
Hanabi Yasuraoka
Hanabi Yasuraoka |
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Kanji: | 安楽岡 花火 |
Romaji | Yasuraoka Hanabi |
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Age: | 17 |
Birthday: | May 27th |
Height: | 157 cm |
Portrayed by: | |
Japanese: | Chika Anzai |
English: | Avery Smithhart |
Hanabi Yasuraoka (安楽岡 花火, Yasuraoka Hanabi), is the main female protagonist of Scum’s Wish (Kuzu no Honkai). She is deeply in love with her older childhood friend, Narumi Kanai, who is now her homeroom teacher. However, Hanabi soon realizes that Narumi harbors romantic feelings for another woman, Akane Minagawa. This realization leads Hanabi into a complex emotional journey. In her struggle with loneliness and unrequited love, Hanabi meets Mugi Awaya, another student who is also in love with Akane. Together, they form a pact to enter a fake relationship to fulfill each other’s emotional and physical needs.
As a character, Hanabi is deeply complex and her emotional journey serves as the core of the series. Her story is about the painful transition from idealized love to a more complicated and bittersweet understanding of herself and her relationships.
Background

Appearance in Anime
Hanabi Yasuraoka has known Narumi Kanai since childhood, and their close bond led her to develop feelings for him. She has admired him for many years, but her world is turned upside down when she realizes that Narumi is in love with Akane Minagawa, a teacher at the same school. Heartbroken by her unrequited love, Hanabi meets Mugi Awaya, who shares a similar story of love and loss involving Akane.
Hanabi’s background is shaped by her intense feelings for Narumi, but it’s also defined by the emotional complexity of her unfulfilled love and the relationship she builds with Mugi. These experiences force Hanabi to confront the reality of her desires and the painful gap between the love she seeks and the love she is given.
Appearance
Hanabi Yasuraoka is a young woman with soft, delicate features. She has long, dark hair that contrasts with her more somber and introspective demeanor. Her attire typically consists of the school uniform, reflecting her role as a high school student. While not overtly striking, Hanabi has a quiet beauty that reflects the emotional depth and internal conflict she carries.
Her expression often mirrors the complexities of her inner life. Whether she’s grappling with her feelings for Narumi or her growing connection with Mugi, Hanabi’s appearance conveys both vulnerability and strength.
Personality
Hanabi Yasuraoka’s personality is marked by emotional depth, introspection, and inner conflict. She is a sensitive and thoughtful individual, often processing her emotions quietly rather than expressing them outwardly. While she harbors a quiet strength, she also struggles with feelings of inadequacy, especially in her love for Narumi and her sense of loneliness.
Her deep affection for Narumi is contrasted with her growing emotional connection to Mugi. This complex emotional landscape makes her a multi-faceted character, as she learns to navigate the difficulties of love, rejection, and self-discovery. Hanabi’s personality evolves throughout the series, and her journey is one of reconciling her ideals about love with the painful realities of her situation.
Despite her pain, Hanabi is not without hope. Her emotional vulnerability and search for genuine connection make her relatable, as she grapples with the nuances of love and the challenges of growing up.
Role in the Story
The Illusion of Love: Hanabi’s journey begins with her one-sided love for Narumi Kanai. When she realizes that he is in love with Akane Minagawa, Hanabi experiences a deep emotional void. Desperate to feel desired and understood, she forms a fake relationship with Mugi Awaya, using each other as substitutes for the ones they truly love.
Seeking Comfort in Emptiness: Their pact quickly becomes physically intimate, but emotionally hollow. Despite knowing it’s not real love, Hanabi finds herself clinging to the illusion of companionship. She tries to experiment with other relationships both emotionally and sexually but each one leaves her feeling more confused and detached.
Breaking Free from Illusions: As the story progresses, Hanabi begins to recognize the toxicity of her situation. After failed attempts to confess her feelings to Kanai and losing the illusion of Mugi’s emotional availability, Hanabi chooses to confront her loneliness head-on. In the end, she makes the painful decision to let go of both Kanai and Mugi, vowing to find a more authentic form of love and self-worth in the future.
Relationships
Narumi Kanai: Hanabi’s childhood friend and homeroom teacher, whom she loves deeply. Her unrequited affection for him becomes the central pain of her character arc. Despite her longing, she ultimately accepts that Kanai is in love with someone else and chooses to move on.
Mugi Awaya: A fellow student who shares her pain of unreturned love. Hanabi and Mugi enter a mutual, emotionally complicated relationship, using each other for comfort. While there are moments of genuine closeness, they are unable to fall in love with each other, and eventually part ways.
Akane Minagawa: The object of Kanai and Mugi’s affection, and a source of great resentment and envy for Hanabi. Hanabi sees through Akane’s manipulative nature and becomes one of the few people who confront her directly. Their dynamic is tense and symbolic of Hanabi’s struggle with emotional powerlessness.