ハピネス・Happiness - Volume 10

What a great ending!
It was a good series!
Now that we have finished I have no idea what to read now… seeing a lot of the other things are harder than this.
RIP

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“I was reading along, but couldn’t help myself from finishing the last chapter early” Lol!
…and yes :rofl:

Finishing a series feel equally good and solemn. I’m so glad I found this series just as the club was starting. This was a fun read :grin:

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Yea, this is exactly how I feel too! It always feels like an achievement to reach the end but also now its gone…


Thanks for reading along everyone, I’ve really enjoyed being in this club with you all :slight_smile:

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NO U.

AND STUFF…

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Feels pretty good to wrap up reading a 10 volume manga series. Considering I had no idea what manga was about when we started I’d say I learned a lot more than just reading Japanese. Just getting comfortable with the manga format was something I had yet to do. This manga fit very well with my experience level, worked to ramp-up my skills, and managed to be entertaining.

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Wow! It’s been a great ride, hard to believe it’s over. And as always, some great art in this chapter.

Story Thoughts

I’m so glad it ended well. I really like how the author uses the passage of time, having large leaps forward at times. It really gives a sense of scale and makes the story more epic. Plus, it’s great seeing ノラ and まこと at the end. After 9 volumes of wondering why it’s called “Happiness”, they are finally happy!

I liked getting to see the flashback of ノラ’s backstory. I wonder how long ago it was and I wonder who the vampire that turned her is. It seems like he kills most people that come to him from all the bones that are laying around, so why is ノラ an exception?


Thanks to everyone that followed along! It’s going to be weird without this to read every week. Even at times when things have gotten too busy for me to do any other Japanese-related things, I’ve always kept up with ハピネス. Oshimi has other works that seem interesting. I might pick some up in the future.

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I don’t know if you were joking, but I feel like it’s called happiness because that’s what every character’s arc is, their pursuit of happiness. Everyone had different paths and objectives, more or less noble (looking at you Sakurane), but everyone was looking for the same thing. Although I guess that could be said for any story hahaha.
I feel like Nora just survived, it’s not like the vampire was trying to turn her, but that it was mere chance. Just like it was mere chance that Makoto kinda looked like that dude that was close to Nora in her human days and that’s why he survived.

This was a nice easy read and it is fun albeit dark at times. I would super recommend it as a first book for anyone starting to read Japanese.
The book club was super fun and I feel it was mostly pretty active, which is amazing for it being relatively long! I will miss it but I’m also glad to move on and read other things. The future is bright!

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I mostly just thought it was funny how nobody was happy in a book called “Happiness” (until the end of course). Good point though, I never thought of it as the characters’ pursuit of happiness.

Yeah, I feel like later volumes keep getting darker too.

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Just finished the series myself :). It was the perfect level for my first manga/reading experience. People who finished this – what did you move onto next!?

Thanks!

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One I personally enjoyed and also has some really interesting dark vibes is Kuro. The only caveat is that Kuro doesn’t have full furigana (but is not really that much harder than Happiness)

I haven’t read it but if you want something from the same author that is also at a similar level, there is Chi no Wadachi. From the reviews it seems to be highly praised too.

Slightly less dark (but still dark!), there’s also Wadanohara and the Great Blue Sea which I also liked quite a bit, and has some really good art.

If you not necessarily want similar themes, just something on a similar level, I can recommend Chiisana Mori no Ookami-san which is very lighthearted fun and considered slightly easier than Happiness.

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Yotsuba!

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@2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz these recommendations are exactly what I was looking for. Especially continuing with the dark feel/vibe. Thank you so much! I’ll get started with Kuro

@Akashelia I’ve seen and heard that recommended many times! I think i’ll come around to it soon :slight_smile:

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