In my previous review I commented at the end that in my opinion fixation on scores can often lead people to feel pressured into taking a specific position. This can often lead to two different outcomes depending on how little capacity the individual has to stop giving a shit about public opinion: in one the person evaluating the specific work can end up taking an extreme position considering its a naturally divisive work in order to fit into the group that shares that position. The other outcome however is something that I find even more worrying: it can create around certain works the status of untouchable. In these instances the work is so wildly agreed as being a masterpiece that disagreeing with the consensus is nothing short of heresy. So I think this little diatribe can give a good idea of how I felt going into Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan stupid longass names Ill call this one Happy Time for the sake of convenience and suddenly finding it not as good as I was expecting. In fact not finding it good in general Story and Characters Sometime ago I was discussing with a friend about a certain series we both had problems with and he mentioned that from his point of view it seemed that the characters in that series were not really representations of humans but personifications of problems. When I began reading Happy Time I suddenly recalled that specific statement. But what necessarily would mean a character being just a personification of a problem? Well the issue in this case is that before we have any idea of how the characters can be generally perceived as human beings the source of characterization is simply the problems that define their struggle. Being Happy Time a drama its understandable that the personal issues and traumas faced by the characters would be the focus of the story but even for a drama its important to first of all establish what traits the characters have outside of those issues. The problem with letting their traumas and struggle define them is that if they are supposed to be relatable or likeable figures the audience is left with little ground to identify or attach to them and if they are not supposed to be likeable or relatable the lack of defining traits leaves them without solid foundation for their development. Id like to make a parallel to better explain my points but before that lets get to know the unfortunates that compose the story of Happy Time. Mutou Juri is a former pianist that has already tried suicide 3 times and holds a deep grudge against her uncaring mother. She begins visiting prisoners sentenced to death by influence of her aunt Monica as a way of driving herself away from her depression. Yuu is the prisoner on death row that is visited by Juri and with whom she begins to develop a bond based on the understanding that both have deep grudges against the situations they were raised in. Monica is Juris aunt and a nun who took the habit no pun intended of visiting the prisoners who dont have anyone looking after them. In the past she lost her son in an accident but couldnt bear the grudge after the killer committed suicide in prison. Happy Times story already begins at what can be perceived as a conflict with the main character Juri meeting her mother who is visiting her in the hospital after her third suicide attempt and its clear in this scene that their relationship has not been the best for a long time. From then on the plot dives into its main driving point the relationship between Juri and Yuu which follows the triedandtrue development: they first dont see eyetoeye but due to the necessity of meeting each other end up finding similarities that lead them to bond and improve each others mindset and way of looking into life. Now Ill not simply disregard how the story develops and the changes they operate into one another my point here is that with such weak characterization on both parts the foundation in which that developments stands on is flimsy and ultimately creates a disconnect between what the characters were and what they become. The parallel Im going to make here is with another manga Bitter Virgin. Yeah I know its my favorite call me guilty on that but the parallel is still valid Point being: in the first chapter of Bitter Virgin theres a superficial but effective work in giving up the basics about the main characters Aizawa the main girl is generally shy and seems uncomfortable in interacting with men and Daisuke the main boy gives on the slight vibe of being a womanizer while still being a wellcentered teenager. When the bombshell about the main girl is revealed theres clear understanding of how that might have shaped her current persona and subsequently how that affects Daisukes perception of her. From then on the manga goes on top explore her backstory how she transitioned from her oldself to the individual she is during the main events of the narrative and how her experiences affect the people around her. I like to always keep characters under a microscope exactly because I dont like to carelessly throw around words like bland but that in reality is what the main characters of Happy Time are bland their characterization is restricted to the bare minimum to make them realistic but theres no threedimensional figure around that. They act very according to their respective traumas but what kind of people they were before such traumas shaped them how their change was perceived by others or even how others react to the kind of people they are currently is not show to the reader. Most of this problem comes from a fundamental issue on how their backstory and characterization is handled in that its in blatant disagreement with the rule of Show Dont Tell. What kind of people they were in the past is not shown to the audience but simply spelled out how they change as characters is not an easily observable change progressively displayed throughout the story its simply stated by other characters. Its a principal that boils down to Robot Devils words: You cant just have your characters announce how they feel that makes me