Ranked #2505

Happy! (Manga)

Yeah… this manga hasn’t actually reached America yet, but that doesn’t stop me from reading the series online and posting a review about it so far. Another fantastic story from the master of suspense and drama, Naoki Urasawa.

Story:

This story follows a teenage girl called Miyuki Umino. One day, her brother disappears, leaving her with a 250 million yen debt that needs to be paid off to the Japanese mafia. Her only chance they give her is to work in a soapland, but she jumps at a better chance, to become a professional tennis player.

As the story moves on, we meet plenty of villains and very little heroes in this curel and dark world known as women’s tennis. This story, provided with great characters, the feeling of suspense, and not knowing what will happen to this heroine makes this a story you’ll want to read from beginning to end. The sad part of this story is that there seems to be too much villains which is kind of sad since things are always getting harder for her.

Art:

If you read any of Naoki Urasawa’s previous works, you already known that this guy does a great job of making the world come to life. The characters are nicely drawn, but the part I dislike is that almost all of the females are ugly with a capital U besides our main character. The world itself is nicely drawn, but a lot of the rooms seem sometimes bland in a few areas.

Character:

Even with my previous review of Negima, I have never met such a wonderful cast of amazing and such realistic characters! Our heroine we can easily feel sympathy for because the emotions are clearly given out well. Her friends we can relate to and sometimes find ourselves thinking that would we go so far to try to help our own friend. Even some of the villains in the end up turning around and turning out to be not such a bad person after all.

Now as for the villains, oh my God, I have never met such an evil cast of characters in my life. What makes them so bad is that what they do is something a person can do to you in real life. The main character’s villain is such a… b that I just want to strangle her little neck! The other villains really bring out the worst in humans that we just have to despite them.

Enjoyment:

I have never enjoyed such a thrilling manga like this before, though Monster and The Drifting Classroom in my mind still can’t compete. This is the best sports comic I have ever read in my life and probably will be forever. Once you start reading, you’ll never want to stop.

Overall:

The greatest sports manga of all time, hands down is this. The best set of characters of all time can for sure be found here. This comic has its weaknesses, what manga doesn’t anyhow? Don’t skip this series if you enjoy sports, Naoki Urasawa, or just manga at all.

This series contains nudity, sexual scenes, and strong language. If that stuff isn’t your scene, it is best to avoid this series.
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