Shiawase Kanako no Koroshiya Seikatsu
Happy Kanako's Killer Life

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This is my favorite manga I've read so far. Kanako is relentlessly optimistic, while simultaneously getting stressed out at times. That intense dynamic makes following her story fun because you never know what kind of reaction she's going to have to the situations she finds herself in. Kanako is always making animal related puns when she gets stressed, which is my favorite part about this manga. The premise itself is ridiculous, which I like. Also, Kanako seems unhinged which makes the story more entertaining. Any normal person would be on edge 100% of the time when working as an assassin, but Kanako takes it in ... stride. She even visits her parents at one point, which is too funny. The stoic and aggressive Sakurai creates an interesting dynamic contrasted with Kanako. I'm excited to see where this goes.

Honestly speaking, I think that this manga is kind of okay. I can confidently say that I enjoyed it for a while, as the comedy of having such a friendly, awkward person being in such a deadly profession is pretty good. It's simply, silly and has a lot of puns that can be fun. The problem is that after a while it starts to get a bit boring, which isn't helped with the fact that the plotline gets a bit "meh" when it starts to kick in.

I think it would've been more entertaining if it stuck to just the goofy comedy, or if it chose ... to instead focus on the more serious storyline of trying not to get killed for being a high class assassin, but it's so wishy-washy between the two that neither fully punch anymore after a while. I can definitely understand why people would love this, especially since I greatly enjoyed it for a while, but it also gets a bit...eh...

Happy Kanako's Killer Life is a 4 koma comedic manga about Kanako's whimsical life. But it's really not funny. I guess the appeal is that gap between Kanako's pushover-type personality and her plain appearances against her actual job occupation as a assassin for hire is funny? I don't get it. It's kind of the same exact template each chapter, and the comedy gets extremely stale, since it's the same thing over and over again. Kanako gets annoyed by somebody, tries to kill them or suppresses her urge to, and if the author is feeling a little dangerous, he'll also sprinkle in Kanako being on a ... social scenario, making her extremely anxious. Like I get it, haha, Kanako can't make friends or conversations, but she's an extremely talented killer. It could be funny for five chapters or something.

There's some characters that kind of matter in the story, like Kanako's boss, her coworkers, and maybe even a couple of friends or even love interests, but they're kind if just there to fill the role rather than having an actual personality that gets dug into.

I give credit when credit is due though: the art is very nice. It's one of the best looking 4-koma manga I have ever read. The art is clean, the backgrounds nice, facial expressions vibrant. It's colored, and not like the crappy manwha webtoons either. The animals drawn in with Kanako's puns are a nice addition.

But alas, art does not carry a comedic manga very far if I don't think it's funny.