feel angry That is not exclusive to how characters feel how they act how they interact with others how they change has to be observable by the audience otherwise its all restricted to Inferred Attributes. Im willing to recognize that these issues are a result of the mangas short length being it just 8 chapters long. However understanding how these problems came to be does not make them forgivable if anything it just highlights poor planning on the writers end. More time should be given to fleshing out the characters and reshaping the writing in a manner that could allow the audience to read into the narrative themselves not be forcefed the development. In general these issues would only be enough for me to classify a work as mediocre but not straight up bad. The first point where Happy Time gets the rating of BAD is when it decides to pull of the Rape Card. For the sake of clarity pulling the rape card is when a work attempts to sell itself as mature and serious by utilizing rape as a plot point either in backstory or in the current events of the story. The problem is that you cant simply pull off a rape card you have to earn it and again that is something that Bitter Virgin managed to pull off with much more efficiency. In that manga the event in question is displayed tastefully but with no sugarcoating giving full context of how it affected the characters at the time and how it ties in to the current state of things. With no understanding of what kind of person the character was prior to the event and no context of how it happened though as it happens in Happy Time it loses its connection with the current events in the story and ultimately becomes a superfluous plotpoint and you simply cant have rape in your story just for the sake of having it. Beyond that Happy Time is also a story that didnt have the guts to work its characters darker moments to the full extent something observable on the revelation of Yuus backstory. Besides being almost completely exposited in the very dry and audienceunfriendly fashion like I explained before Yuus past and crime are the textbook definition of a generic Woobiebackstory: it does everything possible to exempt the character from any guilty while still pulling the most clichd but poorly developed sympathyinducing elements from growing on an orphanage to dead brother and worst of all dead cat. Im not arguing that actually giving the character full guilt would be enough to save the story but would be one point where the characterization in Happy Time could have been truly commendable it would actually lead the audience to understand the extent of how much he had buried himself before coming back to his senses making his current state much more fitting and the development he receives more meaningful. Presentation This will be considerably shorter in comparison to my previous reviews as a manga features fewer elements up for judgment in its presentation than an anime. Happy Times visuals are generally fairly average. Theres nothing particularly disagreeable on how the figures are built and if Im actually free to cut the manga some slack it manages to present a few design choices that have relevant symbolic meaning within the story: Juri leaves her fancy stay away from me hairdo adopts a subdued dressing style and ties her hair tighter giving the idea she has become less hostile to interaction while Yuu accepts cutting the long hair that hid his face and symbolically manifested his unwillingness to get close to others. Theres also solid pacing in between frames so there are no instances where how the action went from one image to another looks disjointed or unfocused. The one point the manga could use improvement is on the variation between shades which would help bring more detail to the expressions. Gods I sound like a boring twat now Personal Ramblings Happy Time is currently the 10th highest rated manga on My Anime List which is sufficient to give it untouchable status to some extent. The danger of a show or manga achieving that kind of status is that it makes general consensus unfriendly to criticism of any type especially if its harsh criticism like what I proposed to do here. Deviation from the common opinion is disregarded often as you simply watched/read it wrong which Im willing to admit might happen but either way is not a worthwhile form of counterargument. I for once believe that every work should face scrutiny to some extent even if its something regarded as The Greatest of All Time like Fullmetal Alchemist Berserk or Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Its by exposing or discussing a show or mangas shortcomings that we can get to an understanding of what truly makes a Greatest of All Time. As you might have guessed the question that I would like to ask now is: How did Happy Time become so acclaimed? In art and especially in fiction objectively defining the quality of a work is near impossible unless were talking about Metroid: Other M whose story objectively sucks but I think its possible to have a good understanding of the general quality of a work by looking at its audience. Now Ill not pretend I have a deep understanding of the audience of a manga I just read I can only theorize. Considering that the most popular manga on MAL tend to be shounen its possible to pull out of my ass the idea that this title having achieved some initial praise might have been a gateway into dramacentered manga for many readers who were likely tired of shounen or drifting into other genres and ended up finding an appeal on its quirks. But this is all conjecture. Ill not lie I find disheartening that a title like this is so acclaimed in front of works far more nuanced and respectful to the audience like Vinland Saga or Parasyte or even some shounen. I dont maintain hopes that this review will somehow enlighten the masses but I hope to throw some perspective into the discussion and challenge some notions about what qualifies a good drama. Feel free to post any angry comments on my profile I have popcorn ready and a brandnew keyboard so you are welcome.