure of sex in absence of love. I have to admit, for me too this anime was shocking. Not because it was removed from reality but because it was so far removed from the reality in anime.

I think this anime depicts sex in a beautiful, humane and realistic way. It gives insight on the many aspects that come from the idea of sex to the physical feeling. The very first "sex" scene is a result of the inadequacy and loneliness felt by the characters. This heartbreaking scene shows the characters trying to imagine being with their loved ones while trying their best to not break the illusion for each other. The animation is sensual and has a sentimental soundtrack that combines into a rather warm and romantic scene while it is obvious to the viewer that this whole situation is absolutely messed up. And it is exactly that feeling that made me love School Days and now the infinitely better written Kuzu no Honkai.

Seeking warmth and psychical pleasure is one of the most basic human desires and this title embraces that reality and does it in a profound way. It comments on the societal meaning of sex and how people derive value in a person from their desirability. Adversely how people look down upon others who have sex simply for pleasure. For some characters it is used as a replacement for emotional intimacy and for others it is a power tool to make them feel in control. But for all characters there is the realization that there is more to sex. The lines between lust and love are small and when those lines meet it is something completely transcendent. As is said by one of the best characters I've seen in anime in the simple yet poignant line "I didn't know it could feel so good".

But like the characters, the anime has it's flaws. While I've been lauding the handling of sex in this anime it does suffer from the School Days syndrome where everyone needs to end up naked at some point. While I definitely won't classify it as cheap fanservice I feel that at points the plot was merely a sequence of sex scene's and the story could've benefited from different plot points. There are also some characters that could've benefited from more well rounded backstories to give more perspective to their motivation. And some characters go a bit too far in their behavior for their appointed role in the story to drive the plot forward. These are some of the moments where the anime feels a bit unrealistic and melodramatic but most of these character issues get resolved in very insightful conclusion scene's.

The animation is pretty and has some strong symbolic images that give layers to the writing. The soundtrack is blissful and sentimental and does a good job of providing atmosphere while being pretty enough to be noticed individually.

Is this a fun anime? No, definitely not. But it is a highly unique title in the anime romance genre because it doesn't shy away from reality. I think it is well written and confronting and is an effective antidote to the lewdness of handholding.