Happiness' first few volumes are great; Aku no Hana with vampires, what's not to like? Unfortunately, things spiral out of control pretty quickly, as this spooky Let the Right One In-esque romance-horror becomes a Tokyo Ghoul/Ajin wannabe around chapter 15 or so. We're left with 35 chapters of shady government agencies, cultists, a villain straight out of a Dean Koontz bargain bin book, two semi-interesting characters getting sidelined for what feels like forever, one uninteresting character getting mutilated for what feels like forever, and time skips. Lots and lots of time skips.
It's all so...typical. A damn shame considering the manga's early promise and the
...
Alternative TitlesJapanese: ハピネス More titlesInformationType: Manga
Volumes: 10
Chapters: 50
Status: Finished
Published: Feb 9, 2015 to Mar 9, 2019
Genre:
Drama
Demographic:
Shounen
Serialization:
Bessatsu Shounen Magazine Authors:
Oshimi, Shuuzou (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #36302 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #207
Members: 81,414
Favorites: 1,608 Available AtResources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 17 / 41
Sort
Your Feelings Categories Nov 3, 2015
Happiness. Vampires.
Let's start with the plot. This story and MC are not very original at all. Young timid boy in a town where there are monsters (vampires) come out at night and kill people. The boy meets a girl who's not really interested in anyone but him and boom. Turns out she's a vampire But with that said its still entertaining and keeps you on edge (9chaps in the plots score may change with time) Art: the art for this manga is about average, maybe slightly above nothing you haven't seen. Has a realistic touch to it. Character: MC is the typical shy,timid,frail guy. Hasn't been ... Jan 13, 2020
I found the initial premise for Happiness intriguing. It starts out exploring how the humans-turned-vampires cope with their new lives. How they handle this new state (e.g., the thirst for blood), how it affects their relationships with others, and the struggle they face to remain "normal." I was pleasantly surprised to find an absence of overt revenge or power fantasy elements. While this type of story isn't anything novel, I liked the dark, gritty take on the underground lives of vampires.
Approximately halfway through the story takes a turn for the worse. It starts to branch out into different arcs, some of which take the story ... Mar 11, 2019
What we have here is a stylistic version of a trite plotline of monsters vs humans and the questions of good and evil. To me though this is the problem, the story was never interesting enough that there was a payoff. The whole thing was luke warm providing plot points that didn't escalate tensions, there were repeated moments where out comes were just erased in order to preserve certain characters. Miraculous victories for the MC and his group of friends for no reason.
I had this problem with Aku no Hana as well where I felt like the author doesn't understand human emotion, perhaps ... Dec 25, 2022
In case the reader knows or has heard about other manga written by Shuuzou Oshimi, such as "Aku no Hana" or "Chi no Wadachi", it is easy to foresee how the connection between themes and narrative will occur in "Happiness": by using a visceral approach about the psychological processes of the human being and how these internal conditions express themselves and conflict with the external environment, the author intends to argue that the human psyche is an almost instinctive condition, natural and, therefore, uncontrollable to a certain degree. To present his vision on these themes, Shuuzou Oshimi chose to tell a suspenseful horror story about
...
Mar 29, 2021
tl;dr: A good execution of a somewhat interesting though not terribly original concept that completely loses its ways as it goes on.
This manga starts off as pretty standard teen angst plus vampires. That certainly isn’t an original concept, especially if you’re familiar with modern western young adult fiction, but this is the first Japanese take I’ve read on that concept and this was a pretty strong execution which shouldn’t be surprising considering that it’s from the author of Aku no Hana. It was especially good at having characters that were easy to empathize with and get invested in. So how this manga began was quite ... Apr 15, 2021
I'm not fond of reviewing with numbers, but this series is what I would consider a solid 6.
I'm a huge fan of the author's work, and while this manga has his distinct style, it's one of his worst ones. Art: I don't know the context with its creation, but Happiness is nothing special. Its style is very sketchy, different but not special. Nothing follows right perspective or right anatomy, but it doesn't bother much, at least it's consistent. Story and characters: Simple, mildly entertaining but nothing special. The normal "adolescent turning vampire" trope is presented without being corny, although brings nothing new to the table. "Shigahime", another similar manga in ... Dec 2, 2023
Shuuzou Oshimi's allegorical notion of happiness is flimsy, not necessarily the literal implications, but it's crafted as an overview of sinister events that occur, merely lingering in the vicinity of supernatural horror. The manga is somewhat conflicting, as it's difficult to acknowledge what it manages to accomplish and simultaneously ignore the dilution of the aforementioned successful elements, often forcing the reader to lean toward the latter by a constant association between storytelling that gravely strays from the narrative's original direction. The early chapters have structural merit, painting a mildly unsettling picture of careful paranoia. Makoto Okazaki's pushover life takes a startling turn after he's attacked
...
