Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
It wasn’t so obvious in the first volume, but Makoto Okazaki, the protagonist of Shuzo Oshimi’s manga series “Happiness,” looks a lot like a Japanese version of Harry Potter. Instead of a scar on his forehead, Makoto has a vampire bite mark on his neck. Okay, let’s look at the plot so far before I keep digressing…
“Happiness” Volume One Recap: High-school student Makoto is an average student who is bullied at school by a boy called Yuki and his friends. However, when Makoto is attacked by a strange girl one night, he begins to experience a lot of changes in his body, including super strength and a lust for blood. While he has yet to realize he was bitten by a vampire, things change at school when he punches Yuki in a fit of rage, breaking the boy’s nose. But in another turn of events, Yuki’s girlfriend Shiraishi approaches Makoto one evening, asking him to help her look for Yuki, who disappears after a group of goons target him. This time, Makoto saves Yuki from the clutches of older guys beating him up, and his surprising strength stuns everyone.
Like I said in my review for volume one, it was hard to determine where Shuzo Oshimi was taking the plot in “Happiness”, but things get a lot more interesting, violent, and twisty in volume two. One of the weirdest twists has nothing to do with the supernatural elements of the plot—it’s Yuki’s seemingly genuine interest in wanting to become friends with Makoto. So, the first chapter of “Happiness” Volume Two is titled “The Two Couples,” because Yuki and Shiraishi invite Makoto and Shojo to go bowling with them. Shojo is in the same grade but a different classroom and only became acquainted with Makoto recently after he had a panic attack and practically collapsed on top of her.
While the first half of volume two unfolds like a regular high-school romance, with two teen couples hanging out and having fun (sort of), tension is introduced in the tale when the goons Makoto fought off in volume one are shown to be on the hunt for him. From high school romance to sheer terror that involves violent attacks, blood, and deaths, Shuzo Oshimi takes readers through a myriad of emotions in this edition. The most entertaining aspect is the evolving dynamic between Makoto and Yuki, which shifts from a victim-aggressor relationship to one of friend-protector. I liked the subtle subtext highlighting how easily young boys can let go of past grudges and become friends with those who were once hostile toward them. This might not hold true for long, Yuki might just be taking advantage of Makoto’s new found strength.
Shuzo Oshimi’s black-and-white artwork is exceptional in the more violent scenes, brilliantly capturing the movements of the characters in fight mode. An eerie new teen character called Saku is introduced, who gets a full page to himself in his first appearance. He looks like a patient who has escaped a psychiatric facility, with an unsettling personality that’s a strange mix of childhood innocence and serial killer-like psychosis.
It’s in this volume of “Happiness” that Makoto finally becomes more aware of his abilities, and even though it’s not explicitly spelled out by the creator, it’s evident that he probably realizes he is a vampire. The climactic moments of volume two are laden with gruesome twists, and a surprise appearance by the girl who “turned” Makoto into a potentially immortal monster sets a more intriguing tone for the rest of the series. The last panel serves as an excellent cliffhanger for the rest of the tale—it’s morbid, unsettling, and tragic.
Rating: 4 on 5. You can read “Happiness” on Kindle Unlimited.
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