Forum - View topicThis Week in Anime - What the Hell is Happening in Happy Sugar Life?
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Blanchimont
 Posts: 3588 Location: Finland |
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spoiler[You'll lose your finger.] Yeah, it gets even crazier. Might have been better to have this discussion a few episodes down the road... 
Last edited by Blanchimont on Thu Aug 30, 2018 1:38 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Wtv
Posts: 157 |
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I guess the point was missed, but HSL is basically a story about love. Every character has a different perspective of love that clashes with Satou. Satou herself believes her love is purer because it's not sexual. I'll agree this theme will become more evident in the upcoming episodes, but it was always there.
By the way, Suu-chan's role was to show how Satou sees lying about love a crime, while she doesn't see murder as one. I hardly see how that was useless to the story. |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2062 |
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Seconded. That’s pretty much what was portrayed in the manga and it’s the same in the anime. While I understand that it can be polarizing, I’ll simply say that the show has more going for it than what the people in this article are saying about it.
Yeah, I’m a little surprised at how that went past the people in this article and I also don’t view it as useless. |
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rizuchan
 Posts: 980 Location: Kansas |
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Honestly I think one of the biggest problems with HSL right off the bat was that everyone made the assumption that it was going to be (and was marketed as?) a yuri show, so when it turned out that Shio was like 5 or whatever, people were repulsed off the bat at the idea of a "loli yuri show" and it's... really not.
At this point, we don't have any reason to believe that Satou is sexually attracted to Shio at all. She has such a screwed up perception of love that she has trouble differentiating familial love and romantic love. So yeah, she's a violent psychopath, kidnapper and maybe a murderer, but she probably isn't a child molester, for what that's worth. Don't get me wrong, they're obviously playing up the yuri undertones, but I think marketing it as such did this show a disservice. I think there are people who would otherwise enjoy the shock value of this show that draw the line at the idea of child molester MC. And on a similar note, I think it's worth mentioning that the characters, apart from Satou somewhat, are all over-the-top, non-human monsters for a reason - they have to be worse than Satou to put her in a good light. And then the show can presumably kill/do terrible things to these characters without making the viewer feel bad about it. And yeah, on the one hand, I'm a little disappointed that we're spending so much time inside the heads of characters that barely resemble people, but I think it's just best to accept that we're not getting a character study on victims of abuse here. To be clear, I'm not saying, "this is a gem that more people should watch if they'd just get over the loli stuff". Because it's not a gem by any means, and it's full of some pretty terrible content. But I do find it to be very entertaining, like a reality show full of terrible people crossed with a horror suspense flick, and I look forward to watching it go deeper every week. |
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2500 Location: United States |
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Good thing I never wanted to watch this show from the start. Just the idea of a teenager kidnapping a little kid, and everyone else practically lusting over the kid, and everybody being as ridiculously over the top and creepy as possible, turned me off to it entirely. Plus, while I don't consider myself a feminist, and I especially don't like the rabid feminists on Tumblr who go apeshit over every little thing, even the most innocent stuff, this article about HSL's first episode does sum up most of my feelings about the show as a whole better than I could do myself.
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TarsTarkas
 Posts: 5959 Location: Virginia, United States |
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There are a lot of assumptions being made about this show.
Is Satou an actual kidnapper? Did she really kidnap Shio? Personally, I think Shio most likely fell into Satou's hands, rather than Satou taking her by force. I mean look at Shio's family, the only sane one is her brother and he is a basket case. Is Satou a murderer? You know, self defense doesn't make you a murderer. And the next episode preview seems to indicate that the owner/renter of that apartment might have deserved his fate. I don't believe this show ever intended to be a social story or commentary on the effects of domestic abuse and sexual abuse. Which makes me glad, cause if I wanted to see that stuff I can watch Dateline or 20/20. The over-the-topness is great by me, it is one of the reasons why I love anime. They are willing to go there. Sure it is not everyone's cup of tea, but it is mine. |
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v1cious
 Posts: 6235 Location: Houston, TX |
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I'm enjoying this show more than I thought I would. Aside from "Planet With", this is my favorite new anime of the summer.
What about the other two people she killed? And that's just what we know of. Last edited by v1cious on Thu Aug 30, 2018 5:02 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Ampharos
 Posts: 197 Location: New Jersey |
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As someone who survived a rather abusive adolescence, I like the idea of the show as sort of presenting all the emotions survivors deal with, cranked up to eleven. I feel like there IS some not-too-shabby commentary on abuse and what it can do to people buried beneath the over-the-top stuff. It isn't subtle or especially complex, but it resonates with me in a weird way. The last episode in particular hit home spoiler[ when it implied Satou doesn't really know what a true friendship is in part due to her upbringing. ] I get the criticisms of nobody seeming like a real human being, but if you view it through the eyes of the characters who have endured horrific things and see everyone as monsters it makes more sense. Granted, the show doesn't present from only one POV, so this explanation probably won't pass muster for some.
