Hi, if you enjoyed this video, please consider leaving a like & comment and share this video. ADDITIONAL THANKS TO: Skep-Tech 11037 EDIT: To clear things up, I am not blaming Yuna for being a victim, I was simply saying "the story makes it feel like it's blaming Yuna for being a victim", and I could have conveyed that better. I also forgot to put the time stamp in to skip the Yuna tangent. Sorry. The time stamp to skip it is 56:11. Translation of song lyrics were sourced from lyricstranslate.com.
you didn't have to give me additional thanks ww but apreciate it. Man. I've finished it now and you really made my day with this. Allthough i have thought about most of these things myself allready, hearing other people talk about them just deepens my apreciation for said things. Allthough the part of the ending was very much something i haven't thought about yet. But still.. the scene that i carry with me more than any other, even the ending, is the ending of ep 9 where shôko dies.. so many aspects of the story build up to that point.. the metaphor of the canaria bird coming to it's heartbreaking conclusion.. and the song just perfectly hitting all the spots to make me full of despair of everyone involved, but especially shôko.. one of the most intense experiences i had when it comes to a tragic event. Listen to this song still to this day everyday. But yeah, thank you for putting the good word of this anime out there. Really apreciate this. One of my favourite videos on this platform
@UltimateHikikomori I wanted to ask a question. In the video when I was saying how I didn't like how the story implies half of Yuna's suffer is her fault, was I clear enough on that I DIDN'T like how it came off as blaming her?
@@1fishmob (i saw the community post allready ww) If i have to guess, i'd say it's a combination of the possibility you presented to skip the part of you talking about her backstory in the manga, which maybe some people then did, your negative stand on the part itself with how it is just way too long and thrown into it in the middle of the story and you mentioning sometimes, that her being the victim of these things doesn't excuse how she treats her children. Maybe with the sensitive nature of the topic some people just got rubbed the wrong way. I understand that you didn't mean it like that. But yeah.. it's an nime about sensitive subjects and it's prone for these kinds of reactions. If it's the only big negative reaction you got, then i think that shows you did a good job in handling those topics.
I just love this kind of horror, it is not a jumpscare kind of horror. It is basically there to make you feel uneasy and disgusted, and reveal some information to you little by little. The thing is jumpscares in horror can scare you but it is basically to get either scared or angry reaction out of you but most of the time, you will be annoyed by them but for me a good horror story is the one which makes you feel uneasy, interested, it is like starting at the darkness and you feel like something is staring at you but there is nothing around you, basically you bulding your own paranoia.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 precisely, a horror is supposed to be uneasy, disgusting, interesting or basically to provoke some sort of reaction out of you. There are good jumpscares but most of the time they are a cheap scare, but i perfer when i'm the one who is building my own fear then a monster who run's after me.
The biggest mistake the anime made was introducing Shio with a brightly colored shot. The manga made sure to use a full page with neutral gray colors so readers can think for themselves about what they're seeing, which would be unease considering the start of the chapter talks about Sato basically being a prostitute, before using bright colors to showcase that the objectivity of the scene and the characters' happy emotions are two different things. The anime, however, using bright colors from the start makes it seem like the anime wants to make the viewer think what's going on is perfectly fine, which goes so against the viewers thoughts. I think that's a major reason why there are people who watched the anime thinking that it was a PDFile story. Edit: Oh, yeah, the anime also removed the scene of it bring heavily implied that Sato never did or thought about doing anything sexual to Shio. It's obviously very apparent that that was the case, but the anime not giving that confirmation just added to people misunderstanding the story.
@@revolutionarymagic3459 Yeah, Sato's aunt asks Shio about what kinds of things Sato does to her, which she tells was just playing in the bath or things like that. After talking about everything, the aunt turns to Sato and taunts her about being too innocent.
Except that's completely, without a doubt... wrong. The manga's first page is a color spread, it's black and white in the print release because that's how manga tend to come out when in tankobon format. The whole Sato being promiscuous thing is depicted as a rumor before she flat out admits to it while the manga paneling and stylings are akin to that of a shoujo romance manga, it's literally still doing this through a rose tinted lens, what are you talking about??? I haven't read the manga in 3 years and it only took the slightest amount of rechecking to get that right.
@Piradood I was talking about Shio being introduced, not the first page of the manga. Sato opens her door and greets Shio, then the next page is a full page of just Shio sitting in the corridor. _That_ page is a full shot of Shio, which doesn't use crazy bright colors, like the anime did. The tone shift of the manga goes from: Sato possibly killed someone > is a slut > got over it because she found love (so happy for her, look how happy she is!) > her love is a small child (*record scratch). Edit: I just checked, and what the manga does is use the white of her house at the top of the panel and then that slowly loses focus as more grey and black colors show up the further down the panel you go as you get to Shio. You can clearly tell that was intentional, and is completely different from how the anime adapted that page.
@@marchmelloow flew off the handle there, bad day at work. While that is true to a degree, I still don't think it's an accurate depiction of it all considering how the manga goes about depicting tone. The full page is indeed in greyscale, it's not depicted the same way the dullness of the world is shown in times where Sato isn't experiencing a great deal of joy. The manga often will change up its onomatopoeia, darken the areas, or even blotch it, making it seem dulled. It can be described as a sort of "unbiased" perspective of it, but the panels right before it still have that same tonality in its artwork, it's only when they're together that the joy is back with the aforementioned bubbly onomatopoeia and shoujo-esque visual elements, that are directly beside it when page to page in physical format. I don't think it's fair to shake the anime for this stylistic decision considering the manga doesn't go out of its way to show the ugliness of it all from the start because the perspective is entirely skewed in Sato's favor for a good majority of the first volume.
1:31:59 sugar & salt are mixed together in a LOT of recipes they're mixed in most cakes, cookies, some steak recipes, some pork recipes, some chicken recipes, some vegetable recipes, in lots of asian cuisine, etc.
SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THIS SHOW THANK YOU LORDDD I love psychological horror but HSL takes the cake for my number one spot. I like when media explores the horror in humanity. It's been my ultimate favorite for a few years now and It makes me happy that people are coming to their senses and understanding it's complexities instead of just going "it's weird" and dismissing the values in it's themes Really awesome video, glad to see someone else who likes this show as much as I do!
I still felt sympathetic for Asahi even after the whole torture thing. To be completely fair, Asahi was beaten down and abused by his father and was repeatedly let down. He trusted Pedo McGee and what happened? Turns out the one adult he put his faith in betrayed him in the worst way possible. Obviously, Asahi wouldn't believe Pedo McGee and could respond the only way he knew. Violence.
As someone who grew up with a fucked up idea of love, an abusive idea of what love is, I relate to Happy Sugar life on a personal level. Satos Aunt reminds me of my mom… and Shios mom as well 😅 Blood on the Tracks is another series that has similar feelings
The algorithm works in mysterious ways. I felt I was going crazy being the only one thinking this was a legitimately good series. Even if every character was messy, the writing wasn't. I didn't expect to end the week watching an essay abotu this series that is over half as log as the series itself. Thanks for putting words to many of the feelings I had about this. Also an interesting bit about Shio's name and how 3 different people are obsessed with her: salt is considered a purifier (not just in Japan now that I think about it), probably because it is used to preserve food, it's often used to "purify a place" from evil spirits and to ward them off. So that's where Taiyou's specific wording for his obsession came from.
1:32:00 i take a little issue with dat statement. salt is often used in small quantities to greatly enhance sweetness. salt is a core component in most sweets, bakeries and so on. i dont know if you were purely talking about a 1 to 1 ratio, but mixing salt and sugar together certainly isnt unappealing or unappetizing as its actually a very important combination to enhance flavours.
I am aware of that, but that is a common thought process for some people and it is the main metaphor. I'm not saying sugar and salt don't mix, but it's more like mixing raw salt with raw sugar that is the metaphor.
I absolutely loved this analysis - while I'll ironically say Satou did nothing wrong (and I'm a bit more like her than I'm comfortable with), I've always believed what Happy Sugar Life does best is portray its core cast as they are, complicated, sinful, and capable of more as they are, and challenge the viewer to develop a moral framing to deal with people who have gone through things said viewer likely has never even entertained the idea of happening to them. It's a complex, troubling, and uncomfortable story that all too many people end up rejecting or misunderstanding in an attempt to push that discomfort away - perhaps not wanting to consider it as a reflection of reality, or perhaps a reflection of themselves. For all those reasons, this has gotta be one of the best long-form pieces I've seen on the story, and it'll always have a special place in my heart (and a good few others). For 'further reading' I'd give a crack at Bitter Salt Life (a fanmade continuation that's somehow quality enough to seem official), or the discord server (a very... interesting? place) also timeskip shio is cute
Using images of sugar and stray sweets to create an impressive metaphor for the meaning of love, I used to think the "bitter candies" that Sato always talked about with an unpleasant expression because they represented effects such as anxious, insecure and inappropriate, and others simply do not know what the victim is going through. But looking back at the title and reviewing the first five episodes, it's just like you said! Those are still candies, they are still sweet, but not all sweets are the same, Sato loves her relationship with Shi-o but appears to hate other ideas of love, because she does not feel Other people's sweets are sweet, but the way to enjoy it is not
The only act of true love in the show is Satous maternal love and sacrifice at the end it breaks the cycles of abuse all the central characters were stuck in by tying shio to her memory no one else will be pulled into the abuse and torment of their lives and while no one gets a happy ending shio isn't stuck with asahi a character to broken to even know that he needs help shio being alone yet still able to form relationships is the best ending she could've had after everything thats happened to her and it keeps her from seeking death
Wow, the fact that someone actually made a video about this is so cool. I still can't believe just how underrated and misunderstood Happy Sugar Life is. You've done an excellent job analyzing this anime / manga. Cheers.
