Happiness!

I will not start with my usual lines here, we're just gonna start with the review NOW! :-)

Story
The story is about Kamizaka Haruhi, when she was young she was rescued by a boy who used magic. After being saved by him, she wanted to be a ''mage'' herself. She goes to a magical school with two sections, normal and magic classes. Haruhi comes at the top of her class and is seen as one of the best mages. Even though, she still wants to meet the boy who saved her when she was little. Later, she meets a boy named Yuma who hates magic and ... is in the normal class.

The story looks kinda good, right? But we get quite some random episodes who don't really match the story. I thought that they we're kinda boring and didn't made sense. Be prepared for that if you want to watch Happiness!

Still, I give the story a 8. It's not the most original story ever, but I always fall in love with ''mages''.

Art
Happiness! isn't an old anime, so the art is okay. I can't give it a 9 because some poses really looked stupid, I think that they took a break when they drew that.

I must say also that the drawingstyle they used for this isn't really my ''taste''. Why not? It just isn't, it's my honest opinion, so shut up, muwhaha.

But again, Erisu gives it a 8. It's just not bad, maybe it isn't my taste but that doesn't mean I should exaggerate, I'm sure other people WILL like this style and will not get my ''not my taste'' thing.

Sound
I'm not very enthusiastic about this. The sound effects are just lame at some points. You don't hear some sounds who should be there! It's just like: talking... talking... talking... sound... talking. They should have made BETTER sound effects, I was really disturbed about that fact, if they just had better sound effects the anime would look more ''real''.

My point: Because of some lame sound effects the anime didn't looked so ''real'' anymore and some parts turned out to be BORING. Even some fights were boring because of this. I give it a 5, they had some sound effects, just not enough.

Character
The characters were really nice. I liked Haruhi, the female main character, and Anri because her magic never works! ;3

We'll come back at the ''Art'' part here, they should have drawn them a little better sometimes..

Another thing is that I didn't liked Yuma much, and he's the male main character. He just didn't stopped saying how bad magic was, after some time it got annoying. We know, you don't have to repeat a 1.000.000 times!

Again, even with the kinda annoying male main character, Happiness! has all kinds of characters. The ''cute, cute, I wanna be friends'' type, maybe seen as the lolli here, Sumomo. The ''whatever, I don't need friends'' type, named Ibuki who turnes out to be the enemy, even though everyone tried so hard to be friends with her.. >.< Another character that most of you will like is Jun, hard to believe, but it's a guy who dresses like a girl, hahaha. It's kinda funny that he really seems to think that he's a girl!

You'll probably like most of the characters, maybe you would hate one or two, but that's fine. I give it a 7 because I liked most of them and didn't had a (very) big grudge against Yuma.

Enjoyment
People who like ''Mahou Shoujo'' gernes will like this anime. I think that some of us will be disturbed by the sometimes, bad sound effects. I can't change that for you, if that will be the reason why some of you will stop watching, I can understand. But, I decided not to pay too much attention to the sound effects and started concentrate on the story, if you can do the same I again, think that you would kinda enjoy this.

People who don't like ''Mahou Shoujo'' and the ''School Life'' and stuff will not like this anime, forget about watching it, you just won't like it!

Like I said before, I think I enjoyed this at some parts and give it a 7.

Overall
I won't recommend this as a ''must see'', if you have nothing to watch, you can watch this. I came out with a 7 or something and think that is the right note to give.

Think about Erisu's warnings before watching this and blaming it on me, haha.

Note from Erisu
Erisu is happy that you spend your time reading her review. Thank you very much! ;3

This series, I HAVE TO DECLARE: I stuck with it to write a review, and so I will write a shortcut way to watch this show at the bottom of this review. Some episodes in the middle were a bit unnecessary.

[Mood: light-medium, dull]
[Notable pickings: Magic: 7 l Comedy: 4 l Romance: 3 l Action: 4 l School life: 8 ]

Story:6
Hmm the story eh? Ep 1- 2 were sort of intros, 3-7 were more of character-based, and ep8-12 were with a plot.

The storytelling method is really really dull at times. I especially only appreciated about 30% of the content in eps 3-7 on ... average. The producer sorts of using a beat around the bush and slow form of presenting the story. I skipped soem parts of ep7 as a result.

The story plot is incredible. In the first few episodes we see a few Unidentified Characters (UC) around in some of the scenes. Argh if they were flying they would be UFOs D:. Character introduction is weak in some episodes, bringing confusion to what role they actually play in the series.

