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
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 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: #35712 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #203
Members: 79,093
Favorites: 1,558 Available AtResources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 39 / 39
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Apr 28, 2016
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 ... 
Jun 24, 2019
Happiness was what i would consider the pinnacle of good manga. It had a story that was short,sweet, and most of all pack with content. Each chapter asked as many questions as it answered and left me with a vague sense of wonder. To put it simply, it was an incredible experience.
Warning: very minor spoilers Story 7/10 : I felt that the story was quite short featuring few real conflicts. However, it was great seeing the world develop as you slowly see the world become affected by the main character. You see the world shift due to their actions and how the world bites (heh) back. ... 
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 ... 
May 18, 2016
This a fairly new manga, and at the time of reviewing, it is only 16 chapters in.
Warning: there may be slight general setting spoilers for the first 16 chapters. If this manga keeps going on its current path, it could be a truly great piece of work, one that I have waiting for years to finally happen. The setup is extremely promising, and has my extremely excited to see where it goes. I'm going to start by saying that this seems to be rather shallowly tagged and summarized. It's about as Shounen as Ajin and Tokyo Ghoul are, which is to say, not at all. They are ... 
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 ... 
Oct 23, 2016
This is a review counting 21 Chapters.
Warning, minor profanity included. I have read Aku no Hana and I remember being entranced by the story like it haunted me in a way. It had a captivating drive that I could not understand. With Happiness, it's less, but that captivating essence is still there. There is no central plot or story. There is no final goal, there is no happy ending. This is a story where different characters collide and shit goes to hell. There is no good or evil, there is no 'hero' and there is no 'villain'. There is no superhero. Everyone just lives theirs lives as like anyone ... 
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
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Apr 4, 2023
This is what Tokyo Ghoul should be, but never tried.
When I say this affirmation, I'm stating that Tokyo Ghoul has narrative lack of concerning by their own script, thing that doesn't happen in Happiness. The manga is well structured in the beginning and shows us a narrative interesting, self centered (which means that other characters or even the protagonist aren't bigger than the story itself) and with good motivation by every character. The only problem is the lack of pace in the final volumes, leading to a rush story but still is a great conclusion, focusing on what should be focused all the time, ... 
Sep 20, 2020
Story doesn't really go anywhere and the character pale in comparison to Shuzo's other works. Replace the psychological drama and horror of his previous and future works with uncomfortable body horror and you already know the extent of what Happiness has to offer. It's really unfortunate cuz some of the art is a real treat. I love how the vampires of this world see the night sky as if it were a Van Gogh. It's their home and thus they find beauty and comfort in it, so it works in tandem with the story as well as looks good. The problem here for me, was
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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 ... 
May 1, 2020
Ok, note that i rarely write reviews. I got this manga recommended afrer reading hitsuji no uta. I did not expect anything good, for two reasons.
1)I had read the authors two previus works, aku no hana and mari. While aku no hana ranked as mediocrite to me, mari ranked better in my opinion. 2)It was a vampire manga. Not that i have anything against the gender, simple i dont consider it the best medium for masterpieces. Alas i was wrong. This manga is a masterpiece. From the characters, to the story, adn at some cases even the drawing. SPOILERS ALERT FROM HERE ON So, lets start from the ... 
Oct 23, 2018
“Don’t ever... Leave me alone... Promise me... Let’s just run man... Let’s go where ever the fucking wind takes us...” -The Bipolar Yuki.
A heads up before I start as you can tell by the first quote this manga is definitely nsfw so be weary about that. Another small note is I do hint at stuff that happens in the manga quite a bit so be cautious. Hapiness isn’t the right term to describe this gore fest. Just like the quote the author of this really did whatever he wanted to make you feel pain or just be disgusted. A better term for this manga is Dispair. ... 
Nov 3, 2017
Here's my take after reading 33 chapters of the psychological vampire drama Happiness by Shuuzou Oshimi.
The story is about the timorous high-schooler Makoto Okazaki who's the favorite target of the school bullies until one fateful day when he was bitten by the "vampire" Nora who uncharacteristically left him to decide his fate; "living" or dying. Nowadays, every media is saturated with vampires and it has already reached a point that people got tired of the concept. However, you should not let that turn you down with Happiness. My first impression on reading this was "It feels similar to Tokyo Ghoul."; however, reading further, Happiness is no ... 
Mar 10, 2024
Another manga finished by Oshimi Shuuzō!!
He is definitely one of my favorite authors, always with different works and all great. I love how he can turn reading into something very enjoyable with the 3-panel layout per page... You float through an extremely captivating, mysterious, and interesting story, and the layout makes this even easier. It's no wonder that I finish most of his works on the same day I start reading them. And this one, even though I didn't finish it in a day, I read very quickly... I always feel sad when I finish a manga by this author because I know I'm getting closer and ...
Dec 9, 2024
If nothing else, this manga was extremely sensible. Usually, when ending a manga, you will think "Yeah, that's a good stopping point", "What the fuck? Where's the rest of it?", or "Yeah you should've ended this 50 chapters ago". This one was an "Oh, okay" ending. Everything in the manga was extremely clear, every action every character took made perfect sense within the context of the motifs of the manga, the small romance subplot made sense, the budding friendship made sense, the motivation of the guru made sense, and the conclusion of the arc with Nora made perfect sense. This series is incredibly well thought
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Nov 21, 2024
This manga had so much potential. The beginning immediately draws you in, but from the midpoint onward, it steadily declines to the point of frustration.
The initial chapters are incredibly compelling, focusing on the main character’s transition from a human to a vampire. The portrayal of his personal struggles and gradual transformation was the heart of the story. The interactions among the main cast were equally captivating, and the romance subplot added depth and emotional resonance. However, a sudden time skip derails the entire narrative. The story shifts focus to an office romance between the main character’s love interest and a new character, sidelining the protagonist entirely. ... 
May 3, 2017
At the time I'm writing this review, I've already read 27 chapters.
Despite being quite generic at the start, this manga isn't like you average "vampire-like creature living amongst humans" shounen. Yes, the protagonist is a shy student not so sociable that turns into a supernatural creature. Probably you've seen this a lot. But this manga drives to something different. It's more about interactions and relations between characters than fighting or gore, like others from the genre. "Happiness" is something that the characters don't have, for they are on fucked up situations. And this is good, since give us a feeling of danger and fear. Anyone can ... 
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 ... |
