happy sugar life – Anime QandA

Happy Sugar Life – Full Season QandA Rundown

What’s the important information? Happy Sugar Life is a Summer 2018 psychological horror anime that ran 12 episodes from July to September. It is based on a manga series written by Tomiyaki Kagisora.

What’s it about? On the outside Sato is a bright, beautiful and very popular girl but inside she is deeply troubled and scarred—the only thing in life that brings her joy is her ‘relationship’ with a little girl named Shio who she’s kidnapped and keeps in her apartment. The two live a blissful life together that Sato would do anything to maintain, even if it means committing murder.

Why did you watch it? Believe it or not I actually like ‘dark’ things, despite my preoccupation with CGDCT and slice of life shows seemingly dictating my choices in anime watching. So when there’s a series that combines both—at the least the latter of which aesthetically if not literally—then you better believe I’m going to watch it!

Did you enjoy the show? As of the writing of this rundown ‘Happy Sugar Life’ is my second favourite anime of all time. Does that answer that question? I adored pretty much everything about this series to the point where I struggle to find fault with anything.

What was your favourite episode? Episode 9 “Dissolving Rain” had the single most dramatic moment I’ve seen in an anime in a very long time—the fact the build up to it was so masterfully and artfully done is just a small factor in why it was such a sublime episode. Plus the way it turns from honestly loving and beautiful to knuckle clenching tension to absolute horror within the space of minutes is something to behold.

Some breathtaking imagery in nearly every episode.

What were your most favourite things about the show? While this probably won’t be the same for most people, the fact that I could sympathise and even gravitate and dare I say sit in awed wonder of a character is morally ambiguous and downright sadistic as Sato says a lot about the quality of her characterisation and the writing. Not since the ‘Hannibal’ TV series have I been so enraptured and captivated and even siding with the actions of “the bad guy”. Artistically too, this shows pastel aesthetics are absolutely gorgeous and work as a visual contrast to the dark themes throughout.

What were your least favourite things about the show? For a show to have made its way to Number 2 on my favourites list you’ll be hard-pressed to find me saying anything negative about it. Truly the only thing this show is weaker for is the fact that it’s only 12 episodes. I could have easily spent twice as long with these characters.

Who was your favourite character? Sato commands presence whenever she’s on-screen and even when she’s not on-screen the reverberations of her very existence permeate every characters respective lives, she is the burning sun at the centre of this universe, the tyrant at which all obey, all fear and many seek to bring down.

What’s that quote about staring into the abyss?

Thoughts on the OP (opening) and ED (ending) and the soundtrack in general? As if it’s any surprise but both the OP, “One Room Sugar Life” by Nanawo Akari and the ED “Sweet Hurt” by Reona are both absolutely gorgeous. The OP is a tense but still exciting and catchy prelude to each episode and sets the mood perfectly, while the ED serves as a sweet and reflective palette cleanser from the darkness that came before.

What’s something unique about this show? Rather than mention something specific about the series as I find everything about this show uniquely brilliant. A fact that still staggers me is the fact that something as beautiful and artistic as this was made by a first-time anime studio. There’s not much information about it that I could find but kudos to ‘Ezo’la’ for coming out this strong and confident with a series like this. I await any of their future series with interest and anticipation!

I love the recurrent motif of eyes in this series.

What other anime are most like it for the sake of comparison? The contrast of cute to dark content is of course reminiscent of such classic series’ as ‘Puella Magi Madoka Magica’ and more recently ‘Magical Girl Raising Project’ but as I discussed in my episodic reviews the US series ‘Hannibal’ feels like the most accurate and appropriate comparison as the darkness in this show comes from nothing more than human desires and there’s nothing ~magical~ about what transpires between these characters.

Who would you recommend it to? I think there’s a certain level of arrogance that comes in recommending a series you love so much to everyone just because it is your favourite. But in that arrogance is an enthusiasm and hope that ~someone~ out there will find as much joy in it that you found in it. I don’t doubt there will be—even among my readers—people who can’t stand this show, but if I can even convince one person to like this show and they find even an ~ounce~ of enjoyment out of this show than that makes me happy.

