I started this manga today, I read 60 chapters and I gotta say this is the most underrated manga ever. Criminally underrated, this manga is soooo inspiring and it has a very generic concept but urasawa did it better and anyone, please everyone go read it. You will thank me
@@hyperionsama i of course have been reading REAL for a while, i never compared them but REAL is by far more popular than happy, happy doesnt even have many vids about it, nobody talks about it nobody knows about it. in my 10 years of reading manga and watching anime i never had heard of it in my life. and i personaly believe its better than REAL, i ejoyed it more. by the time i made that comment i had only read 60 chapters, now that i have finished it i gotta say its one of my favourite manga of all time and definetely urasawas best work
damn I teared up watching this video. I remember abandoning this manga after seeing how depressing it is... now that I read Oyasumi Punpun, I'm ready for it again! this video made me remember Happy and I should go back to reading it again! thanks for your wonderful review!
Thank you for your kind words! I myself still haven't mustered up the courage to read Punpun yet. So I'm sure you'll be just fine with Happy! I hope you find it as rewarding to get through as I did!
@@bassman.sharingan12341 It's great! If you are a fan of Bojack Horseman or have played Omori, you'll definitely lie Punpun. By the way, looking for more videos from you soon!
Awesome analysis, I've read alot of Series that people say are depressing like eva, boy's abyss, goodnight punpun every inio asano work and what not but nothing was nearly as impactful as happy it was one of the few stories that struck me that deep. I gotta say this Happy is easily one of the greatest stories it's a shame how underrated it is.
Nice to see someone talk about Happy! I think the most interesting thing about Happy is the parallel it has to Yawara, I read Yawara before reading Happy so I was able to pick those up fairly quickly. You mentioned some of it too. The entire main cast is pretty similar imo, with just a few of the roles swapped. I've read an interview where Urasawa talked about intentionally making Happy the opposite of Yawara because he didn't want to do another girl sports manga after Yawara and wanted to move onto a mystery thriller he had in mind (Monster), but the publisher basically demanded him to make another sports manga with a girl lead, so out of frustration he made Happy. I think he made his frustration pretty clear in the story, like instead of the constant cheers in Yawara, the audience pretty much went "BOO!" throughout the entirety of Happy. Though I think it is because he was allowed to vent his feelings through the story, Happy became a very satisfying work for him. He talked about how intentionally going against expectations from the audience really hurt the ratings of the manga but he didn't care, he drew Happy purely for himself and I think that makes Happy a pretty interesting work from his career. Good video, Happy to see other people talk about Urasawa's lesser known works!
Another amazing video. I really admire the way you are able to comprehand a series and even more the way you are able to talk about it 👏 just dont give up and one day you will succed, i believe in you
Going off the Urasawa trend, I've been collecting the Asadora! manga over the past year or two and I very much enjoy it. Not only is virtually all of it drawn by Urasawa himself (instead of backgrounds done by his editors), but it has a very engaging and relatable thematic undercurrent of the children of the day dealing with immense expectations and having to fight what surmounts to an existential crisis unlike any other humanity has previously dealt with. I don't think it's an allegory for global warming but that sentiment is very easily applied. The characters who don't think themselves good enough become drug addicts, try to change themselves, or keep their efforts secret from their contemporaries. It's a basic kaiju story but it's also about the human effort to survive the insurmountable and regain what the world has unfairly taken away, the elite of our world placing its safety upon the youth.
Great in depth review of Urusawa's underrated gem, and one I gotta make the time to check out especially due to its parallel to my favorite work of this manga creator, Yawara. Maybe you could do a review on that manga, too someday.
@@bassman.sharingan12341 Wow, that's great news. Can't wait to see it and reflect upon your keen analysis. In particular how you feel about Yawara's plight, her supporting cast especially Jogoro ( imo, mixed feelings about the old master/manipulator) and insight upon the sport of judo. Also, just how kawaii is Yawara among Urusawa leading ladies. Be well man and thanks for the response.
This manga is the closest Noaki Urusawa got to the eating the rich. It funny how the conflict of the antagonist are legacy and public perception, meanwhile miyuki had to sacrifice so much from working with sleaze bags to being jeered by whole stadiums.
I am honestly shocked and surprised - about myself - that I to have never heard of this series. But well, guess I found something new to read. So Thank you.
