Happy Sugar Life

It’s only stupid if it doesn’t work.

Nowadays, the shows I fight to defend are highly misunderstood because their appeal is too specific, causing the general audience to flaunt their standards around like they’re supposed to mean anything. Past examples include Mahou Shoujo Site, Jashin-chan Dropkick and Hand Shakers. Yet, Happy Sugar Life is a different sort of… thing, whose plot setup is about as logically sound as riding a lawnmower during a hurricane, seemingly leaving not but a select, niche appeal for the sickos like me.

A high school girl is basically holding a little girl hostage in a populated apartment complex; she hides ... this among her normal daily life of going to school and working part-time jobs. You know, like all teenagers do. If this is your first time reading the synopsis, then you’re probably asking a lot of questions like “Huh?” or “What?” because the basic rules and structure of society suggest that this shouldn’t even be possible. And for me, knowing that much is what made this story interesting--HOW these characters are living such lives, and what will happen when it inevitably shatters. Because there’s just no way it won’t--and the very first scene of the anime suggests that it very much will.

Happy Sugar Life makes use of its own flaws. The sugar-coated scenes of the main characters in their unnatural habitat are not just for show; they’re presented as a true illusion from reality. The conflict is all the outsiders learning more about their lives and trying to tear it down, a plot that snowballs as the situation becomes more and more complicated. A situation known as “reality”.

What’s more, is that the aforementioned little girl doesn’t even seem to be a real character. Shio Koube lives and breathes, but her actual personality is baffling. She’s constantly happy and cheery and trying to do the best she can to help her caretaker. She doesn’t question the life she lives or the outside world she’s prevented from seeing. She is simply “a daughteru”: the ideal child anyone would want to have--no, scratch that. Megumin and Chtholly are daughterus to me, but that’s because they actually seem like real characters, because real characters have flaws. Shio Koube does not. Shio Koube is not a real character, nor a daughteru--she is a pet. A Shia pet, if you will. She exists to be cute and fluffy; you feed her and play with her a bit, and if you can do those two things, then she’s not gonna be a bother to you outside of the occasional natural fuck-up. That’s cool and all, but that’s not how a human child actually acts.

But what’s smart about the anime is that it actually addresses this. Shio’s personality is the result of past trauma that’s she’s forgotten; and as she learns more and more about herself, it starts to crack a little. By the end of the series, Shio outright states that she’s meant to be more than a living object used to draw mental security from, practically breaking the fourth wall by stating she’s a real character who has a functional and realistic train of thought that accurately feeds into her personality.

In other words, Happy Sugar Life was only pretending to be retarded.

Because, with the way it handles its plot by addressing its flaws and nailing its appeal with few problems, I can’t help but think that Happy Sugar Life is actually pretty clever. As dumb and over-the-top it may seem, it was in full control of itself and did what it set out to do.

Suffering, violence, trauma and psychosis. Of course an anime called “Happy Sugar Life” would be about anything but. Characters have very specific, intricately detailed mental issues, so much so that I can’t guarantee the anime doesn’t take place in some sort of high-tech asylum that simulates society as therapy for its patients. The way they’re presented are interesting on their own for what they are, but the main character herself acts in a surprisingly grounded manner.

In the first episode, she verbally beats down her employer over a payroll cut, explaining how she was fully aware of the manager’s schemes but played along for the sake of being nice, only to still be punished. She completely dismantles this person mentally and challenges her, but her tone of voice is what sells the scene. She doesn’t scream or shout, the soundtrack is dark but sparse with details, and the visual direction is simple but effective. It’s not dynamic, over-acted, or over-the-top. This scene could’ve easily been a screaming match between two idiots, but… that would just be silly and unnecessary. Quiet words speak louder than loud words. That’s totally how the saying goes.

Satou Matsuzaka, aka “Holy Shit Is That A Motherfucking Mirai Nikki Reference???” is fully in control of herself, able to function like a normal person in most circumstances. And by “control”, I mean she seems to be keeping a deeper anger pent up within her, choosing not to do any more than what’s necessary. It’s a contrast from the manager in episode one, who fights back with shouting and more body language, among other characters that I’ll get into later. The stability of Definitely Not Yuno’s mental condition is part of the snowballing conflict--as her Title of The Anime becomes harder and harder to keep, her psyche decays, and as her psyche decays, she becomes more and more dangerous.

Basically, if you know what the fuck a yandere is, you know what’s up.

Watching Pink Yandere fall further into despair as the story progressed, as well as her drastic shifts in attitude, are a blast to watch. Hana Kanazawa delivers one of the best performances in her incredibly prolific career, at times sounding completely unrecognizable to me. She’s not just using her Akane Tsunemori serious drama voice, she’s speaking in a tone FAR lower than almost every anime she’s been cast in. And, as a huge fan of Mirai Nikki, you bet your ass I loved episode 11 when she tied her hair back to look exactly like Yuno. Praise be.

The other characters in the series are in various stages of sanity, for better or for worse. The most notable is Satou’s Aunt, who hoardes trash and lets weirdos beat the shit out of her for pleasure. You know, like all loving aunts do. But, like Satou, she’s fully in control of her actions. Rather, this is a matter of one being so deluded of themselves that they believe their behavior to be healthy. AILF (aunt i’d like to fuck) even convinces herself to have a fulfilling role within society, accepting hostility and fucking it out of them. She is indeed quite over-the-top, but the long dialogues she provides make her believable enough to be enjoyable.

And then there’s the lolicon guy… oh boy. This fuckin’ guy. As a result of things happening that cause him to distrust adults, he becomes so fully attached to Shio that he takes passionate inhalations of her missing poster flyers. THIS is the over-the-top character that you’d expect to see from a full edgelord show, and really, your opinion of him just depends on how much you’re into that kinda stuff. To me, this character is no more than a punchline--more like a punching bag, actually, given all the shit he goes through. A full display of maximum disparity and lack of self-control, his actions are so cartoonish and ridiculous that all he ends up doing in the series is suffering. A lot. He’s just a dumping ground for all the negative consequences brought on by the other characters. Overall, not a character to be taken seriously; he stands at the border between Happy Sugar Life being a completely serious drama and a goofy, edgy comedy. I like the mixture of both worlds.

But the crowning jewel of this anime are some of the more psychologically-based scenes. For as weird and silly as the anime can be, there are scenes of actual genius scattered throughout--most notably, the first half of episode eight. It explores the backstory of Satou’s and Shio’s apartment through the eyes of its former resident. All of it is in first-person view with no music, and the resident never speaks. Instead, their moments of “dialogue” are replaced with a glitchy audio clip over a fluctuating black line. The pauses before these clips make noise and their varying intensity fill in the blanks of Satou’s conversations perfectly. It’s a tremendously well-done scene that I would recommend to anyone, even if you haven't seen the rest of the anime.

Sound manipulation is a motif in this series; characters’ voices will become static-y and distorted in key moments to intensify their dark expressions. Several different visual tricks are used for similar reasons--glowing eyes, static, reflections, scratchy lines, lighting, shadows, tactful shot compositions and other things are all deployed for the show’s depraved, depressing and dark moods without overdoing any of them. Meanwhile, happier moments are shown with sparkles, bubbles, clouds and bright, poppy colors; so corny that they’re almost vomit-inducing, and I mean that in the best way possible. Happy Sugar Life doesn’t necessarily excel with animation, set pieces or character designs, but the various tricks it uses to communicate its feelings are excellent.

Similarly, the soundtrack doesn’t particularly stand out, but the sound design is quite good, I’ll say again. Rising violins, static, vocal manipulation and prestigious voice acting get the job more than done. The OP is one of my favorites of the entire year, using a song perfectly toned to this anime with its siren-like guitar riffs and optimistic, upbeat tone, shifting in and out of muttered, paranoid passages. Bizarre, photographed objects float about in the background; a Shio-like angel flies over shadowy figures of the characters, and various trappings by glass jars and thorns lay over Satou as the video glitches with inconsistent timing. It’s easy to see what’s going on in the OP based on a few episodes of the show itself, but it’s communicated in so many incredible ways that the OP never got skipped. The ED is good… for an ED, that is, which is to say not much, but the animation of Satou and Shio is cute, and the song itself is quite touching.

