hontou ni
25Dec/0613

My unhappiness with はぴねす


It's a trap!

Sadly, Happiness joins the ranks of mediocre eroge-anime conversions giving mecha / action / shounen fundamentalists another bullet to use against us, the bishoujo moderates.

As with many eroge conversions, Happiness is a classic case of squandered character goodness. Despite the inconsistent (often low actually) animation quality, I absolutely loved the character design/art style (Oh I'm sooo smitten with Anri's fantabulous blue-white waitress uniform and Haruhi's kawaii hair-plait) and even deemed it a slight improvement over the game designs (which are a little too chibi-esque for my tastes). I'd have to admit the characters lacked depth but they were nonetheless endearing; Haruhi's to-die-for 3 sizes authencity (soooo refreshing in this age of tsunderes); Koyuki's womanly eccentricity; Sumomo the dependable loli, Anri and her fantabulous blue-white waitress garb (have I mentioned it already?), the sensible yet moelicious Saya (Saya! Be my imouto!). Indeed, with the exception of Ibuki, Happiness's cast brought much delight with their antics and occasional struggles.

But alas, the character setups were betrayed by poor storytelling and pace. My lament deepened with the concluding episodes when I realised the series actually had a decent story to tell. So much time was wasted on character intro eps (all 6 eps of them) and the exasperating "Ibuki-pls-eat-my-bentos" arc. I understand character-specific arcs are important for character development. But, these eps do not significantly add to character mass nor seed elements for the main storythread, insomuch they are almost filler-esque. The series plodded for most than half the season only to have the entire plot dumped on us in ep 10 through one of the most unimaginative storytelling modes, 1 x full marathon session of recounting of the past. I haven't finished Yoakena but from the tidbits I've caught at various blogs, I suspect Cabbage Love has a more driven plot than Happiness.

While there's certainly resolution and the happy fluff that accompanies the finale of generic feel-good series, I came away disappointed, lamenting that another promising cast would fade away into obscurity thanks to its forgettable vehicle.

Sigh, only a waitress-Anri figure can soothe my pain now. Recommended only if you had to choose between this, Lovedol and Yoakena of the Fall season.

Related posts:

  1. Trapped by the Kurogane Doctrine
  2. Jun is my Happiness!

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Comments (13) Trackbacks (0)
  1. deftoned
    December 25th, 2006 - 12:46

    I completely agree about Happiness. The characters, I thought, were absolutely fabulous. And I love their character designs and personalities. At the onset of this season I really looked at Happiness to finally be a refreshing bishoujo series to emerge out of the generic collective. I didn’t expect it to be THE bishoujo series of this season, but I was at least hoping it would leave me satisfied. Through 5 subbed episodes, I’m just not that excited about it anymore. I’ll finish it all up once subs are out, but it just isn’t that engaging now. I’ve kept up on the story through various blogs and I must say I’m disappointed about how the story was told. I agree that there was a lot of potential here (and just looking at the above image of Haruhi, Anri, Koyuki, and Sumomo only accentuate my sentiment), but it never followed through.

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  2. Crusader
    December 25th, 2006 - 14:29

    Perhaps I am a more simple man I did find the cast minus Ibuki endearing enough to actually plod through it though I would probabaly understand a bit more if it were subbed. Since this season is littered with bombs I am more than willing to accept mediocrity than a total disaster. Though I may consign Happiness! to the archive and into obsucrity I am glad that Kamiasaka Haruhi did not disgrace her namesake. I do lament the fact that had this been at least good there would have been a chance for a Jun-centric special. At the very least Haruhi kept her lovely hair style and Jun is still baiting those boys. In general this season was probably one of the more forgetful ones barring Kanon and perhaps Code Geass. At least KyoAni is in the habt of making remakes who knows it may even happen.

    Nonetheless Happy Holidays comrades.

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  3. Hinano
    December 25th, 2006 - 17:40

    NOTHING IS WORSE THAN YOAKE MAE YORI RURIIRONA ~CABBAGE LOVE~
    ?????????????????