Honestly this manga/anime makes me cry because these two kids became broken because of the adults around them. I feel like sato would had grown intona completely different person if her uprising wasnt so fcked up. Of course im not excusing her actions
Loved this video, you actually made me so much more understanding of Satou, i used to see her as "oh, messed up low-key pdf file" but you made me see her as so much more. The anime never brainwashed me, i never rooted for her nor did i ever deny that what she was doing was bad, but You almost did, ironically enough. You called out things i never even noticed, and that made me appreciate this golden, underground masterpiece So much more. If i didn't love it before, i would now. Thanks!
This is an amazing video. I really enjoy detailed dissections of media like this. I couldn't believe it when I saw that it only had under 2K views! Keep it up, man.
Frankly, i dont think the anime portrayed satuo's backstory too well since i only saw her as someone sympathetic, especially after she killed shoko. Also, for the asai, i didn't really notice his selfish reasoning to save shio. But also, i believe i watched this when i was too young to understand that meaning.
in my own twisted way, regardless of Satou being a bad person, I find myself wishing that her and Shio could have stayed together. They were the best things that had happened to each other. it does make me happy that Shio continued to be happy later on, I never read the manga, so that's a nice thing to learn. As for most of the story, I understand asahi was supposed to be seen as a hero figure, the good guy, etc. But I never did find him to be someone I wanted to be successful. I felt bad for his upbringing, of course, but If he got what he wanted Shio would not have been happy. That's just the truth of it. Asahi nor his mother could have provided her with proper companionship or even good living conditions. The death of Shouko really is the one thing in this show that satou does, that I believe is completely unjustifiable, and that's a good thing for the story. It does cause that important development of satou and shio's characters that is so well done. Now on a personal note that isn't reiterating things said in the video, I know many see Satou as a pedophile. I want to say that I do not believe she is. Yes, she is in a relationship with an 8-year old, but I believe that anyone who was sufficiently "pure" or "innocent" and happened to meet satou in specific circumstance, could have become that person she loved. it didn't have to be a child. It's just far more common for children to be pure or innocent. Now many of Satou's crimes are caused by Shio being a child but none of those crimes are SA or Rape. It's important for the story that shio is a child, But again I think its not the case that she is a pedophile. just a personal gripe I have with the already undeservedly low reception of this show. the Pedo word is thrown around so easily these days it bothers me. I'm not very confident in my ability to articulate my thoughts, so I hope that came out right. This was a good video though, I enjoyed it, and you were surprisingly able to keep me engaged through 2 and a half hours.
Satō is an asexual pedo. As someone who had an intense pure romantic relationship with a teen as a kid, I felt very represented by this. While it was wholly positive interactions, it really warped my life and he was the most important thing to me (a child) and it took a lot of therapy to realize I should have never been so close with him. It robbed me of childhood. Satō is robbing Shio of a normal life with her actions, no matter how happy they were together. Also while Shio is happy at the end of the manga, we also see that she is still revolving around Satō, greeting her when she arrives home. I doubt Shio will ever have normal relationships and I bet she'd defend other child abductors if it met her definition of "pure love" bc she's been groomed to think it's ok. Just like I was, and like you seem to be (no offense) It's just not ok. It's not developmentally appropriate. I think the series tries its best to show that it's not truly a happy sugar life.
Asahi is more of a flawed hero than anything. He's not entirely pure, and his motivations could be seen as selfish, but ultimately he just wanted to get his little sister back from a potentially dangerous (in his eyes) kidnapper. Though i will say, all the conflicting opinions on who was in the right and who was the villsin says a lot about how well wtitten it is.
@@janekiryu3409Shio was robbed of a normal life long before she ever met Satō. But she gave her the chance of a happy one. I don't think "normal" is a good standard to judge things by nor something to strive for. Plenty of "normal" things are unjustifiable and plenty of "weird" things are good. Everyone is different and has different needs, maybe in Shio's case the fucked up psycho pedo was what she needed? That feels true to my experiences, at least. I relate a lot to her, and my girlfriend reminds me of Satō a lot. And I'm very happy, fucked up girls need fucked up things sometimes. Anyway I think the story was trying to teach us that people are never as simple as black or white, hero or monster. You can call me groomed if you like, I wouldn't even deny it, but that branding feels like a way to dismiss other people's perspectives. I think people should open their minds more, and listen to victims especially. Shio used her agency to choose Satō, and I don't think that's respected enough. People dismiss irl victims deemed as "messy" in much the same way.
Finished it a month ago and it's still with me. I couldn't stop thinking about the characters and what happened after the story ended. Even after reading the extra volume. Enjoyed this video a lot.
Honestly and I mean this sincerely I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a realistic depiction of how fucked up the world is. Everyone in this universe is terrible in some way. And I think it’s brilliant. Even after I read the manga after finishing the anime I seriously thought the ending was incredibly bittersweet and intentionally ambiguous. This world is full of evils we try to hide but eventually it gets brought to light.
I started my psychology homework and this had to have been one of the best videos to stumble upon and watch. You did such an amazing job at analyzing every little detail not just in the anime but manga and the differences inbetween the two. Just total props to all the effort and work put into this, it was amazing! I would love to see an in depth analysis video like this on future diary too cause that was another psychological thriller that rattled my bones
Maybe someday. Ironically enough, I was looking for someone who knew psychology so they could give me some insight on the characters in The series. But I'm glad to know that I did a good job either way.
This video was a godsend, from going over the symbolic value of love each character saw the other as while simultaneously presenting the complexity of their situations(notably shio and Satou considering how I've seen people praise Asahi way too much with said people not understanding why shio left him to begin with. With satou's case being worse as alot of people write her off just some crazy girl instead of tortured soul like a majority of the cast). The Ending left me happy that shio found freedom but distraught when said freedom lead to her breaking mentally.
At the 55 minute mark, and honestly I'd be okay with showing the face if the scribbling out his face started a lot sooner than it did. Have it unscribbled during their first meeting, but then when the two families meet to discuss the marriage have his face scribbled out. As the conversation continues, everyone's faces begin to scribble out, including her parents as they cave to the proposal. Imo, it'd be an interesting way to show her loosing trust/gaining fear towards these people; it could even tie in to how Asahi sees his dad and how Shio sees her mom in her hallucinations.
This is the best video I've ever watched on this topic. Happy Sugar Life deals with child abuse, and horrendously messy characters, but never in a glorifying way. I think many people simply can't get past its premise to see how in its horror presentation it deals with its themes in a more delicate way than many other media. HSL treads the line between the two extremes of "this is bad" polemic that I've encountered: this is bad and it's bad because I say it's bad and if you talk about it too much it you're bad too so we won't talk about it any more VS this is bad and I'll show you exactly how bad it is by portraying what's bad in gratuitous and questionably specific detail. You too did a great job of summing up the anime and manga in how their metaphors and character arcs work, and I also appreciated your few critiques. In terms of the "showing the father's face" problem, I think the anime actually did it best not only by not showing the flashback but also when Asahi first starts to turn into a villain, he has his father's face, the red eyed scribbled out face, which shows how he's falling into the cycle of abuse through the art. You kind of lost me on your complaint about "our overly woke culture" though. I'm not trying to start a fight, but I feel that throwing that super-politicised phrase in there didn't help the critique.
I think there is also a cultural difference in your point about salt and sugar. In 日本の料理(Japanese cuisin) slat and sugar often go together when cooking. A lot of receipes uses soy sauce (which is the source of salt) and sugar melt together for both meat and vegetables, I do appreciate your point in the western perspective though.
About your tangent, I have an interpretation: At least on the panels you show, the father only shows his face on situations where he can't be his unhinged self, lashing on his wife and kid. I may be wrong, but perhaps it was intentional? Like on your own example, the Joker, it's like the times he comes up with this ellaborate lie about a Jhon Doe being his real persona.