If you’ve read my reviews before, you know that I’m completely and 100% serious in all of my reviews, and I never make any jokes whatsoever, so when I say this is a 9/10 anime, I mean that it should be watched by all eyes, no matter what.

Now, if you’ve ACTUALLY read my reviews before, you’d know I like to play around, that I don’t really care about ratings, that I’m not all that interested in seeing a fully-serious, masterfully-crafted story. But with its combination of surprise turnarounds, smart directing and just the right amount of silliness, I’d truly say that Happy Sugar Life is a quality anime; not just by my standards, but for drama and psychological anime as a whole. Indeed, it is not perfect--some people will be unhappy with some of the characters or not be willing to see how the anime fixes itself down the line. In fact, I myself have room to complain about the teacher not having any real exploration to his character, as well as some scenes that simply would not happen in the real world, such as Satou's Aunt seducing the police officer, as good as it was. A lot of it is conveniently written. The characters aren’t particularly deep and more idealized than realized. But, overall, Happy Sugar Life is FUN. It is an exciting series that takes little time to light its first match, and once it gets going it doesn’t let up until it has burned everything down.

I dearly recommend this anime to anyone who’s into not just edgy comedies, but anyone who’s interested in a kinda wacky psychological drama that even manages to unnerve you a little bit. Perhaps it is not the most effective at what it is, but it is, nonetheless, effective.

Story - 8/10
Art - 8/10
Sound - 8/10
Characters - 7/10
Enjoyment - 9/10
Yandere - 10/10
Overall - 9/10
Favorite episode - 8
Favorite character - Satou. Or her Aunt. Depends on how I’m feeling or how horny I am I guess. Pretend I didn’t type that out.
Recommendation level - Medium-high

Happy Sugar Life (HSL) is a psychological horror about normal people being pushed to their limits. Throughout this show, contrasts are stressed and found in every way possible as I will be discussing throughout this review.

Art 8/10: One of HSL's best attributes.
Studio Ezόla has opted for a pretty basic art style for this Anime. The surroundings or backgrounds are simple, but never feels fake or takes away from the original style, so no points deducted from that. This is the best example of where you can see contrasts being used. In happy or cheerful scenes, the colors used are extremely bright and sparkly. The color ... scale also shifts more to red to give that "alive" and "warm" feeling. And on certain scenes the art turns extremely dark. The entire scene gets washed in a blue like hue to give of this "dead" and "cold" feeling. HSL also uses the "eyes are the windows to the soul" saying to its fullest. In some scenes, the eyes of the characters change drastically to reflect their inner struggles. Subtle things like the eyes giving of a burning sensation when the characters are engulfed in anger is a nice touch and is sometimes pretty hard to see unless you look carefully.
There is almost never really on-screen violence in the Anime. The Anime uses visual hints as well accompanying sound effects to make you visualize those scenes for yourself. Which is what makes this Anime a truly psychological Anime.

Sound 8/10: The Opening explores this contrasts theme a bit more. The OP begins with an innocent voice and a happy sounding tone. The Opening then switches to a more deep tone and the singer (Akari Nanawo) sings in a more intimidating tone.
The Ending has an overall calm tone to help with pressure release and the end of the episode.
The OST is subtle but effective, builds tension when it must and sets the overall tone for the scene when needed. In some stages the lack of an OST is also used to give a false sense of security to the viewer before taking you by surprise.
The special insert song used in its respective episode was used to support the visual metaphor of the arc as well as support the feelings of the character the arc focuses on.

Characters 9/10: The characters are all introduced as normal people. On the surface they all look trustworthy. All the characters are in respectable positions and are in some cases even idolized, but then their insanity meter gets turned up to 11 if they are pushed overboard. Contrasts are once again used here, down to the names of our two main characters, Satou (sugar) and Shio (salt). On the topic of names. The names of the characters all have a meaning to what they provided or represents in the Anime. If you are done watching the Anime I would recommend searching the meaning of their names. The characters feel real in the sense that they all have the inner struggles that we as humans are fighting everyday. The only part where this subtracts from realism is the fact that so many characters snap around the main character.

Story 9/10: The story is pretty dark. Themes are explored which is not really that common in some Anime. Which once again brings it back to the contrasts. All of the characters are looking for their "Happy Sugar Life." Yet they don't see that by searching for this happiness they keep on leaving despair and once they find this “ideal” life, they are confused as to why they are not happy. The story intentionally makes you empathize with the main character. Which I would say is hard to do as if you take the character out and place them in the real world, this member would be hated. The story does a great job in making you root and care for a really repulsive being. The pacing is not something to complain about. Not too fast and not too slow. The ending was a bit abrupt and for many was a bit distasteful.

Enjoyment 10/10: Why I liked it: The use of all the above discussed means to tell a pretty dark story was something I enjoyed a lot. The overall usage of contrasts was also something that I liked a lot. Studio Ezόla did a pretty fine job in their first Anime and I am looking forward to more of their work if they are to pursue more titles in the future. I have since then bought the Manga for this and the adaptation done by the Studio was pretty good. The ending was also fully original as the Manga stopped around episode 11.

Why You might not like it:
The story is not a Happy Sugar Life. It is a psychological horror that keeps you asking "Is this really OK?", "Are we the baddies?" and "Why am I rooting for this person?" Even though there is never really that much on-screen violence. The Anime keep hinting towards what happened and the means in which this violence occurred. The ending was for some a bit distasteful. The story is about a relationship between a child and a high-school student. I think those are the main reasons you would not like this Anime. I would also not recommend this as a first Anime for someone just starting out, unless they like Horror or similar shows to this.

Overall 9/10: I was really impressed by this Anime. With a totally new Studio and a director which has only directed a few Anime in the past, my expectations for HSL was pretty low. But as the story progressed I could see the effort the director and the animators put in to make this first project a huge success in my opinion.

Once upon a time, there was a girl who didn’t know what love really is. She seemingly had no goals in life with a rootless understanding about love. Sleeping with guys and not truly knowing what her life is about, she didn’t know if there was a place to belong. Wondering around the end of abyss of life and not knowing who she can really be with. Then, a child appeared. An innocent child with a face full of life and sugar. Is this a chance to truly discover love? Is it a chance to live a happy sugar life?

As a show that combines elements ... of psychological horror, suspense, and thriller, Happy Sugar Life looked deceptive at first glance. Now I admit, I’m a bit of a sucker when it comes to shows where we have an anti-hero protagonist. I mean, the first episode speak for itself once you realize Matsuzaka Satou’s personality. She is essentially living a double life – one that is of a normal girl and other being overly obsessive of Shio Kobe. This devotion to Shio is so strong that she is willing to kill others to “protect” her from harm. In Satou's mind, being with Shio equates to happiness.

Despite the complex nature of the plot, the setup of the story is actually very simple. We got Satou who pretty much takes Shio as a partner and isolates her in a place where she feels is safe. It’s an apartment that looks normal on the inside and outside until you realize there may be something much darker going on behind the scenes. The first few episodes is rather cryptic about Satou’s actions including parts where she takes questionable content in and out of the house. Meanwhile, there’s definitely character chemistry going on between Satou and Shio. The duo shares an innocent love chemistry and ritual-like marriage ceremonies on a frequent basis. On most parts, the show seems fluffy during those segments while masking the suspenseful thriller storytelling. Throughout the series, we discover just how far from normal Satou actually is. The show also makes it clear that she will go to any length to protect Shio even if it means murder. Anyone who is familiar with the term ‘yandere’ will easily dedicate her character as such. In essence, Satou is a complex character who sees her idea of love in a twisted way. Regardless of consequences, she will do anything to protect that love. This puts Shio on the opposite end of the spectrum as she is an innocent child. Despite that, she seems to adore Satou and always values their relationship. It’s the sort of child behavior you’d expect from this show.