Happy i got into after completing Monster, 20th century boys, Billy bat and master Keaton It absolutely broke me, this manga after monster and 20th century boys or billy bat this is the one i went fucking hell just leave this poor child alone, because the main character could not catch a break it's all down hill from start and she just cannot win and on top of that she's being hated by everyone, being called cheater and other things Everytime you think she will get this little victory or little breathing time the rug gets pulled from under her feet and she just has to keep going or else prostitution for doing absolutely nothing like she did nothing to deserve any of this shit😢😢 Happy is ma 2nd favourite Naoki Urasawa manga after 20th century boys
You feel more confident in what you're saying. There's definitely a difference between your draft for the SciADV video and this one. It's more pleasant listening to you. Keep up the good work 👍
I was disappointed this was the only video about this manga but after watching I kinda hope it stays that way. I immensely agree with you that the last 90 chapters are the best part. I finished the manga yesterday and while I thought the final chapter was not great, I still throughly enjoyed reading it. However there was something I really liked that wasn’t mentioned in the video. When I first started reading Happy! I was never too big on miyuki. Didn’t hate her but she wasn’t the best. But the more the series went on with choko the more I was infuriated. But oddly enough, the more I hated Choko I actually started to like and root for miyuki more. I’m glad choko exists for that reason alone. She’s awful but I do still think she serves pretty decent role for a antagonist. (p.s. Sakurada Junji is my goat)
Hi there! If you're asking where Urasawa said Happy was his all-time favourite of his own works, he said it in his video on Happy on his own channel. It's titled "How to Draw a Dynamic Movement in Manga" in English. I believe Urasawa has also stated the same thing about Happy in a couple of different interviews out there.
@@GENEPERFECT It's unfortunately not officially localized into English so there is no physical release. But if you can read Japanese or French, it's available on many common manga storefronts.
Of course! I've read almost every Naoki Urasawa work, including Billy Bat. I even talked about bits from Billy Bat within the video hehe. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd 100% recommend checking out Urasawa's Manben episode on himself, because it shows his process drawing the final chapter of Billy Bat. And within it, he talks a lot about what he wanted people to ultimately take away from the story. It's truly an incredible work - definitely the most personal of his works in my eyes.
@@bassman.sharingan12341 Hi, could you please share the video link of this Urasawa's Manben episode, if there is one? I'd be interested to watch it, but can't seem to find it
I started this manga today, I read 60 chapters and I gotta say this is the most underrated manga ever. Criminally underrated, this manga is soooo inspiring and it has a very generic concept but urasawa did it better and anyone, please everyone go read it. You will thank me
Have you read “real”? How would you compare this to that one? (If you’ve read both, thanks) 🙏
@@hyperionsama i of course have been reading REAL for a while, i never compared them but REAL is by far more popular than happy, happy doesnt even have many vids about it, nobody talks about it nobody knows about it. in my 10 years of reading manga and watching anime i never had heard of it in my life. and i personaly believe its better than REAL, i ejoyed it more. by the time i made that comment i had only read 60 chapters, now that i have finished it i gotta say its one of my favourite manga of all time and definetely urasawas best work
So glad someone is finally talking about this❤. This manga is so dear to my heart
damn I teared up watching this video. I remember abandoning this manga after seeing how depressing it is... now that I read Oyasumi Punpun, I'm ready for it again!
this video made me remember Happy and I should go back to reading it again!
thanks for your wonderful review!
Thank you for your kind words! I myself still haven't mustered up the courage to read Punpun yet. So I'm sure you'll be just fine with Happy! I hope you find it as rewarding to get through as I did!
@@bassman.sharingan12341 It's great! If you are a fan of Bojack Horseman or have played Omori, you'll definitely lie Punpun.
By the way, looking for more videos from you soon!
Once you read goodnight pun pun, you can handle anything
Awesome analysis,
I've read alot of Series that people say are depressing like eva, boy's abyss, goodnight punpun every inio asano work and what not but nothing was nearly as impactful as happy it was one of the few stories that struck me that deep.
I gotta say this Happy is easily one of the greatest stories it's a shame how underrated it is.
Nice to see someone talk about Happy! I think the most interesting thing about Happy is the parallel it has to Yawara, I read Yawara before reading Happy so I was able to pick those up fairly quickly. You mentioned some of it too. The entire main cast is pretty similar imo, with just a few of the roles swapped. I've read an interview where Urasawa talked about intentionally making Happy the opposite of Yawara because he didn't want to do another girl sports manga after Yawara and wanted to move onto a mystery thriller he had in mind (Monster), but the publisher basically demanded him to make another sports manga with a girl lead, so out of frustration he made Happy. I think he made his frustration pretty clear in the story, like instead of the constant cheers in Yawara, the audience pretty much went "BOO!" throughout the entirety of Happy. Though I think it is because he was allowed to vent his feelings through the story, Happy became a very satisfying work for him.
He talked about how intentionally going against expectations from the audience really hurt the ratings of the manga but he didn't care, he drew Happy purely for himself and I think that makes Happy a pretty interesting work from his career.
Good video, Happy to see other people talk about Urasawa's lesser known works!
Another amazing video. I really admire the way you are able to comprehand a series and even more the way you are able to talk about it 👏 just dont give up and one day you will succed, i believe in you
Going off the Urasawa trend, I've been collecting the Asadora! manga over the past year or two and I very much enjoy it. Not only is virtually all of it drawn by Urasawa himself (instead of backgrounds done by his editors), but it has a very engaging and relatable thematic undercurrent of the children of the day dealing with immense expectations and having to fight what surmounts to an existential crisis unlike any other humanity has previously dealt with. I don't think it's an allegory for global warming but that sentiment is very easily applied. The characters who don't think themselves good enough become drug addicts, try to change themselves, or keep their efforts secret from their contemporaries. It's a basic kaiju story but it's also about the human effort to survive the insurmountable and regain what the world has unfairly taken away, the elite of our world placing its safety upon the youth.
