In a year that saw a new installment in the WIXOSS series as well as Mahou Shoujo Site, the title of “Most Messed Up Yuri Anime” has to go to Happy Sugar Life. The concept alone will turn some people off, and I would have been one of those people, if I didn’t have to review it. 😛
Synopsis: This is a shivering pure love psycho horror story of a girl named Satou Matsuzaka, who has someone she likes. She experiences a sweet feeling when she sleeps with her, and thought it must be love. Everything will be forgiven as long as she protects this feeling, even if she tricks, commits crimes, steals, or even kills, she thought.
Okay, I’m not going to beat around the bush. I hate the story, and I hate the characters in Happy Sugar Life. Almost every single one. But let’s start things off by talking about the messed up story.
At it’s core, this story centers around the “love” between a teenage girl… and a small child. When I say “small child”, I mean a child most likely between five and seven years old. Yeah, this is some messed up stuff. Although the relationship between Satou and Shio is somewhat handled in a rather wholesome way (or at least as wholesome as possible, given the situation), it’s still completely inappropriate, and I hated how this anime seemed to romanticize the situation. No matter how much this anime tries to sugarcoat and spin it, pedophilia is at the heart of the story, and that’s just not okay.
Strange as it may sound, I’m more or less okay with the murdering and the different forms of abuse exhibited in this show, but to me, it’s a whole different story when kids are involved. As far as I’m concerned, kids are an off-limits topic, though, wrong as it may be, that adds to the morbid curiousity that gets you interested in this show in the first place. You have this unhealthy relationship, and then you have all these deranged characters that further add to the madness. It’s like a horrific traffic accident that you can’t look away from…
The show really dials up the crazy, to the point that it’s almost comical and totally unrealistic. In a way, that kind of lessened the show’s appeal for me, but on the other hand, all that exaggerated chaos does contribute a lot to the overall entertainment factor of the show, so I guess there’s a method to the madness. There’s a good amount of suspense throughout the season, and the show takes some time to delve into the backstories of the most important characters, which definitely helps answer the question as to why so many of them are so messed up.
It’s almost like there’s a contest going on to see who is the most unstable character, and Satou’s kidnapping of Shio attracts all of those characters to her. The lengths that she goes to in order to protect her “happy sugar life” include a laundry list of crimes and questionable decisions, and the story plays out pretty much how you’d expect it to. People die, people get manipulated, and it all leads back to Satou.
Although they both share some similarities, the biggest difference between Happy Sugar Life and Uchi no Maid ga Uzasugiru! is simply that Happy Sugar Life takes its subject matter seriously, while Uchi no Maid doesn’t in the slightest. That’s why, while still kind of sketchy, I’m okay with one and not the other.
Also, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention how, in an earlier episode, Shio doesn’t even realize that she has to plug in the vacuum cleaner in order to use it, but in the final episode, she refuses to go with her brother and says she’s going to “live for myself”. I’m not even totally sure that Shio can read (it’s not like she’s going to school), so her saying something like that is but one of the things that makes me roll my eyes. As for the ending, I wouldn’t have been happy with anything other than Satou (and a few others) being arrested, so needless to say, I’m pretty unhappy with how things concluded. Yes, arrests were made, but Satou got a grand send-off and comes out looking like a martyr who died for her “love”. And through some sort of miracle, tiny Shio somehow survived the jump, and she’s sure to be even more psychologically messed up as a result of all the trauma she endured…
So the creepy relationship between Satou and Shio is sure to be what people talk about most regarding this anime, yet the story still comes across as a disturbing look into the psyche of a twisted girl, and even though the storytelling is rather pedestrian, there’s a pretty good chance that fans of dark subject matter will still enjoy it.
As much as I hated the story and characters, I do have to admit that this anime has some characters that are pretty interesting, and you can’t say that about every anime.
Right down to the pink hair, Satou reminded me a lot of another of the all-time greatest yanderes, Yuno from Mirai Nikki. Just like Yuno, Satou is as psychopathic as they come, yet, when you see her with Shio, her personality does a complete 180, and that juxtaposition only makes her seem more frightening. Sometimes bitter, sometimes sweet, I’d imagine that her violent outbursts would be the reason that many people watched this show, and that seems like as good a reason as any.