The more I watched Happy Sugar Life, the more I realized how this show depicts human behavior in some of the worst ways possible. Characters such as Taiyou displays borderline pedophile behavior towards Shio. Others such as Daichi and Satou’s aunt also demonstrate their psychological tendencies in several episodes. With the exception of Shio, only one other character came to my mind who I can say is normal. Her name would be Shouko Hida but I wouldn’t get attached to her easily. In fact, try to refrain from getting attached to most of the characters in this series because their real personalities are incredibly disturbing. Another reason is that some characters will not make it alive. I’m not going to mention it as it’s spoiler but let’s just say that death isn’t uncommon in the story.

As the majority of the series adheres to psychological horror, it’s hard to really root for any single character. The characters Satou deals with are often evil as she is with some being even more twisted. However, I think some of her past can be sympathetic. Satou wasn’t born with evil intentions but events shaped her to become what she is now. The past explores her character in depth and there’s even one episode that explains how Satou ends up where she is now. Narratives in this series is incredibly important as it fishes out a character’s personality to the fullest. Satou is the primary example of this as we see a journey to understanding love in her words. There’s also a character named Asahi Koube in the show with a deep desire to reunite with Shio as a family. But unlike Satou, he doesn’t go to measures such as killing to achieve his happiness. It’s a bit sugarcoated but he is more of a hero than Satou will ever be.

By the time you reach the conclusion of the first episode, I think it’ll become obvious whether or not it’s worth following this anime. Are you the type that love suspenseful horror? Do you favor a story with twisted inhumane characters? Do you want to see if characters such as Satou or Shio really find love in each other in the end? If these are some of the questions in mind, then definitely give this anime a shot. Otherwise, it’s going to be a sluggish ride as every episode builds more and more into the suspense. I personally find this anime unique in the sense that it isn’t truly deceptive yet always makes me anticipate on what to expect next. The character cast wants you to hate them and they succeed without jeopardizing the plot. And to me, that’s a feat that I admire.

Like the title suggests, Happy Sugar Life has a sugary and sweet coloring to its animation style. Studio Ezo’la (one that I never heard of before until this series) bought out its ideas to fullest. It’s vibrant and full of life during moments when we see happiness. Then, there are those dark eerie scenes that brings out the horror of the story. It’s often moody especially in Satou’s apartment where questionable content lies in the dark. As you should expect, this show contains violence that includes murder. The TV version seems to have tone it down a bit as some of the graphic content is done behind the scenes rather than shown directly on screen. Satou is the main culprit of this but there are some other characters that commit sinful deeds. Oh and be prepared for some uncomfortable scenes from the main cast. Taiyou is a guy that I deeply regret watching for his pedophilic tendencies. Good God, erase him from the show. Other character expressions in the series are disturbing to watch such as with Satou’s red predatory eyes or her aunt’s mentally unstable behavior. The light in the dark tunnel is Shio as she brings in sugar, spice, and everything nice.

If you want psychology in this series, you need the characters to be convincing. Thanks to the modern talent of Kana Hanazawa, that is achieved. She’s known for a variety of heroine roles and to play a yandere in this series truly bought out her talent to full. Misaki Kuno is also able to step into the shoes of a child to portray her character’s innocence. The theme songs contain an upbeat mood that contrasts with the tone of the show. It’s very playful and bubbly while the ED theme contains a more melodramatic feeling.

Happy Sugar Life tells the tale of love that isn’t the typical romantic story you’re familiar with. Instead, it crafts psychological horror with a cast of degenerate characters. There are some that you’ll find to be abominations of our society. Yet, this series is far from an abomination. It’s a psychological horror done right with a clear set of intentions at its heart and soul.

After watching the first episodes of "Happy Sugar Life", I wanted to share my opinion with you.

The story starts off quite boring but then develops quickly into something you may not have thought of in the beginning. BUT you have to like these kinds of stories if you don't just pass it. Because I only have seen the first episodes, so let's see if the story stays interesting.

The art is a mixture of bright colors with a gloomy shadow over it. That creates an atmosphere of unforeseeable darkness, which is only broken up in a few moments of "Happiness".

The sound fits most of the ... time, but there are moments where there should have been any BGM or better BGM.

Well coming to the characters, you currently only have to remember the two mains, the rest is at the moment not really interesting, but they all are pretty much corrupted in their behavior and doing.

I personally am enjoying "Happy Sugar Life" very much, because like I mentioned before I like these kinds of stories and what happens next is unpredictable, because it can be almost everything.

Overall "Happy Sugar Life" is not happy, it is more horrifying and disturbing, so it leaves you with the feeling of "what has just happened and why?". But it is addicting and you want to see more of it until there is a moment, which will maybe satisfy you.

First of all, this is my one of my favorite anime of this season so far. I've watched : Bannana Fish, Cell anime, Dropkick-chan, Chio-Chan, Asobi Asobase, Angels of death and Angolmois.
Hanebado, Attack on titan and Grand Blue

This anime however stood out very much for me. Don't listen to all the " This Anime is for edgy 12 year olds" etc... spam. They are obviously the immature ones (with awful taste I might add...). This Anime is a perfect blend of Mystery/Suspense/Horror with warm cute shoujo. And no, this is NOT a Yuri anime, however much it seems like.

*Story/Premise: Is about a broken ... girl struggling to live a normal and happy life with a person who showed her true love (caring love not sexual) for the first time ever in her life, under the harshness and unfairness of life and the people in it. This show has the cuteness of slice of life and moe anime, mixed and executed perfectly with dark/mystery and Horror. It'll give you the chills a badass anime with amazing Mikasa eyes does but also give you the warm sweet sugar feeling that a slice of life does. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

What this anime does phenomenally:
- Characters and their psych
-Tension /Atmosphere
-Unique loveable Art style
-Mystery that is especially dark
- Satou is Yandere Queen! (Sorry Yuno)

For me this has great great potential and might even become one of my personal top favorite anime. I'm in Japan rn for a vacation, and once I saw this, Oh hot damn I knew I had to get the manga fast.

-THIS IS MY FIRST EVER REVIEW ON AN ANIME SO I APOLOGIZE IF THIS REVIEW ISN'T ENOUGH TO CONVINCE YOU TO WATCH THIS MASTERPIECE.-

My Intro
I have been a fan of psychological animes and mangas because it feels so unique when you watch this kind of genre.
Happy Sugar Life is one of the best psychological anime that I have seen, I have never felt this best feeling since Mirai Nikki (This one's a pretty badass psychological anime too, recommended 10/10).



STORY

It's plot is pretty much the same with yandere animes (killing for the person you love, have different personalities, become merciless and be a beautiful and ... cute yandere character with a twisted mind) .
The story is so good it will make you cry, of satisfaction of course, it ended beautifully and it has some mindfck scenes which will give you goosebumps for the whole 12 episodes.
It's decent and beautiful. :)
10/10


ART

The art style is cute as heck but turns demonic in the next second, it's pretty good and has a cute slice of (throat) life feels on it.
It's good.
9/10


CHARACTERS

Jesus! The characters bro, they are so damn unpredictable!
Don't let their looks and personality fool you because it will change in a mere second.
First, we have a pervert.
Second, we have a lolicon.
Third, we have a bisexual.
Fourth, we have a dangerous MILF.
Fifth, we have a depressed emo.
Damn, HSL has it all!
8/10


OVERALL
Please, just watch you will know immediately on what I'm trying to say here, just watch and enjoy it! It is WORTH IT!
Recommended 10/10


My Outro
Thanks for reading this poor review of mine, I know it does not suit your needs on an anime review but I tried my best for this at least.
Thank you very much.

What is the cost of love and happiness?