Sum up the season in one sentence: ‘With the ‘Happy’ comes tragedy, with the ‘Sugar’ comes the sour and with ‘Life’ come death.’

Final score? 97 out of 100.

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

A Sweet Treat With A Dark Centre – Episode 1 Review
Contains Traces of Nuts – Episode 2 Review
Bitter Sweet Sympathy – Episode 3 Review
Closeted Secrets – Episode 4 Review
The Bitter Kiss – Episode 5 Review
Past, Present and Future Tension – Episode 6 Review
Blood Is Sicker Than Water – Episode 7 Review
Filling In The Canvas – Episode 8 Review
Til Death Do Us Part – Episode 9 Review
People With Glass Hearts Shouldn’t Be Alone – Episode 10 Review
When The Vow Breaks – Episode 11 Review
In Memoriam – Episode 12 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

In Memoriam – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 12 (Finale) Review

In Memoriam – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 12

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 12.

So the series finale of this twisted little show, how is it? *deep breath* I’m going to do by very best to give an even handed and bias free review of this season finale in order to articulate the pros and con—THIS WAS THE BEST THING IVE EVER SEEN!

Well that lasted all of seven seconds… so are we going to go into full spoiler territory or are you going to be ~kinda~ vague like you were with your Steins;Gate 0 Finale review? I’m going to spoil some major events of course it’s impossible not to when talking about a series finale of a show like this but this isn’t going to go through absolutely everything that happens in the episode. So bare that in mind.

Fair enough, so what’s got you so excited about this ending? Well it’s an ending for one, which is terrific—there’s nothing worse than a non-ending for a show you’ve invested so much time in. But what’s more impressive is that how’s its stuck with me, it’s been 12 hours since I watched the episode and I’ve watched other things in-between then and now but still my mind is occupied with what happened and unlike some finales which can deliver an initial impact that upon time and reflection open it up to more and more critical thinking and in turn bring up issues of continuity or plotting. The more I think of it the more perfect of an ending I think this show gave us.

Hands and eyes are recurring imagery throughout the series, I could do a whole post about those! (I won’t though).

Okay, enough with the praise get into the details! So Satō and Shio intend to leave the country to start their new life while Satō’s aunt will help assist Satō’s disappearance by burning her apartment down and using the body of the previously murdered Shoko as a way to fake Satō’s death. But due to Satō forgetting her ring they hurry back to retrieve it—which ends up being their undoing. Shio’s brother Asahi turns up with the intent of bringing back her little sister and he confronts them at the bottom of the buildings elevator. After several failed attempts to escape the burning building from various other floors Asahi finally gets to talk heart-to-heart with his little sister. But Shio doesn’t want to go back to her family, she has a new family in Satō—at first he doesn’t understand but Shio explains that she felt so betrayed by her mother abandoning her that she can never go back to that unhappy life.

Okay so then what happens?! Satō and Shio retreat to the rooftop where they embrace one last time and resign themselves to the fact that their lives must end but they’ll end together as there is no more happiness to be had in going on—that this is the end of their ~happy sugar life~. They leap to their deaths, visions of a life they could have had flashing through Satō’s mind and it’s then she realizes what love truly is. Cut to a few days later and we find out that Satō took the brunt of the 14-storey fall and died but in doing so allowed Shio to live. Visiting her in hospital Asahi asks her kid sister if they can finally be a family again—but something has changed in the little girl. She tells her brother that she can’t because she and Satō will always be together, that she’s a part of her now. And the look she gives is positively chilling—Satō may be dead but the legacy lives on.

Right… that’s certainly dramatic. It’s more than just dramatic—it’s transformative television! If you’ll allow me to put on my pretentious cap for a minute and reference something old and somewhat niche, it somewhat reminds me of the second season finale of US series ‘Twin Peaks’ (P.S. spoilers for a show that aired in 1991) our incorruptible hero and moral centre of the show Special Agent Dale Cooper escapes the madness of The Black Lodge only for him to look into a mirror and see the reflection of Bob—the series’ embodiment of evil—looking back at him. Now obviously I’m not comparing Satō to the embodiment of pure evil, she was a deeply troubled girl and a victim of emotional abuse from her twisted aunt, but the concept of “ideas” and “behaviours” being passed from one person to another is an inherently interesting one.

