After an pleasant experience watching Yawarahttps://anilist.co/manga/30853/Yawara/ for 124 episodes. I wanted more. So I picked up Happyhttps://anilist.co/manga/30845/Happy/ which is another story made by the same authour that centers around sports. Little did I know this was far from the same experience that I got watching Yawara. Naoki Urasawahttps://anilist.co/staff/96867/NaokiUrasawa is not really the best visual artist his art is pretty good uniquely distinct in the way he draw characters. But for something like sports where motion and action is a huge part of the appeal he falls short. It is still not bad tho but in comparison to absolutely amazing sports art like Slam Dunkhttps://anilist.co/manga/30051/SlamDunk/ and Teppuuhttps://anilist.co/manga/41366/Teppuu/ he really cannot compare. Again not saying its bad tho it is just really mediocre. This weakness extends to his poor incorporation of sports in a sports manga which is either because he choose not to or he is weak at it I really do not know. But judging from his later works which does not contain sports at all my guess is that is realized he does not really know how to actually incorporate the sports in a sports fiction and moved on from that direction. What Naoki Urasawahttps://anilist.co/staff/96867/NaokiUrasawa excels in at least in my experience watching Yawara is his story and character writing. In both Yawara and Happy we are introduced to a girl that is struggling with her pursuit of a hobby that she once enjoyed only to be faced with several obstacles either from people or otherwise. In both Yawara and Happy there are villains with not so redeemable qualities that stands in Yawaras pursuit of her own happiness. The only difference is that in Yawara even if those characters are assholes they are at the very least funny and entertaining. The major contempt I have for his writing decisions in Happy is that the asshole characters that is standing in poor Miyuki Uminoshttps://anilist.co/character/22807/MiyukiUmino way are literally just unredeemable dirt bags that I want to personally strangle. Naoki Urasawahttps://anilist.co/staff/96867/NaokiUrasawa is incorporating a writing technique known as kicking the dog a common method to have the audience garner sympathy and root for a character that is being mistreated hence the term kicking the dog. Inokuma Yawara from... Yawara definitely had the kick the dog treatment time after time but at the very least we are rewarded with heartwarming moments that give feel good vibes. But in the misleadingly titled Happy really ramped up the dog kicking to a unberable absurd. Literally half of the chapters are just dedicated to freaking dog kicking and there so much nasty stuff that I am not surprised this never got a anime adaptation. There is just so much dog kicking that one person can take before it just becomes a negative experience and that was why I really did not enjoy most of the chapters in Happy. Naoki Urasawahttps://anilist.co/staff/96867/NaokiUrasawa probably wanted to emulate and repeat the success of his previous work Yawara by making another sports focused story about a girl struggling with her passions and pursuits of tennis. In this alternate iteration instead of a genius Judo practitioner it is a genius tennis player but with more gripping stakes. In hindsight I can see why he wanted to change things up because seriously repeating the same story and feel is just a recipe for stagnation and he probably wanted to try new things and introduce them to fans that probably already watched and enjoyed Yawara. While I did not like Happy as much as I absolutely adore Yawara it was a decision that I understand and stand by because in the field of creative work I always want artists and creators to introduce new things on the table instead of the same done and dusted tropes. In conclusion a pretty weak but bold attempt to emulate his success from Yawara but just falls flat due to the excessive dog kicking and lack of emphasis on creating a work that is enjoyable to be consumed. Definitely not his best work but an interesting work to compare and understand Naokis growth as a writer.