Before you start watching this masterpiece, you should be warned, you would be seriously disturbed. Like this anime will touch your soul and put a lot of dark stuff inside. I have no idea why all previous reviews gave so low scores. It is like people watching "Chernobyl" (a series for the largest tragedy in atomic energy known to man) and expect it to be fun? It is not fun, neither is this anime, but gosh it is so GOOD!

Art & Music: 9
Story & Characters: 10

The first thing I must point is the professionalism this anime is implemented. ... The topics it focuses on are not only domestic violence, murder, but also pedophilia, sexual harassment, kidnapping, etc. Using my experience in anime, I would say there is plenty of points where unnecessary sexualism (i.e. fanservice) could be inserted, completely destroying the seriousness of the topics, but luckily the staff members did not do that. (I did not read the manga, though so no idea if it is told with the same seriousness as anime).

The second thing to point is that while it is SERIOUSLY DISTURBING, the scenes of violence and sexual harassment are conveniently moved as a side point. This disturbing events in this anime are told in a way that the viewer should understand what's happening without everything being explicitly graphic.

And now to the story and characters. No character in this anime is normal. And by not being normal, do not expect someone that just stands out. For example, the main protagonist Satou (female) is in love with a little girl, and ready to (and actually do it) kill in order to protect their love. Her craziness is in counter-position of her love for Shio. But where does craziness comes from. From the first episode we can see how one of the main characters develops fear of older woman which causes his pedophilia, due to being victim of rape by his female manager. And here is where this anime present this as disturbing and not enjoyable. Even for a male, a rape by older woman can really break your mind and soul. The craziness is not something your are born with (not always at least), but something that you can get from other crazy people.

And so we have a story which involves a series of victims domestic abuse, violence, sexual harassment, child abandoning, etc. Each of this twists the mind of the characters pushing them to do stuff, we (the normal people) find SERIOUSLY DISTURBING. But this is where the story becomes beautiful. All this crazy people search for is LOVE - the innocent love they were denied from their parents who beat them or the innocent love that is torn away by a slutty woman. And the desire for love can have CONSEQUENCES, a dark and disturbing consequences. While you watch how the events unfolds, if you have any heart, you cannot help but vouch for Satou and Shio to discover happiness away from all other victims.

As you go through this 12 episodes introduction of the dark world of people with unhappy families and how they individually discover happiness, one of the best and most beautiful thing you can see is the ending. You know this story would not have happy ending, but at least it would be beautiful, and yet you feel this bitter taste in your mouth. It shows what happy sugar life Satou and Shio would have if the events did not end tragically. At this point, for the first time I shed tears for serial killer female pedophile.

So how can you enjoy such an anime? Well, it depends whether you are a normal person, or you are under the influence of some seriously disturbing event in your past. In case you are a normal person experience some love issues, this anime could be a wake up call telling you "you know nothing about love issues". If you are not normal... (sorry)... I hope this anime gives you a glimpse of hope and happiness.

In conclusion, watching this reminds you that bad things can happen in the world. And for some, the bad things happen in their own homes. This anime reminds us for all those taboo subjects we are aware of, but we do not speak about.

P.S. The OP really cuts it for this anime. While it is nothing special, it completely resonate with the anime. The song is super cute, until suddenly become just a mumble-jumble of world in a voice that reflects the craziness perfectly. Then it returns being a cute song again.

A psychological anime is good if it can make the watcher feel unorthodox. A horror anime is good if it can make the watcher feel scared and afraid. This anime qualifies the two spots nicely and perfectly like putting a pencil lid into your mechanical pencil.

Story : 9/10

Two girls, stay together, supernatural, illegal and scary stuffs happens. Psychological plot, great story development. Makes me get goosebumps and/or afraid in all episodes. Respect.

Art : 9/10

Good art, good quality, nice.

... Sound : 8/10

Catchy, Cute(scary) opening, satisfactory background musics, effects, etc..
Problem : Shio's sound is kind of annoying sometimes.

Character : 10/10

Cute characters, some characters emotions defy their looks. Truly psychological. 10/10.

Enjoyment : 9/10

I enjoyed(?) this anime a lot. Made me felt blank at the end, but that is to be expected. And I expected to feel this ever since I began the anime anyways.

Overall : 9/10

Fun, I guess? Yep. I love this, got heart attack in every episode. How could I dislike this? There's also Yuri. But somewhat made it felt WRONG. Oh well, my mind is messed up right now. So I'm off to rest.

I've left the world of anime for a long time because I became bored with anime presenting me nothing new or revolutionary in terms of their storytelling. It was hard to find a story that offers a unique perspective about life or about anything at all, just a horde of formulaic entertainment that's "good enough" to keep you... entertained. And "good enough" was just not good enough for me. I wanted exceptional.

Welcome to exceptional.

Plot: 9
Happy Sugar Life is an anti-romance story that really digs its nails deep into the more taboo meanings of love and what it means to different individuals. The premise would turn ... off most people satisfied with a "normal" story: "A high school girl, Satou Matsuzaka, has fallen in love with a young girl named Shio Koube. She struggles to overcome numerous obstacles that threaten to take that love away." Psychotic yanderes with a twisted form of love is nothing new, but what Happy Sugar Life does differently is by really sticking with its main theme of unconventional love and explore how this (usually) superficial thing called "love" can truly mean a lot of different things to everybody.

To explain what I mean, the forms of love explored in this anime are as follows:
1. Love for a small child
2. Love for young boys
3. Parental love
4. Brotherly love
5. Masochism
6. Self-love

Satou isn't the only psycho in this anime as there are so many other individuals here with their own pursuit of love. And while some of these are forms of lust as opposed to the so-called "true love", people in real life often confuse the two anyway so why shouldn't anime characters? However, while the series spends a sufficient amount of time explore individual characters, the main focus here is still Satou and her journey to discover what it truly means to love another person. And therefore, it's a good time to talk about...

Characters: 9
Satou starts out before the story with her heart feeling empty. It wasn't 'till she discovers Shio through a chance encounter that she felt meaning in her life as she began devoting herself to ensuring Shio's safety and happiness in their little castle of glass (a cosy little apartment). As she works hard for the sake of her newfound love, Satou comes across different individuals trying to push their own ideals of love onto her in various ways, intruding in her happy sugar life with Shio. But surprisingly enough, there's really not much in the way of violence in how Satou deals with her problems (in most of the episodes anyway). Unlike a true yandere like Yuno from Mirai Nikki, Satou is a far more calm and collected girl who comes up with more civilized forms of strategies to remove people from her life. She also properly reflects on her own ideals and even questions whether if her "love" is the right kind. So altogether, not that unrealistic of a character to be fair.

But what ultimately keeps the show going is the other characters that also had their perspectives shown to us, along with why they felt like their form of love is justified. Usually, in an anime with a shocking premise like this, it can all too often go downhill in pacing after the first shock-factor episode (Promised Neverland), but Happy Sugar Life keeps the audience engaged using a "psycho of the week" formula, allowing you to journey with Satou together in exploring love and all its meaning.

And in case you feel that these "lovers" are way too weird for your taste, there's even a normal girl in the mix here. Satou's best friend at work, Shouko, is the straight man in all this craziness, trying to do her best to be the best kind of friend Satou could have. She's loyal, compassionate, and not insane, so it helps to balance out the story and also helps the audience to connect with an anchor of normality. She's one of my favourite characters in the story, and possibly also the most tragic one by the end.

In spite of being a clean squeaky clean girl, Shouko and a number of other characters are written realistically flawed instead of being an ideal stereotype. Morally right or wrong, there is always ambiguity in their personal ideals to be found, thus further fleshing them out into very interesting individuals. Even Satou, whom I was close to hating after she crossed a line in a later episode, I found myself understanding her and Shio's perspective, along with why they are so firmly rooted in their beliefs (abnormal or not) and fighting so hard for them, no matter what it takes.