At least Satou’s aunt is arrested for the arson. Though I have a feeling she’ll be *pretty* popular in jail…

Okay, thanks for the reference, grandpa. But wait, the fact this series ends with that, doesn’t that mean that the most interesting thing this show does doesn’t even get to be explored? Well maybe we’ll get a new season in 25 years time (that’s a Twin Peaks reference btw!) but I never said it was the /most interesting thing about the show, and besides it’s ~more~ important that the show left an indelible mark with its finale than feeling unfilled by a newly emergent plot line. This one season tells all of Satō’s story and does so perfect, to ask for any more or to call the way this series ends unfulfilling or even cliff hanger bait is missing the point entirely!

Fire walk with me. (Yep that’s another Twin Peaks reference, can you tell I *really* like Twin Peaks?)

I don’t know that anybody is calling it that but I get your point. So I know you don’t talk about overall opinions of a show in episodic reviews—you save that for the QandA Rundowns, but suffice to say this show you endlessly raved about week-to-week ended with your expectations sated? Absolutely, every week delivered an intrinsic piece of a puzzle that was Satō’s complicated life, who she was, what she was doing, where she was going and who would be left in her wake. And this finale capped everything off perfectly; it offered a tragic and untimely but ultimately ‘happy’ ending for a person who never really belonged anywhere. A quote from Taiyo (one of the supporting characters) to Satō echoes in my head as I sit here typing on my computer, “you could chose to have a normal happy life, why are you so set on Shio?” And the answer, as it turns out is both the most simple and most difficult thing in the world: love. This was a love story: a beautiful, horrible, adorable, twisted love story.

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

When The Vow Breaks – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 11 Review

When The Vow Breaks – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 11

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 11.

So the penultimate episode, how is it? Not a lot happens exactly—well that’s not entirely true there’s always something happening in this show—but this feels more like a putting all the pieces in place for whatever end-game they have planned for us with next week’s finale!

And what do these “pieces” entail? Well Sato wants to make good on her plan to get the heck out of this city—and indeed the country and live her Happy Sugar Life with Shio. But she can’t do it on her own so she enlists the help of her aunt and I must say I am glad that she’s being put to some narrative purpose aside from being the emotional catalyst for a lot of Sato’s ~issues~.

Oh, and how’s that work out? Well-ish, I mean she seems to make good on her promise to help even though she’s an unpredictable element in Sato’s plan and ‘triggers’ Sato by just existing in general. But the biggest potential ‘upset’ to get in the way of her happy life with Shio is Shio’s brother Asahi—who after receiving the photo of Sato and Shio embracing from the now deceased Shoko—is on the war path, intent on retrieving his little sister and willing to use anything and anyone to get to her.

To be honest I was expecting a lot worse from this scene.

By which you mean? Asahi knocks out Mitsuboshi and drags him to a quiet place where he threatens physical harm upon him unless he helps him, Mitsuboshi agrees, finding out Sato’s home address from her employer—except he decides to betray Asahi and go straight to the source of his addiction. Thing is as we know the address she lists isn’t Sato’s but Sato’s aunt and so Mitsuboshi ends up in the worst possible place for him to be in—faced with the sexually aggressive advances of Sato’s aunt we’re left to infer what happens as he screams and the camera cuts away.

Yikes! I mean maybe nothing happened and he was just screaming because she surprised him and they’ll end up working together to undo what Sato’s hoping to achieve but who can say?

You’re already theorising on what’s going to happen in the finale then? Somewhat. I have no idea what’s going to happen but I don’t think things are going to go smoothly. If you’d asked me last week if I though Sato’s aunt would be a player in the end-game I would have said no, but the way her aunt talks down to Sato like no-one else in the show does suggests she has a lot more power over her than we’ve perhaps realised and I think if Sato’s aunt decides she doesn’t want to lose Sato then she’ll take action. At the moment she seems like a willing accomplice but there’s more going on here than I think we’re privy to.

