The directors nephew asked if the fanart he made of his waifu could be in the actual show, and he obviously said yes. Let alone why someone like Akane would want to reciprocate it. That would make him healthier boyfriend material than any of Akane’s other boy-toys, certainly – including Mugi, whose romantic love for her is the result of sexual desire, rather than the other way around – Nevertheless, the question remains where the heck that romantic attraction is even coming from. Sure, it’s true that he’s been the first and only person in her life who isn’t into her just for the sex – though it’s not that there’s no sexual attraction between them at all, it’s just that to Kanai, sex seems to be but one of many methods of expressing a predominantly romantic love.
There’s simply nothing there that would make her want to fight for him, to become a better person for his sake, except for an absolute, unwavering dedication based on nothing. In fact, I’d say he is just as blinded by unrealistic, unconditional love as any of his students are. The biggest problem, however, is that Kanai is simply not developed enough of a character to really stand out amongst Akane’s harem of suitors. And neither is Akane the kind of relatable, down-on-their-luck loser who could function in a relationship fueled solely by high-fructose corn syrup. His character may have worked in a breezy wish-fulfilment rom-com, but Scum’ Wish is anything but. Kanai exists only to be entirely, unconditionally devoted to Akane, and is defined only by his niceness and a single off-handed remark about his mother – which eventually turned out to be little more than a hint at an edge that wasn’t there. He’s like a manic pixie dream girl in reverse, albeit without any of the charisma. The core ideas may be valid – you don’t need to be able to rationally explain why you love someone, sometimes you need to take a leap into the unknown, yada yada yada – but I refuse to believe that Akane could ever be turned into a blubbering mess, let alone realistically redeemed by a man as comically, infuriatingly nice as Kanai. While my frustrations with the pacing might be partially attributed to the month-long wait between manga chapters that started once I reached this point in reading, that doesn’t take away from the fact that Akane’s sudden decision to settle down with Kanai came out of nowhere for a woman who just an episode ago could serve as the textbook example of an unrepentant sociopath. It’s in trying to wrap up Akane’s arc with the most conventional of endings that Scum’s Wish drops the ball, however. The following scene was directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. To once again make the comparison with The Flowers of Evil or heck, even Evangelion – while these kinds of stories may be eternally condemned to be remembered mainly by the sheer shock factor of their most disturbing bouts of psychological horror, none of this darkness will have served any genuine purpose if it didn’t actually take the characters anywhere. Granted, providing a character like Akane with some kind of ending is a tremendous undertaking, but a necessary one nonetheless. This anime adaptation of Scum’s Wish has always done a great job at delivering the core ideals of the manga’s often rather oblique monologueing, using directing and careful treatment of the original dialogue to clarify what the heck it is these characters are actually trying to say. Unfortunately, however, even this more tightened focus can’t save this whole Akane-focused mini-arc from feeling like a puzzling slog – one that that ultimately teaches us very little new about the characters involved and leaves the validity of its hackneyed happy ending a bigger mystery than ever. Troubled by her seemingly genuine feelings for Kanai, Akane joins him on a trip to a hot springs resort – where he confronts her with a startling proposal.