Enjoyment: 8
I'd be lying if I didn't admit that even an anime like this has gotten me bored at a few points in the story when it came close to being reduced to yet another conventional thriller. Thankfully, the anime manages to throw new and unexpected surprises that not only serve to shock (which would be shallow on its own), but also add new layers to the characters and subverting your expectations about them. For the parts of the story that try to show what a sweet life Satou and Shio have made for each other, I encourage you to be patient and experience those moments as you would experience a joyous moment with your loved one; those do pay off by the end and resonate the kind of strong and deep bond Satou and Shio share with each other.

At the end of the day, go into this anime with an open mind and forget about your sense of normality for 12 episodes. Then come tell me what you think of Satou and Shio's perspectives and whether if you feel those two lost souls are justified! I would love to hear from you.

Edit:
I noticed a lot of errors in this review, and after seeing the support the community has given through the 60+ "Helpful" feedback, I've decided to rewrite this piece for better clarity. Thanks for the support!

This show provided everything I want in anime: social commentary and metaphysical/ philosophical questions. Many reviews look at it at face value, when it should be analyzed for what its trying to say.

Nearly all the characters in the story are phycologicly scarred and 'twisted', which turns some people off, most of them are not seen after their introduction and are presented in a morally open way. Such characters are shown to have a multitude of faces, and their role in the narrative primarily comes down to the idea that more people than you know have had a painful past and that more people have morally ... inappropriate hobbies than it would seem at first glance. The characters presented, in the end, serve as a reflection of societies hypocrisy (as the show says itself multiple times).

While many classify Shio Kobe as a 'loli' she is in the story just a child; there are no sexual urges or relations to her in the story. It might be perceived that Mitsuboshi has some, but its not made evident as what is said is that he wants Shio to 'purify' him (after getting sexually abused by an older woman) and thus just wishes to regain his innocence (just in a overzealous perverse fashion), and by experiencing her innocence regain his.

As hinted at the show makes no moral claims on the characters or actions and presents them in an open, if not inviting, way. This presentation leaves more room for analysis on the shows primary thesis : what is love; and how these actions reflect love.

Analysis aside the juxtaposition used from one scene to another is done fantastically and scene transitions are creative and add to the work and animation. The art and animation completely convey emotions and tone intended for each scene with everything feeling well thought out. The character drawings do feel outdated by modern standards, but isnt overly evident with the animation and color usage.

I would not classify this in the horror genre like others have but more in suspense, slice of life, thriller, romance.

So where to start?

Happy Sugar Life (HSL) fails as a psychological horror.
That is fine.
Don't go in thinking this is going to be a psychological horror, instead look at this more as a mystery drama.

It's not a standard "Problem = Mystery" style mystery, but instead it's got that sort of Another style mystery where you have a problem, but then the interest is figuring out who the characters are, what's happened leading up to here, etc.

It's a drama because everything is a drama. Drama is that blanket term for "things happen, they're not neccesarily fighting, they're not always romance, they're not always [Blank], but they are ... sometimes".

This Anime is about our main protagonist Satou, and our macguffin/second-protagonist Shio. By some means our MP has found Shio and is currently living with her despite the fact that she is an actively sought-after missing person. Satou's main drive then obviously is keeping her as a missing person while they have a romantic relationship.

Yes, The lesbian pedophile has a girl locked in her appartment, but the girl doesn't seem to mind.

That's literally as much plot as I can go into without spoiling this, so let's talk actual meat and potatoes.

This is a modern-day japan with normal life, but populated entirely by morally wrong people. Everyone's hiding something, everyone's an asshole. Our macguffin, in one way or another, seems to bring these assholes together and, as they do, they end up having confrontations. All the while you're going to be fed crumbs of information into the actual story, either through flashback, literal digging, or just someone's psychotic episode that leads to them no longer repressing some memories.

All these crumbs of plot start filling in the blanks for the mystery, but then just add more questions ontop of that and bring in more morally questionable situations for you to judge. All up until a breaking point where the current story kicks into high-gear and the mystery is essentially finished so you can wrap up the series and characters that you've spent the past episodes learning about and either loving or hating all with the final drama.

Yeah, I'm vague. That review is boring. Just watch this anime, as much shit as it sounds like I've given it, it's amazing. You're going into an anime where the writers dive into a psychopathic main protagonist and I know how much we all love those when they're not written as high-school vampire scene girls. You're not force-fed psychology 101, you're not shown a murder then beaten over the head with how wrong it is. You're just shown a bunch of relatable human characters who're pushed past relatable at times because you don't want to relate to their fucked psychology.

And just ignore these dudes who watched 3 episodes and started screaming "IT'S EDGY, WHY IS THERE A LOLI, THIS IS GROSS, I'M OFFENDED" because they wanted to voice their opinions on an unfinished anime they decided to immediately wall themselves away from. Watch it and make your own call. It's not like we don't all sit around for 6-12 hours straight binging whole anime series on the weekends anyways.

I found this anime much more enjoying then I should.

It builds up a story and drops it with consequences that might turn out satisfying to watch. It contains layers of dark stories and disturbing action done mostly everyone. If you're into things being out of the normal range of human behaviour, this is the anime for you. Bonus points if you like yuri or lolis.

What I found this anime being fun is mostly from the protagonists' ability to do evil things. A cute girl who has a dark side waiting to be discovered by the viewer; all to protect her loved one with anything, but ... with responsibility and sanity of her own to try to avoid trouble. It builds up with her punishing "terrible" people one after another, even if they used to be friends or coworkers she's met with her "normal" daily life outside, and dropping it with even darker and darker actions as the anime goes on. I seem to be obsessed with the idea that things get twisted just for maintaining the protagonist's relationship.

10/10 because most parts of it are fun, interesting, and gratifying to watch. The music fits the story and the art style is sweet to the eye. Most importantly, they work together to make the atmosphere fit the storytelling beautifully.

When I first heard about this anime and what was going on in it, I was skeptical about it seeming to be good for horror; I mean you got a yandere and a child. But once you get to episode 5 and you start learning about Shio, you learn all those layers they built into this child and how she's more than just an innocent and caring child.

Satou has a lot to her as well, not being a teen who kidnapped a child cause they love them sexually, but a true love for this girl who brought her happiness when she never received any ... to begin with; but I do wish they would delve into more of both her past with her aunt and her love for Shio.

The supporting characters are very interesting as well, from Hida and Taiyo to Sumire and even Shio's mother; but they do need more of a backstory, so maybe some OVAs for the characters will do some justice.

I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to watch horror but want minimal amounts of blood and murder since this is more on the mental and emotional aspect rather than gore. This is obviously not for those who aren't able to fully understand the true story behind this anime and explore the many layers past a teen and child romance.

Even though the ending was very conclusive and overall perfect, I wouldn't mind a second season; maybe with different characters in this similar dilemma, like maybe men where the younger of the two murders to protect his lover.

I overall highly praise this anime and recommend this to newcomers looking for a "little blood as possible" horror anime.

A rare gripping story disguised as just another moe blob slice of life that won't push you to the edge of the seat, but will have you leaning forward wondering what will happen next. The cast consists of only morally and mentally fucked characters; leaving you wondering who you should actually be rooting for; if anyone at all.

It doesn't have the pleasant surprise of School Live's or Doki Doki's 180 tone change, but nonetheless it's still enjoyable, or at the very least interesting, to watch the darker atmosphere envelope and combine with everybody's favourite genre: cutesy moe blobs.

The sound direction catches you off guard, even ... though it repeats a lot of the same effects throughout the show, but still proves to be something that ultimately contributes to the intention of establishing how insignificant certain background characters are, or how brutal certain major events in the story actually play out, or what percentage of deranged certain characters are.

Happy Sugar Life's story as a whole takes one sharp turn to redesign its adorable surface into a darker thriller that will keep hold of your attention while challenging your perception of its unpredictable major cast of characters.