Oct 24, 2022
This manga is a bit of a mixed bag. It starts off very strong--the characters are all done pretty well, the story pretty quickly sets a dark tone and starts building on that. But then around Chapter 20 or so, the story shifts into a different direction and the focus shifts to different characters while starting to fall somewhat into the trap of asking “How can this be as depressing as possible?”. In a longer manga, the second half of this series might just be seen as a weird arc. But considering the shorter length of this series, the shift just seems abrupt, only for
...
Jan 26, 2022
First review I'll be writing, and possibly the last. Happiness: not the best vampire story I've ever read, but not the worst either. Do take this review for granted, since it's been a while since I've finished reading the manga.
The initial premise for Happiness was what caught my eye at first and because it was recommended by a trusted friend, I just couldn't say no. It had a very promising start with relatable characters. The story focuses heavily on the characterisation and human emotions whilst still being able to present what the brutality of vampires look like. Halfway through reading, unfortunately, the story lost its appeal. ... Feb 10, 2020
Happiness is a series written and illustrated by Shuzo Oshimi mainly known as the author of "Aku no Hana". Although Happiness has nor the intrigue nor the "complexity" that impregnates "Aku no Hana" it shares with it some sort of aesthetic and charm.Beware there will be spoilers in my review so read it at your own risk.
Story: The plot is pretty average and sometimes it feels uninspired, Oshimi use a lot of plot devices and at one point i could predict the progress of the storyline,the plot armor that the MC shares with a fair amount of his buddies is hilarious a lot of these ... Jan 10, 2022
straightforward, clear-cut, simple story. and a neat little addition to the vampire genre.
there really isn't a lot to be said. i thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. it's one of those titles that you just can't stop reading; page after page, volume after volume. and a lot of that really is owed to the presentation. you start off with these gorgeous colour pages in most volumes which are then followed by the traditional black and white. although, with a bit of a simplistic artwork which works in favour of the comic. the order of events and the shift in perspective is also pretty ... Jul 20, 2021
Pt/Br: Este mangá é realmente uma coisa difícil de se falar, enquanto traz personagens que são interessantes e que fazem vc sentir um certo contato com eles, peca muito em sua narrativa, a história tem alguns furos e uma falta de foco em alguns assuntos que eu acredito que deveriam estar mais bem explicados e com mais tempo na narrativa. O principal do manga seria a questão de ser um vampiro, ser um vampiro não é muito bem explicado e só conhecemos 2 vampiros que não foram recém transformados (não mostram muito o modo de vida, sociedade e outros que os vampiros teriam), trata muito
...
Mar 3, 2023
This manga was... Alright, I guess.
To cut to the chase: Art was very amazing with the general expression of themes and feelings visually, instead of showing the emotions the characters are going through, we instead get to experience them with abstract, visually pleasing spreads that definitely add to the quality of the manga. Another thing is that this manga seemed to be mostly black and white, you can't really spot too many 'gray' shades that are in most manga. We have a limited third person perspective that explores different characters dealing with problems that arise once the main character becomes a vampire, however there ... Apr 6, 2022
I had this on a reading list for a while and as a big fan of things vampire related, I ended up immediately being interested in this series before it pulled various rugs under my feet and just went in a completely different direction than expected.
I finished this series in under the span of like three hours since I had all volumes at hand, and it really left me wanting something different, more of something else that was going on earlier where we explore a character coming to terms with the fact they are no longer human at all. I had read at the end the ... Jan 9, 2024
So far I read 4 manga from this author. Flowers of evil, Inside Mari, Welcome back Alice and Happiness, being the last one the only one that I didn’t find special in any way.
The usual eeriness that the author depicts is here masked by the inherently horrific theme and physical violence. I see no psychological horror or reflection on the human being. That alone doesn’t make the manga bad in any way, it just doesn’t deliver the same as the other manga I read from the same author. What I think makes it more of a bad than a good product is the abrupt change in ... Mar 13, 2020
This manga was a display of good art but very mediocre story telling. I feel for a manga monthly mag it's good for what it is.The art was very nice to look at but the characters emotions weren't there at all for me.The ending made me happy though even after all that they kinda rest in piece.This my first review on mal, I don't know why but this manga felt right to write my first one.In a overall feel for how I felt during the process of reading this I would say kinda just not really bored, but not fascinated with it either. If you
...
|