Not sure if homicidal face or just grumpy.

So thoughts on the episode? It’s nowhere near the best episode but it’s entirely forgivable after the powerhouse episodes that came before and because it’s clearly trying to set things up for the end. Something noteworthy that does happen and I suppose your definition of noteworthy will vary but after Shio and Sato have their “wedding” they exchange an on-the-lips kiss and I think that’s kind of a big deal—not just for their characters, but narratively speaking what that could mean for things going forward. Regardless I excitedly await the conclusion!

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

People With Glass Hearts Shouldn’t Be Alone – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 10 Review

People With Glass Hearts Shouldn’t Be Alone – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 10

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 10.

So what’s this episode about? Where previous episodes have been about big moments and tense confrontations and dramatic revelations with bursts of violence between them this is probably the most intensely personal and introspective the show has been and it absolutely needed it after the events of last week.

How so? Well last week Sato killed, Shoko—one of her only friends, because she got too close to the truth and wasn’t accepting of her newfound happiness. I admit I was a little apprehensive to see how the show would handle the aftermath but as it turns out that apprehension was unwarranted as they handle it ~perfectly~! Sato is left in a catatonic state, lying on the floor, basically unable to function because her mind is undoubtedly trying to process what she’s done. Yes, she’s killed before but not anyone she ever cared about. Throughout the first half of the episode we get Shio trying to rouse Sato from her state of inaction while tidying around the house and finding evidence of the violence that transpired all the while her own memories of her mother keep flooding back.

It’s a minor thing but I love how flashbacks are ‘letterboxed’ like this. I know a lot of shows do it but it fits this show very well.

Oh yeah? What do we learn from these flashbacks? Well Shio’s mother was being abused by her husband, she left fearing their lives but the glass jar that is Shio’s mothers heart never recovered, the cracks too deep to be repaired. And I love that analogy they used, not only does it tie into the opening credits but it’s such an evocative and relatable piece of symbolism. Because of Shio’s innate empathy she can see the glass jar people have inside them—even if its just metaphorically. And after being abandoned in a back alley by her broken mother Sato comes across her and they talk. Shio sees a perfect, flawless jar inside Sato but one that’s completely empty and in recognising this emptiness and her desire to fill it with love the first drop of happiness falls into Sato’s jar and well, the rest is history really.

Does Sato eventually recover from her catatonic state? Yes, after inevitably mulling over their next course of action Sato decides they need to leave but unintentionally says some careless things to Shio that provokes her. Sato wants to protect this precious little thing in her life but Shio doesn’t just want to be the one being protected, she recognises how hard Sato works and wants to protect her too, wants to do her part in maintaining an equality in their ‘relationship’—she even says “I don’t want to just be a doll” and then shuts herself away in a room to give Sato time to realise her mistakes. Punctuating it with a childish but devastatingly honest “I hate you”, through the door.

It doesn’t take much for some people to start showing cracks.

And how does Sato take that? Not well—in a very dramatic moment Sato begins to lose her grip on reality and her sense of self as everything she worked hard to maintain starts to crumble. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a more accurate depiction of what it feels like when something you thought was a ‘sure thing’ starts to disintegrate, whether it be a relationship or a job or a way of life—these scenes captured that kind of helplessness and beckoning maw of the void better than I’ve ever seen it in an anime. Though thankfully for everyone concerned this drama is short-lived as they reflect on what about each other is important and promise to not only be more honest with each other but share everything which Sato does by confessing the murder as well as her various other sins.

If I had one quibble with the episode it’s that Shio’s dialogue seemed quite advanced for her age, but at the same time it kind of needed to be to progress this part of the story.

Big step. So what are your overall thoughts on this episode and anything else you wanted to add? There’s almost no forward plot momentum in this episode but considering how wild the previous two episodes had been we absolutely needed this time for the characters to assess who they were and who they are going to be moving forward. I loved the use of the glass jar metaphor to symbolise a person’s heart and more than that I loved how intimate and personal this episode felt. More than any time before these felt like people being broken, betrayed and then finding a way to build themselves up again and move forward in life and the way this show did it was pretty much flawless.