There isn’t a whole lot to say about Shio, other than she’s really cute. Still, the relationship between her and Satou is very unsettling. When yuri fans say they want to see more yuri in anime, I don’t think they have something like this in mind. While their relationship isn’t portrayed in a sexual manner (thank God!), Satou and Shio do kiss at one point and share a little faux wedding ceremony, but seeing them in scenes like this just makes me feel icky, and I know I can’t be the only one.
Of course, there are several other unhinged characters in Happy Sugar Life. Daichi is Satou’s shady teacher, and he fits right in with this shitshow, since he’s a grade A scumbag. I don’t even want to talk more about him, so let’s bring up Mitsuboshi, who’s a slightly less scummy character, but after being the victim of a sexual assault at the hands of his boss, he develops a creepy fascination with Shio, who he claims “purifies” him. Yikes…
For all of the crazy characters, there are a couple that seem decidedly less crazy, and I’m talking about Asahi and Shouko. Asahi is Shio’s older brother that spends most of the season searching for her, and despite the physical abuse he suffered from his now deceased father, he actually turned out to be a decent human being, which is more than what many of the other characters can say. As for Shouko, she’s Satou’s best friend and coworker. Her role is limited—and like Asahi—she isn’t terribly compelling herself, but at least she doesn’t add to the already staggering amount of crazy.
And you can’t say crazy without mentioning Satou’s aunt. With both of her parents gone, it’s no surprise where Satou got her crazy from, and even though she doesn’t say or do much, I think Satou’s aunt is probably the most memorable character in the show, besides Satou herself.
All in all, I thought that most of these characters were REALLY unlikable as people, but simply as characters, they weren’t all that bad. That said, I think Satou absolutely carries the cast, and without her, this would be a far less compelling cast and anime. As for the yuri relationship, I don’t really have a problem with age gap romances, but you have to draw the line somewhere, and for me, this show crossed that line and just kept going.
Moving on to the production values, neither the animation nor the sound are very impressive, and seeing that this is the very first effort from Ezόla (the production studio), it’s not really a surprise. Across the board, the visuals are slightly below today’s standards, but I thought that the music did a halfway decent job of selling the creepiness of it all. I don’t think it stood out all that much, nor is it incredibly memorable, yet it could’ve been worse. And that OP is pretty nice.
It’s also nice to hear my favorite voice actress—HanaKana—once again ditch her trademark cutesy style in favor of something more mature. To me, she was one of the bright spots of this anime, and the performances of several of the other voice actors/actresses were also pretty nice. Given the touchy nature of the story, I doubt many people really care if it looks or sounds good, which is a good thing, since it all comes across as mediocre.
Even though I just can’t condone the theme of the story, Happy Sugar Life is still a morbidly entertaining psychological horror anime that I think is a good example of a guilty pleasure. It’s neither good nor bad, yet it is pretty entertaining, despite the disconcerting nature of the main relationship.
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Honestly, I wasn’t into this at all. Even after reading a little of the manga, I just dropped it. I was surprised that it got turned into an anime in the first place. Why? And yeah, I spoiled myself just because my curiosity got the best of me: Satou dies in the end. She and Shio won’t get together in the end. No happy ending at all. It’s all pointless.
Sorry for the negativity, but that’s my take on this series. Most of them are psychos to say the least especially Satou’s aunt. She’s WAY more creepy than Satou.
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I can’t blame you for dropping the manga. As I was watching this, for almost every episode, I just wanted it to be over already. 😛
And now that it’s over, I can completely forget about it! Sorry not sorry about my negativity. 😛
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Oof. Another gay pedophile. Well, based on other people’s reactions it seemed to do its job as a horror, but I’d rather watch the Bloom Into You anime.
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And that’s a much better decision. Trust me… 😛
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Ditto on Bloom into you, though I already did and hoping there is a season 2. Read this review because of the mentions in the Wataten review, and yikes, way to make Uza Maid look better.
Btw sweet username.
