The Herald Anime Club Meeting 80: Happy Sugar Life Episode 12

CONTENT WARNING: Happy Sugar Life contains depictions of extreme violence and gore, kidnapping, misogyny, pedophilia, rape, suicide, and other objectionable acts. Reader discretion is advised.

Meeting Date: 10/2/2018

Disclaimer: The Herald Anime Club discusses shows as they’re airing. Naturally, there will be spoilers for a given episode. You have been warned!

Samantha Ferreira: Hi everyone, and welcome to the Herald Anime Club! I’m Samantha Ferreira, and I’m joined by L.B. Bryant
L.B. Bryant: Hello!
Samantha Ferreira: Tonight, we’re talking up Happy Sugar Life Episode 12: Nobody’s Happy, Even the Audience
L.B. Bryant: I figured you were going to go with something along the lines of “Thank the gods this is done.”
Samantha Ferreira: I was, but I thought that would be funnier.
L.B. Bryant: heh alright
Samantha Ferreira: I was also considering “Fire will cleans ALL OUR SINS!”
L.B. Bryant: That would’ve worked too

Samantha Ferreira: Hehe. Anyway… a lot happened… a lot of incredibly messed up things happened. So, um… please obey that content warning, folks.
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, I think this episode gave everyone those missing spots needed on their sadness bingo card.
Samantha Ferreira: Definitely.
Still, I’m kind of amazed they showed full-on rape in this episode. That… that was messed up. :x
L.B. Bryant: Well they came close with the first time blondie was assaulted so I wasn’t totally shocked that they finally bit the bullet and went all in.
Samantha Ferreira: True enough.
Evil Belldandy was the one to check off that last spot in the “this isn’t right” checklist
L.B. Bryant: Yeah. Honestly her facial expression never bothered me much before but the way she kept smiling throughout this episode creeped me out.
Samantha Ferreira: True that.
Like… she was genuinely the one character I really liked in this show, because they just played with Kikuko Inoue’s normal sweet tenor that that soulless grin
L.B. Bryant: Totally. Particularly in her final appearance when they were leading her away and she just looked into the camera with that grin.
Samantha Ferreira: Definitely.
She really made that “ara, ara” sound sinister there

L.B. Bryant: Yeah which I didn’t actually know was possible until now.
Samantha Ferreira: Well now we know. Thanks, evil Belldandy!
L.B. Bryant: lol
Samantha Ferreira: But yeah… aside from the one interesting character, nobody – and I mean nobody was happy at the end of this.
L.B. Bryant: You could argue that Satou was happy in her final moment before she went splat :)
Samantha Ferreira: Ohhhh, no. Pedophile kidnapper murderer don’t get no happy endings.
L.B. Bryant: lol
Samantha Ferreira: Satou’s dead, pedophile’s mentally broken, Best Friend and Genuinely Good Character is dead, Shio is living through Stockholm Syndrome, Big Bro is dealing with his sister who has Stockholm Syndrome, Stalker Girl is well… she’ll find someone new to stalk…
Evil Belldandy is just “=D” all the time so I can’t read her, but she’s in jail
And Shio’s mom is going to prison.
Nobody’s happy here
L.B. Bryant: Yeah fair enough

Samantha Ferreira: And to think… it all could’ve been avoided if Satou didn’t go back via plot contrivance.
L.B. Bryant: As soon as she set down the ring I knew that was going to be her undoing which annoyed me because it seemed way too easy/obvious.
Samantha Ferreira: Yeah.
I mean… they went the full nine yards in creating something genuinely convoluted, yet somehow consistent… then it’s “I forgot my ring :O”
It was then that I knew exactly how this would end… well, I didn’t expect Evil Belldandy to burn the apartments down on purpose
L.B. Bryant: You didn’t expect that?
That was what they were building towards all of last episode, heh
Samantha Ferreira: I figured it’d be something else that led to the entire building lighting up
I figured she’d just do the apartment
L.B. Bryant: Not sure how you thought she was going to burn the apartment without burning the building :D
Samantha Ferreira: You expected her to create a giant line of gasoline that stretched from one end of that walkway to the next, with two cans?
lol

L.B. Bryant: Yeah actually lol
Those were pretty big cans.
Samantha Ferreira: True enough, lol
L.B. Bryant: Oh and we forgot to mention earlier that perverted teacher got hauled away to jail as well
Samantha Ferreira: Yes! I forgot about him entirely, then it shows him getting hauled off and I was just “Yay!”
L.B. Bryant: So yeah, pretty much everyone in this series (aside from genuinely nice best friend) got what was coming to them in the end. I emphasize the ‘pretty much everyone’ bit because I don’t think big bro and Shio had that coming to them but whatever, can’t win them all.
Samantha Ferreira: Indeed. Big bro just got dealt an awful hand. He was the one I genuinely felt bad for
Like… that last scene was just a twist of the knife
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, when he got rejected in the hospital room by Shio… that was not a good feeling.

Samantha Ferreira: Yeeeah.
That poor girl is going to need a lot of therapy
L.B. Bryant: And we all know just how amazingly fantastic the mental health system in Japan is :)
Samantha Ferreira: Second to none… and by that, I mean that it’s the “none”
L.B. Bryant: heh yeah
Samantha Ferreira: But… yeah. God damn. We just watched 12 episodes of a show about pedophiles, rapists, creeps, and murderers… and I’m not talking about the Brett Kavanaugh hearings
L.B. Bryant: lol
Yeah, this is definitely a show where I don’t know if I’m going to willingly think about it again within a few months but I’m also never going to be able to truly forget it.
Samantha Ferreira: Likewise.,
Like… here’s the thing
I hated this show
Loathed every single moment of it
I thought it was awful
Disgusting
and crass.
At the same time, this was one of the most interesting shows we’ve ever had the pleasure of discussing.

L.B. Bryant: It was certainly a show that gave us A LOT to digest and talk about.
Samantha Ferreira: Oh, yeah.
This was a car crash
You couldn’t help but have every single detail seared into your brain after a while
L.B. Bryant: Indeed. Very much a “I’m afraid to watch yet I dare not look away” type of series
Samantha Ferreira: Exactly
So, while I’ve openly cursed this show up and down on Twitter, I don’t regret discussing it.
So, yeah… I mean, it was worth watching, though I’ll never make that mistake again
L.B. Bryant: Yeah, I doubt that I’ll ever rewatch this series for any reason.
Samantha Ferreira: I have to rewatch it for screenshots.
L.B. Bryant: I don’t envy that task
Samantha Ferreira: Yeah, I got to watch the neck-stabbing five times because the freaking scene blurred when trying to pause and cap. THAT was horrific
L.B. Bryant: Joy heh

Samantha Ferreira: Hehe.
But, yeah… any comments before we toss this one into the dumpster fire of history?
L.B. Bryant: I just tried to think of something deep and thoughtful to end us on but when it comes to this series and the merry chase it led us on for 12 episodes… I got nothing.
Samantha Ferreira: …I’m just going to share this video and pray it makes the readers forgive us.

L.B. Bryant: lol
Samantha Ferreira: Anyway, that’ll do it for Happy Sugar Life. Next season, we’re off to the circus… Karakuri Circus! (Please be decent. ;-; )
L.B. Bryant: Or at least not filled with horrible people.
Samantha Ferreira: …Unless it’s Evil Belldandy. More Evil Belldandy, please.
L.B. Bryant: lol
Samantha Ferreira: Anyway, that’ll do it for us. Until next time, remember: You do not ever want to emulate the characters in this show.
L.B. Bryant: Night!
Samantha Ferreira: Have a great night!