Happy Sugar Life is one of the greatest psychological horror shows anime has to offer. Trauma, lack of mentorship, and the pursuit of love push the characters to perform direly, leading to a beautifully executed tragedy ripe with emotion; and plenty of violence. Plotwise, it's quite intentionally disconcerting, which one could consider "edgy," but, even as characters act in the most obviously morally corrupt manner, the tone comes across as more unsettling than anything. The ending is satisfactory-- Studio Ezόla doesn't hide the plot's tragic tendencies, especially with the opening scene. While true horror is a rarity in anime, more than enough happens
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to categorize this show as such.
This show is best watched blindly, and binged. I imagine it would have been quite frustrating trying to watch this week by week. There was a lot for me to digest watching this so the rest of the review may contain light spoilers. If you're desperate enough to look for horror in the anime department, it's unlikely you'll be disappointed.
As a horror, Happy Sugar Life delivers best in the psychological department. Each episode carries increasing suspense as characters are introduced and begin to interact with one another. Tensions build while the viewer awaits an inevitably violent outcome, served every few episodes. Some scenes also work very well as jump scares, intentional or not. The only gripe with this is, this anime being flagged with a "gore" tag and all, even the most violent scenes seem to lack a gory gut punch.
The plot is slow moving, and utilizes an abundance of flash backs to deliver key character exposition. Slow moving not in a running in place kind of way, or in a K-on fluffy slice of life kind of way, but in a steamroller or trash compactor kind of way. This is where an important mystery aspect of the show comes in to play. The objective of every scene, and one of this show's greatest strengths is that every scene has an objective, is to add a piece to the puzzle of the story for the viewers. Flashbacks, while plentiful, are intensely emotional and answer important "why" questions pertaining to the character's current situations. Some purposefully offer justification for characters' actions, while others purposefully do the opposite.
In general, all of the characters are, by design, flawed beyond repair and ultimately doomed to their tragic fate. There isn't much character growth, some character withering, but for the most part the focus is exposition; simply revealing more details to the viewer. Each character clearly affects others and adds to the attempted justification of Matsuzaka's actions. However a specific character comes to mind; the teacher; that felt like it wasn't used to its full potential. He becomes so vital to not just the plot and suspense of Matsuzaka's secret, but also plays the role of an an important anti-mentor to Matsuzaka herself, that it feels wasteful to suddenly drop him half way through the series, only to suddenly show one more scene of him in the ending as a cameo style "remember this guy?".
By "justification" I'm simply referring to answering the "why" portion of the character's actions, which pertains for the most part to Matsuzaka and the other main children in the story. Since there were very few characters in this series, any actions they take are impactful, both inside and outside the fourth wall.
Themes of love and mentorship, or perhaps more the misrepresentation or lack thereof, are also quite obvious and prominent.
What is love? ......... don't hurt me, no more.
Studio Ezόla weaponizes a fatally cute and somewhat simple art style, at least by today's standards, to accentuate the show's already disturbing tone. The animation is not particularly sophisticated; a lot of still frames and some shotty background CGI are used, but generally it doesn't hurt the viewing experience, especially since there aren't any action scenes. The musical score is quite good, and the opening and ending songs fit well. The creepiness of Matsuzaka is, in my opinion, the greatest part of this anime, the build up of her influences and circumstances to the final ending scene of episode 12 really carries the show's atmosphere. She's not crazy in a Gasai Yuno type of way, she's a monster of unfortunate circumstance and possibly some genetic mental illness.
The less-than-ideal rating, I believe, can understandably be mostly attributed to all of the messed up things that happen, and the intentionally terrible characters. Imaginably it would be difficult for most people to say that they enjoyed the experience of watching this show. The execution is great, so try to immerse yourself in the intent of the direction.
Generally it seems horror shows aren't exceptionally well directed, so to me this one stood out. It's not the gore fest of Another, or the moral desperation elicitation of Shiki, nor does it have the elaborate mystery of Higurashi. Emotionally distressing, uncomfortable, and suspenseful before wiping the floor with an eerie ending that might have come off as bittersweet in another anime.
Aug 15, 2024
Happy Sugar Life
(Anime)
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Happy Sugar Life is one of the greatest psychological horror shows anime has to offer. Trauma, lack of mentorship, and the pursuit of love push the characters to perform direly, leading to a beautifully executed tragedy ripe with emotion; and plenty of violence. Plotwise, it's quite intentionally disconcerting, which one could consider "edgy," but, even as characters act in the most obviously morally corrupt manner, the tone comes across as more unsettling than anything. The ending is satisfactory-- Studio Ezόla doesn't hide the plot's tragic tendencies, especially with the opening scene. While true horror is a rarity in anime, more than enough happens
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Feb 6, 2024
While not exactly a masterpiece, this show is definitely one of the most unique out there. There are plenty of interesting and satisfying twists, and the story flows nicely throughout. I always prefer to start watching a series before getting too deep in the reviews, but here are some spoiler free remarks:
The characters, while the actions some of them partake in are morally questionable, stand out as independently complex within their world, something not all works of fiction manage to accomplish. Although perhaps the characters being "morally questionable" is an understatement. This anime covers some pretty ugly concepts, and the art itself carries plenty of ... |