Happy Sugar Life is an amazing story. The story is intriguing from episode one and continue's to up the intensity after each episode. I haven't seen anything else like Happy Sugar Life, it's a truly unique thrill ride. This emotional roller coaster will take you to unexpected places.

The music conveys so much feeling and ultimately really helps tell the story. The shocking themes may seem off putting at first glance but you really have to see it all before you can accurately pass judgement.

With surprises at every turn this Psychological Horror is best in class and contender for one of the ... best Anime's of all time. Happy Sugar Life has story that rivals that of even William Shakespeare. It is a unique masterpiece.

I've been watching anime for some time, and this is the first time I felt like writing a review of a series. I will try to avoid spoilers as much as I can.


STORY: Outstanding

Of all animes I watched, this one must have one of the more unique plots I have seen. I would go as far as saying this is a "high art anime".
The first chapters introduce Satou's life, a hardworking girl who is in "love". Her koibito is Shio, a kid that she apparently kidnapped and locked in her apartment. That's all I will say about the plot, read the synopsis if you want ... more info.
This show is a roller coaster, with lots of thrillers, twists, lies, and a some horror scenes. I think Ezόla (HSL is the first anime of the studio) did a very good job pacing and keeping consistency, I have only found very small plot holes at the end. It mixes very well unrealistic actions with very realistic behaviors (confusing huh? I never experienced this before). In some instances the most "normal" guy will look the weirdest. I also liked how they treated stuff like domestic violence, work harassment and male rape.


ART: Outstanding

Typical art style that you would find in a slice of life show, round faces, big round eyes, lots of blur, etc. I think this makes a horror show "darker". Overall I think this show's color palettes are very well chosen and beautiful. The cute and happy scenes looked very vibrant and heartwarming, where the creepy scenes were dark with glowing yandere eyes. I also love the faces in this anime, in fact I have a folder with 35 screencaps of face expressions (this is the first time I screenshot while watching anime).


SOUND: Great

Loved OP and ED. Also random Bleach OST. HanaKana, Kikuko Inoue.


CHARACTER: Outstanding

I will just say that I missed shows with good character development. This show does it greatly. Every character feels alive, has its own issues, pasts, and evolution through the series.
Loved MC's personality, I usually don't watch yandere shows, but her character felt very credible (? can't find the exact word). She keeps thinking rationally most of the time, and has real affection for his close friends (sadly they don't). She also doesn't go berserk randomly (killing is her very last option). Much more enjoyable than, for instance, Yuno.


I ended up writing a lot, ups. Overall this was a very refreshing show (I was tired of cliches and forced plots). Binge watched it in one sit, while usually I don't watch anime this way.
The ending was perfect, I would have liked another one (crowbar should have fallen, stapid ring), but it's the most appropriate for the show.
Nearly perfect score for me, 9-10. I wouldn't recommend this to "everyone", I'm sure most people would hate Happy Sugar Life and feel uncomfortable watching it (violence, harassment, rape, murder, kidnapping, lolicons, etc.). And that's fine, this show is very special (hence the "high art anime").

Happy Sugar Life is a psychological horror starring Satou Matsuzaka as our main heroine. It is revealed early in the first episode that she lives with Shio Koube, who Satou considers to be her "special someone". Satou did horrible things to live with Shio, and as you might have read already on MAL's synopsis, Satou will do everything in her capabilities to protect her life with Shio, her Happy Sugar Life. Of course, Satou and Shio are not the only characters here. This anime is one to watch if you want to see a lot of psychologically scarred characters.

A theme going on in the anime ... is about 'love' and the characters' different 'love'. The story is centered on Satou and Shio's relationship with what Satou believes is pure love. The atmosphere usually changes back and forth between Satou's sugar life and all the bitterness of the outside world. Scenes showing the sugar part of Satou's life will mostly be when she is alongside Shio. The bitterness is from characters that threaten Satou's status quo. Satou prefers to not interact with anyone else, but that is not possible. She has to work to support her life, keeping facades in school and her workplace. This leads to her feeling bitter when other characters are intrusive with their 'love'. Examples of this are when Satou started getting trouble from the likes of her manager and her teacher early in the show.

Happy Sugar Life handles their characters very well. Most of the important characters are introduced early in the show, leaving time to explore them and for character development. There are only a few characters who feels like 'disposable characters'. Most characters are also screwed up in the head, almost everyone has some trauma or psychological disorder. This leads to interesting interactions between the characters, or rather psychos. With each characters comes different interactions, with Satou taking different approaches to keep them away from her relationship with Shio. Furthermore, every character does get their own bit of spotlight, showing their motives, their past, or how they got traumatized.

The story relies heavily on mystery and suspense. Feelings of unease can be felt during the calmer parts of the show. Satou's expressions are not always clear, leaving you wondering on what she might do. You are left not knowing most of the truth, and it keeps making you curious about what will happen next. When you thought you know what was going on, the anime revealed a different answer, and you are back in the mystery. Even during the 'sugar' scenes, just not knowing what is brewing without you knowing is enough to keep the suspense going. The music (or lack of) supports the atmosphere really well. All that said, some situations are so weird and absurd, you might feel disgust or get a chuckle out of it.

Overall, Happy Sugar Life is an anime filled with mentally scarred characters, with Satou and Shio in the middle bringing these characters inevitably bumping with each other. Happy Sugar Life uses its characters well without freely disposing them. It also does a good job delivering suspense. Scenes switch around 'sugar' and 'bitter' parts, with the suspense still intact. On the bad side, at times, it feels like the anime is just dragging out the mystery, and the situations might seem too unrealistic.

This anime scared the shit out of me like how Mahou Shoujo Site was, but thankfully it didn't try to be as edgy AF, but im my opinion, Happy Sugar Life is at heart a psychological horror yet decent drama-based show that I'm actually quite contented (and secretly excited...?) to see what mysteries and miseries does this series put us through the overall setting.

Happy Sugar Life follows its aforementioned manga adaptation (which is fully caught up at the time of this review), and shows us the "love" of a broken high school girl (Matsuzaka Satou) and her victim of a broken yet naive understanding, Shio ... Koube. The title of the show is very misleading (just like Asobi Asobase, only more darker and sinister), but it creates a good context for all of the characters who are broken and/or blind-sided in many ways:

Matsuzaka Satou, the pink-haired Yandere, voiced by the goddess Hana Kanazawa (and damn does she ever do a great job defining Satou's character). Spoilt out of love in her own family, which consists of her brain-washed of a wreck aunt, Satou has been mislead growing up, and asking about the concoction of love, to which her aunt shows her that love is everything of pleasure and desires, if she so wishes. And to that, her own experience of messing around and sleeping with boys serve as the catalyst of "Do I really want to keep this love?", and to that, her own heart is like a sweet, sweet jar, the happiness-filled jar that was once full is shattered into pieces, and in order to retain her love, she'll stop at nothing to make sure that she sees this towards the end.

The Koube family, of Shio and Asahi. Ah...the family conflict, someone gets drunk and accuses the significant other of upbringing the children in a bad way. Both characters have suffered under the demise of their wrecking ball of a father, so much so that the only link holding them both is their mum, to which her sanity could not be contained further, and Shio was kicked out of the house, abandoned by her mum. It was then and there that Satou found her and their Happy Sugar Life starts from there, maintaining the love jar and filling with sweet memories, while naïve that Satou didn't kidnap nor harm her in the process, and strives to protect Satou in her weakest. The brother however, is kinda of a bad brother, as both him and Shio part ways to help their mum survive, and now he's back to take her home, with the realism that Satou "kidnapped" her for her own pleasure. A hidden character always that doesn't stand out, he is left to fend for himself.