It’s hard to believe this is this studio’s first anime, it’s frequently breathtaking.

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Til Death Do Us Part – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 9 Review

Til Death Do Us Part – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 9

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 9.

So what happens in this episode? Arguably the most important thing that’s happened in this show so far.

I take it we’re going straight into spoiler territory right away? Well I’ll mention what happens earlier in the episode first, as it’s somewhat important to the later things. Basically Mitsuboshi tries to convince Asahi to move on and search for Shio in a different prefecture, but he’s not entirely convinced. Later, Asahi tells Shoko what happened but despite this is intending to move-on as it’s the only clue he has. Shoko confesses her feelings for Asahi—those being not quite of love but of admiration for his resolve in trying to find his little sister; she even gives him a hug and a kiss before parting ways.

And after that? For their “anniversary” Sato buys some cake and jewellery to share with Shio and the two have a beautiful and wholesome time together, then Shio suggests they get married as a promise that they will be together—at which point Sato shows the rings she bought at the jewellery store. Enamoured with the idea Shio decides to go out and by some wedding supplies, as they hug on the threshold of the apartment a flash goes off—it’s Shoko and she’s taken a picture of the two embracing with her camera phone.

This moment was like going from absolute happiness to absolute apprehension, so well done.

Oh boy… I’m guessing that doesn’t go down well? Shit. Goes. Down. I’ve never seen an anime shift moods from something so bright and happy to something this, well…

Well what? Are you familiar with the 2013-2015 television series ‘Hannibal’?

I know of it, why is that? She doesn’t eat her does she? Don’t be so grotesque! No the visuals and audio that accompany the sequence as Sato drags Shoko into her apartment is a complete and utter masterpiece—I know I praised the opening scene from the previous episode in last week’s review as being a work-of-art, but this is on a different level. And I feel it’s very reminiscent of the ‘Hannibal’ TV series in that something ~utterly~ horrible happens to a genuinely ‘nice’ character, but I can’t at all be mad at Sato because the scene is so gorgeously constructed and artfully displayed.

You’ve kind of danced around it for a while now, so what happens to Shoko? After a heated discussion (of which we initially here nothing of, instead it’s the visuals accompanied by a haunting spoken-word song) it looks like Sato is going to let Shoko go but as she nears the front door Sato takes her by the mouth with one-hand and drives a kitchen knife into her neck with the other hand. It’s intimate, it’s unflinching and it’s realistic. Shoko digs her nails into the back of Sato’s hands as she desperately claws for life, the blood-drawing scratches on the back of her hand nothing compared to the blood that drains from poor Shoko’s body.

They didn’t pull any punches with the brutal reality of this scene.

Wow… so a confirmed on-screen kill for Sato— And of a named character who we’d gotten to know and care for too! If it seems like I’m a bit ‘removed’ from the events, speaking of them dispassionately, it’s because I am 100% committed to Sato’s journey. Some may watch this show and get angry at Sato for killing an innocent who was just trying to help a friend, some may want some kind of karmic justice for everything she’s perpetrated. Some may even see her as an out-and-out villain with no redeeming qualities, but for me Sato is my anime Hannibal Lecter—just like in that show I could watch her do pretty much any horrible thing and still be rooting for her. The Hannibal TV series gave us an intelligent, savvy, charismatic mass-murderer whose misdeeds were framed in such artistic ways as to make him a figure of adoration and intrigue and even love. Happy Sugar Life does the same, only on an arguably more intimate and low-key scale, and it’s kinda better for it.

Protect at *any* costs has never felt more frightening.

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Filling In The Canvas – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 8 Review

Filling In The Canvas – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 8

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 8.

So what happens in this episode? Well the opening half of the episode is probably one of the most creatively interesting and dynamic character flashbacks I’ve seen from an anime in a long time!