A bit late to the party, but I love your breakthrough of the series. I watched it 1 year after it came out and, ever since then, I wasn't the same. Satou and her struggles spoke to me like nothing else. Just like her, I was also young and searching for love, changing guys regularly, except, unlike her, I gave up, feeling like I wasn't meant to find love at all. That, of course, changed, but it took a few years. Seeing her being happy with Shio made me feel sad, because even now I still can't have that(some irl stuff, not important). Yuna(at least her manga version) was also very relatable. In my quest to find love, I dated this one guy who was very creepy, but, because I was desperate, I stayed in that relationship(I also had some troubles at home, but it's not that important). I was 17 and he was 20. He told me that he wanted to get me pregnant, marry me and take me away from my mother. I don't remember why I didn't just dump him after that, but I guess it had to do with my trauma and self hatred. Unlike Yuna though, I got out of that relationship without ruining my life. Going back to Satou, she's by far my favorite yandere. The main reason for that is the fact that killing people is not the only option for her to deal with obstacles(looking at you, Yuno). She mostly uses manipulation to get what she wants and, in a way, I admire that about her. I also have to praise her va Kana Hanazawa. This was my first time hearing her in an anime and she nailed the role. I wouldn't want anyone else to voice Satou! One more thing to add is the ending. It broke me. When Satou shielded Shio with her body to save her, I broke down. I didn't want this to be the end. I truly wanted Satou and Shio to be happy. I still love the ending btw. I have watched the anime and read the manga several more yes because of how much I enjoyed it. Heck, I even introduced my best friend to it and he fell in love with how morally complex this show is and, I still ended up crying at the ending.
So happy I found a 2 hour essay on this underrated Anime. Thanks for your work ❤ I appreciate that you elaborated on how normalised it is in our media to show men being assaulted for laughs. It’s terrible. I have some male friends that are afraid to open up about their abuse because society has taught them that sexual assault by women isn’t „real abuse“, which is BS.
I remember how one Eastern European reviewer told on Taiyou that his sexual trauma was "stupid", because, citating: "he got picked by very hot mature lady, what many guys can only dream of". It's not only disgusting, but also misandristic, because it implies that all men are sex-crazed animals.
Awesome video! Just one note on Japanese pronunciation- “i” is pronounced as “ee”, and “e” is pronounced as “eh”- so “Sumire” is pronounced “Soo-mee-ray” 😁
Wow! This was an awesome video analysis of a creepy show I watched a few years ago. I may just watch the series again after watching your video. Two thumbs up, Fishmobs!
its crazy how i not only recently discovered and finished this anime, but i get recommended a long review of it abbhkns this was GREAT, i wish ur channel the best frfr
Very misunderstood anime and manga. Tbh I need to finish reading the manga cause that show was definitely something different. Manga has a lot more in it too
33:37 Sorry but you have a whole section dedicated to these words, so I have to correct you here: "Empathy is the ability to understand and share someone's feelings, while sympathy is the external expression of pity or sorrow." Or: "Empathy is the ability to recognize and share another person's emotions, while sympathy is a simple expression of concern for their misfortune." Or even (and I think this one is best and easiest to understand): "Sympathy is feeling sorry (on a surface level) for someone and empathy is feeling their emotions (more deeply)." Basically, what I'm saying is your definitions are very wrong, even with a few very differently written examples, none of them match up to your definitions. With empathy, you HAVE to FEEL what the other person is feeling. It's not just a possibility, that's the entire meaning of the word. Empathy is literally FEELING exactly what the other person is feeling. Sympathy is the less intense one where you only feel a surface level of bad for a person. It's JUST pity, you care but don't relate. As someone who IS an empath, it surprised me how backward you got the definitions.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 well look into it really! It’s far more than that this is personal and traumatizing for the creator. They made this for catharsis… And to write a story that instills fear and shows that you know you can be groomed by you’re a Same Sex-“Girl next door” Upper Classmen. I remember like especially I think I mentioned it in a different, like when the mongers on hiatus and stuff it was we were really trying to find out like were they the one directly involved is it a lover is at a friends and a family member? Like how was all the related to this story! But it’s people have made good points for many different answers so even to this day years and years and years later I still couldn’t definitively say.
And then of course somethings were really really really truly lost in translation… Like obviously what Sato did was wrong. It’s the same kind of on “settling “you find yourself doing in specific communities… Where you’re like I guess I’ll ignore my boundaries because I don’t know if I’ll ever be excepted anywhere else… So like imagine you have that mindset Inn it also happens to be like your only option for a place to sleep at night. And you’re not even young enough to really comprehend any of that… It could’ve gotten worse than the show and it was intended to be a little bit worse but not in the way people think. They’re just going to show more like emotions I guess mental breakdowns but then they decided you know if we’re going to show up from Sato’s point of view, there’s no way she would think negatively about any time she spends with Shiho. There was a couple different scenarios thrown out and about regarding Sato and her sexuality how much risk a child would truly have been in that situation. And in the monologue at the beginning you’re supposed to kind of in for some things and then draw parallels to her trauma with her aunt and then come to the conclusion they tried to spell out for us that Sato does not think sex and love really have anything to do with each other. Innoway she route since six and is not truly truly interested in it but before she breaks up with the boys she does it with them so they will leave her alone and not annoy her so things like that so there was like a few scenarios like maybe she cannot physically or emotionally connect because of the psychopathy. Or maybe she is Ace but not A romantic. And that she is not necessarily CisHetero.. but she’s in the romance not lust basically. She really really really values purity. Maybe as much as like an older man would, and trying to marry off his son lol. So when it was floated around in a few interviews it was like commandeer from the author a few times from artists and other people involved and like the enemy and whatever the Sato wouldn’t have become physically intimate with her under any circumstances in a darker story she would’ve traumatized her in different ways. more related to like little she hoes people pleasing tendencies and restlessness regarding her feeling of uselessness fear of abandonment. Like maybe they would’ve self harm together things like that But the only one of them that would’ve ever initiated anything More than a friend or surrogate family member. (I don’t know if this is changed in interviews because I haven’t seen any interviews or even looked into it until today when I was trying to find an old one. I was just around that area back then) ~~ But there’s a phenomenon in Japan “called standing girls. And you’re like why are they sending why are these middle school girls just standing all night long they’re not you know begging for change they’re not you know looking for a hook up there just standing. It’s because they’re homeless so they stand under light poles because they feel that’s where they’ll be safest… Finally if three or four girls around the same age meet up around that area and feel they can trust each other they will go and sleep in an alleyway or a dumpster you know backtrack whatever but it is so weird and yeah they’re extremely young… All that aside because I really didn’t have anything to do with anything. But just the same way people in the USA see like homeless people huddled up and sleeping bags.
I usually skip video by people who use animals or png images to represent themselves, but I deiceded to watch the video anyways as background while I play video games And surprisingly this was well made and lot of passion and effort when into this. maybe i have skipped so much content like becuase of such tirival thing thank you mr Big Mouth Billy Bass animatronic singing prop for changing my views
I randomly came across the video in my YT feed. Love the topic, love your take on it. You've got a sub from me for sure :D. Small critique, at one point when you played some OST's in the video the audio wasn't leveled with the audio of the video, and it jumped scared me and tore my ears apart (I had headphones on :D ). I actually like the png fish more :D. Keep up the grind!
1:14:54 I recommend Aipysurus apraefrontalis or some kind of insect as the new mascot for wildlife charities. Cuz most people find them scary but they’re still very important. Also an elusive reef animal that is possibly venomous & doesn’t look conventionally cute while still being endangered & are close enough to humanity to elicit some sort of empathy sounds like a more proper symbol, don’t a think? Or y’a know…you could pick a fish, of a species most people eat, like oh idk, a grouper.
I fell bad for Satou, it was this becasue she lost parents from early age , and was raised by a psycho aunt, it was not her fault because he became a criminal
I really watch the whole thing. I didn't know there was more to the story than what I had watched. Happy Sugar is one of the greatest anime I've ever watched.
@@StarBoxz Now I really wonder if they wanted us to ship them. That is so messed up. Not to mention the last chapters really tried to show that even though their relationship is messed up they love (romantically) each other truly. Also showing Sato sacrificing herself for Shio.
@@nabsnab1158 Well I mean those are Tomiyaki Kagisora's characters at the end of the day. They can do what they want with their characters. It's messed up realistically, but I don't think people should assume bad things about the author because it's just a work of fiction. What the author draws and illustrates doesn't necessarily reflect what they condone in real life. That aside, I like the two main character's codependency. They both were raised by abusive parents and they both rely on each other to feel whole. They don't understand true love at all, but they both try to in their own way. Their relationship is messed up, but they end up truly caring for each other near the end with Satou and Shio trusting and loving each other fully and Satou committing a selfless act to keep her lover alive.