Satou's workmate and close friend, Taiyou Mitsuboshi the pedophile and Shouko Hida, the friend who promises of kept secrets and wants the best for everyone. For Taiyou himself, I don't really need to explain his character because it is what it is: his madly-deeply driven forbidden love for children that he's pretty much a psychopath and a lunatic at that, often taken advantage of in precarious situations. Shouko on the other hand, is pretty much a barebones character who often plays the best-close friend troupe, always concerning for others and helping them in need. If you haven't been paying close attention much, she is the ONLY sane character out of everyone, until her demise in Satou's vicious hands calls out her presence to save those still in the trap of trauma.

Don't think for a millisecond that you're watching this show just to shit trash on it, its characters will turn you upside down to the point of misconception and stunning acting.

Newcomer studio Ezo'la's art and animation really was off-putting to say the least, but for the balance between the real world and the various horror scenes that enclosed the vibes from the manga, it was a pretty good adaptation overall. For once, there were a lot of things going for it, such as the art degradation towards the comic feel (such as the static screens of horror) and the psychological aspect which plays a big part into making this series feel like reality that hits us in the face when we least expected it. The unique feel for the new studio just blew my mind at how the staff directorials punch in what is arguably the best part of the show: the unsteady visuals.

The music is also another area that best explicits the foreshadowing of the series to come. Many scenes with the horror vibes are actually used at the correct moments of storytelling in time, and not just for show. Just like Asobi Asobase (yet again, musically), the OST was a definite surprise for me as both the OP and ED nailed at whatever exposition the series storyline has going for it. Not to mention that the ED presents ReoNa's debut single, and its heart-warming tonality makes it the perfect ending IMO (and one of the best EDs of the season).

Happy Sugar Life, we knew ye, we kinda understand ye. Horror is very subjective, that pertains to your own tastes of how you see it. As for personal takeaway, the real world complications exemplify the need for all of us to have the sense of the "Happy Sugar Life" jar in our hearts, even when bogged down by trauma. It's the same with trying to understand someone's life and what they have went through that culminates the core hypocrisy of all men, and this series did that for me.

So unless you have an affinity of finding out what your Happy Sugar Life is, watch this show to find out (and it's a recommendation too), ONLY if you're a sane person. (And yes, I'm definitely still sane after this).

Happy Sugar Life is one of the greatest psychological horror shows anime has to offer. Trauma, lack of mentorship, and the pursuit of love push the characters to perform direly, leading to a beautifully executed tragedy ripe with emotion; and plenty of violence. Plotwise, it's quite intentionally disconcerting, which one could consider "edgy," but, even as characters act in the most obviously morally corrupt manner, the tone comes across as more unsettling than anything. The ending is satisfactory-- Studio Ezόla doesn't hide the plot's tragic tendencies, especially with the opening scene. While true horror is a rarity in anime, more than enough happens ... to categorize this show as such.

This show is best watched blindly, and binged. I imagine it would have been quite frustrating trying to watch this week by week. There was a lot for me to digest watching this so the rest of the review may contain light spoilers. If you're desperate enough to look for horror in the anime department, it's unlikely you'll be disappointed.

As a horror, Happy Sugar Life delivers best in the psychological department. Each episode carries increasing suspense as characters are introduced and begin to interact with one another. Tensions build while the viewer awaits an inevitably violent outcome, served every few episodes. Some scenes also work very well as jump scares, intentional or not. The only gripe with this is, this anime being flagged with a "gore" tag and all, even the most violent scenes seem to lack a gory gut punch.

The plot is slow moving, and utilizes an abundance of flash backs to deliver key character exposition. Slow moving not in a running in place kind of way, or in a K-on fluffy slice of life kind of way, but in a steamroller or trash compactor kind of way. This is where an important mystery aspect of the show comes in to play. The objective of every scene, and one of this show's greatest strengths is that every scene has an objective, is to add a piece to the puzzle of the story for the viewers. Flashbacks, while plentiful, are intensely emotional and answer important "why" questions pertaining to the character's current situations. Some purposefully offer justification for characters' actions, while others purposefully do the opposite.

In general, all of the characters are, by design, flawed beyond repair and ultimately doomed to their tragic fate. There isn't much character growth, some character withering, but for the most part the focus is exposition; simply revealing more details to the viewer. Each character clearly affects others and adds to the attempted justification of Matsuzaka's actions. However a specific character comes to mind; the teacher; that felt like it wasn't used to its full potential. He becomes so vital to not just the plot and suspense of Matsuzaka's secret, but also plays the role of an an important anti-mentor to Matsuzaka herself, that it feels wasteful to suddenly drop him half way through the series, only to suddenly show one more scene of him in the ending as a cameo style "remember this guy?".

By "justification" I'm simply referring to answering the "why" portion of the character's actions, which pertains for the most part to Matsuzaka and the other main children in the story. Since there were very few characters in this series, any actions they take are impactful, both inside and outside the fourth wall.

Themes of love and mentorship, or perhaps more the misrepresentation or lack thereof, are also quite obvious and prominent.
What is love? ......... don't hurt me, no more.

Studio Ezόla weaponizes a fatally cute and somewhat simple art style, at least by today's standards, to accentuate the show's already disturbing tone. The animation is not particularly sophisticated; a lot of still frames and some shotty background CGI are used, but generally it doesn't hurt the viewing experience, especially since there aren't any action scenes. The musical score is quite good, and the opening and ending songs fit well. The creepiness of Matsuzaka is, in my opinion, the greatest part of this anime, the build up of her influences and circumstances to the final ending scene of episode 12 really carries the show's atmosphere. She's not crazy in a Gasai Yuno type of way, she's a monster of unfortunate circumstance and possibly some genetic mental illness.

The less-than-ideal rating, I believe, can understandably be mostly attributed to all of the messed up things that happen, and the intentionally terrible characters. Imaginably it would be difficult for most people to say that they enjoyed the experience of watching this show. The execution is great, so try to immerse yourself in the intent of the direction.

Generally it seems horror shows aren't exceptionally well directed, so to me this one stood out. It's not the gore fest of Another, or the moral desperation elicitation of Shiki, nor does it have the elaborate mystery of Higurashi. Emotionally distressing, uncomfortable, and suspenseful before wiping the floor with an eerie ending that might have come off as bittersweet in another anime.

All’s fair in love and war. It’s an expression that I’ve heard a million times. It’s so cliche that I kind of just take it for granted. The idea that anything is permissible if you do it for love seems fair enough on the surface. I never really questioned the validity of that cliche until I watched Happy Sugar Life. All’s fair in love and war feels like it should be right, but if I really think about it I start to run into some problems. What sort of actions truly are permissible in the pursuit or defence of love? If two loves are competing ... with each other then which one is just? Do the reasons or justifications behind someone’s feelings of love matter or is the love defensible regardless? Happy Sugar Life explores all these questions and it does so while maintaining a high entertainment value. The moral questions present themselves naturally in the show through the interesting and compelling actions of the characters and how they conflict with each other. The artstyle of the show helps to enhance the themes, especially the general feeling of dread that persists throughout. Overall, Happy Sugar Life puts my thoughts and feelings in conflict with each other. While I might think certain actions are universally wrong I end up feeling like they are justified in the specific events of the show because they are done for love.

Happy Sugar Life is about a pink haired psycho bitch (Satou) who abducts an innocent cute little blue haired girl (Shio) and basically uses her as an emotional support animal. On the surface it might seem like Satou and Shio have a shallow relationship but due to their past traumas we can see that isn’t the case. The relationship between Satou and Shio is by far the most emotionally substantive relationship that either one has ever experienced in their lives. Their relationship can accurately be described as “love.”

Satou has spent most of her life up until this point trying to find out what love is. Satou was orphaned as a child and ended up living with her Aunt who is an extreme pleasure seeker. Satou’s Aunt’s concept of love is very twisted and extreme. She pursues love through means of physical pleasure. This has lead to her becoming damaged, both physically and mentally. Satou’s Aunt’s pursuit of pleasure transcends any sort of common sense. She seeks physical love despite any cost, happily accepting beatings from random men.