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I thought it was going to be horrific, dark and creepy. Nah. Sure there’s dark elements, but they’re all enveloped in the nonsensical characters and story. How did Satou ever think her and Shio would be able to live a happy life abroad? Jobs?Money?House?Documents? For such a calculating person, she sure lived in a world of fairy tales.
The fact that anyone could’ve taken their romance seriously is disturbing. Shio, even if Satou hadn’t died, would’ve ended up in a messy ass life. I kept imagining, once she grows up, would she really want to live with Satou?
Also, how Mitsuboshi was conveniently attracted to Shio made no sense. He gets abused, sees a leaflet and bam! Obsession at first sight? Nothing made sense.
Lastly, every episode tended to be repetitive. Satou saying “bitter, bitter” or “sweet, she’s so sweet” for around a minute per episode was unnecessary. I gave this series 4/10.
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I think I probably would’ve liked it more had it been darker, but given how Satou could go from one extreme to another, she comes as even more unstable and delusional.
But it’s not like Shio’s life hadn’t already been pretty messy. The same could obviously be said of Satou, and I don’t think it’s too much of a stretch to envision Shio ending up kind of like the aunt, just accepting of all the trauma and negativity.
Yeah, it’s like that was just thrown in to make the entire situation even more messed up. I’m almost surprised the boss didn’t come back and play a bigger part in all the chaos. Same goes for Shio’s and Asahi’s mom.
And I can understand giving a score that low. The show has a decent score on MyAnimeList, but I guess people love a good trainwreck. 😛
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Like I said in a previous post, this anime feels like you rented the BluRay box set of K-on! or Lucky Star, but some sadist changed the actual discs out for School Days… I’m glad I watched it, in the same way you can’t not watch the slow motion replay of a laboratory car crash test. Like the said crash test, I’m not in any rush to see it again.
A good review of a difficult anime, Jamesy! I didn’t realise that this was the first attempt of this animation studio! A bold choice, and probably a pretty good way to make a splash.
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That’s a good point actually. Maybe not the best anime out there, but I can’t deny it gave the studio a solid fanbase for their next project. I wonder if they’ll keep working on series with the same tone as Happy Sugar Life. It would be nice to see them doing something different for sure.
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It’s almost like they set the bar really low, at least in terms of good taste, so whatever they do next will seem like a huge upgrade. 😀
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Arigato~
On MAL, this show had the 12th most members of all the shows from last season. Even though that’s not necessarily indicative of popularity or sales,
senpaispeople noticed them. 😛LikeLiked by 1 person
This review pretty much covers my thoughts. I was not into the relationship even from the concept. I gave the show a try anyway and I actually enjoyed the first few episodes because it was focusing far more heavily on Satou and her damage than anything else. But then they decided that every single person involved in the show had to be Crazy and the show lost any steam it had. The show just didn’t have the grounding or normalcy needed to anchor the Crazy and without any desire to see the relationship through I ended up dropping it.
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True. They just overdid it, and the show kind of became a joke because of it. 😛
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It’s rare to see you hate on something this much 😛
Don’t get me wrong though, I agree on everything said. You know why I was happy you covered this…. and finished watching it… *cough* 😛
As a side not, I knew that HanaKana would at least help you enjoy it a little 😛
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You know I don’t mind reviewing things I know I won’t like. The rants in those reviews are like stress relievers. 😛
And you know me so well~~~
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I read a few chapters of the manga, then gave the anime like 4 eps or so. Then dropped it. I’m not into their relationship, the whole “ooh everyone is messed up and people are so dark” got boring pretty fast. And I’m so frickin’ tired of the fetishizing children trend (If you can even call it a “trend”, it’s so ingrained into anime)
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I’m still surprised it managed to get an anime adaptation in the first place…
Like, what person in a position of power finishes reading a volume, closes it, thinks to themselves for a minute, then says “Yup. That’s a manga I wanna make into an anime!”???
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It’s definitely a trend now. Since Sugar Life, I’ve seen 2 or 3 other anime series featuring an adult woman in love with a literal child. What disappoints me the most is that they carry the ‘shoujo ai’ tag. Can we please have more shoujo ai series with ADULTS? I don’t want my girls’ love to involve kids. Ew.
