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 mangaka's track record for non-commercial weirdness. I guess if there's a lesson to be learned it's this: selling out may lead to large amounts of cash, women and fame, but you're gonna get a lukewarm internet review from an unemployed thirty year old who still reads comic books, and to win him back you'll have to write incest-horror (see the excellent Chi no Wadachi).

A final note: the art is fantastic. Just look at that cover. There's also quite a bit of Van Gogh and Edvard Munch inspired panels scattered throughout. Alas, the rest of the material is not nearly up to the art's high standard; you're probably better off doing a google image search for the best bits and skipping the rest.

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The manga is now complete, and well, it was kinda rushed in the last couple of chapters :(

Happiness is a horror manga, tackles the subject of vampires and psychological in a master way. Initially in a school setting the characters are realistic, they act like normal students in front of the dangers and have their own personalities, wills, ways of acting, without being cliché.

The story follows Okazaki, a young man who accidentally turns into a vampire, a shower of tragedy falls in this manga in almost every chapter, with cliff hangers taking your breath away and making you marathon several chapters in a row without even wanting to. Read at your own risk, all the characters who enter the story are ready for a terrible end.

Art is an incredible extra point, it is unique, sinister, it is totally adequate for the climate of this narrative. Do not believe? Go back to this review when Okazaki the vampire look at the night sky. The author is the same as Aku in Hana, Chi in Wadachi and other artistically incredible works with high psychological content.

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