Anne Happy Review: Cute Girls, Bad Luck, and Yuri

Anne Happy is a slice-of-life comedy about five girls who have extraordinarily bad luck. Because of their terrible luck, the five characters are enrolled in a “Happiness Class” that is supposed to help them with their misfortune. However, instead of offering therapy, this class offers utterly insane interesting activities for the girls to participate in, making their already odd lives even crazier.

Out of the group of characters, Hanako has the worst luck, and experiences misfortune in every sense of the word- frequently falling into rivers and constantly being mauled by seemingly innocent animals. Botan has incredibly poor health to the point where it is ridiculous (and funny). She regularly has fainting spells after walking short distances or breaks a bone by doing the most mundane of tasks, such as shaking hands. There are also Hibiki and Ren. Hibiki has horrible navigational skills and easily gets lost, even in places she frequents the most, like school. Ren, on the other hand, has female animals constantly fawning over her because they are attracted to her charm. Then there is Hibari, the main character, and also the most interesting character in my opinion. Her misfortune takes the form of love because she is in love with… a construction site sign. No, I did not type that incorrectly. Hibari visits this sign almost every day and pines for it, despite the fact that is a unrequited and inanimate love.

Here are the characters displayed in the order they were mentioned:

Hanako succumbing to her bad luck.

Botan doubled over in pain.

Hibiki (right) and Ren (left) in class.

Hibari huddled around her beloved sign.

POSITIVES

All of the characters just mentioned are the strongest aspect of Anne Happy. They all have adorable character designs and great personalities (except for maybe Hibiki who can be very bratty at times). I love the fact they all have rotten luck and that we get to follow them through their misfortune-ridden lives. We get to witness all of the crazy things they go through on a daily basis and, frankly, it is funny. I like that they have different kinds of luck; this helps to make things less redundant. You never know what sort of disaster is going to befall them next. When catastrophe does strike, it is usually in a comical manner and the characters  struggle through it while in chibi form, giving an extra cutesy vibe to the already adorable atmosphere. The constant chibi portrayals were one of my favorite things about the show’s animation. Overall, the animation gives a unique feeling to the show. One thing that stood out to me was the use of watercolor. The background uses beautiful pastel colors and water color brush marks. Another aspect, although quite minute, was the characters’ hair, especially Hibari’s. If you look closely, her hair is two shades of purple, but it is blended so well that it is hard to notice. This attention to detail shows much effort the animators put into this show.

This picture shows the chibiness of the characters and the use of water color in the background.

Can you see the different shades of purple in her hair?

NEGATIVES

Now onto the negatives. Firstly, I have to point out that Timothy, a mechanical bunny robot and the mascot of the show, was extremely annoying, in my opinion. Some people may think he is cute, and I admit that appearance-wise he is adorable. However, his squeaky voice grated my ears and I found his personality to be more irritating than it was funny. I enjoyed the episodes when he wasn’t around and whenever he showed up, I sighed. Maybe this sounds harsh, but I think my real issue with Timothy was that whenever he was around, the show focused on him instead of the characters.

That was my main issue with the show: the story. It is a slice of life anime, meaning that, instead of a clear-cut story, the show is shown through small snapshots of the characters’ lives as they go through their daily routines. Because of this, most SOL anime have little, if any, story or plot. Anne Happy is much the same. However, instead of really focusing on the girls’ everyday lives, it focuses their experiences in the insane “Happiness Class.” This class, as I mentioned earlier, does all kind of ludicrous things to make the students happier. Some highlights include a life-size board game, a virtual casino, and a game of tag that was more like a man hunt.

Seeing what sort of silly scenario the class had to go through was entertaining, but I think the show focused too much on the spontaneity of the “Happiness Class.” I personally would have liked to have learned more about the characters as people. Was there a reason for their bad luck? How did their bad luck affect their families and friends? How do the girls react to the constant stream of misfortune that seems to follow them? Does Hibari ever find a love outside of a sign post? This would have been much more interesting to explore than rapping rabbits, although Timothy’s rap is pretty awesome (see below).

YURI

Although I will never review an anime just based on its yuri content, it is always a welcomed and positive addition in my eyes. While it is not entirely yuri-based, Anne Happy definitely had some yuri- and I loved it. The most yuriish moments are between Hibiki and Ren. As I said earlier, Ren attracts female animals because of her charm. However, it isn’t just nonhuman species that like her. Human females are attracted to her as well, including Hibiki. She even admits to being in love with Ren! As the series goes on, a lot of hints about Hibiki’s feelings for Ren are thrown in, although their relationship is never 100% confirmed as real like in many yuri series. I couldn’t help but take the bait myself, though.

You could also argue that there could be some yuri chemistry between Hibari, Hanako, and Botan, though it is much more subtle. If you want heavy yuri, you would need to look elsewhere, but if you are interested in adorable shojou ai, I definitely recommend Anne Happy for a cute yuri fix.

Alluring, androgynous Ren tenderly holding a lovestruck Hibiki.

Despite some of its flaws, I really enjoyed Anne Happy’s concept, animation, yuri, and its adorable and unique take on slice of life. Overall, I would give it an 8 out of 10. Cute girl shows don’t always get the attention they deserve, so I definitely recommend this to anyone who wants to spread the love of cute girls and yuri !

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