The story plot is really developed from episodes 8-12, especially 10, where some of the characters' past were explored. But isn't it too late? By that time many ppl would have dropped the series already...==. And ... the plot was sort of caused by a misunderstanding, and could have easily resolved by some explanation/ education of a few notable characters. Preventing should have been easy as well.

And till now I still dunno how the misunderstanding about Haruhi haven't stolen something precious to Ibuki came about. It was not properly explained.

One very big letdown of this series is that there is no real climax at all. The ending parts were lacking in action, and the music did not help the atmosphere as well. It just felt as if it was another complication.

O yea, and the ending parts were kinda confusing, I especially did not get what happened to Saya's dad in the end, he simply disappeared. Story incoherence there.

Art:7
The colours were sort of dull.
Pros:
Some special effects, like some magic, were of a higher standard than the usual standard displayed.
Cons:
Colour was dull for some magic effects too, so some magic didn't really seem like magic.
At times Jun's hair was shining when it wasn't supposed to.

Sound:7
OP and ED was ok. BGMs used were ok, but did not fully display the supposed emotions that were on screen. Special effects sounds were unimpressionable. Voice acting is good though, although Jun's voice was duh, a girl's, so I couldn't think of him as a girl.

Character:6
Character introduction was very weak in the front and back of this series. In the back a lot of characters came out but were barely explained. I could not understand some of their actions.

Now, about the character cast, I dunno what to say about Yuuma. About his hatred of magic, actually by the end I could think of a much better way to cure his magic-related probs rather than making him hate magic. [Trying to not include spoilers] Well, maybe they made the wrong choice then.

The other main characters were not really developed as well. Some development was made on a few, but often only non-consequential development.

But one problem is that the group of friends in the series are over-friendly with themselves, so the lack of conflict was rather dull as well. (I'm not including Ibuki and the other 2).

Enjoyment:4
Bad presentation. Severely dull. Ok-ok ending. The comedy in this series were a bit not very funny.
Usually I enjoy magic genre shows but... there was not a lot of exciting displays of it, like the clashing of magicians.

Overall:6
I did not read the manga, so I'm not sure if this is the original storyline, but this series is not very interesting. Watch if you think you need to slow down :p.
Draggy, roundabout storytelling.

O yea, in some episodes the timing of the voices and subs were off, I watch eng subbed eps.

OK HERE IT ISSS:
EP1-2
Jump to ep 8
EP8-12

(Some spoilers to fill on the info missed out in 3-7)
Ibuki is Sumomo's classmate and only friend in school. Saya and her brother are Ibuki's "servants". The group of friends want to putt Ibuki into e group. The one with the green Tama-chan is the Divination club president.

Story: 9

I really liked the whole idea that there is a school that is seperated into two devisions, magic and non magical. A lot of mysterieous events happen that are unexpected and there are twists and turns. While some things are quite obvious what the awnsers are, there are things that are less so.

Art: 10

The artwork is extremely detailed, expessully the costumes of the magic users. This detail helps to give each character their personality.

Sound: 8

... There were way too many explouding noises and odd noises that weren't so much needed. There was also nothing that stood out to me.

Character: 10

The cast has a wide range of characters, from a crossdressing boy who wishes he was a girl, to a boy who hates, to a girl who is looking for the boy who saved her as a child using magic.

Enjoyment: 10

I enjoyed every minute of it and loved the characters very much.

Overall: 10

Everything for me was very good.

There are plenty of series where I've been unimpressed by the first few episodes, but grown to enjoy or totally love the result. It can be all about the writers hitting their stride, learning the characters, finding the new twists on old ideas that will surprise you, and somewhere in the middle there'll be a beach trip.

This is not one of those series. This is the complete opposite.

The writers actually started with a decent enough twist on the "magic high school" trope, and the first few episodes are "good enough" to make you want to see where it goes.

IT GOES NOWHERE! Instead, the writing spirals ... downward after about the third episode. The characters are completely two-dimensional (no pun intended). They're stupid to the point of absurdity, and it's only their stupidity moving the plot forward. That's the kind of cheap writing that you can get away with a few times in a series, but you can't build the entire thing on it. This isn't Hamtaro, for crying out loud, it's trying to be a "serious anime." I lost all suspension of disbelief somewhere around the time where we find out why the main character was adopted (something like episode 8). It was crap before that, and it's unwatchable after. Oh, and there's the antagonist who doesn't care about killing her allies until she accidentally injures one. I pretty much fast-forwarded the last three episodes just to find out the ending, which was predictably stupid.

