Happy Sugar Life

Episode 11

After delivering a couple of powerhouse episodes in a row, Happy Sugar Life eases off the throttle as it sets up for next week's finale. That's not to say that there isn't a good deal of intensity in this episode, but its explorations of what love means and how Satou's heart is structured feel like they're just rehashing ground that the series has satisfactorily covered in earlier episodes. Of course, that's all without getting into a final scene that's bound to raise a fuss.

At the end of last episode, things seemed to be setting up for Asahi to confront Satou over Shio. The picture of Shio being happy with Satou sends him over the edge, as it destroys what had been the foundation for his endurance so far: happily reuniting with Shio. Seeing him drag around a metal bat set the stage for his attitude and intent, with an impressively chilling sound effect hammering the danger home. However, trying to threaten Mitsuboshi was probably not his brightest idea, as he's currently unreliable unless Shio is being dangled in front of him, and Mitsuboshi refusing to cooperate once he has Satou's supposed address effectively takes him out of the picture barring random chance. Mitsuboshi then gets taken out himself by encountering his ultimate nemesis in this situation: Satou's aunt. (In a series full of crazy people, the aunt still takes the cake.) In other words, the story seems to be implying that only those who are comfortable in their particular brand of love – whether crazy or not – get to be happy. And was there a hint dropped in there that the police officer she practically assaulted may have come back off-duty?

Satou's conversation with her aunt is also interesting. Flashbacks suggest that the aunt has always been loony, rather than becoming that way through abuse, and perhaps she's even more of a masochist than originally implied. But she's also one of the few people who wouldn't have blinked at Satou confessing to having killed someone over Shio; ”if it's over love, anything goes” seems to be her attitude. Satou's bitterness over the conversation and having any kind of interaction with her is what makes this scene interesting, though. She considers her aunt responsible for how screwed up she is, though I have to wonder if Satou also isn't looking to cast blame. Anyway, the aunt's help explains how Shoko's body will be dealt with, and given what Satou says this episode, I now have to wonder if the fire we see in the series' opening scene wasn't intended to make it look like Satou, and not Shoko, had died in the fire. Anyone who's watched any forensic investigation shows knows that burning the body wouldn't necessarily hide that she had died from stab wounds, but Satou might not know that. So does this mean that a fire meant to be set intentionally instead happened accidentally, thus trapping Satou and Shio in the apparent suicide scenario?

We'll find out about that next episode. This one reveals where the rings that both girls are wearing come into the picture, ending with wedding vows and a kiss on the lips. Probably no greater meaning than the affirmation of the pact between them was intended, as Satou's love has been pure and platonic enough through the series' run, but that's a charged enough scene to raise some eyebrows. All that's left now is to make the final connections to where we know this story will end.

Rating: B

Happy Sugar Life is currently streaming on Amazon Prime.