@@StarBoxz I would have preferred if the author showed that they love each other platonically but since both of them have no real relationships with other people they mistook it as something else. It feels like the show is saying its okay if it is a girl doing grooming since they show the teacher character in a negative light. Then again the show is tagged as yuri. No hate to the author even if I feel weird about them.
I have so many feelings and not enough words to describe it. Like it’s giving me more complicated emotions than Omori did. I’m just like… what do I do now with this information???
this was one of the first anime’s i watched when i was starting to explore a little more it truely haunted me but it did help me though a dark time it really changed my world view
I feel personally that giving him the face made him anyone, not monster from nightmares. Maybe better way will be if they left him as this creature in story, although gave his face on some photo in the background where he acts like normal guy, maybe even him as a child (that will be hard to show, I know, that's an idle idea). But yeah, Yuuna's backstory for interpretation. is betterGreat video, lets continue watching 💖
I will never forget how uncomfortable I felt the first time I watched it, so much so that I didn't want to watch it alone anymore, respect to the anime
I love this video so much, most videos just start it off with "this anime is so gross", and it's like did you even watch it? It has gross topics, but it's trying to SHOW that they're no good, not glorify them
..... goddamn!😮 This was a wild video but really really good my man. There's no shot I'm watching this so thanks for suffering for the collective benefit of mankind 😂
I had a very similar aunt w satou, she wanted me to behave like her because she was so lonely, everyone thought she was pshycotic wich was true but i felt sorry for her, she abused me to the point where i hated everyone and myself because she made me believe i was just like her. She told me i am possessed and If I can't find a way to cast out the demons I will use and abuse every man I love for my own pleasure, she thought me how to use my body and acted like i am a manipulative whore, for the record i was 12. After I got involved in a big incident that I can't describe here and showed everyone that I was really a "bad person", my family finally stopped talking to my aunt and i never saw her again, today i am 15 knowing she probably broked me too much that i can't stop myself from being abusive, i have too many toxic behaviors just because a adult woman felt lonely and wanted me to be messed up with her.
Never let anyone make you believe you're destined to be abusive. When you internalise that idea, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Ultimately you get to choose your actions and what kind of person you want to be. It can be very difficult at times, but never give up on trying to be good, you'll always have the chance. But no one can do anything alone, I hope you find people willing to stick by you and support you in becoming your best self.
43:01 a lot of jokes make fun of dark subjects, Family Guy make rape joke on women a few time, just because they joke about it doesn’t mean people don’t take it seriously.
I'm gonna be honest the biggest black spot on this whole thing is the anime adaptation. Sometime they just remove a whole chunk of the story or the fact that anime watcher will never get to cry their heart out after seeing Shio's mental state after the end
Excited someone is talking about this show! I came across it on Prime 2 years ago, and thought the premise sounded interesting... boy, was I naive in thinking it would be a cute feel good show! Still think the show was great, but definitely disturbing. Was very hard to recommend to people, because of all the serious topics in it.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 What?! That's so disappointing! After watching your video, it really made me want to rewatch the series. Maybe I'll search for the manga instead, this time. Thanks for a great video btw!
@@xhelxhelcosplay if you want to find the manga, I would recommend finding it on mangadex. It's not official, but it does have the 11th volume translated to english, and the only place where the 11th volume is in english.
Something that I haven’t seen anyone address is how The Manager never gets punished for what she did to Taiyō. After he was freed, we never get a clear picture as to what happened to her. Her wiki is just pure speculation as to what happened. Like that she killed herself after being presumably exposed offscreen and her life was ruined by Satō, she was arrested by the authorities, or that the café was shut down entirely. The most likely answer is that the Manager didn't face any repercussions. Satō got her pay, thus there was no reason for her to do anything with the recording as she quit that job after. Taiyō just wanted to get the Hell away. The Manager is free to keep acting just like she did before, to find a new victim as women predators are rarely treated as seriously as male predators.
analysis of the horror of the series is rlly spot on but I do kind of feel like the way you talk about more supernatural horror is kind of reductive? everyone has their own tastes obviously and I do get where you're coming from with the more realistic horror hitting closer to home but the way I see it, horror doesn't necessarily have to be completely realistic to be effective. like take nightmare on elm street for example, the premise is obviously outlandish, but the fear of being hunted by something you just can't get rid of is still very real. a big part of the movie's backstory is freddy krueger managing to escape justice bc of sloppy police work, which has historically happened a lot, so him killing people through their dreams can be read as sort of an extension of that. same with zombie and alien horror, it gets at fears of the other, fears of societal collapse, etc through more exaggerated means. obv how effective this is will vary from person to person, I just feel the need to defend my best friend supernatural horror a bit lol (will say tho absolutely get why you wouldn't include a tangent about this lol like the video must have been an absolute monster to write and edit as is and it's a comparatively minor detail. kudos to you for tackling a series that seems really, really heavy!)
I can proudly say i never liked satou or empathized with her, from start to finish the only one i did with was shios brother ( tho he did do some things) and satous friend. Yes, they are traumatized but that doesnt excuse what they did 🙃
i feel horrible for shiho, I dont see her as getting better at all i see her more as being broken and groomed by satou. meeting satou ruined her life .
I think you mixed up the definition for sympathy and empathy. Sympathy: "feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune." Empathy: "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another."
I made a video and put a little info bubble for that video acknowledging that I got it mixed up. I just wish the annotations were still around. They are far more practical for that.
Hi, if you enjoyed this video, please consider leaving a like & comment and share this video. ADDITIONAL THANKS TO: Skep-Tech 11037
EDIT: To clear things up, I am not blaming Yuna for being a victim, I was simply saying "the story makes it feel like it's blaming Yuna for being a victim", and I could have conveyed that better.
I also forgot to put the time stamp in to skip the Yuna tangent. Sorry. The time stamp to skip it is 56:11. Translation of song lyrics were sourced from lyricstranslate.com.
you didn't have to give me additional thanks ww but apreciate it.
Man. I've finished it now and you really made my day with this. Allthough i have thought about most of these things myself allready, hearing other people talk about them just deepens my apreciation for said things. Allthough the part of the ending was very much something i haven't thought about yet.
But still.. the scene that i carry with me more than any other, even the ending, is the ending of ep 9 where shôko dies.. so many aspects of the story build up to that point.. the metaphor of the canaria bird coming to it's heartbreaking conclusion.. and the song just perfectly hitting all the spots to make me full of despair of everyone involved, but especially shôko.. one of the most intense experiences i had when it comes to a tragic event. Listen to this song still to this day everyday.
But yeah, thank you for putting the good word of this anime out there. Really apreciate this. One of my favourite videos on this platform
@@UltimateHikikomori And here's hoping it picks up traction so the good word can keep spreading.
@UltimateHikikomori I wanted to ask a question. In the video when I was saying how I didn't like how the story implies half of Yuna's suffer is her fault, was I clear enough on that I DIDN'T like how it came off as blaming her?
@@1fishmob (i saw the community post allready ww)
If i have to guess, i'd say it's a combination of the possibility you presented to skip the part of you talking about her backstory in the manga, which maybe some people then did, your negative stand on the part itself with how it is just way too long and thrown into it in the middle of the story and you mentioning sometimes, that her being the victim of these things doesn't excuse how she treats her children.
Maybe with the sensitive nature of the topic some people just got rubbed the wrong way. I understand that you didn't mean it like that. But yeah.. it's an nime about sensitive subjects and it's prone for these kinds of reactions. If it's the only big negative reaction you got, then i think that shows you did a good job in handling those topics.
You conveyed that perfectly fine imo, some people just want to be angry at something.
I just love this kind of horror, it is not a jumpscare kind of horror. It is basically there to make you feel uneasy and disgusted, and reveal some information to you little by little. The thing is jumpscares in horror can scare you but it is basically to get either scared or angry reaction out of you but most of the time, you will be annoyed by them but for me a good horror story is the one which makes you feel uneasy, interested, it is like starting at the darkness and you feel like something is staring at you but there is nothing around you, basically you bulding your own paranoia.
I consider psychological horror to be the superior form of horror for that reason.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 precisely, a horror is supposed to be uneasy, disgusting, interesting or basically to provoke some sort of reaction out of you. There are good jumpscares but most of the time they are a cheap scare, but i perfer when i'm the one who is building my own fear then a monster who run's after me.
This was the first anime that genuinely made me disturbed. Watching this will be very… nostalgic
Watch corpse party.
Cap i found it a beautiful anime whit a realy sad ending
Made in Abyss is the one who did for me
it is, i'm currently rewatching it..
The biggest mistake the anime made was introducing Shio with a brightly colored shot.
The manga made sure to use a full page with neutral gray colors so readers can think for themselves about what they're seeing, which would be unease considering the start of the chapter talks about Sato basically being a prostitute, before using bright colors to showcase that the objectivity of the scene and the characters' happy emotions are two different things. The anime, however, using bright colors from the start makes it seem like the anime wants to make the viewer think what's going on is perfectly fine, which goes so against the viewers thoughts.