Care to elaborate? I was about to before you interrupted. So, we learn exactly whose apartment Sato and Shio are living in and the true identity of the body in the bin bags that the audience was led to believe was Sato’s aunt—something that was rectified with her appearance last week. Turn’s out the apartment belonged to a reclusive artist who was painting a portrait of Sato. And he seems innocent enough—of course we don’t actually see him in the flashback as a lot of it’s told from his point of view. And all his dialogue is either represent in black and white waveforms that we don’t actually hear—only Sato’s responses, which adds to the overall mystery. This entire flashback is almost like an artsy short-film and I really dug its creative use of silence and off-putting imagery.

Sounds pretentious if you ask me… Maybe it is, but I like that kind of thing so you’re not going to get any complaints from me.

So you said he “seems innocent enough”, what did you mean by that? Well he’s not interested in her sexually, despite her offering multiple times, so instead she just poses for his art. She makes it abundantly clear that something is missing in her life, she wants to know what love is—real love—it’s the thing making her incomplete as a person. And that’s the thing that makes her such an alluring art subject for our nameless artist; he wants to capture the tormented beauty of her “incompleteness”. So when one day Sato arrives at his apartment, frantic, rain-drenched and carrying the unconscious body of Shio—things have changed not only for Shio but for the artist as well.

Random thought: I noticed Sato still has the painting in the closed off room but under a cover, I’m wondering if we’re going to get some ‘Picture of Dorian Gray’ stuff with how the painting *actually* looks after all the misdeeds Sato has committed.

How so? Well Sato has found the love she was looking for in Shio and the artist seeing that she’s now a complete person—he flies into a rage and attempts to strangle Shio for ruining his perfect little broken subject, but of course Sato’s going to protect the one thing that has suddenly brought meaning to her life and so she bashes him to death with his own art easel.

Don’t get between Sato and her Happy Sugar Life.

And that’s only half the episode you say? Yeah, not even half there’s so much more that happens in this episode back in the present day that it’s kind of hard to get it all down succinctly. But I’ll prioritise the main points, basically Taiyo the blonde boy who’s obsessed with Shio after their one brief encounter is roaming the streets not sure what to do with his life—that’s when he runs into the worst person he possibly could in his time of need—Sato. She knows he’s obsessed with Shio and she’s going to use that to her advantage and so another pawn is added to Sato’s game!

What’s he going to have her do? Sato needs Asahi (Shio’s brother who’s been searching for her) to “go away”. At first I assumed she was going to get him to murder the poor boy but she just wants him away from this prefecture and searching elsewhere to eliminate any ‘accidental encounters’ with him.

And how does she make the guy do what she says? Easy, she has what he wants more than anything—Shio. And so if Taiyo does what Sato says he’ll get to see the angel that has been occupying his thoughts.

That’s creepy. Absolutely, and I love it. I love how tangled this web of secrets and lies are getting. Another thing that I thought was truly fantastic and kind of summed up this show’s entire ethos both narratively and aesthetically was a small scene in a diner where Taiyo comments on how beautiful and smart and charismatic Sato is and why is she going to such lengths to have this “unusual” life when she could have a “normal” one. And Sato doesn’t really have an answer beyond what she felt in her heart the first time she saw Shio—that this is the love of her life and that being with her is all that matters, damned be the consequences.

So I take it another top quality episode? Just when I thought it couldn’t get any better than last week—well it’s not quite that quality but it’s damned close. If it can manage to keep up this sheer level of intensity and just all around excellent voice acting, writing, music and visual style then not only is this a contender for the best of the season but one of my favourite anime fullstop!

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Blood Is Sicker Than Water – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 7 Review

Blood Is Sicker Than Water – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 7

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 7.

What happens in this episode? A lot, and by that I mean a lot of forward plot momentum—at least in regard to a very important plot point that’s been dangling unanswered since the very first episode—that being the whereabouts of Sato’s aunt.

Oh? I thought she was dead and in those bloody bags that Sato made her teacher dispose of? The show never said that we were left to infer that from the situation, what with a missing aunt and a relatively nice apartment all to herself it was a pretty safe assumption and indeed the teacher made that assumption to—even going as far as to phone in an anonymous tip to the police about a “bad smell” coming from the place.

So the police are involved now? That’s pretty serious! Indeed, the whole scene involving the police wanting to search her apartment was unbelievably tense, to the point where I was genuinely riveted to see what would happen and how Satō would get out of the situation.