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Well said, and I couldn’t agree more~
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Not for everyone. That is all.
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Very true.
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Um this is an unpopular opinion considering this review and everyone comments to it.But I might be only one who actually like Yuri relationship with Satou and Shio > _ ////<.
Heck I even like their kiss on the lips .
Even if that’s relationship is wrong,it’s pretty much the only reason why I watch it.
I do hope Satou doesn’t have sexual interaction to Shio aside the kiss until she’s older though probably.
Maybe it just me since I do found lolis cute and I like yuri ,I can’t call this relationship gross and I actually do want Satou and Shio to be together and I even like their love better than many other anime couples.
Sorry though 😣
I don’t really like the show and again I don’t support pedohilla relationship in real life. I guess seeing a yuri relationship age difference of high school student and loli ,it’s cute to me.
I know this review is almost a year ago
But sorry about my liking to their relationship.
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Hey, everyone! I found someone who liked them together! Get him!
Just joking. 😛
Even though I didn’t like it or agree with it, it still could have been worse, and at least Satou does actually care about Shio…
I don’t really have a problem with age gap, it’s just that the younger the character is, the more it feels like it’s predatory. If it’s a middle-aged adult with a teenager, at least the teenager should be somewhat knowledgeable about some things (like simply what’s right and wrong). A little kid doesn’t know any better, so it just doesn’t feel right to me.
I’m all for cuteness, but kisses and making the situation romantic just isn’t my cup of tea.
And no need to apologize for what you like. 😛
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Sorry for late reply
But thanks ^ ^
Although I’m kinda hypocritical on this too,like if Happy Sugar Life is a yaoi one like high school boy and little underage boy instead ,I’ll be like Eww. Though maybe because I’m not yaoi fan and yuri fan who’s also a loli fan.
Plus probably I like feminine more,Two people wearing cute uniform and skirt. .Still I should feel bit guilty liking their relationship. Just seeing Satou and Shio like them makes me blush a lot in joy.just seeing this type of relationship is rare.i even want (sorry for this)a naughty of that type of relationship. I remember in reddit ,someone say Satou could have taken advantage of Shio and it’ll turn into a yuri lolicon hentai which it thankfully it didn’t (although I kinda want that). Of course I don’t want those stuff with an underage loli like Shio 😳
Since they do prefer pure things instead.Although I don’t mind if they kiss each other on lips . Like Satou
I could imagine their lives together spending,even both Wearing actual wedding dress. Sorry I’m getting off track
I guess these type of yuri relationship excite me a lot. I know I could just watch Wataten since that’s more fluffy show than Happy Sugar life.Though Wataten is like moe anime than a yuri anime and I like Satou and Ship relationship since more intimate.
Really feel very guilty to like yuri love of high school girl and little girl but I enjoy it a lot. I think I just got used of seeing like adult x adult or same age girls together,even loli with loli(Illya XD)
This love story is really guilty pleasure XD but I guess it’s my opinion and I like it a lot. Also ironically Satou and Shio doesn’t even have lewd pics together while Wataten have multiple doujin and again that one is more fluffy anime .
I get everyone feeling and why they might like this type of relationship even if it’s yuri.
At least Satou did have a hot yuri kiss with a girl ^ ^ although for me I prefer her wedding kiss
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I loved this anime and i think it’s really misunderstood, everyone dismiss it as pedobait but by the end all i saw was a relationship between a mother and her child, and by god after reading comment after comment i went into the anime expecting, and wanting, for it not to be this way (don’t judge me).
I see were people are coming from though, through the series their relationship is painted as if Satou was in love with Shio and it’s only at the very last moments where she realizes her love for Shio isn’t that of lovers that’s why she sacrifices herself with a smile on her face to save her from death. And i think this development didn’t feel forced to try and redeem Satou, if you think back at all their displays of affection they can be taken as ambiguous, i mean it isn’t like Satou was foreign to the concept of sex as a form of love yet at no point you see lust from her towards Shio in any of their interactions.
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I can kind of see where you’re coming from. I can’t say I fully agree with it all, but it’s nice that a show like this is driving conversation. We need more shows that do that!
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