I think that's a major reason why there are people who watched the anime thinking that it was a PDFile story.
Edit: Oh, yeah, the anime also removed the scene of it bring heavily implied that Sato never did or thought about doing anything sexual to Shio. It's obviously very apparent that that was the case, but the anime not giving that confirmation just added to people misunderstanding the story.
Huh I didnt know the manga had that extra tidbit with Satou...
@@revolutionarymagic3459 Yeah, Sato's aunt asks Shio about what kinds of things Sato does to her, which she tells was just playing in the bath or things like that. After talking about everything, the aunt turns to Sato and taunts her about being too innocent.
Except that's completely, without a doubt... wrong. The manga's first page is a color spread, it's black and white in the print release because that's how manga tend to come out when in tankobon format.
The whole Sato being promiscuous thing is depicted as a rumor before she flat out admits to it while the manga paneling and stylings are akin to that of a shoujo romance manga, it's literally still doing this through a rose tinted lens, what are you talking about??? I haven't read the manga in 3 years and it only took the slightest amount of rechecking to get that right.
@Piradood I was talking about Shio being introduced, not the first page of the manga. Sato opens her door and greets Shio, then the next page is a full page of just Shio sitting in the corridor. _That_ page is a full shot of Shio, which doesn't use crazy bright colors, like the anime did.
The tone shift of the manga goes from: Sato possibly killed someone > is a slut > got over it because she found love (so happy for her, look how happy she is!) > her love is a small child (*record scratch).
Edit: I just checked, and what the manga does is use the white of her house at the top of the panel and then that slowly loses focus as more grey and black colors show up the further down the panel you go as you get to Shio. You can clearly tell that was intentional, and is completely different from how the anime adapted that page.
@@marchmelloow flew off the handle there, bad day at work. While that is true to a degree, I still don't think it's an accurate depiction of it all considering how the manga goes about depicting tone. The full page is indeed in greyscale, it's not depicted the same way the dullness of the world is shown in times where Sato isn't experiencing a great deal of joy. The manga often will change up its onomatopoeia, darken the areas, or even blotch it, making it seem dulled. It can be described as a sort of "unbiased" perspective of it, but the panels right before it still have that same tonality in its artwork, it's only when they're together that the joy is back with the aforementioned bubbly onomatopoeia and shoujo-esque visual elements, that are directly beside it when page to page in physical format.
I don't think it's fair to shake the anime for this stylistic decision considering the manga doesn't go out of its way to show the ugliness of it all from the start because the perspective is entirely skewed in Sato's favor for a good majority of the first volume.
1:31:59 sugar & salt are mixed together in a LOT of recipes
they're mixed in most cakes, cookies, some steak recipes, some pork recipes, some chicken recipes, some vegetable recipes, in lots of asian cuisine, etc.
It's a metaphor, and a surprisingly common one too from what I understand.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 Oh wow, i didn't expect you to respond
i just finished this video & i'd like to tell you that i think you did a pretty good job
SOMEONE WHO UNDERSTANDS THIS SHOW THANK YOU LORDDD
I love psychological horror but HSL takes the cake for my number one spot. I like when media explores the horror in humanity. It's been my ultimate favorite for a few years now and It makes me happy that people are coming to their senses and understanding it's complexities instead of just going "it's weird" and dismissing the values in it's themes
Really awesome video, glad to see someone else who likes this show as much as I do!
I hate it and love it in a way😅
I love Happy Sugar Life so much its such a complex and dangerously sympathetic anime and your doing it BEYOND justice
I still felt sympathetic for Asahi even after the whole torture thing. To be completely fair, Asahi was beaten down and abused by his father and was repeatedly let down. He trusted Pedo McGee and what happened? Turns out the one adult he put his faith in betrayed him in the worst way possible. Obviously, Asahi wouldn't believe Pedo McGee and could respond the only way he knew. Violence.
Taiyo is a teen just like Asahi, not an adult.
@@fishmobsmovietv514asahi saw taiyo as an adult tho
@@Hayden_Cat Asahi is only calling Taiyo an adult because he is no better than them in his eyes.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 i know that, that’s why i said “he” as in Asahi, “saw” as in his perspective. Taiyo as an adult.
@@Hayden_Cat sorry, I'm misinterpreted what you said.
As someone who grew up with a fucked up idea of love, an abusive idea of what love is, I relate to Happy Sugar life on a personal level. Satos Aunt reminds me of my mom… and Shios mom as well 😅 Blood on the Tracks is another series that has similar feelings
I'll have to put that on my large list of things to check out then.
What year was that released?
@fishmobsmovietv514 it's a Manga only not been adapted to animation yet.
@@christieweyapuk3413Ah, that makes sense.
@@christieweyapuk3413 thanks for recommending the manga, it’s good
The algorithm works in mysterious ways. I felt I was going crazy being the only one thinking this was a legitimately good series. Even if every character was messy, the writing wasn't.
I didn't expect to end the week watching an essay abotu this series that is over half as log as the series itself. Thanks for putting words to many of the feelings I had about this.
Also an interesting bit about Shio's name and how 3 different people are obsessed with her: salt is considered a purifier (not just in Japan now that I think about it), probably because it is used to preserve food, it's often used to "purify a place" from evil spirits and to ward them off. So that's where Taiyou's specific wording for his obsession came from.
That's neat! Thank you for telling me that.
1:32:00 i take a little issue with dat statement. salt is often used in small quantities to greatly enhance sweetness. salt is a core component in most sweets, bakeries and so on. i dont know if you were purely talking about a 1 to 1 ratio, but mixing salt and sugar together certainly isnt unappealing or unappetizing as its actually a very important combination to enhance flavours.
I am aware of that, but that is a common thought process for some people and it is the main metaphor. I'm not saying sugar and salt don't mix, but it's more like mixing raw salt with raw sugar that is the metaphor.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 ah oki, my bad. thanks for claryfing. almost made it to the end, great video
A 2 and a half video about a thong I never knew existed that only got less than a 1000 views? Sign me in
youd watch a video about a thong for over two hours? sus
@@louramsey8279 lmao I love typos
It's a great show if you ever wanna watch it.
I absolutely loved this analysis - while I'll ironically say Satou did nothing wrong (and I'm a bit more like her than I'm comfortable with), I've always believed what Happy Sugar Life does best is portray its core cast as they are, complicated, sinful, and capable of more as they are, and challenge the viewer to develop a moral framing to deal with people who have gone through things said viewer likely has never even entertained the idea of happening to them. It's a complex, troubling, and uncomfortable story that all too many people end up rejecting or misunderstanding in an attempt to push that discomfort away - perhaps not wanting to consider it as a reflection of reality, or perhaps a reflection of themselves. For all those reasons, this has gotta be one of the best long-form pieces I've seen on the story, and it'll always have a special place in my heart (and a good few others). For 'further reading' I'd give a crack at Bitter Salt Life (a fanmade continuation that's somehow quality enough to seem official), or the discord server (a very... interesting? place)
also timeskip shio is cute
Using images of sugar and stray sweets to create an impressive metaphor for the meaning of love, I used to think the "bitter candies" that Sato always talked about with an unpleasant expression because they represented effects such as anxious, insecure and inappropriate, and others simply do not know what the victim is going through. But looking back at the title and reviewing the first five episodes, it's just like you said! Those are still candies, they are still sweet, but not all sweets are the same, Sato loves her relationship with Shi-o but appears to hate other ideas of love, because she does not feel Other people's sweets are sweet, but the way to enjoy it is not
The only act of true love in the show is Satous maternal love and sacrifice at the end it breaks the cycles of abuse all the central characters were stuck in by tying shio to her memory no one else will be pulled into the abuse and torment of their lives and while no one gets a happy ending shio isn't stuck with asahi a character to broken to even know that he needs help shio being alone yet still able to form relationships is the best ending she could've had after everything thats happened to her and it keeps her from seeking death
Wow, the fact that someone actually made a video about this is so cool. I still can't believe just how underrated and misunderstood Happy Sugar Life is. You've done an excellent job analyzing this anime / manga. Cheers.
18:01 I trust a fish to know about a bait and switch
Honestly this manga/anime makes me cry because these two kids became broken because of the adults around them. I feel like sato would had grown intona completely different person if her uprising wasnt so fcked up. Of course im not excusing her actions
Loved this video, you actually made me so much more understanding of Satou, i used to see her as "oh, messed up low-key pdf file" but you made me see her as so much more. The anime never brainwashed me, i never rooted for her nor did i ever deny that what she was doing was bad, but You almost did, ironically enough. You called out things i never even noticed, and that made me appreciate this golden, underground masterpiece So much more. If i didn't love it before, i would now.
Thanks!
This is an amazing video. I really enjoy detailed dissections of media like this. I couldn't believe it when I saw that it only had under 2K views! Keep it up, man.
