Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Happy Sugar Life
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings
Posts: 1008 |
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Hm, this episode does seem to confirm that Satou's aunt told Shoko where Satou really was. Her somehow knowing that it was her that Satou killed does lend additional credence to that. Wonder if Satou realized that too and if it just added fuel to Satou's resentment of her, or maybe at this point she doesn't care.
There one thing I wish the anime kept, and that's the spoiler[scene where instead of going straight to what he assumes is Satou's apartment, Mitsuboshi instead confronts Asahi to intimidate him into backing off, and it's revealed that not only did Asahi not actually knock him unconscious (he instead jumped out and faked a swing, startling Mitsuboshi, making him trip and hit his head), even commiting violence in self-defense makes him sick, and the threats he made against him were only to scare him.] (Spoilered in case anyone wants to check out the manga later, otherwise feel free to read) It's a splendid bit of characterization for Asahi that shows, in spite of all that he's suffered through and how damaged he's been by his father's abuse, he's not quite as far gone as other characters. Although what has me curious if this will follow the manga all the way to the end of it's run. The manga is, according to Wikipedia anyway, still ongoing, although I'm not sure what that means for the anime. |
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Shiflan
 Posts: 418 |
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11 was an excellent episode. I am very much looking forward to 12.
....I couldn't help myself laughing when that happened. Poor Mitsuboshi! I'm not sure there is enough therapy in the world for him now! |
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Shiflan
Posts: 418 |
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Agreed. It really bugs me when important scenes like that are left out, especially when they are short enough that it's no real trouble to fit them in. I can see omitting lengthy side-arcs or things which aren't important to the story, but that's a great bit of characterization and it would have been short enough to leave in. |
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jenthehen
 Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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I thought this show was just going to be an exploitative gory grimdark Sh*tshow (which I was totally on board for...), but I've been pleasantly surprised. Despite how much it implies, it's not actually THAT gory - it FEELS like it is, but it isn't, which is a very good technique (imply more than is shown). It's had some great true horror movie moments and some decently subtle character portrayals. It's really well done and I'm looking forward to the last episode!
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jenthehen
Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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This was anime of the season for me. I can’t help but feel like Theron kinda missed the most defining moment (to me at least) - where, while they are falling to a “lovers suicide death” scenario, Satou has a moment of clarity, realizing as best as she can that how she loves Shio is “more” and decides to shift their positions and shield Shio from the fall (which ends up saving her life).
It cements their relationship as a more familial mother/child one as opposed to all the wedding vows nonsense they’d been play acting before. Due to Satou’s aunt, Satou was conflating romantic and familial love until she sort of realizes there’s a difference just before her death. Unfortunately, Shio seems left with some pretty messed up ideas from the experience. My favorite part was the aunt - “Hello! It was me!” lol |
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TheOtakuX
 Posts: 344 Location: Wooster, Ohio |
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This is the first show I can remember in a long time that had me hoping a character would die. After Satou killed Shoko, I wanted to see her dead.
Strangest character to me in this show was Satou's aunt. She wasn't a good person, considering she was perfectly willing to help Satou cover her crimes and spoiler[didn't seem to think anything of raping Mistuboshi], but she was somehow hard to hate. Her happily admitting to the arson on the news was surprisingly cute for this show. Still can't get over Shoko's death, though. That's the only time something happened in an anime that actually messed me up. I was out of it for a couple days over that. |
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Shiflan
Posts: 418 |
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Agreed! The last episode did a remarkable job of tying up loose ends. Plus, I really enjoy these shows where there's no clear-cut "good guy" or "bad guy" and rather the different characters have aspects of their character which are both good and evil. |
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Sulfy
 Posts: 77 |
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I was quite pleased with Shio's stand against her older brother, as it was a strong affirmation that the past events were shitty, but she managed to stand up again (with the assistance of Satou). Overall, I liked the show well enough; it's absolutely messed up in many ways, but it was pretty decent.
I take it the manga (which is apparently still running) continues on from here? Or was the ending an anime-only adaptation? |
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings
Posts: 1008 |
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The aftermath of the fall was easily the most interesting part of this episode. Between the sound of glass shattering during the impact (representing Shio's "jar" breaking), Shio no longer understanding what love is because of Satou's last minute decision, plus the very deliberate comparison to Satou, I think Shio is being unintentionally set on a very unhealthy and likely self-destructive path here. I think Theron might've glossed over what was no doubt meant to display the perpetuation of the cycle of toxicity and abuse that destroyed Shio's family to begin with, even though it was likely the opposite of what she had in mind when Satou protected her.
