The Essentials
Name: Happiness!
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Episodes: 12 TV + 1 OVA
Released: October 5, 2006 – December 21, 2006
Based On: Happiness! visual novel by Windmill
Director: Hiroshi Hara
Produced By: Marvelous Entertainment, Artland
US Distribution By: N/A
Major Japanese Cast
Haruhi Kamisaka: Yui Sakakibara
Anri Hiiragi: Mia Naruse
Yuma Kohinata: Takashi Oohara
Jun Watarase: Michiru Yuimoto
Hachisuke Takamizo: Takuo Kawamura
Koyuki Takamine: Yura Hinata
Sumomo Kohinata: Mai Goto
Ibuki Shikimori: Oma Ichimura
Saya Kamijo: Shizuka Itou
Shinya Kamijo: Kentarou Itou
Major English Cast
N/A
Scores
Animation: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Story: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Music: 7/10 (x 4 = 28 pts)
Coherence/Story Arc: 8/10 (x 2 = 16 pts)
English Dubs: N/A
Gut Score: 7/10 (x 5 = 35 pts)
Total: 135/190 (71.1%)
Review
Happiness! is about a girl, Haruhi, who is the top student in the magical division of her school. She became a mage because of an event when she was younger where a magical boy saved her from several boys who were picking on her. Haruhi has also been fated by a fortune teller to give the boy chocolate on Valentines Day sometime. She attends school with her best friend Anri who is supposedly #2 in their class in magic, though she never seems to be able to do it correctly.
One Valentines Day, Anri notices that Haruhi is carrying around chocolate and demands to know who she is giving it to. When Haruhi tells her that it’s not for that, Anri tries using offensive magic against Haruhi to get the answer. However, this magic spell goes beserk and ends up nearly injuring Yuma, a boy in the school’s “normal” section who doesn’t seem to like magic all that much. As apologies for him almost getting hurt, Haruhi gives Yuma her chocolate.
However, that evening, an explosion blows up the magical section of the school, and the two sections have to merge, with Haruhi and Anri joining Yuma’s class, which also includes Yuma’s best friend Hachi and his trap friend Jun. Starting the next semester, Yuma’s younger sister also joins the school along with Ibuki, who comes from a very famous magical family, and her two servants Saya and the directionally-challenged Shinya. The group also hangs out with the president of the Divination Club, Koyuki.
Over the course of the series, the reason why a famous mage such as Ibuki is eventually revealed, as well as who the boy mage that helped Haruhi out when she was little is.
My biggest problem with this series seemed to be it’s lack of direction and rather predictable plot turns, with the boy who helped Haruhi out when she was little being a candidate for the most obvious plot twist in anime history.
In any case, this is a relatively light-hearted series which can be pretty funny at times. Perhaps sadly, the most humerous part of the series may be Yuma’s friend Jun, who may very well be the king of traps, and is a character that you have to keep reminding yourself is a guy each time you keep forgetting that point (of course, that’s relatively easy when you write and animate a character as a female and just say that it’s a guy). My only regret in that regard is that we never got to see Jun in his male form – something which I think would have been comedy gold.
As for technicals, both animation and music seemed to be a mixed bag, each with their good spots and their bad spots.
In the end, this is a pretty average and generic magical-girl type series (though magic does take a back set to character interactions much of the time). Personally I didn’t get much from watching this, but if you’re a fan of such shows, then you may enjoy it.
First Watched: April – June 2008
Do I Own: No
Do I Recommend: No