I really don't like spoilers, so I'm trying to be vague about the plot points and describe the series in terms that will help you recognize what you're getting into. All-in-all, this series was barely worth having on as filler while you're doing something else.

Happiness! may look cheap or low budget and it probably is, but that does not hamper it significantly from how wonderful the story is. It is the best romance anime I have ever seen. The very premise upon which the story is built sounds like the best scene from "It's a Wonderful Life". The opening and closing sequences fits perfectly with the music and brings in summary the story to life or as a good reminder of the essence of the story that happiness and love are magic. It is hard to beat such poetic imagery displayed by the show's story. ... Though I can forgive it's frugal budget a bit, there are a few things that I can not which drag it down just a tad. The biggest drag on the show is the backstory reveal shown around episode 10/11 about why Yuma came to be where he is. It simply makes no sense nor is the reason why he was orphaned. No parent would accept that. On the other hand, the intention of some trauma being behind how Yuma ended up the way he did, does get across, I just wish they had created a better more logical and reasonable cause behind it. The tama chan episode is also a bit unclear and unsettling but it doesn't lose full points because it is also cute. Despite how sloppily written that part is, the rest is quite exceptional. The ending is spectacular. The beginning is one of the best especially for a magical romantic story. Haruhi makes a great girl next door type of figure. She is the kind of girl every well intentioned boy would dream about. The first few and last few episodes are wonderful, but sometimes the middle episodes stumble along the way. it still makes the intent of the story clear and does a fairly good job despite a few setbacks.

Let me say that I was kindda confused around ep 10-12 until I understood what it was all about Yuuma's powers.
I have to say...this anime is decent...not good...just decent..To be honest until the episode when all people gone to the beach I was kindda bored to watc, and at some point I even wanted to drop this anime...But then suddenly it became more intriguing, we even saw just some little tiny bit's of ecchi moments and from then to the end of the 12 th episode it had 2-3 gags that I actually liked.A little bit of drama, a little bit of romance, school life ... and magic...Is a weird "combo" but oddly enough I really liked the ending.The plot was kindda plain...A girl that was saven when she was little by a young boy who used magic...she enrolls in school at a magic division[after she met the boy she started to love magic...yay! actually not -] and finds out later that Yuuma's the boy who saved her...As usually we have a dummy character like Hachisuke that all he think's is girls, a cute girl that actually is NOT a girl but a boy [that kindda puzzled me -], a blondie who is silly and clumsy, and finally the only character that I really liked her development is the fortune teller Koyuki with her lot's of Tama-chan.She is one hot sexy cutie cool etc character that love her.

The art was OK but not enough for me to rate it higher.

The soundtrack...kindda bored me this time...didn't like the OP...and neighter the ED...Dunno why...it just didn't sound right for my ears.

Character
Like I sayed above...lot's of weird character's except for Koyuki...she is one hell of a girl [wish my gf was like her lol -]

Enjoyment.
To be frank...I was kindda bored until the moment the protagonist's go to the beach...then it started to get interesting...and at the last episode I really really enjoyed...but only the last episode...the first 6 ep was mediocre...the rest except the final was decent..and the final ep was quitte good.I was kindda pissed that the last episode fastened the story so it can end in 20 min but I still liked the last ep...

Overall
It get's a 7 from me...Even though I like comede,harem,echi,romance anime's...this one lack's some elemets that other anime's have...

Well...This time I won't reccomandate this anime to anyone...I mean sure...it have's 2 or 3 gags that make's you laugh and except the last ep is kindda booring...

Watch on your own risk!

I'll keep it short...

A great story of magic, love, a childhood promise and a cross dressing friend.
Watch this short series (12 episodes) and watch how these things all fit together in a wonderfully written and animated show.

Happiness! is simple, light, easy to understand, and starts off and ends with a decent storyline; however the majority of the in between episodes left you wondering if the series had a plot or not. Nothing of great significance happens until episode 9 (excluding episode 1 of course). But in the end, the writers left no questions unanswered and concluded it well.

The characters were very simple, straightforward, and didn't raise much interest with the exception of Yuma since they did a good job of making you wonder why he disliked magic when used inappropriately.

Overall, I enjoyed the beginning and ending episodes and ... the circumstances surrounding Yuma and Haruhi. If you want to watch a light, magic themed anime, and don't mind a lot of filler episodes then this series might be worth watching.