I did only release it 2 days ago. But hopefully this video is circulates around and gets more than 2,000 views.
bro TWO bugsnax jumpscares in the same video is a treat (me when my special interest is mentioned)
Frankly, i dont think the anime portrayed satuo's backstory too well since i only saw her as someone sympathetic, especially after she killed shoko. Also, for the asai, i didn't really notice his selfish reasoning to save shio. But also, i believe i watched this when i was too young to understand that meaning.
in my own twisted way, regardless of Satou being a bad person, I find myself wishing that her and Shio could have stayed together. They were the best things that had happened to each other. it does make me happy that Shio continued to be happy later on, I never read the manga, so that's a nice thing to learn.
As for most of the story, I understand asahi was supposed to be seen as a hero figure, the good guy, etc. But I never did find him to be someone I wanted to be successful. I felt bad for his upbringing, of course, but If he got what he wanted Shio would not have been happy. That's just the truth of it. Asahi nor his mother could have provided her with proper companionship or even good living conditions.
The death of Shouko really is the one thing in this show that satou does, that I believe is completely unjustifiable, and that's a good thing for the story. It does cause that important development of satou and shio's characters that is so well done.
Now on a personal note that isn't reiterating things said in the video, I know many see Satou as a pedophile. I want to say that I do not believe she is. Yes, she is in a relationship with an 8-year old, but I believe that anyone who was sufficiently "pure" or "innocent" and happened to meet satou in specific circumstance, could have become that person she loved. it didn't have to be a child. It's just far more common for children to be pure or innocent. Now many of Satou's crimes are caused by Shio being a child but none of those crimes are SA or Rape. It's important for the story that shio is a child, But again I think its not the case that she is a pedophile. just a personal gripe I have with the already undeservedly low reception of this show. the Pedo word is thrown around so easily these days it bothers me.
I'm not very confident in my ability to articulate my thoughts, so I hope that came out right. This was a good video though, I enjoyed it, and you were surprisingly able to keep me engaged through 2 and a half hours.
Satō is an asexual pedo. As someone who had an intense pure romantic relationship with a teen as a kid, I felt very represented by this. While it was wholly positive interactions, it really warped my life and he was the most important thing to me (a child) and it took a lot of therapy to realize I should have never been so close with him. It robbed me of childhood. Satō is robbing Shio of a normal life with her actions, no matter how happy they were together.
Also while Shio is happy at the end of the manga, we also see that she is still revolving around Satō, greeting her when she arrives home.
I doubt Shio will ever have normal relationships and I bet she'd defend other child abductors if it met her definition of "pure love" bc she's been groomed to think it's ok. Just like I was, and like you seem to be (no offense)
It's just not ok. It's not developmentally appropriate. I think the series tries its best to show that it's not truly a happy sugar life.
Asahi is more of a flawed hero than anything. He's not entirely pure, and his motivations could be seen as selfish, but ultimately he just wanted to get his little sister back from a potentially dangerous (in his eyes) kidnapper.
Though i will say, all the conflicting opinions on who was in the right and who was the villsin says a lot about how well wtitten it is.
Pedos can be asexuals too, just bc she didn't want to fword her doesn't mean she didn't feel romantic attraction
@@janekiryu3409Shio was robbed of a normal life long before she ever met Satō. But she gave her the chance of a happy one. I don't think "normal" is a good standard to judge things by nor something to strive for. Plenty of "normal" things are unjustifiable and plenty of "weird" things are good. Everyone is different and has different needs, maybe in Shio's case the fucked up psycho pedo was what she needed? That feels true to my experiences, at least. I relate a lot to her, and my girlfriend reminds me of Satō a lot. And I'm very happy, fucked up girls need fucked up things sometimes.
Anyway I think the story was trying to teach us that people are never as simple as black or white, hero or monster. You can call me groomed if you like, I wouldn't even deny it, but that branding feels like a way to dismiss other people's perspectives. I think people should open their minds more, and listen to victims especially. Shio used her agency to choose Satō, and I don't think that's respected enough. People dismiss irl victims deemed as "messy" in much the same way.
Finished it a month ago and it's still with me. I couldn't stop thinking about the characters and what happened after the story ended. Even after reading the extra volume. Enjoyed this video a lot.
Honestly and I mean this sincerely I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a realistic depiction of how fucked up the world is. Everyone in this universe is terrible in some way. And I think it’s brilliant. Even after I read the manga after finishing the anime I seriously thought the ending was incredibly bittersweet and intentionally ambiguous. This world is full of evils we try to hide but eventually it gets brought to light.
I started my psychology homework and this had to have been one of the best videos to stumble upon and watch. You did such an amazing job at analyzing every little detail not just in the anime but manga and the differences inbetween the two. Just total props to all the effort and work put into this, it was amazing! I would love to see an in depth analysis video like this on future diary too cause that was another psychological thriller that rattled my bones
Maybe someday. Ironically enough, I was looking for someone who knew psychology so they could give me some insight on the characters in The series. But I'm glad to know that I did a good job either way.
This video was a godsend, from going over the symbolic value of love each character saw the other as while simultaneously presenting the complexity of their situations(notably shio and Satou considering how I've seen people praise Asahi way too much with said people not understanding why shio left him to begin with. With satou's case being worse as alot of people write her off just some crazy girl instead of tortured soul like a majority of the cast). The Ending left me happy that shio found freedom but distraught when said freedom lead to her breaking mentally.
At the 55 minute mark, and honestly I'd be okay with showing the face if the scribbling out his face started a lot sooner than it did.
Have it unscribbled during their first meeting, but then when the two families meet to discuss the marriage have his face scribbled out. As the conversation continues, everyone's faces begin to scribble out, including her parents as they cave to the proposal. Imo, it'd be an interesting way to show her loosing trust/gaining fear towards these people; it could even tie in to how Asahi sees his dad and how Shio sees her mom in her hallucinations.
This is the best video I've ever watched on this topic. Happy Sugar Life deals with child abuse, and horrendously messy characters, but never in a glorifying way. I think many people simply can't get past its premise to see how in its horror presentation it deals with its themes in a more delicate way than many other media. HSL treads the line between the two extremes of "this is bad" polemic that I've encountered: this is bad and it's bad because I say it's bad and if you talk about it too much it you're bad too so we won't talk about it any more VS this is bad and I'll show you exactly how bad it is by portraying what's bad in gratuitous and questionably specific detail. You too did a great job of summing up the anime and manga in how their metaphors and character arcs work, and I also appreciated your few critiques. In terms of the "showing the father's face" problem, I think the anime actually did it best not only by not showing the flashback but also when Asahi first starts to turn into a villain, he has his father's face, the red eyed scribbled out face, which shows how he's falling into the cycle of abuse through the art. You kind of lost me on your complaint about "our overly woke culture" though. I'm not trying to start a fight, but I feel that throwing that super-politicised phrase in there didn't help the critique.
I think there is also a cultural difference in your point about salt and sugar. In 日本の料理(Japanese cuisin) slat and sugar often go together when cooking. A lot of receipes uses soy sauce (which is the source of salt) and sugar melt together for both meat and vegetables, I do appreciate your point in the western perspective though.
About your tangent, I have an interpretation: At least on the panels you show, the father only shows his face on situations where he can't be his unhinged self, lashing on his wife and kid. I may be wrong, but perhaps it was intentional? Like on your own example, the Joker, it's like the times he comes up with this ellaborate lie about a Jhon Doe being his real persona.
True. But that was just my own personal take really. It could have been intentional.
This is the only anime that made me tear up at the end💀💀
A bit late to the party, but I love your breakthrough of the series. I watched it 1 year after it came out and, ever since then, I wasn't the same. Satou and her struggles spoke to me like nothing else. Just like her, I was also young and searching for love, changing guys regularly, except, unlike her, I gave up, feeling like I wasn't meant to find love at all. That, of course, changed, but it took a few years. Seeing her being happy with Shio made me feel sad, because even now I still can't have that(some irl stuff, not important).
Yuna(at least her manga version) was also very relatable. In my quest to find love, I dated this one guy who was very creepy, but, because I was desperate, I stayed in that relationship(I also had some troubles at home, but it's not that important). I was 17 and he was 20. He told me that he wanted to get me pregnant, marry me and take me away from my mother. I don't remember why I didn't just dump him after that, but I guess it had to do with my trauma and self hatred. Unlike Yuna though, I got out of that relationship without ruining my life.
Going back to Satou, she's by far my favorite yandere. The main reason for that is the fact that killing people is not the only option for her to deal with obstacles(looking at you, Yuno). She mostly uses manipulation to get what she wants and, in a way, I admire that about her. I also have to praise her va Kana Hanazawa. This was my first time hearing her in an anime and she nailed the role. I wouldn't want anyone else to voice Satou!