Because of Satou’s upbringing she didn’t have a good understanding of love. Satou ended up spending a lot of time engaging in sexual relationships with men however she did not derive pleasure from these relationships. The relationships were very shallow and focused in physical pleasure only, this did not satisfy Satou’s deep rooted emotional needs. Satou tolerated these shallow sexual relationships because they offered her a place to spend the night at a time when she was trying to escape her Aunt’s putrid apartment. Satou was alone in the world and had to use her own wits to survive.

Unlike Satou, Shio could not survive on her own. Shio is an innocent cute young girl who is filled with boundless energy and a childlike optimism that is cheerful and inspiring. Despite all that, she was treated terribly by her mother. Shio’s Mother was heavily abused and the trauma from the abuse lead to her becoming extremely paranoid and eventually hostile towards Shio. She ended up abandoning Shio on the street, running away her responsibilities as a mother, leaving Shio alone to suffer.

On the night that Shio was abandoned she ended up being found by Satou. Satou took her in. Shio’s presence had a calming effect on Satou. Satou was experiencing a happiness like she never had before. Perhaps she didn’t yet realize that this feeling was love. Satou’s boyfriend at the time had never seen her so emotionally satisfied before. As his extreme jealousy of Shio boiled over, he attempted to strangle her to death. This lead to Satou committing her first murder.

Satou’s first murder was defensive in nature. It wasn’t premeditated, it was simply a spontaneous and necessary action to defend Shio. Unfortunately this murder would lead Satou down an irreversible path, where anything to protect Shio is permitted.

This is the point that the first episode starts at. Our first introduction of Satou and Shio is of them living alone together in secret. Satou goes to school during the day and works in the evening. She puts on a facade to get through the day. Shio stays home alone in their heavily locked apartment. When Satou returns at the end of the evening she is greeted warmly by Shio and they spend the night together. Satou is shown to be completely obsessed with Shio. Every action she takes is for the purposes of protecting her status quo situation with Shio. When other people threaten to interfere with Satou’s lifestyle, whether intentionally or not, she deals with them decisively. She uses various immoral tactics including deception, blackmail, and even murder. These tactics are relatively successful when dealing with isolated incidents. For example in the early episodes we see Satou successfully quashing love confessions, coercing her boss into actually paying her properly, and turning an attempted rapist into her loyal errand boy. Unfortunately these isolated successes don’t prepare her for what’s coming next; a focused effort from Shio’s brother (Asahi) to find Shio.

Asahi’s persistent search for Shio serves as Satou’s biggest threat. From Asahi’s perspective, Shio is a missing child. He searches tirelessly for her. He has a weak disposition and is often ignored, and even beaten, when trying to pass out flyers. Asahi presents the major moral conflict of the show. Is Satou right to be holding the custody of Shio? Through Asahi we see that there are people who care about Shio. It becomes clear that Satou is not in the right for hiding Shio from the rest of the world. Although Satou’s intentions to protect Shio might be good they are having unintended consequences.

Shio in not mentally stable. While Satou is out and about all day, Shio stays alone in their apartment. Shio is shown to have an unclear memory, distorted due to the trauma she faced. Shio is shown drawing an effigy of her mother on a closet wall despite repressing memories of her. Shio’s mental instability is heightened when she is alone.

Shio’s situation touches on some moral conflicts. Shio is clearly better off with Satou than she was with her mother. Satou provides a motherly presence for Shio that her actual mother did not. However Satou isn’t capable of healing all of Shio’s wounds, and there are even some that she doesn’t know about. Is Shio truly better off being with Satou? Would Shio be better off with her brother or some other caring guardian? Is Satou’s protection of Shio a selfless act to protect Shio or a selfish act to satisfy her own needs and desires? These aren’t easy questions to answer and that’s part of what makes them so compelling.

The moral conflicts of Happy Sugar Life are very interesting and they make me want to think. However, thoughtful and difficult moral questions do not make an anime good by themselves. The art of Happy Sugar Life add a lot to the emotional element of the show. Below, I will discuss some of my favourite motifs and symbols that forced me to feel.

One of the main visual motifs and symbols is the jar full of candy. This jar is shown in varying states. Sometimes the jar is full of candy and the characters eat from it. Sometimes the jar is spilled and the candy is absent. The symbolism here is obvious but powerful. The candy represents the positive emotions associated with the concept of a “Happy Sugar Life.” The jar represents the capacity to maintain these positive emotions. It’s important to note that the jar is made of fragile glass. The characters need to put in a concerted effort to maintain the wholeness of their jar. Even if the jar is completely empty and devoid of candy the presence of the jar itself is evidence that the capacity for a “Happy Sugar Life” still remains. Satou has to work to make sure her jar remains intact. She doesn’t want to end up like her Aunt, whose jar is described as being broken, which can help explain her bizarre behaviour and general insanity.

Every night Shio and Satou perform a wedding ceremony. Shio drapes a white bed sheet over Satou’s head as a veil and they recite matrimonial vows. This nightly ritual serves not only as an affirmation of their love for each other but also as an act of purification for Satou, who uses morally questionable tactics to maintain her status quo relationship with Shio on a daily basis.

During a particularly brutal and emotional scene, Satou ends up with scars on the back of her hand. The scars are left as the last attempted resistance of one of Satou’s murder victims. The scars on Satou’s hands serve as a reminder to Satou of the lengths that she has gone to to preserve her secret relationship with Shio. They are simultaneously a reminder of her regrets and of her conviction. The scars reminded me of the “damned spot” that stains the hands of Lady Macbeth. After feeling guilt and regret about her decision to commit murder, Lady Macbeth hallucinates a blood stain on her hands. She cries “Out, damned spot! Out, I say!” as she frantically tries and fails to wash the imaginary blood from her hands. Satou does not react to her hand’s scars in same way as Lady Macbeth but the similarity between the two remains. They both have an uncleanable permanent stain on their hands. One that appeared there due to their own decisions and actions. One that will haunt them for the rest of their lives.

Throughout the entire show the art is underscored by this unsettling and horrifying theme of contrast. When Satou and Shio are alone together the colours are bright and vivid. The presentation seems happy and carefree similar to something from a cute girls slice of life anime. But unlike those cute girls shows, the happy artstyle here is chilling due to the stark contrast with the rest of the show. The rest of the show has a very drab artstyle which is a lot more in line with the darker and more morbid themes of the show. This contrast between happy and carefree with drab and morbid is what makes the show horrifying for me. This contrast makes everything unsettling. The parts that are happy and carefree feel like they are on an island, surrounded by violent waves of morbidity. The happy parts feel like they don’t belong and they feel like they could be swallowed up by the ocean of morbidity at any time. The characters act in ways that corroborate this theme which helps to enhance its effect. Satou is cold and calculating when she is in the outside world but when she is alone in her apartment with Shio she is warm and loving and kind. A lot of Satou’s actions can be viewed as her protecting Shio from the cruel outside world.

Overall I think the art direction does a great job at complimenting the themes of the story. The symbols and motifs are quite potent and the general tone and style of the art helps accentuate dark themes and makes dramatic moments more impactful. The actual themes themselves delve into deep moral questions. The moral questions are not forced down the audience’s throat but rather they present themselves naturally through the interesting and compelling actions of the characters and the conflicts they have with each other.

Happy Sugar Life had an interesting effect on me. While individual actions by Satou are pretty clearly objectively reprehensible I still end up with this feeling like she isn’t wrong. This conflict between my thoughts and my feelings is at the core of why I like this show. This show took a character who does bad things for an arguably unjustifiable motive and it made me like her. Satou is damaged and flawed and I really think that I shouldn’t support her but I can’t help it. Her fight just feels right to me because she is fighting for love. So while “all’s fair in love and war” can be picked apart with logical arguments, it still just feels right. Maybe not everything is fair in the pursuit or defence of love but in Satou’s case I feel like she is good. And if I’ve learned anything from this show, it’s that good things are worth fighting for.