Makoto Okazaki is an unpopular high school student who is frequently bullied by some of his classmates, being forced to act as their errand boy. But his life drastically changes one night when he is attacked by a mysterious girl, who plunges her teeth into his neck and begins drinking his blood. Upon satisfying her craving, she offers Makoto a simple choice: become like her or die.
When he wakes up in a hospital after his encounter, Makoto is unable to deal with the blindingly bright lights and finds that water cannot quench his growing thirst…
, an author who has learned to write stories by reading voraciously classics of both Japanese and Western literature, is now known to all, and
Color Of Happiness 10
Reading this work, the reader is faced with a strongly metaphorical story, existentialist themes disguised by supernatural, fantastic, and clearly pop concepts.
With a sentence? A manga about vampires. A genre so widespread, I dare say abused, so much so that it has a dedicated section in bookstores. Over the years, the vampire theme has reached and conquered every form of art. Starting with nineteenth-century poems such as
, since in most of these works the vampire theme is used as a narrative device, for example to make social satire.
Three Days Of Happiness: Chapter 16
Is perfectly aware of how vampire works today are purely the prerogative of the mass, of mainstream entertainment. Just think of television series such as
Skillfully exploits this element to reach an undoubtedly wider audience, which for an author results in having fewer problems and less disputes with publishers regarding the publication of a work, especially compared to purely realistic, “niche” works, such as
Reveals the symbolism behind his choice to write a manga about vampires. I will briefly transcribe the most significant passages of the aforementioned interview:
Happiness Manga Review: Life Sucks But Being A Vampire Sucks
The narration of my stories is always the same, they start with a quiet daily life which gradually deforms to the point of no return. Everyday life does not change due to a specific accident, he says. It is misshapen from the start. We don’t realize it, because we refuse to admit it. [Fantasy is] a way of expressing the problems of reality. In Happiness, the figure of the vampire highlights the theme of rejection from society, and through Boku wa Mari no naka, I wanted to express the repression of his own sexuality, an inner heartbreak. I think that normality is an illusion, and to think of oneself as a normal or an average person is in itself monstrous and violent. Each human being is a minority, with their own characteristics and a share of individuality that is impossible to share.Oshimi Shuzo
, indeed, they must be considered as the fundamental premise at the basis of the entire work. Once this is ascertained, it remains much easier to correctly interpret
‘s manga. Starting with how the author represents vampires in his story. Usually, both in folklore and in fantasy works, vampires can be killed either by piercing their hearts with a stake, or by beheading them. In
Days Of Halloween] Happiness Vol. 1 Review • Aipt
This is easily understood thanks to two events in particular present in the manga. The first is Yūki’s death. In fact, after Sakurane devours his brain, Yūki’s consciousness/soul is trapped in the body of the leader of the cult, thus preventing him from regenerating and in fact killing him. The second scene is even more explicit. After Nora is dissected, her brain is kept intact in a container, Okazaki manages to perceive her voice and takes it with her. In the finale of the manga it is shown how Nora is slowly regenerating. The brain therefore as a primary organ, a symbolic choice because as the author himself says vampirism is the metaphor of the “rejection of society”, an existentialist theme, a thought, therefore mental, of the brain precisely.
Characters, or rather, on the condition of their lives before the advent of the “vampire disease”. Makoto, Yūki, Gosho, Shiraishi, or Sakurane … is it really possible to claim that they had a “normal” life before coming into contact with vampires? The answer is self-evident: no, not even remotely. This is also an important premise for understanding the message of this manga.
‘s writing. First of all, the author uses a choral structure for the first time for drafting the plot. In fact, the narrative does not focus on a single protagonist, but continually jumps between the points of view of the several characters that make up the cast of the manga.
Happiness, Volume 4 By Shuzo Oshimi, Paperback
An undoubtedly important departure from his previous works. A departure that does not stop only at the mere narrative structure of the work, but which culminates in the heart of an author’s work: the content. It is
I started this manga with the desire to draw a choral work. I wanted to create a story in which to investigate in depth not only the psychological world of the protagonist, but also the interiority of various other characters, who would eventually touch and intertwine with each other. I don’t know if I succeeded or not, but I really hope you liked the result at least a little. I have the impression that, as history progresses, the themes of the entire work, that is, death and disease, converge in that of marginalization from society. Also what is happiness for people who are seized with death or disease? Those people whose fate at birth was not good at all and who over time, without making any mistakes, at some point receive indelible wounds. What is happiness for humans? After all, I think I haven’t been able to come up with a precise answer. It remains an open question and I hope one day to still have the opportunity to write it in another form.Shuzo Oshimi (Afterword: Happiness)
Much of the author’s thought shines through these few lines. First of all, the confirmation of the vampire theme as a simple narrative device, a metaphor that portrays the existential malaise of adolescents. A malaise represented as a pathology, a viral infection that can affect anyone, and which forces its victims to isolation, alienation, which makes it impossible for them to live with “healthy” subjects.
Happiness, Chapter 44
As the title of the manga, in order to highlight the main theme of the work compared to the secondary theme of the vampires.
In the afterword to the manga, it is appropriate to follow, step by step, how the author built and structured his thought. To do this, it is necessary to analyze individually all those characters who, united together, form the aforementioned chorality of the work. Always keeping in mind the words of the author mentioned above.
‘s words on the choral nature of his work, therefore the absence of a single protagonist, it is more correct to define Nora as the keystone of
Jumyou Wo Kaitotte Moratta. Ichinen Ni Tsuki, Ichimanen De.
, a character without whom everything would collapse, starting with the narrative plot. Just think of the stories of Okazaki or Sakurane, but in particular the pivotal symbolism of the work would be missing.
Completely removes the dialogues leaving only the images to speak. A feature that is now becoming distinctive in the author’s writing, as it has already been used for the final chapter of
, the events that lead Nora to become a vampire are narrated in it. Several centuries ago, in a rural village in Japan, Nora lived a happy and peaceful life with her family, and like many young women, she had also found love (a boy who is identical to Okazaki). Unfortunately, this idyll has a short duration. In fact, Nora is chosen by her community as a sacrificial victim to offer to the vampire kept segregated in a cave outside the village. Having become a vampire in turn, the young girl is forced to abandon her family, her lover, and with them her happiness.
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Wants to express through this last chapter is exactly what the same author expresses in the interview mentioned above. The vampire theme is a metaphor for the rejection of society, and Nora is the exact personification of this concept. A girl forced by her community to sacrifice her happiness for the good of the community, a common good founded on ancient dogmas. The only feeling that Nora can feel is hatred towards those who have snatched away her serenity, or rather, the refusal of a narrow community based on absurd contradictions.
. A teenage girl, mysterious, charming, beautiful and cursed. A mermaid, or rather a succubus, that bewitches Okazaki to follow her on her surreal journey, taking him further and further away from his affections, from Gosho, from reality. And if Yukiko Gosho represents maternal love, it comes by itself as Nora instead represents mad love, the femme fatale. Another similarity of this Flaubertian duality, which further enhances the conceptual closeness between
Furthermore, from what has just been written, it is not difficult to guess a possible source of inspiration for the creation of Nora. I like to think that
Art] “three Days Of Happiness” Probably One Of The Best Romance I've Ever Read.
, as the homonymous protagonist of this novel as well as being a vampire like Nora, is described as a very beautiful teenager, with a shiny white skin and very long dark hair. Furthermore,
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