One more thing to add is the ending. It broke me. When Satou shielded Shio with her body to save her, I broke down. I didn't want this to be the end. I truly wanted Satou and Shio to be happy. I still love the ending btw. I have watched the anime and read the manga several more yes because of how much I enjoyed it. Heck, I even introduced my best friend to it and he fell in love with how morally complex this show is and, I still ended up crying at the ending.
Satou is my favorite Yandere as well, and I hope you're in a better place in life now.
Yes, I am. Thank you@@fishmobsmovietv514
So happy I found a 2 hour essay on this underrated Anime. Thanks for your work ❤
I appreciate that you elaborated on how normalised it is in our media to show men being assaulted for laughs. It’s terrible. I have some male friends that are afraid to open up about their abuse because society has taught them that sexual assault by women isn’t „real abuse“, which is BS.
I remember how one Eastern European reviewer told on Taiyou that his sexual trauma was "stupid", because, citating: "he got picked by very hot mature lady, what many guys can only dream of". It's not only disgusting, but also misandristic, because it implies that all men are sex-crazed animals.
i clicked on this video randomly and omg when i heard the song in the intro i fell in love please tell me what song is this T _ T
Saki Demo by Angel Cleaver
Awesome video! Just one note on Japanese pronunciation- “i” is pronounced as “ee”, and “e” is pronounced as “eh”- so “Sumire” is pronounced “Soo-mee-ray” 😁
Good to know for future reference, thank you.
Wow! This was an awesome video analysis of a creepy show I watched a few years ago. I may just watch the series again after watching your video. Two thumbs up, Fishmobs!
Thank you!
its crazy how i not only recently discovered and finished this anime, but i get recommended a long review of it abbhkns
this was GREAT, i wish ur channel the best frfr
Very misunderstood anime and manga. Tbh I need to finish reading the manga cause that show was definitely something different. Manga has a lot more in it too
An Almost 3hours vide speaking about Sugar Life? i'm in. I just love this anime so much and i love how you explained it.
oh shit. I never finished that anime. I started it as a fling- thanks for reminding me !
59:32 that is the opposite of what I would call dominance, but that’s cuz of a certain acronym I know of…
33:37 Sorry but you have a whole section dedicated to these words, so I have to correct you here:
"Empathy is the ability to understand and share someone's feelings, while sympathy is the external expression of pity or sorrow."
Or:
"Empathy is the ability to recognize and share another person's emotions, while sympathy is a simple expression of concern for their misfortune."
Or even (and I think this one is best and easiest to understand):
"Sympathy is feeling sorry (on a surface level) for someone and empathy is feeling their emotions (more deeply)."
Basically, what I'm saying is your definitions are very wrong, even with a few very differently written examples, none of them match up to your definitions. With empathy, you HAVE to FEEL what the other person is feeling. It's not just a possibility, that's the entire meaning of the word. Empathy is literally FEELING exactly what the other person is feeling. Sympathy is the less intense one where you only feel a surface level of bad for a person. It's JUST pity, you care but don't relate. As someone who IS an empath, it surprised me how backward you got the definitions.
That is how every definition I looked up regarding the words explained it.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 Maybe you misread/ misunderstood it? Because how could all of the definitions you found be backward?
@@TheNoobler That is how I understood them.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 i literally just googled both terms and you're wrong
@@movelea I am aware of that.
just wanted to say that this was SUCH a good video omg. deserves so many more views!
Well, a 2 /12 hour video will do that, but what can I do about it?
The anime is hated because of the whole Loli but this review is actually about the dark side of humanity
Indeed it is.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 well look into it really!
It’s far more than that this is personal and traumatizing for the creator. They made this for catharsis…
And to write a story that instills fear and shows that you know you can be groomed by you’re a Same Sex-“Girl next door” Upper Classmen.
I remember like especially I think I mentioned it in a different, like when the mongers on hiatus and stuff it was we were really trying to find out like were they the one directly involved is it a lover is at a friends and a family member? Like how was all the related to this story! But it’s people have made good points for many different answers so even to this day years and years and years later I still couldn’t definitively say.
And then of course somethings were really really really truly lost in translation… Like obviously what Sato did was wrong.
It’s the same kind of on “settling “you find yourself doing in specific communities… Where you’re like I guess I’ll ignore my boundaries because I don’t know if I’ll ever be excepted anywhere else… So like imagine you have that mindset Inn it also happens to be like your only option for a place to sleep at night. And you’re not even young enough to really comprehend any of that… It could’ve gotten worse than the show and it was intended to be a little bit worse but not in the way people think. They’re just going to show more like emotions I guess mental breakdowns but then they decided you know if we’re going to show up from Sato’s point of view, there’s no way she would think negatively about any time she spends with Shiho.
There was a couple different scenarios thrown out and about regarding Sato and her sexuality how much risk a child would truly have been in that situation. And in the monologue at the beginning you’re supposed to kind of in for some things and then draw parallels to her trauma with her aunt and then come to the conclusion they tried to spell out for us that Sato does not think sex and love really have anything to do with each other. Innoway she route since six and is not truly truly interested in it but before she breaks up with the boys she does it with them so they will leave her alone and not annoy her so things like that so there was like a few scenarios like maybe she cannot physically or emotionally connect because of the psychopathy. Or maybe she is Ace but not A romantic. And that she is not necessarily CisHetero.. but she’s in the romance not lust basically. She really really really values purity. Maybe as much as like an older man would, and trying to marry off his son lol.
So when it was floated around in a few interviews it was like commandeer from the author a few times from artists and other people involved and like the enemy and whatever the Sato wouldn’t have become physically intimate with her under any circumstances in a darker story she would’ve traumatized her in different ways. more related to like little she hoes people pleasing tendencies and restlessness regarding her feeling of uselessness fear of abandonment. Like maybe they would’ve self harm together things like that
But the only one of them that would’ve ever initiated anything More than a friend or surrogate family member.
(I don’t know if this is changed in interviews because I haven’t seen any interviews or even looked into it until today when I was trying to find an old one. I was just around that area back then)
~~
But there’s a phenomenon in Japan “called standing girls. And you’re like why are they sending why are these middle school girls just standing all night long they’re not you know begging for change they’re not you know looking for a hook up there just standing. It’s because they’re homeless so they stand under light poles because they feel that’s where they’ll be safest… Finally if three or four girls around the same age meet up around that area and feel they can trust each other they will go and sleep in an alleyway or a dumpster you know backtrack whatever but it is so weird and yeah they’re extremely young… All that aside because I really didn’t have anything to do with anything. But just the same way people in the USA see like homeless people huddled up and sleeping bags.
@@CallMeeKarma Wait, really? Man, I should one day redo this video with this context.
It’s been a while since I revisited this series! Thank you for the close analysis, it was a great video
I usually skip video by people who use animals or png images to represent themselves, but I deiceded to watch the video anyways as background while I play video games
And surprisingly this was well made and lot of passion and effort when into this.
maybe i have skipped so much content like becuase of such tirival thing
thank you mr Big Mouth Billy Bass animatronic singing prop for changing my views
You're welcome.
I randomly came across the video in my YT feed. Love the topic, love your take on it. You've got a sub from me for sure :D. Small critique, at one point when you played some OST's in the video the audio wasn't leveled with the audio of the video, and it jumped scared me and tore my ears apart (I had headphones on :D ). I actually like the png fish more :D.
Keep up the grind!
What parts? I know of the ritual at the end where I get a new avatar design (that was an accident.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 At 23:55 is where I had the jump scare, idk the audio lvl's just seem different.
@@FantomMacan If I don't talk over it, I tend not to lower the volume. I'll keep that in mind for future projects though.
42:50 would you believe there was an allusion to this in even an episode of the Powerpuff Girls?
I know, I almost used that clip.
1:14:54 I recommend Aipysurus apraefrontalis or some kind of insect as the new mascot for wildlife charities.
Cuz most people find them scary but they’re still very important.
Also an elusive reef animal that is possibly venomous & doesn’t look conventionally cute while still being endangered & are close enough to humanity to elicit some sort of empathy sounds like a more proper symbol, don’t a think?
Or y’a know…you could pick a fish, of a species most people eat, like oh idk, a grouper.
I fell bad for Satou, it was this becasue she lost parents from early age , and was raised by a psycho aunt, it was not her fault because he became a criminal
@@INTICE200 but it also doesn't excuse the stuff she did either.
whatching this now made me remember how it hit me like a truck when i watched it in the past, thanks
45:50 is right around where I was starting to realize how complex and uncomfey this is going to get, since I can't imagine we go up from here. 😅
i'll be back
not sure what to put for this but commenting anyway will help for the algorithm and I liked the video
I really watch the whole thing. I didn't know there was more to the story than what I had watched. Happy Sugar is one of the greatest anime I've ever watched.
To this day, I dont know if the author wanted us to ship Sato and Shio or hate their relationship.
