Happy!

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

Story:

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

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

Art:

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

Character:

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

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

Enjoyment:

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

Overall:

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

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

Happy! is an interesting sports manga that tells the story of a resourceful girl who tries to become a professional in tennis to pay off her brother's massive debts.

Before reading any further, I must warn readers that I am not particularly fond of sports manga, and given the choice, I will almost certainly choose just about any other genre. Thus, I don't have too much experience in grading such manga. As such, my grades are subjective to my current tastes.

I like the plot, but I have given it a score of 7. This is a very subjective grading system. To many other people, this ... manga would probably score a lot higher in this section. But I was just completely frustrated with the plot. Don't even try to marathon this - you will just end up tearing your hair out while screaming at your computer screen. I like the twists, and to a certain extent, I like where the manga is headed. But it is simply a pain to see a good girl like Umino being plagued by endless torrents of misfortune. Hence, the lowered grade.

I liked the art and I have given it a 9. Most of the characters are very well drawn and they fit their personalities - sometimes too much so. The sickening smiles on most of Umino's enemies, in particular Ryugasaki, is certainly a giveaway of their true nature. In some respect, this actually enhances the aforementioned feeling of frustration I feel when reading this manga.

I have given a 6 for the characters. This is the lowest in any section I have graded for this manga. This is because with the sole exception of a handful of characters, the rest are a pile of cliche in bodies that only show these qualities. The most interesting character in my opinion, was Keiichiro. He would generally be considered a pathetic being or a man without a spine - indeed barely a man at all. However, we soon get flashbacks regarding his upbringing which can explain this character of his and the reader is invited to continue his character development in their minds as he inevitably develops some will of his own to stand for himself. Another interesting character is the MC among the Yakuza. He's just awesome. I think the two men complement each other very well by filling in the gaps in their judgement. The rest of the characters are extremely stereotypical and frankly, one begins to hate them for simply being in the way. Of course, Kaku is not included here, but I am yet to make up my mind about Kaku.

For enjoyment, I have rated this manga a 7. This is certainly not a manga that is hard to enjoy. Frankly, I felt absorbed and wanted to continue reading. At the end of each chapter, the next would beckon with great force, such that soon I was flying across chapters. However, at the end of a long period of reading, I have just become fed up with the endless amount of suffering one person has to go through. I just wish this were a romance manga instead and that Umino would just find a good man who could support her through her tribulations.

Overall, I have graded this manga an 7. It is certainly worth a read if you are interested in the sports manga gene and wish to have your heartstrings strummed by the misfortunes of a high school girl who has to live in a virtual hell. Otherwise, I would recommend giving the first few chapters a whirl anyway. It might stick on you. However, if you find it hard to read through the first major competition in the manga, consider dropping it, as the pacing and the plot structure remains quite similar for a while.

Happy! is a manga series about never giving up, no matter how unfair things may become or however many ridiculously tough challenges appear before you. It's about continuously trying your hardest in order to force things to go well for you. If you're looking for a series like that or a series with an extremely hate-able female antagonist then you should definitely check this out. A full cast of intricately explored characters and interesting plot developments around every corner really makes this story hard to put down.

Happy! is set in a deranged world where Japanese Idol culture has somehow been mixed in with professional ... women's tennis. Despite how realistic everything else is, this one point manages to drag the whole series down on it's own. The hate from certain crowds and the support behind tennis players worldwide as if they were Japanese idols and terms such as "The World's Idol" that are used to describe certain girls in this series show a severe lack of understanding of the world outside Japan.

I don't want to be too critical of Naoki Urasawa here because this manga is definitely enjoyable for the most part, on top of that it was being serialized weekly at the same time as arguably his most popular series Monster. So how much he really cared for this series overall I'm not sure. This manga actually succeeds magnificently as an eventful drama. However considering how the theme of Tennis was handled in such an amateur fashion I can't give this series more than a 7.

Slight Spoiler warning for the remainder of the review!
The series started so strongly but towards the end things became very repetitive. Not in any kind of small way either. Most of the final matches followed the exact same formula of losing each match massively at first due to some current issue followed by the protagonist turning things around in the next Sets once she overcomes her troubles. Because of this towards the end I became a little bored and I'm certain that sentiment would be shared by most who have read this series. Anyhow I've given you the negatives and positives of this series; if anything in the first paragraph spoke to you then you'll definitely get something out of this series. Furthermore if you're a fan of Naoki Urasawa's style I'm sure you'll get plenty of enjoyment out of Happy!

