Happiness!

Information of Anime

When Kamizaka Haruhi was young, she was rescued by a young boy who happened to be a mage.  Since that day, she decides to be a mage & enrolls in a school where it is divided into two sections.  One for regular classes & another for magic classes.  She hopes to find the boy that rescued her & show her appreciation.

Storyline (CONTAINS SPOILERS)

Below is a summary of the storyline I've seen.  If you haven't seen the series yet & don't want to be spoiled, skip this section.  If you want to know the story & want to see how I viewed it, read on.

When the school lost its magical section due to Hiiragi Anri's poor magic capability, the school decided to merge the two sections together for the time being.  Haruhi meets a boy named Yuuma Kohinata who resembles a bit of the boy that saved her in the past.  However, Yuuma doesn't perform any magic & has a hate for it.

The show follows Haruhi's encounters with other students in the school.  Most of them being magic students.  At the same time, we see Haruhi improving her magic to be useful for others such as Yuuma.  Aside from magic, her character manages to get things together.

The show gets into its plot when stubborn Ibuki Shikimori refuses to open up to other until Sumomo Kohinata manages to get her.  When the other pitch in & Ibuki sees Haruhi's abilities, Ibuki thinks that Haruhi knows the secret of Shikimori's treasure that's locked in the forbidden forest with a barrier.  She tries to get Haruhi to unlock the barrier & have Haruhi tell her the secret.  However, Haruhi doesn't know the secret & the two get into a fight that involves Yuuma as Ibuki's hostage.  Seeing the two fight with magic, he unleashes his own to free himself which gets watcher Sumomo injured in the process.  With his secret exposed, Anri & Haruhi learn from Yuuma's real mother, Suzuri Minagi, that he is a magician since born that was taught not to use magic at a young age.  He's also the boy that saved Haruhi in the park.  Aside from the secret, the story about the Shikimori's treasure is explained & how it's locked in the forbidden forest & how a lot of people that Anri & Haruhi know are involved.  Yuuma gets separate from his mother because of this incident.  Because of his uncontrollable magic, he's labelled as a bad kid as the incident gave a negative view of magic.  As a result, Suzuri under Natsumi Shikimori's wish guards the Shikimori treasure.  As a result, Suzuri put on Yuuma for losing his memories about the past & her face as she separates from him.  During this time, a grieving Yuuma stays with Jun as he's running away from the situation about Sumomo & worries about her.

The fight is on when Ibuki is being prevented to get the Shikimori treasure as the previous battle breaks the barrier a bit due to Yuuma's powers.  Haruhi, however, is sent to search for Yuuma & give him a remnant from the deceased Natsumi Shikimori.  It would help him use magic again & control it.  However, deja vu happens as Ibuki regains the treasure & recreates the same disaster that happened ten years ago by resurrecting her sister, Natsumi.  Demons fly out & attack the area.  When Yuuma is found, Haruhi has a tough time convincing him to go until Natsumi's remnant, a flute, that carries her spirit tells him to go.  As a result, he manages to defeat the treasure with the help of everyone & Sumomo recovers.

The show ends with everyone going back to normal.  However, Yuuma is now transferred to the magical section with Haruhi by his side.

My Personal Review

Based on the ero-game, Happiness! is a somewhat calm anime show.  Although it offers some comedy, it's pretty light.  It seems the show is more drama based really.

Animation

The character designs are very plain as a lot of the characters look alike.  Most of the girls & the boys look too similar with the round faces & eyes.  There are times that I can't tell a couple of the characters because they look too much alike due to facial structure & hair colour.  Jun Watarase, the boy who wants to be a girl, looks too much like a girl indeed.  Maybe that's one of the good points of the design even though it can be disturbing for some.  Especially with the way he acts.

The backgrounds are okay.  Not a lot of details, but I think it makes the cities appearance look right.

The colours are dull.  Even with the bright & bold parts, it's still dull.  Much too dull for a TV show from the ones I've seen.  It kind of makes the anime look a bit old.

In terms of the animation movement, it's a mixture.  Sometimes the movements are realistic & sometimes the movements are not normal.  But they are quite smooth with some choppy frames found.  It's usually when the characters are running.  But later on, the movements look very strange as they look slow & unnatural.  There are times when I felt the animation is a bit slow.  Not too sure why.  I'm thinking it's me that thinks that way.

Sound

The sound effects are really on the silly side.  Some of them are quite cute & funny.  They fit the show well & give it some life.

The seiyuus here are average.  I don't like Haruhi's voice very much & her character isn't thing I like though.  The only one that I thought had the best voice work was Jun even though it was too girly & made me think that he was a girl at the start.  Of course, Jun's voice is done by a female seiyuu. 

The music is mainly the pop & ballad side.  None of them are memorable though.  They escape from my head pretty easily.

Story

At the start, it's about Haruhi's training in becoming a great mage that uses magic to help others.  Although she does search for the boy that saved her, the show doesn't go too much into depth about it for the first half of the show.  She does have some sort of attached to Yuuma, but it doesn't go too much into that area until later on.  But the way they hit it seems sudden.  When it gets to the last arc with the Shikimori treasure, the story seems to be deep.  The history behind it isn't too predictable & may grab some interest.  However, it's not a mind blowing one.  The revealling of Yuuma being that young boy that saved Haruhi isn't a surprise.  I was actually expecting him to show his magic right from the start of the show.  I think a lot of people have this thought/prediction already when they first watch the show.  It's very predictable.  The last arc is ok as the show comes to a close.  Although you get a mighty Yuuma, he doesn't get it perfect all the time.  But still, he owns all the demons until the last one.  As for the ending, it's ok as a lot of things get tied up.  Simple, but it ended the show well.

Overall Conclusion

Happiness! is a calm & slow paced anime show.  It's got some light comedy & ecchi on the side.  However, it's not very appealling to a lot of people.  It can be dry & boring.  If you are a fan of the series & want to see it from Haruhi's point of view, give this show a shot.

Happiness! gets a six out of ten.  The story is quite slow & doesn't pick up speed even past the halfway point.  It starts as the last arc.  Haruhi's search for the boy doesn't going anywhere until the finale & her use for magic to help others is dragging at times.  Although the last arc is exciting, the ending is so-so.  Also, it's a long way until it reaches that point.