And how does she? Well Satō opens the door and announces she’s home and then rather than Shio’s cute little face greeting her it’s Satō’s aunt! Yep that’s right she’s alive! The police begin their search but immediately something is amiss as Satō’s friend points out in her inner monologue, the place is dank and dark and not at all the kind of place a high-school like Sato would be living! Eventually they get to a locked door where the smell is coming from, the police open it up and find—nothing but a bit of old rubbish, no blood on the walls, no signs of a murder at all!

Oh hi, crazy aunt! Still crazy? Cool, thanks, bye.

Oh, well that’s convenient? What’s going on? Well, it turns out Sato doesn’t actually live here with her aunt, she lives nine floors up on the 12^th floor, but the police and Sato’s friend and her teacher who’s been spying from a distance don’t need to know that, now do they?

Ah… clever girl. So can we talk about Sato’s aunt a little more? I’m glad you brought it up, her scene in the episode is probably one of the most entertainingly twisted and disturbed things I’ve seen in this anime! Basically what happens is as the police officers are leaving Sato’s aunt creeps up to the police officer and starts ‘analysing’ him, saying stuff like “you’ve always wanted to be a police officer, ever since you were a boy, but being such a good boy always made you lonely, you’re still lonely aren’t you”. Then she starts seducing him, saying he can do whatever he wants to her, hit her, touch her, have sex with her—whatever he wants, because that’s what she’s best at doing receiving and making people feel better. She literally mounts the guy before his female partner intervenes at which point she offers herself to her too!

What’s that expression? “Don’t stick your dick in crazy”? Still would, TBH…

Yikes, that’s a bit confrontational. And once again it’s Sato’s friend—who has been watching the whole time, who sums it up perfectly with her inner monologue, “her voice is kind but it’s creepy too and sticks in my head”. Needless to say that Sato’s aunt has some serious problems but now that she’s official ‘not dead’ it’ll be interesting to see what part she’ll play in this story.

Anything else you wanted to add? There’s very little of Sato’s ‘Happy Sugar Life’ (i.e. time spent with Shio) and it’s kind of illuminating because it goes to show how intrinsic those moments of pure, undiluted joy are absolutely essential to Sato’s mental well-being because even spending the 10 or so minutes we do spend with Sato’s aunt is pretty harrowing for all involved—I can’t imagine what kind of life Sato must have had spending every day, day after day with that woman. The more we understand about a person’s upbringing, what they went through, the more it makes seemingly evil deeds like kidnapping a minor and killing random people who get in the way all the more fathomable—and that in itself is scary.

I could have just filled this review of pictures of Sato’s aunt, she’s very photogenic, oh and crazy, did I mention crazy?

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

Past, Present and Future Tension – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 6 Review

Past, Present and Future Tension – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 6

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 6.

So what’s this episode about? You know… there’s something just so enthralling, so intoxicating about watching an evil genius at work—all the moreso from the outside, knowing that the gears in their head are constantly turning, forming, manipulating like a chess grandmaster except the pieces they’re moving around are people and with each move another life could be stolen—or snuffed out completely.

Okay… that was mildly creepy… mind explaining what all that was about? I’m just in awe of Sato’s character in this show. Unlike previous episodes which put us square into Sato’s mind to allow us to hear her inner-most thoughts and the dark machinations she’s planning this episode instead has us here what’s in the head of the people around her as they seek to figure out what exactly is going on in the life of this mysterious, enigmatic and charismatic girl.

You really have a crush on her don’t you? Kinda, yeah. I said before in a previous review of this show—I never understood people’s fascination with serial killers and psychopaths—until now. Sato is just so inherently interesting.

Right, now that you’re quite done fawning over her can we talk about what ~actually~ happens in the episode? Spoil sport. So as I briefly mentioned above this episode is less about Sato and Shio and more about the people around her who are having to contend with this ‘force of nature’ that is Sato. Her work colleague Shouko (not the one who confessed last week, but the only ~normal~ character in the show) has started communicating with Shio’s bedraggled brother Asahi, feeding him and getting to know him better—like one would a stray cat. We also get to know a little bit about Asahi’s previous home life and it’s exactly as horrible and messed up as we thought—his father was a drunk who beat his wife, so she and Sato move out while Asahi stayed at home and copped the full brunt of the beatings in order to protect his mother and sister.