A wholesome mamga i love monster, 20 century boys and pluto that’s why i read this Urasawa manga its a very good slice of life tenis manga, its not memorable but its ok, the problem for me its the lenght its very long 254 chapters, overall good, i don’t have anything more to say, i almost forgot i hste choko she is annoying, and ghe rest of characters are ok and funny sometimes expecially the debt collector he is my favorite character of this series, and the madam i didn’t like her either, so tes just great and im glad i read this

Happy! is an ironic name for this manga as there isn't really anything happy about this manga at all. Happy! is a story of beating the odds and taking everything to home through tennis. In this story, you will meet everyone trying to screw over Umino, but she always proves everyone wrong as she overcomes any impossible hurdle placed on her by her enemies. You will end up rooting for her because of her unhappy circumstances and how she overcomes these issues as well as how useless some of her companions are.

Naoki Urasawa is a pretty sneaky writer, the more you read Happy! the more ... you realize tennis is just a plot device for him to insert the psychological elements which he is most known for. If you are thinking Happy! will have a lot of technical shounen-esque tennis content, you are reading the wrong manga. A lot of Happy! is about dealing with human relationships. I would say this writing strategy becomes very repetitive as almost every arc is about Umino's enemy setting her up to get the reader's blood boiling because Umino seems to be always oblivious about it.

Now for the characters, besides Sakurada, it seems like all the antagonists in this manga are heartless and one-dimensional. They all have the same mindset that they think Umino is a fake, got lucky in al her wins, and they all want to ruin her life. The same could also be said for Umino's rivals with a few exceptions. Oh and as far as the sport rivalry dynamic is concerned, there is very very very little if any. It is really about Umino overcoming life hurdles thrown at her, so there isn't gonna be any training camps or that rubbish you see in every shounen manga.

The art is pretty good, very easy to interpret the panels and very easy to tell which character is an antagonist and who isn't. The games are also drawn really well, no flashy crazy name techinques or exaggerated movements. Just simple run back and forth and different strikes.

I would have to say the only thing I did not like about Happy! is the ending, it felt like there should've been more to say and I didn't like the result of the last game, it felt very forced.

Can Umino Miyuki get HAPPY? Probably not. I began reading without any context as my first Urusawa work. I saw a YT video thumbnail saying it was his "Most Depressing" work, and decided to read it on a whim to surprise myself. It's hard for me to say that this manga was really "good" or "bad" because it's both incredibly frustrating but also fairly rewarding. The story starts off with an interesting premise, and immediately heaps misfortune upon the main character, Umino Miyuki. Almost everything she tries (with the exception of plot points required for the story to progress) goes wrong, and in almost every ... case, it's out of her control. This is the formula for the entire 254 chapter manga.

However, this constant misfortune is an excellent plot driver, as Umino must dig in her heels more and more to press beyond the struggle between her and her goals. However, after about 70 chapters, I will admit that I was more upset with the manga than anything else. But because you get so upset at everything going wrong, when things eventually go right, it feels like a much greater payoff. However, the ratio of negative-to-positive is around 60-40, with more frustration than payout, especially in the middle. I don't know if I should think it's brilliant or just dumb to write in a style that punishes the reader for liking the characters, all with the intent of making the rewards seem bigger. It's a really weird development style, and I would compare it to "Stockholm syndrome," a condition where a victim develops sympathy or emotional attachment to the person who harmed them or kept them captive over time (I was kept captive by the story, too).

In terms of the ending, this manga has one of those "one chapter" endings. Yay, everyone can be "HAPPY!" Except for the reader. Well... Maybe not. At the end, the story still seemed unresolved in a few places. What were Sabrina Nicolic's (the undisputed champion of women's tennis) true motives for playing tennis? Was she HAPPY with her tennis? What about Hina and Thunder Ushiyama? Were they able to get HAPPY? diD uMInO mIYUkI gET HApPy!? A lot of the characters were developed well, but at the end were unfortunately forgotten about (this may have been purposely). In this case, I don't believe one chapter was enough to round-off the story and make up for the parts that made the manga really frustrating to read.

