Meet Jun.

         So begins another series, this time, it’s Happiness!. Seems to me like it’s a romance comedy with some mahou shoujo thrown into the mix. I’ll admit that when I first started watching the series, I only knew two things about it: the name of the series, and Jun. Yes, that Jun. It’s 4chan’s favourite trap, even outing the infamous Bridget. So knowing nothing and expecting nothing, I watched the first episode and walked away satisfied. Looks like another series will be added to my blogging list.

         The series seems to focus around Kamisaka Haruhi, a relatively normal teenage mage that is neither a god nor a trap. Instead, she is a brilliant mage-in-training that is of the highest rank in first year students at her school. The school she attends is split into a magic section and a regular section due to obvious teaching differenes. She meets a boy, Kohinata Yuuma, who quickly captures her interest. He’s cool, calm, and collected, and he looks like he’s unattached.

         Whoops, change that last part. Things get a little more complicated in the potential relationship between Yuuma and Haruhi when Jun shows up. Jun is Yuuma’s good friend, and quite the character. Despite being a guy, he dresses and looks like a female. And yes, he is the sole reason I started watching this series. In any case, this causes a slight misunderstanding for Haruhi when she sees the two of them together, but in the end, she doesn’t let it get in the way. Instead, she boldly decides to give Yuuma, completely out of the blue, some chocolates for Valentine’s Day.

         After a mysterious explosion at the magic section of the school, classes are cancelled and the magic section is to merge with the regular section until everything is repaired. When classes are resumed, by pure chance, Haruhi ends up in Yuuma’s class. So officially begins the relationship between Yuuma and Haruhi.

         Since I didn’t know anything about this series when I downloaded it, I’m pretty happy about how it turned out. The first episode definitely left a good impression on me, and it wasn’t only Jun’s doing. However, I must say Jun left me laughing at times at how absurd things were. Jun causing misunderstandings with Haruhi… oh my. That’s the beauty of traps, really.

         Haruhi’s your typical smart school idol, not much to say here. Her chasing of Yuuma seems a little… whimsical, but they needed to make the story actually get somewhere. I don’t fully understand it, but I think she has someone else on her mind, not Yuuma. That would explain why she bought chocolate in the first place and who she wanted to give it to. However, judging by the amount of chocolate boxes in her house, I’d guess that she hasn’t been able to give any of those chocolates to the guy she likes for a few years. Now, with the appearance of Yuuma, she finally changes targets, and moves on by removing all the left over chocolate boxes in her room by the end of the episode. Something tells me it won’t be that easy to move on, that whoever it is, he’ll come back with a vengeance. They always do.

         Yuuma’s your typical uncaring guy. He doesn’t seem to display much emotion or any sense of sensitivity. In a way, he reminds me of myself, and I think I’ll find it easy to like him, even if he doesn’t DO anything. I’d certainly expect him to be the boy from Haruhi’s past [whoops, when I typed that, I wrote down that he was the boy from seven years ago, even if there’s nothing suggesting that. I blame Kanon being on the brain.]. Something in his past probably made him into the cold person he is today, with that same event branding a dislike for magic in him. This would explain why he refused to be healed by Haruhi when he was injured, as well as why he’s not in the magic section/not a mage, even if the little boy Haruhi met so long ago was most definitely a mage. It all feels so Shuffle! and (insert the title of any anime series that features a childhood friend separated from the main character for several years here)

         Jun’s your… atypical trap? Actually, this being my first experience with traps, I wouldn’t know. I’m assuming the Archery Twins aren’t traps, which would make Jun the first. Jun’s quite the strange character, and I’d feel rather uncomfortable if I was Yuuma, since Jun likes to cling on his arm and stuff. Strange child. I wonder if the parents approve of his ways. Regardless, he’s an awesome character that I’d love to see with more screentime.

         Animation was alright, no real complains. But then again, unless there’s something completely off, I’ll generally never have a complaint about animation. The only problem here was that the practice battle at the beginning of the episode seemed rather uninspired. All Haruhi did was put up a barrier or something, and that somehow managed to defeat the fire dragon looking monster. Luckily, I don’t think magic will take a large focus in this series but rather relationships, so scenes like those shouldn’t be found too too often. Hopefully.

Nanoha, is that you?

Girls in only their underwear not even 5 minutes in, good stuff

Jun has his own little guy harem. Yikes.

I’d freak out too.

         Overall, I don’t think that Happiness! will bring anything new to the table. Seems like a rather generic story of mages and relationships. However, the laughs coupled with Jun’ll most likely keep me watching. Just because it isn’t new and original doesn’t mean it’s bad.

//Soda