Dark, but I guess that’s expected given the show. Anything else? Indeed. Sato’s teacher is all but convinced the “trash” she had him dispose of was the dead body of her aunt and is committed to catching her out—if only to see the look on her face (did I mention he’s messed up too? Pretty sure I did). Also my favourite scene of the episode is when Shouko and Sato go out to lunch together and Shouko persists at inserting herself into Sato’s life—wanting to be able to help and support her however she can. The way Sato manipulates Shouko by appealing to her people-pleasing tendencies as well as saying that she’s her “best friend” is kind of chilling. But the big question is whether Shouko is fully fooled by Sato or if this is just a cunning ploy to learn whether Sato has kidnapped Shio like Taiyou insists.

So where does this leave us come the end of the episode? It’ll be interesting whether Sato lets Shouko into her ‘Happy Sugar Life’ as we’re led to believe she will at the end of the episode or whether Shouko’s going to end up in three bloody bags like her dear old aunt. Either way I’m hyped for the next episode!

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!

The Bitter Kiss – ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 5 Review

The Bitter Kiss – An Anime QandA Review of ‘Happy Sugar Life’ Episode 5

What’s the show? Happy Sugar Life, Episode 5.

So how are things in this twisted corner of the anime world this week? Great! Well not so much for our characters—in fact everyone is doing it tough in this episode.

Well let’s start with our protagonist? What’s causing her grief? Well Satō senses something is wrong with Shio because she’s not acting like her cute bubbly-self—it’s subtle but she knows somethings wrong. Meanwhile at work, her female co-worker admits to being infatuated with her—like to a terrifying degree (sniffing her clothes, buying the same underwear and socks—the usual stalker shtick).

If someone looks at you with this face, run fast run far.

Yikes! So what does she do to get her to back off? She doesn’t kill her, does she? That was my initial expectation but no she does something unexpected—and unexpectedly brilliant too. She kisses her, and not just a peck but full on tongue kiss—followed up with a confession of love of her own. And in doing so she’s not only disarmed her potentially dangerous stalker but has her completely under her thumb. Satō doesn’t really love her of course, she’s just playing her and it’s such a brilliant play too. It’s terrifying how smart Satō is but it seems that Satō’s dearly deceased aunt deserves some of the praise/blame as it’s her words echoing in her mind. Every part of this girl is a weapon under the right circumstances.

It’d be romantic if it wasn’t so messed up!

And what’s wrong with Shio? Well as it turns out Shio feels bad for lying about not talking to anyone when she ‘escaped’ last episode and she’s worried that God is “punishing” her for lying. But Satō doesn’t have any comforting words for the love of her life because she too is wracked with guilt over the actions that have led to here—not the murders and threats mind you—but having falsely confessed her love to someone else. She admits this much to Shio, expecting the worse, but of course Satō forgives her—she is her better family after all.

So another Happy Sugar Life? For the moment, though Mitsuboshi—our Shio obsessed guy with her wanted posters all over his walls is ~plotting~ to get Shio back off of Satō and is spreading his dissent to others—albeit poorly, but he’s sowing the seeds all the same. In any given episode it feels like Satō’s “Happy Sugar Life” could crumble at a moments notice and it’s that kind of underlying tension that pervades the series and makes even the sweetest moments reek with acrid apprehension—and that’s absolutely a compliment. I can’t state enough how much I enjoy this show in every facet.

Speaking of a crazy person… oh wait, everyone in this show is crazy.

Previous Happy Sugar Life Reviews:

A Sweet Treat With A Dark Centre – Episode 1 Review
Contains Traces of Nuts – Episode 2 Review
Bitter Sweet Sympathy – Episode 3 Review
Closeted Secrets – Episode 4 Review

If you liked my post and want to support my content, please consider supporting my Patreon page, or donating by buying me a coffee on Ko-fi!