Kuzu no Honkai

[Buffalobiian]

Genres: drama, psychological, romance
Themes: Unrequited Love
Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Mugi Awaya and Hanabi Yasuraoka appear to be the ideal couple. They are both pretty popular, and they seem to suit each other well. However, outsiders don't know of the secret they share. Both Mugi and Hanabi have hopeless crushes on someone else, and they are only dating each other to soothe their loneliness. Mugi is in love with Akane Minagawa, a young teacher who used to be his home tutor. Hanabi is also in love with a teacher, a young man who has been a family friend since she was little. In each other, they find a place where they can grieve for the ones they cannot have, and they share physical intimacy driven by loneliness. Will things stay like this for them forever?
~MAL

Links: ANN, MAL

Download: Episode 01

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Melodrama? NTR? Angsty teenage love?

I'd be hardly surprised if someone starts knifing everyone by the end of the show. No more surprised than the not-sex scene we got.

[Kraco]

One sort of a tragedy show. The atmosphere was actually pretty heavy, which is probably necessary for me as I doubt I could keep watching this if it looked like a regular shoujo show. The plot isn't that far from what one might find in shoujo, after all. I don't expect to see knifing, but I can't really imagine where this will go. Their original wishes seem pretty doomed, after all, so it's hard to see they'd break up because of that. They could potentially go through the whole high school with this kind of ambious relationship, then simply go their separate ways.

[MFauli]

I'd be hardly surprised if someone starts knifing everyone by the end of the show.

LOL, exactly what I thought
Ofc, the obvious outcome would be that the two fall in love with each other afterall. But that´d be kinda boring, woldn´t it? Also, how many shows exist where pupil and teacher successfully get together in the end? Not many. So it´s unlikely we´ll see a double-happy end with that combination.

My elaborate guess:

Positive thinking: They fall in love with each other, but keep remembering their promise (when one of us falls in love with the other, this relationship ends), so none of the two ever dares making a step forward. So it´s a lot of frustrating kinda-sexual events. Eventually, they realize that theý have stopped thinking about their teachers long ago, and then ... happy end.

Negative thinking: One of them falls in love with the other, while the other actually scores with his/her teacher. This leads to resentment, mind games, blackmailing, rape, and murder. Final scene of the anime: Girl and boy standing on top of a building, it´s raining. They´re hatefully glaring at each other. Then they commit double suicide. The End.

Crazy thinking: Both teachers get together. Boy and Girl start to create ridiculous plans on how to sabotage the two teachers. Slowly but steadily, their plans grow more heinous.Eventually, the boy frames the male teacher as if he had raped the female teacher, while the girl lures the female teacher into a situation where the female teacher is raped by some mobsters. Male teacher is taken in by police and goes crazy, female teacher commits suicide, not being able to handle the rape and losing her love. Boy and girl kiss each other and have wild sex. The end.

[shinta|hikari]

You need professional help.

[MFauli]

You need professional help.

Or I´m a fan of School Days

No need to be mean, shinta.

[David75]

That fisrt ep sure felt unconfortable. That's a performance in itself. I will wait and see if I can get something positive out of it.

[Kraco]

The show would be a financial disaster with your scenario, MFauli. It might live on in the memories of anime watchers due to notoriety, but not otherwise.

[shinta|hikari]

@Mfauli - I was just kidding.

I think this is a shoujo manga story and will naturally fall into the same pit of predictability.

[MFauli]

The show would be a financial disaster with your scenario, MFauli. It might live on in the memories of anime watchers due to notoriety, but not otherwise.

Rubbish! It´d be more popular than Re:Zero if it followed my crazy-scenario :P

It´s not likely anyway lol. And if this is in the shoujo genre, then I guess we can rule out any murder occurring.

[David75]

EP2 is out


Lighter mood, but also firing from all angles.
I wonder if we'll get to watch stargate universe again, with everyone going with everyone, through proxies if needed...