That's the psychological part of the psychological horror at play. It confuses your mind.
The author draws a lot of art of Satou and Shio together. She also drew Satou and Shio in a wedding dress for the cover of the final chapters.
@@StarBoxz Now I really wonder if they wanted us to ship them. That is so messed up. Not to mention the last chapters really tried to show that even though their relationship is messed up they love (romantically) each other truly. Also showing Sato sacrificing herself for Shio.
@@nabsnab1158 Well I mean those are Tomiyaki Kagisora's characters at the end of the day. They can do what they want with their characters. It's messed up realistically, but I don't think people should assume bad things about the author because it's just a work of fiction. What the author draws and illustrates doesn't necessarily reflect what they condone in real life. That aside, I like the two main character's codependency. They both were raised by abusive parents and they both rely on each other to feel whole. They don't understand true love at all, but they both try to in their own way. Their relationship is messed up, but they end up truly caring for each other near the end with Satou and Shio trusting and loving each other fully and Satou committing a selfless act to keep her lover alive.
@@StarBoxz I would have preferred if the author showed that they love each other platonically but since both of them have no real relationships with other people they mistook it as something else. It feels like the show is saying its okay if it is a girl doing grooming since they show the teacher character in a negative light. Then again the show is tagged as yuri. No hate to the author even if I feel weird about them.
I have so many feelings and not enough words to describe it. Like it’s giving me more complicated emotions than Omori did. I’m just like… what do I do now with this information???
I'm kinda sad we never know what happens to the homeless guy
Asahi? Yeah, same here. But it's also not really important.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 god I hope he didn't kill himself
This anime makes me feel like theres more to it then what it shows in the anime.
"Sugar-coating it"........ _oh, now title make sense in another way too_
this was one of the first anime’s i watched when i was starting to explore a little more it truely haunted me but it did help me though a dark time it really changed my world view
I feel like I’m watching a breaking bad video essay. Good shit 🔥🔥
Such a good video! It deserves more views!
Thanks. And it would cool if you considered sharing this video. It's the only way this is going to get more views.
I feel personally that giving him the face made him anyone, not monster from nightmares. Maybe better way will be if they left him as this creature in story, although gave his face on some photo in the background where he acts like normal guy, maybe even him as a child (that will be hard to show, I know, that's an idle idea). But yeah, Yuuna's backstory for interpretation. is betterGreat video, lets continue watching 💖
this was a really interesting watch, great video essay!
I liked that anime it's dark but has a sort of deep meaning to it
A two and a half hour long on happy sugat life? F€ck being in a relationship this video is my true love❤
I will never forget how uncomfortable I felt the first time I watched it, so much so that I didn't want to watch it alone anymore, respect to the anime
Loved this! More long form analysis! ❤️
This is probably the first anime that genuinely gave me jumpscares
I love this video so much, most videos just start it off with "this anime is so gross", and it's like did you even watch it? It has gross topics, but it's trying to SHOW that they're no good, not glorify them
Amazing video, beautiful editing, I'm in love with this video. Keep it up, you'll go places!! :DD
i honestly don't like this show very much, but it's cool seeing people talk about it so it's not yet forgoten
To each their own, I'm just happy to have discussions.
Only criticism is, you got empathy n sympathy mixed up lol
That's the definition I was able to figure out for them.
It was so worth it watching this till the end
This seems like something BBL Drizzy would like💀
Who?
feeling a bit crazy watching a two hour video but its defo worth it and a damn good one at that.
Thank you for sharing!
..... goddamn!😮
This was a wild video but really really good my man. There's no shot I'm watching this so thanks for suffering for the collective benefit of mankind 😂
no way he is going to talk for 2 hours and 30 minutes about
that is more than half of the anime in time
Would you believe that was not my intention.
I had a very similar aunt w satou, she wanted me to behave like her because she was so lonely, everyone thought she was pshycotic wich was true but i felt sorry for her, she abused me to the point where i hated everyone and myself because she made me believe i was just like her. She told me i am possessed and If I can't find a way to cast out the demons I will use and abuse every man I love for my own pleasure, she thought me how to use my body and acted like i am a manipulative whore, for the record i was 12. After I got involved in a big incident that I can't describe here and showed everyone that I was really a "bad person", my family finally stopped talking to my aunt and i never saw her again, today i am 15 knowing she probably broked me too much that i can't stop myself from being abusive, i have too many toxic behaviors just because a adult woman felt lonely and wanted me to be messed up with her.
Never let anyone make you believe you're destined to be abusive. When you internalise that idea, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy. Ultimately you get to choose your actions and what kind of person you want to be. It can be very difficult at times, but never give up on trying to be good, you'll always have the chance. But no one can do anything alone, I hope you find people willing to stick by you and support you in becoming your best self.
43:01 a lot of jokes make fun of dark subjects, Family Guy make rape joke on women a few time, just because they joke about it doesn’t mean people don’t take it seriously.
so happy i found ur vid, gonna watch it at night :D
I'm gonna be honest the biggest black spot on this whole thing is the anime adaptation. Sometime they just remove a whole chunk of the story or the fact that anime watcher will never get to cry their heart out after seeing Shio's mental state after the end
nice, finally someone who understood this manga...
2 hours?????? GAH DAYUM you really love this anime
(Your very underrated honestly)
Excited someone is talking about this show! I came across it on Prime 2 years ago, and thought the premise sounded interesting... boy, was I naive in thinking it would be a cute feel good show! Still think the show was great, but definitely disturbing. Was very hard to recommend to people, because of all the serious topics in it.
Too bad it's no longer available on Prime.
@@fishmobsmovietv514 What?! That's so disappointing! After watching your video, it really made me want to rewatch the series. Maybe I'll search for the manga instead, this time. Thanks for a great video btw!
@@xhelxhelcosplay if you want to find the manga, I would recommend finding it on mangadex. It's not official, but it does have the 11th volume translated to english, and the only place where the 11th volume is in english.
Something that I haven’t seen anyone address is how The Manager never gets punished for what she did to Taiyō. After he was freed, we never get a clear picture as to what happened to her.
Her wiki is just pure speculation as to what happened. Like that she killed herself after being presumably exposed offscreen and her life was ruined by Satō, she was arrested by the authorities, or that the café was shut down entirely.
The most likely answer is that the Manager didn't face any repercussions. Satō got her pay, thus there was no reason for her to do anything with the recording as she quit that job after. Taiyō just wanted to get the Hell away. The Manager is free to keep acting just like she did before, to find a new victim as women predators are rarely treated as seriously as male predators.
If she didn't face repercussions, that is actually closer to real life than not. Sometimes, people just get away with what they do.
I FUCKING LOVE HAPPY SUGAR LIFE YESSSSSS
I’m only a minute into the vid but Plague Dogs mention ❗️❗️
analysis of the horror of the series is rlly spot on but I do kind of feel like the way you talk about more supernatural horror is kind of reductive? everyone has their own tastes obviously and I do get where you're coming from with the more realistic horror hitting closer to home but the way I see it, horror doesn't necessarily have to be completely realistic to be effective. like take nightmare on elm street for example, the premise is obviously outlandish, but the fear of being hunted by something you just can't get rid of is still very real. a big part of the movie's backstory is freddy krueger managing to escape justice bc of sloppy police work, which has historically happened a lot, so him killing people through their dreams can be read as sort of an extension of that. same with zombie and alien horror, it gets at fears of the other, fears of societal collapse, etc through more exaggerated means. obv how effective this is will vary from person to person, I just feel the need to defend my best friend supernatural horror a bit lol
(will say tho absolutely get why you wouldn't include a tangent about this lol like the video must have been an absolute monster to write and edit as is and it's a comparatively minor detail. kudos to you for tackling a series that seems really, really heavy!)
nice analysis, could you make "zankyou no terror" analysis video? that anime is also a hidden gem
amazing analysis!!
I can proudly say i never liked satou or empathized with her, from start to finish the only one i did with was shios brother ( tho he did do some things) and satous friend. Yes, they are traumatized but that doesnt excuse what they did 🙃
That means you stood strong with your morals from start to finish.
Yup tbh only shoko was truly sane which is sad to think people are like this irl
Well. balls.
1:14:41 Uh….how would someone see Asahi & not think they’re cute & sad?
i...really dont know what to feel
i watched happy sugar life but couldnt finish it
after this video...
i dont know
i feel horrible for shiho, I dont see her as getting better at all i see her more as being broken and groomed by satou. meeting satou ruined her life .
While I said Shio's life was left off for the better, I never said it was for the better.
I think you mixed up the definition for sympathy and empathy.
Sympathy: "feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else's misfortune."
Empathy: "the ability to understand and share the feelings of another."
I made a video and put a little info bubble for that video acknowledging that I got it mixed up. I just wish the annotations were still around. They are far more practical for that.