Obviously this isn't me saying that every abuse survivor should watch it—it would likely retraumatize some and infuriate others—but I've gotten more than just gory, creepy entertainment out of it. My biggest concern is that they might not find a way to wrap it up satisfyingly in five more episodes. |
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lossthief
ANN Reviewer
 Posts: 1440 |
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I mean, did you forget the part where she has literally imprisoned Shio inside that apartment? Even if she didn't literally break into Shio's mom's place and run off with her, she's pretty clearly not an actual safe guardian regardless of if her actions fit the exact legal definition of kidnapping.
"Self Defense" goes as far as fighting off/incapacitating the guys who were attacking Shio. It doesn't include gouging their eyes out after they were unconscious. She was also ready to crack Asahi open with a crowbar for the crime of...reciting the same vows she shares with Shio? Girl's pretty obviously cool with killing people for any perceived threat, regardless of any connection to reality. |
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5959 Location: Virginia, United States |
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Weren't they going to rape Shio, and probably do the same or worse to Satou when she stepped in. I would call that self defense. If she is the murderer everyone is calling her, then why aren't the teacher and Taiyō dead. They are clear and present dangers to her Happy Sugar Life. Perhaps I am wrong, but she seems to have a clear line on when death is supposed to be on the table. |
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Wtv
Posts: 157 |
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You're right about the spoiler. The manga makes it clear, and it was the intention of lastest episode, but I guess it's hard to put it in, even if it's a good adaptation. I'm curious about the next episodes because the pacing has been in point with the manga so far, but there's way more material than they can fit in 5 episodes. Giving the preview, I guess they're rushing some things. Kinda hoped this would get another season to properly close it, but that's unlikely to happen. About Satou being a killer or not, she clearly doesn't like killing and only does it when necessary, which is pretty smart. By the way, the gouged eyes aren't show in the manga and it wasn't clear if it was just a rumour. spoiler[Next episodes should challenge what people think about her though, but it's definitely interesting.] |
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Venti
Posts: 9 |
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While I do enjoy the This Week in Anime collumns, I personally would like to see a little bit more difference in opinions between whichever two people are doing it that week, especially for a divisive show like Happy Sugar Life, as it generally seems to either be constant praise or constant bashing from both writers, with there almost never being a disagreement about whether or not they liked the show.
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TarsTarkas
Posts: 5959 Location: Virginia, United States |
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@lossthief
We are probably not going to agree totally. But technically, you are totally right. Child Services needs to arrest Shio and Asahi and send them off to the Mental Hospital in the middle of nowhere. Months and/or years later they can spend the reminder of their non-adult life in an orphanage. Most likely they will be not be together during that time. Personally, I have a very poor opinion on Child Services, mental hospitals, and orphanages. Yes, Satou could have called the police, but then the police would be asking too many questions. Even if Shio wasn't in the picture, Satou would probably be detained, picked up by Child Services, sent to a Mental Hospital, and then to an orphanage. Effectively losing the freedom she now has. Considering Satou's situation, she made the right choice. I have no sympathy for would be child rapists, and whom would have probably killed them both anyway after abusing them. Considering both set of abuse victims have no family to take care of them, I have no problem with them finding what ever little happiness they can find. Is it problematic, yeah. Is it political correct, no. Events may prove me wrong later, especially since we haven't yet heard Shio's story. |
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Joshua Zarate
Posts: 2062 |
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I personally don’t think it will turn out like that. (Note that this is due to me thinking that this series may eventually get more than 12 episodes). Up to this point, some things from the manga only simply got moved around a bit in the anime likely to not have the pacing feel off and I believe the same is happening for episode 8. Unless the anime goes the original content route, chapters 23-24 are what it looks to me to be the stopping point by the end of this current run and considering that 17 chapters have already been adapted, I ultimately don’t think that it will be rushed. Just my two cents. |
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Shiflan
 Posts: 418 |
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I'm enjoying HSL quite a lot. I think it is a very interesting new angle on abusive families and relationships.
We can sit back and talk about how exaggerated the characters are and how things are "dialed up to 11" with all sorts of insane behavior going on...we sit back and chuckle and say wow, aren't these characters totally insane.....but the more you think about it the more you realize that an awful lot of the things in the show aren't too far off from reality. Clearly not everyone runs around spoiler[gouging out the eyes of some random street thugs] because they happened to catch a glimpse of you, but I'm sure everyone knows someone who might have been in an abusive relationship, suffered abuse at the hands of parents or relatives, or may have firsthand experience with all of that. And I'm sure everyone has lied about something to friends or coworkers in order to keep secrets. It's somewhat humbling to go from the person wagging their finger and talking about how nuts these characters are only to have the realization that you yourself share some of those same traits (albeit, of course, on a far far lower level). Sometimes it takes turning it up to 11 to realize the "1s" if that makes any sense. I am very interested to see how the show will play out. I'm specifically interested in seeing how things will work out with Shio because despite the fact that we've seen our share of perverts in the show thus far, not a single one of them seems to be after Shio in a sexual manner. I'm curious just exactly what role she plays because it just doesn't seem to make sense that everybody is after her because of some kind of loli lust. That sort of thing has been conspicuously absent given how far they are willing to go with the violence angle. There is surely something deeper going on here and I'm interested to see what that will become. |
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