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  4. Skane
    December 25th, 2006 - 19:49

    Excluding Kanon, the last ‘Bishoujo’ game->anime conversion that got etched into my memory is Canvas 2. It is by far, one of the guaranteed few that will come to mind when asked about my favourite Bishoujo-game->anime conversions.

    Gift~ nearly made it, but the ending underwhelmed me. Da Capo is memorable… but for negative reasons. I have yet to watch DCSS( due to the overwhelming negativity I have over the first season). Shuffle! is definitely a keeper, even if some lament the ending. Kanon(2002) by Toei was also instrumental in making me believe that you could find powerful storytelling in such a genre.

    Air(TV)… I wonder if you could bunch it into the same category? It seems to be in a class of its’ own.

    Hmm… anything else?

    Cheers.

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  5. Stripey
    December 26th, 2006 - 05:27

    deftoned: Indeed, we of the same heartbeat, even if it’s a bleeding one :’)

    Crusader: Heh, Haruhi was good to the last min. Maybe bishoujo games should stick with their harem roots instead of trying to emulate eroge conversion greats like Kanon/Kiminozo by focusing on the plot instead of harem hijinks. I don’t know, I may have been happier seeing Anri challenge Haruhi romantically and Koyuki stealing Yuuma on the sly with her scrying powers while Sumomo unleash her siscon love…. Now I’m wanting that remake. arrggh!

    Hinano: LOL! Looking on the bright side, Yoakena would surely be bagging at least one award on the yr-end awards on anime blogs.

    Skane: I commend unto you Otome wa boku ni Koishiteru. Discounting Kanon, I think it’s the best game conversion this fall. I have a list of eroge conversions. It’s a bit dated but you may find more gems there :)

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  6. bah!
    December 26th, 2006 - 06:34

    Jun is teh win! and the game CG > anime.

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  7. Zyl
    December 26th, 2006 - 06:54

    I gave up on Happiness! when the Ibuki eps started. Ugh. Needs more Jun.

    And is there really any moderation in your bishoujo fandom when said bishoujos cater to loli-meido-siscon? :P

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  8. Stripey
    December 26th, 2006 - 07:31

    bah!: I thought the game cg’s facial differentiation to be inferior to the anime art. :P I think we really need that Jun spin-off OVA… :)

    Zyl: You are wise my brother. :) As for loli-meido-siscon? Just think of them as various sects worshipping the same medium with slightly different fetishings. Still moderate though XD

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  9. vexx
    December 27th, 2006 - 01:53

    Both Happiness and Cabbage Love crashed and burned from my perspective. I’m not usually a player of ero-games (I own precisely three: AIR, Shuffle!, and Tick!Tack!) so for me, anime — whatever the source material — has to stand as a decently told story. There are enough examples of erogame conversions that worked reasonably well that I really can’t have much sympathy for the director and writers here. They wasted what was probably quite entertaining material. Fans should hope in this era of “remakes” and “second takes”, perhaps they’ll get a retry sometime.

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  10. crimson
    December 27th, 2006 - 05:33

    I think that mousetrap will work on me. Re-design the mechanism a bit and u can prolly file a patent for it, lol.

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  11. Sherman, the Ramni
    December 27th, 2006 - 06:44

    I’m waiting for Shiawase subs to catch up. But I got a feeling this is going to be really bad.

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  12. Stripey
    December 28th, 2006 - 12:07

    vexx: Agreed on the work needing to stand by itself regardless of source. I hate those series which close on the note, “Pls read the manga for the closure/resolution of plot”. XD

    crimson: LOL! The best part about it, it works for anyone! Just insert relevant pic :)

    Sherman, the Ramni: I think lowering your expectations would cushion you from a catastrophic end :P Not great but at least we saw a Haruhi smooch :)

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  13. Jaruromania
    December 31st, 2006 - 17:32

    I actually would prefer if the series just stay silly filler the whole time. I don’t know if Happiness could’ve been anything but mediocre right from the first episode, and any attempt at plot and taking itself series might just make the series completely stupid instead of harmless and a fun way to kill some time when you have nothing else to watch.

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