Honestly, I think it's a shame this completely went under the radar this season, it was a compelling, if messy, story of messed up or damaged people finding ways to cope with themselves. Hope another person does a normal review if this later on for more exposure. On the other hand, if the only discussion that comes out of this series is "HSL is trying to promote pedophilia!" and "Pedophilia is good and healthy actually!!!" maybe it's better no one else knows about it. |
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ThatGuyWhoLikesThings
Posts: 1008 |
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The anime almost completely caught up to the manga, so the ending was definitely anime original. Or maybe the manga will end similarly, who knows. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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I don't find myself quite as hesitant as Theron here. I don't think a series like this avoids that pitfall of claiming anything is justifiable for love, given that most series have no problem whatsoever stumbling down that path. With a much more rosier portrayal, Grancrest War, for one, made it seem like it was no big deal that a world went to war because some prince and princess couldn't get over the hurdle of "I love you" with enough gusto to make the first landing stick.
I do think that the show was a bit campy. The plotting though was well thought out, if not anything particularly revolutionary. But, as I alluded to earlier, I give the show credit for not settling for some sort of happy ending where things magically work out and there is some blank affirmation of the power of love, as there was ample room for the show to track that path, and very few other series would do otherwise. As for the aunt, I think her hook with most is that she is easily the worst offender relative to screen time (others may have been worse, but they were all wither dead or relegated to relatively brief flashbacks), but she was absolutely unrepentant about it. She makes no defenses to anything she has done to mentally scar and twist her niece. Has no qualms about propositioning a police officer, in front of his partner, using that partner as a foil to do it. And at the end of the day is totally uncaring about whatever punishment is coming her way for everything an investigation of her might uncover, probably because she'd derive masochistic pleasure from it. |
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TheOtakuX
Posts: 344 Location: Wooster, Ohio |
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Thing is, did she do anything illegal until the end? While the things she did weren't exactly good, I don't think she was actually criminal until the arson. Well, the Mitsuboshi thing, but that was after she started helping Satou. Though the fact she did assaulted him so readily could imply she's done that to others in the past. |
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jenthehen
Posts: 835 Location: Cincinnati, Ohio |
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Raping Mitsuboshi kinda goes against her MO, though, right? He definitely did not desire her in any way, so you'd think she wouldn't do anything to him. I'm guessing it was just a part of helping Satou get away - since he was trying to thwart her. It definitely doesn't seem like she was the type to seek out people to rape, but rather let others do whatever they wanted to her. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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I was trying to be particularly careful with my language, which is why I chose "offender" and not criminal, and limited it by screen time. There are cold killers among the unseen adults of the show, but they're unseen. And yes, Satou is indeed a murderer. But the aunt is a rapist, and prior to that unabashedly, unashamedly, let a parade of men who are alluded to being not particularly upstanding individuals into the home she shared with a little girl, exposing that young child to any number of obscene activity. It's not arson or murder, but she is definitely as much responsible for how twisted a person Satou became as any decisions Satou herself made. Not excusing Satou's choices - the show makes it relatively clear Satou fully understood her own actions and how wrong they might be - but when you're raised in an environment like that, you're bound to end up being a pretty messed up individual. Thus, I believe the aunt's actions have had a farther reaching effect than almost anyone else's individual acts seen in this show. I won't say she definitely has killed or set fires or what have you before, but unless we subscribe to the idea that she was just altogether that far out there, or that the writers were particularly aloof to following through on her characterization, I think it's safe to assume none of her crimes in the final episodes were first time offenses for her. Like jenthehen pointed out, raping Mitsuboshi would appear to be outside of her usual MO, but not entirely. The framing I got of her character, particularly in the scene with the cops, was that she is a sadomasochist who preys on those with weak self-esteem. She can get off on violence from either extreme, but finds it easier to elicit those reactions in others, or find those willing to express themselves violently, than doing so herself. If they were willing, great. If they weren't, like the young male cop, she would try to entice them. If that still didn't work, and they were a viable target, you probably get what happened to Mitsuboshi. Stepping outside the facts of the story a moment, it is likely she was abused as a child. She was likely not very different from Shio probably. She was likely never in any relationship where she could have any control over the other party except when it was someone younger than her, i.e, a younger boy. Pair that with her craving for affection, and her warped view of how love can or should be expressed, I don't think it's all that far out of possibility that she raped other young boys and got her kicks from the violent act itself, but probably found it just as easy, or easier, to find insecure men who would act out violent fantasies on her. |
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rizuchan
 Posts: 975 Location: Kansas |
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I thought this was mostly a good ending for this show, except for two details. For one, why the heck did Satou take her ring off anyway? Maybe the show was just trying to make sure that we caught that she took it off, but the way it was framed made me think, at the time, that she was making a point of taking it off for some reason. But that she took it off at all seems out of character.
But even more out of character to me was Shio suggesting that they die together? I know they were cornered, but it seemed really weird that she would suggest that right after a couple of big speeches on how she was going to live her own life and whatnot. I do agree that it's too bad this show went under the radar for a lot of people this season. I know the content is (understandably) too much for a lot of people, but I think once you get past the initial shock value of "it's a loli yuri show (but not really)", it was a lot of fun. |
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