Great in depth review of Urusawa's underrated gem, and one I gotta make the time to check out especially due to its parallel to my favorite work of this manga creator, Yawara. Maybe you could do a review on that manga, too someday.
Thank you for the kind words! I'm actually currently working on a Yawara video!
@@bassman.sharingan12341 Wow, that's great news. Can't wait to see it and reflect upon your keen analysis. In particular how you feel about Yawara's plight, her supporting cast especially Jogoro ( imo, mixed feelings about the old master/manipulator) and insight upon the sport of judo. Also, just how kawaii is Yawara among Urusawa leading ladies. Be well man and thanks for the response.
@@cowabungadoug FYI my Yawara video is out now! 😄
This manga is the closest Noaki Urusawa got to the eating the rich. It funny how the conflict of the antagonist are legacy and public perception, meanwhile miyuki had to sacrifice so much from working with sleaze bags to being jeered by whole stadiums.
just wanted to say great video and please make more
I am honestly shocked and surprised - about myself - that I to have never heard of this series. But well, guess I found something new to read. So Thank you.
I might have to check out Urasawa's stuff now 👀
@@OrigiNope His works are incredible!
Happy i got into after completing Monster, 20th century boys, Billy bat and master Keaton
It absolutely broke me, this manga after monster and 20th century boys or billy bat this is the one i went fucking hell just leave this poor child alone, because the main character could not catch a break it's all down hill from start and she just cannot win and on top of that she's being hated by everyone, being called cheater and other things
Everytime you think she will get this little victory or little breathing time the rug gets pulled from under her feet and she just has to keep going or else prostitution for doing absolutely nothing like she did nothing to deserve any of this shit😢😢
Happy is ma 2nd favourite Naoki Urasawa manga after 20th century boys
You feel more confident in what you're saying. There's definitely a difference between your draft for the SciADV video and this one. It's more pleasant listening to you. Keep up the good work 👍
Thank you for your kind words! This made my day. I really appreciate the feedback. 🥺
I was disappointed this was the only video about this manga but after watching I kinda hope it stays that way. I immensely agree with you that the last 90 chapters are the best part. I finished the manga yesterday and while I thought the final chapter was not great, I still throughly enjoyed reading it. However there was something I really liked that wasn’t mentioned in the video. When I first started reading Happy! I was never too big on miyuki. Didn’t hate her but she wasn’t the best. But the more the series went on with choko the more I was infuriated. But oddly enough, the more I hated Choko I actually started to like and root for miyuki more. I’m glad choko exists for that reason alone. She’s awful but I do still think she serves pretty decent role for a antagonist. (p.s. Sakurada Junji is my goat)
Thank you for the immense praise! I'm glad you liked the video. And that's a pretty interesting experience with Miyuki and Choko!
Well just finished it today took me like 15 hours it was a great ride my favourite is junji easily also 9/10 for me
Yeah, Sakurada's amazing. I LOVED his character. It's crazy how much Urasawa improved in character writing between Yawara and Happy.
Hi! Thank you for the video. Could you tell me where is the video where he says that "Happy!" is it your favorite job?
Hi there! If you're asking where Urasawa said Happy was his all-time favourite of his own works, he said it in his video on Happy on his own channel. It's titled "How to Draw a Dynamic Movement in Manga" in English. I believe Urasawa has also stated the same thing about Happy in a couple of different interviews out there.
@@bassman.sharingan12341 Thank you so much!
Where can i buy the physical manga?!!!!!!!!!!
@@GENEPERFECT It's unfortunately not officially localized into English so there is no physical release. But if you can read Japanese or French, it's available on many common manga storefronts.
Thanks😢😭😭😭
Gonna check it out
Btw have you checked billy bat?
Its monster level manga
Of course! I've read almost every Naoki Urasawa work, including Billy Bat. I even talked about bits from Billy Bat within the video hehe. If you haven't seen it yet, I'd 100% recommend checking out Urasawa's Manben episode on himself, because it shows his process drawing the final chapter of Billy Bat. And within it, he talks a lot about what he wanted people to ultimately take away from the story. It's truly an incredible work - definitely the most personal of his works in my eyes.
@@bassman.sharingan12341 yeah
The plot is like a chef's kiss topped with wonderful development and characters
@@bassman.sharingan12341 Hi, could you please share the video link of this Urasawa's Manben episode, if there is one? I'd be interested to watch it, but can't seem to find it
@@gyzmo2157 Hey! There should be a subtitled upload of the entirety of Manben season 3 on UA-cam. It's the final 45 minutes of that.
Best manga of Urasawa
maybe i am