<a href="http://www.punkednoodle.com/champloo/wp-content/images/scans/happy-01.gif"><img width="176" height="250" align="left" src="http://www.punkednoodle.com/champloo/wp-content/images/scans/_happy-01.gif" /></a><strong>Happy</strong> by Naoki Urasawa Published by: Shougakukan Serialized in: Big Comic Spirits<br><br> If there's something happy about <em>Happy</em>, it's the fact that it's not quite the happy tale that you expected. Miyuki Umino may look happy in this cover, however, the unfortunate turn of events in her life isn't really something to rejoice about. You've got an idiot brother who owes 250 million yen to some yakuza loan sharks. You've got 2 brothers and a younger sister to feed. You barely have enough cash for a lavish meal hence you've got curry for three days again. Might I add that the loan sharks want to pimp you in some bath parlor? Swamped with bad luck, Miyuki tries to make ends meet by trying her chance with her dream, becoming a professional tennis player.<br><br> Still fresh from his Yawara escapade, Naoki Urasawa gives us a refreshing, slightly tragic, nonethless perservering heroine under Miyuki. He may have given up Judo, but on this end, it's all about who becomes the princess of tennis! That may sound cheesy, but it really is the tale of two women who have different paths to victory. As Urasawa exposes these two women, he asks us, which one of them will be truly happy?

Happy by Naoki Urasawa
Published by: Shougakukan
Serialized in: Big Comic Spirits

If there’s something happy about Happy, it’s the fact that it’s not quite the happy tale that you expected. Miyuki Umino may look happy in this cover, however, the unfortunate turn of events in her life isn’t really something to rejoice about. You’ve got an idiot brother who owes 250 million yen to some yakuza loan sharks. You’ve got 2 brothers and a younger sister to feed. You barely have enough cash for a lavish meal hence you’ve got curry for three days again. Might I add that the loan sharks want to pimp you in some bath parlor? Swamped with bad luck, Miyuki tries to make ends meet by trying her chance with her dream, becoming a professional tennis player.

Still fresh from his Yawara escapade, Naoki Urasawa gives us a refreshing, slightly tragic, nonethless perservering heroine under Miyuki. He may have given up Judo, but on this end, it’s all about who becomes the princess of tennis! That may sound cheesy, but it really is the tale of two women who have different paths to victory. As Urasawa exposes these two women, he asks us, which one of them will be truly happy?

The Tale of Two Women

The underlying tragedy of Happy begins with a rivalry. In this story, we have two powerful women in the heart of tennis. First is Hanae Ryugasaki and the other is Madame Ootori. Both women have a deep hatred against each other, and sadly, the two ladies use Miyuki and Choko Ryugasaki as their pawns for revenge.

In Happy, we meet Urasawa’s usual brand of heroine. Miyuki is a simple, honest, persevering, and for this case, poor girl. She’s been raising her siblings by herself and if it weren’t for this sudden debt, she’d most likely be just an ordinary girl. Then we meet the lovely and ultra-popular Choko Ryugasaki. She’s the daughter of another tennis legend. And, befitting the profile of an Urasawa villainess, she’s rich, pretty, bratty. The bigger question is, how does Happy differ compared to Yawara other than the fact that they play tennis and not Judo? Well, for this story, Urasawa wanted to craft two things. First, he wanted to craft the persevering heroine. And next, he wanted to craft the ultimate villainess.

The persevering heroine was something I think he had to do after Yawara. Honestly, I have a feeling that his publisher pushed him to do another sports heroine story especially after Yawara’s success. I think that Urasawa felt that he had to create a different heroine compared to the relaxed and slightly rebellious Yawara. And the best he could make up was Miyuki Umino who perseveres because she is but the only hope left. And certainly, Miyuki was an entirely different character compared to Yawara. Unlike Yawara who often had moments of escape, Miyuki just pushed through things even if it meant a whole stadium booing at her. You could really see how Urasawa intends to make this heroine the anti-thesis of the much loved Yawara, especially in those scenes wherein the presses just keep on bad mouthing her. You can’t help it. The girl’s really out of luck. More so, she’s got a formidable opponent, in the face of Choko.

