Kuzu no Honkai

To the outside world, Hanabi Yasuraoka and Mugi Awaya are the perfect couple. But in reality, they just share the same secret pain: they are both in love with other people they cannot be with.

Hanabi has loved her childhood friend and neighbor Narumi Kanai for as long as she can remember, so she is elated to discover that he is her new homeroom teacher. However, Narumi is soon noticed by the music teacher, Akane Minagawa, and a relationship begins to blossom between them, much to Hanabi's dismay.

Mugi was tutored by Akane in middle school, and has been in love with her since then. Through a chance meeting in the hallway, he encounters Hanabi. As these two lonely souls spend more time together, they decide to use each other as a substitute for the one they truly love, sharing physical intimacy with one another in order to stave off their loneliness.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yasuraoka, Hanabi Main

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Awaya, Mugi Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Ebato, Sanae Supporting

Tomatsu, Haruka Japanese

Minagawa, Akane Supporting

Toyosaki, Aki Japanese

Kamomebata, Noriko Supporting

Izawa, Shiori Japanese

Kanai, Narumi Supporting

Nojima, Kenji Japanese

Kirishima, Atsuya Supporting

Asanuma, Shintaro Japanese

Terauchi, Takuya Supporting

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Hayakawa, Mei Supporting

Fujii, Yukiyo Japanese

Moriyama, Take Supporting

Kijima, Ryuuichi Japanese

Fujiyama, Naokado Producer

Higa, Yuuji Producer

Komatsu, Shouta Producer

Andou, Masaomi Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Mar 25, 2026

darkfirebg

Recommended

I really, really loved the OST, the story, the visuals and funnily enough.. the characters.. depicting the loss of innocence, lust, loneliness, emptiness, fear of being alone, possessiveness.. somehow it all clicked for me. Maybe because of my experiences and my broken relationships? It's all plausible and feels real. Honestly, I felt really uncomfortable watching some episodes, but likely because I recalled situations from my past that I thought I've forgotten.
Overall, it's not for everyone, i wouldn't recommend it to anyone with very few or a single relationship and it may not work for younger watchers (come back in a few years), but ... if you experienced messy relationships and one sided love in your youth, you will find some peaces of them here for sure and I guarantee it would be worth your time.
My Rating? 10/10 a masterpiece depicting true human nature, lust, desires(and the respective consequences), especially in the teenage years.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Sep 16, 2025

kagemata

Mixed Feelings

What is love? A question as old as humanity itself. Some will tell you it’s pure, selfless, eternal. But Kuzu no Honkai whispers something darker that love is rarely pure it’s hunger, ego, emptiness, and the desperate need to be seen.

Hanabi and Mugi aren’t searching for love; they’re clawing at the hollow space it leaves behind. They kiss not for passion, but for anesthesia. They hold each other not because they’ve found “the one,” but because being alone is worse. Every embrace is a lie they both agree to believe.

This isn’t your sugarcoated rom-com. It’s a mirror held up to the parts of us we’d ... rather deny the pettiness, the lust, the ego. It asks, “Do you love them? Or do you just love how they make you feel?”

By the end, there’s no happy closure, no grand redemption. Just two broken teenagers admitting that they weren’t enough for each other… and walking separate paths. Not tragic. Not hopeful. Just empty.

Kuzu no Honkai isn’t about falling in love. It’s about the scars left behind when love refuses to fall back.

If you want fairy tales, look elsewhere. If you’ve ever loved someone who looked right through you welcome home.

And hey, if you still believe love is pure after watching this? Congrats you’re either a saint… or you’ve never been ghosted.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 21, 2025

D4SBOT

Not Recommended

To put it simply, Kuzu no Honkai tries too hard to be deep, but ends up as a lackluster story that might appeal to some because of its unique premise, but also make some absolutely despise it. Unfortunately, I'm part of the latter.

One of the most common points that I see about this show is that it is mature and realistic. But, seriously? I know that they try to represent how lust can consume one's mind but it genuinely feels like half of the show's time was spent in a bedroom scenario. It felt like an H anime that just got censored. This makes the ... pacing feel off and also makes it incredibly boring to watch.
The characters are all unlikable and act stupid, genuinely no one acts like this. There's no way half of the characters could get away unnoticed after doing all that, not to mention it does not feel natural at all how so many fucked up things happen at the same time, that are coincidentally all connected.

The art and music are honestly pretty good. The opening is good and the ending is freaking amazing. The art feels soothing and the animation is pretty smooth.

Overall, it's just a very unconfortable and edgy show that can feel rewarding to some but really lame to others. It's very School Days-like. You either love it or hate it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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