It's well-written, and I must admit it was hard to put down, but also felt like a constant grind to get through. Pretty much anything bad that can happen will happen in this manga, in a Oliver Twist sort of way. Misunderstandings and heartless villains without a shred of humanity trying to either use or destroy Umino are stacked against her. And how heartless the villains are! But she continues to fight! She must! For the sake of her family. For the sake of her brothers and sisters. No one else can do it; she's the only one! And because she is the only one, a lot can (and does) go wrong for her her and everyone who is sympathetic to her cause. The main problem I have with this is that it's a very one-dimensional writing approach. The villains are evil, and the main character is pure. We have extremely defined "good" and "bad" roles. Her friends REALLY want to help her (but they can't)! The characters are treated too much like characters, and not enough like people, if that makes sense. And I'm over here wondering, "Why is the villain evil? Does she even think she's a good person?" Most people IRL, no matter how evil, think in some they way they are a good person. This isn't a complex work. It's a simple sports story that follows all the main tenets of a simple sports story. So is it bad? No. But is it good? Depends on how much you can tolerate Umino vs. the world. In terms of pure enjoyment, it was... eh. When you write a story that really leads the reader on, it's all about suspending their disbelief, like "wow, this could happen." This manga does that pretty well, but it gets to a point where it's like, "This again? Oh, another bad thing is gonna happen. Oh! There it is." For this reason, I don't say Happy! is written "poorly" but I don't think it's written as well as it could be.

I actually don't like Urusawa's art, and this was compounded by the fact that the villains look SO annoying. You'd hate them even without knowing how disgusting they act. But I should praise Urusawa for making such despicable villains. As expected of the creator of the highly-acclaimed "Monster." Despite my opinions, the manga is well-drawn (objectively). The action is easy to follow, the paneling is pretty much never confusing, and there aren't too many really annoying two-page giant scenes that are hard to parse. Urusawa is incredibly good at conveying emotions through his art, and the dynamic flow of the action is decent.

Overall, I don't think this is a "bad" read, or it's terrible or anything, but if you decide to read it, you should know what you're going to get. It's emotionally unforgiving with a fairly one-dimensional plot and characters, but if you can get past that, it's a decent story about grit and dedication to a cause, and how passion, virtue, and hard work are all rewarded in the end.

Read this after you read the manga, it may contain SPOILERS.

Well, i start this review telling that Urasawa is one of my fav mangakas, Billy bat and 20th are in my fav artists ever, but, reading Happy! i felt some problems.

In the beginning there were some few unfortunate moments, the problem is that chapter after chapters these unfortunate situations always repeat, literally the same situations. I get the message is to be happy even if the world crush you no matter what, but this was maybe a bit too much and unrealistic.

Chouko make the usual "joke" -> Everyone becomes stupid and believe her
-> Miyuki ... win -> Booed -> some tragic situation -> REPEAT

I really was giving 7, but the ending is just so... happy that i almost cried. Maybe after all these repetitive bad moments, seeing everyone, audience and enemis and literally the Japan cheering for Miyuki made me feel even better for her. Or seeing Sabrina help her rise while everyone cheering them putting the cardigan on her shoulder, i waited 254 chapter to see some happines in this story. So i gave it 8. I didn't feel this plot problem in the successive works. And Urasawa made Happy! along with Monster, so maybe he was more focussed on this, who knows.

I've never had hard time like this judging something, it's just that it has very high moments, and very low and unbearable moments, just like literally the 150.000 time that the reader see Chouko plotting the same bad deed for Miyuki sat in a table with someone. Or, when literally Miyuki went around the world and everyone still deny her talent and skills, and hardly know who she was, come on.
So stressful, weak and unrealistic.

Crticisms aside, i'm happy that Sabrina returned after the loss, and that Miyuki still play, probably in the last pages Urasawa told us that the next match was the next month, cause the time being she recovered her leg. It's just weird that the Wimbedon champion, now free of debts, still live in that place, well i guess she's very humble after all. I think she'll return in the pro tennis more carefreely and one championship at a time because of her last injury. We don't know how the relationship between her and Madam Otohri and her son is, but according to the last chapters, i assume that the madame took her as a player and in the future she'll be happy with her son. I'm not sure about Thunder, i hope he's happy too, becoming a legal coach. Or, maybe he's retired. After all, his dream was to dethrone Sabrina, who knows.