[Kraco]

Even though that Ecchan's preferences could be seen from far away, but the last scene still surprised me. Maybe it's because I'm not so experienced with smut series, so I don't expect this kind of development, at least not so straightforwardly. Generally speaking I'm still liking the forlorn, escapistic atmosphere this show boasts. I didn't like the annoying girl, however, but it was nice how roughly Hanabi was treating her.

Strangely enough even though I should be wishing for those two to become a real couple and get over the impossible crushes, I feel like it would be sad to lose the hollow yet not hollow relationship they now share. The moment when one would shift their interest from the original one to the other, yet the other would still be looking at the original could be troublesome as well. There could be feelings of betrayal and rejection.

Still, how will Hanabi deal with this revealed ecchi Ecchan is a funny thing to look forward to. Logically she wouldn't be feeling too strongly that she's cheating on Mugi, since they aren't a real couple, but a homosexual attack must have come out of nowhere. Ironically enough she was just earlier saying she needs no other friends but Ecchan.

[Buffalobiian]

Still, how will Hanabi deal with this revealed ecchi Ecchan is a funny thing to look forward to.

"Training exercise. Isn't that the usual BS?"

[MFauli]

I kinda got lost when he said "Stick out your tongue" and she did. What was this episode about? :>

[David75]

EP3 is out.

Well, Erotic anime. I can't say I dislike that

I just hope that female teacher isn't a bitch as the evil face seems to hint.
Just being at ease having multiple partners would already lead to good intertwinned stories. No need to make a villain of her.

[Kraco]

I wonder if Narumi is the only character who's interested in a single person and not aware of others loving him. I wouldn't really have been able to say one way or another earlier, but I do know that I'm 100% unsurprised Akane is basically a two-timing woman, or let's say a person of such loose morals that she has no problems giving solid hope to someone while fooling around elsewhere at the same time. Hanabi seems to be the character with the most stable and realistic head on her shoulders. Mugi is kind of hopeless. As if he really believes in what he's doing with Hanabi is a good solution to anything.

I would hope Hanabi didn't lose Ecchan's friendship, but perhaps it's all over now.

[David75]

I think Hanabi will probably remain friends with Ecchan. She just had this flash-back when she said how awful it is tonbe the target of someone loving you when you have no such feelings for them. And then for Ecchan, I'm pretty sure she changed that to the heaviness she felt and how she's unsure. Being the loving target of someone close and you know is serious is very different than hypothetical situations.
Also, she didn't realise that her first statement is harsh against all lovers like her and Mugi for starters.

[Kraco]

Episode 4



- - - - - -



Damn. Akane is like 500% worse than I imagined. She's only interested in men as long as she's stealing them away from someone else. Once that has happened and she has seen the effects, she loses interest. Even simply swindling money from men would be better. I can't really compliment Ecchan either, for taking advantage of a crying girl just because she had an opportunity to do it and knows Hanabi wouldn't easily want to lose her as a friend. Perhaps the most sad part of the episode still was how Hanabi now likens herself to that vermin Akane.

The only one I feel sorry for is Mugi. He should learn and realise what kind of a disease Akane is. I don't really pity Narumi because so far he's looking annoyingly pure compared to the other characters who are all suffering or causing suffering. Or both.

[David75]

So that Akane teacher plays the bitch. She clearly has personality disorders, but causes more harm to others than what she feels...
Hanabi is a little too clever, understanding everyone around her but still taking hits and still torturing herself.
She's too empathic, works for beautiful feelings, but works too well for pain...

[Kraco]

Hanabi is a little too clever, understanding everyone around her but still taking hits and still torturing herself.
She's too empathic, works for beautiful feelings, but works too well for pain...

At least I wouldn't be watching this show if Hanabi wasn't empathetic, capable of proper emotions, and feeling gloomy under these circumstances. I couldn't watch a drama series with Akane as the MC.

[shinta|hikari]

Such a tiny story. I just feel that every climactic interaction is irrelevant in the greater scheme of things. Blame Trump for that.