Oh Choko! I don’t even know where to start with Choko! I have never met a more conniving, more crooked villain than Choko. I used to think that Eva Heinemann (from Urasawa’s Monster) was the most evil woman that I would encounter in the whole of mangadom. It wasn’t until I read Happy that I finally figured that Urasawa perfected the ultimate villainess character through Choko Ryugasaki. And oh boy, did I hate her! If you just read her schemes to destroy dear Miyuki, you’d swear you’d rip her guts out! She is the wolf in sheep’s clothing for this tale. As the reader, you just wait for that perfect time and moment to actually see her shot down.

You might be wondering why I keep on comparing this to Yawara. At that time, Yawara was the most popular manga of Naoki Urasawa. This was in fact published a little after Yawara was finished. More so, the tales of the two mangas are slightly the same, yet altogether different. In Yawara, we see the lead struggling throughout the manga to get out of her obligation and pursuing her dream. In Happy, we see the lead struggling through her obligation by pursuing her dream. If I were to contrast the two, there is a moment of hesitation and doubt in the characterization of the main women in Yawara. This was not the case for Happy. Urasawa pushed these two female characters to the extreme in order to highlight the Miyuki’s goodness as well as Choko’s heartless cruelty. Choko is black and Miyuki is white. Miyuki will always be the underdog, and Choko will be the shining princess sitting at the throne. In Yawara, this was not the case for Yawara and Sayaka. There was always a fair share of qualities in them. Sayaka was rich but not good enough to defeat Yawara. On the other hand, Yawara was just a regular girl who just happened to have the innate nature to throw a person in one go. There are no extremities found in the characterization of Yawara and Sayaka. In comparison to Yawara, Happy seems to have taken the extreme lengths of character only to highlight Urasawa’s theme of perseverance. Although I must add that I think he also did this to show that there are evil bitches who plot your downfall if you cross them. Seriously, Choko was a major bitch. She’s got to be one of my most hated characters in manga.

The interaction between these two women really keeps the story going for a good number of volumes. Choko never seems to run out of schemes to destroy Miyuki. On the other hand, Miyuki just pushes on. The two characters are vibrant and colorful enough for you to keep on reading. Perhaps you can also attribute it to Urasawa’s own artform, wherein he is able to bring life through the characters through the varied expressions of their faces.

Expressive Panels

I was trying to think of why this manga is so good to me. Honestly, in terms of other mangakas today, in terms of art detail, Urasawa’s style in Happy doesn’t really compare to them. His art is very simple in nature, and the backgrounds aren’t entirely detailed either. He doesn’t draw big scenes. However, if there is one thing that I can probably bet on the success of Urasawa’s mangas, it’s the expressiveness of the characters faces. And you can see that in Happy. The faces of the characters carry the story.

In each panel, you can see how that person feels. I enjoy reading one of Miyuki’s younger brother, Sango, who has taken the habit of predicting whether a particular person is a bad person or not. So far, I’ve seen how Urasawa seems to draw those narrow concave eyes to stress that this is an evil person. The eyes speak so much, yet seriously, his faces say so much. He seems to have sketched over 200 faces for Choko alone. She is, by far, one of the most expressive faces I’ve seen in the series. Of course, Choko is quite an exaggeration for a character, but for the rest of them, the small tapers of the line, the slight change in the angle of the shade, even the soft lines of the blush are well placed and drawn to express the characters emotions. If you took out the dialogue of the manga, you would most likely figure out the basic premise of the story just by looking at the faces of the characters.

These expressive panels draw the comedy out of the tragedy. I remember hearing before that the best of comedy is done through exaggeration. Urasawa used this comedic formula in making a comedy of this hit or miss shoujo tale. I guess, just because of this over-exaggeration of faces, you can’t seem to hate the like of Madame Ootori since you can also laugh at her face. You can’t really have severe hatred for Choko because she too bears this exaggeration that it makes her more foolish than sinister (like Eva).

All or Nothing

In a manga whose theme is ‘All or Nothing’, Urasawa wonderfully utilized his art and his perfect concoction of characters to bring to life a new tale about hope. It is indeed a more satiric, quite tragic, yet still an effective story to highlight perseverance despite the presence of bad luck and bitches. It is an unlikely shoujo tale. The fact that it isn’t entirely the “weep-on-I-will-depend-on-my-boyfriend” story doesn’t entirely place Happy on the shoujo genre but rather on a genre more befitting for adults. It tackles problems on a personal level, unlike shoujo and shounen mangas who never fail to scream ‘yuujo’. Despite the tragedy, what makes Happy a happy tale is the fact that with great perseverance, happiness can be yours.