Manga Review: Happy Sugar Life, Volume 5, by Tomiyaki Kagisora

Rating (Out of 5): ~3.5

Publisher: Yen Press

Release Date: May 2020

Volumes: 10.

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells. RightStuf.

Volumes: 1. 4. 6.

Goodreads Synopsis:

If you love someone...
...you want to eat sweets with them.
You want to bathe with them.
You want to hold them. To kiss them.
You want to be with them tomorrow and the next day.
Isn't that how everybody feels?

Does it exist...
...in this world?
Love...
...that's not...
...arrogant?

Review:

I knew this was going to have a creepy vibe when going into it. I didn't quite know how much, clearly.

Without any prior knowledge of this series, I'm introduced to Mitsuboshi, who's appearing to have a life crisis, because he wants to change himself and stop these weird thoughts, but also apparently he's obsessed with Shio and needs her praise and to know she's okay. Matsuzaka shows up, similarly slightly crazy, and seems to know how to talk Mitsuboshi down enough to get what she wants, which also involves having Shio all to herself.

For a while I didn't know what Shio's part in all of this is, and I'm still a bit concerned. She doesn't seem to realize that what Matsuzaka is doing to her is crazy and wrong, and that other people are worried about her. And Matsuzaka is clearly in love with her, so that's a surprising LGBT element I didn't expect.

This whole volume felt very demented and unsafe, and that ending only cements those feelings to be correct. There were also some really interesting story-telling uses, like a chapter that features a narrator we're not even shown, up to a surprise ending. Helped with the ominous creep factor, as well.

This was a twisted roller coaster of psychological issues, some of which I didn't realize I was walking into. I don't think it's something I would normally pick up, but it is something I could see myself bingeing and getting caught up in just to see how it all ends, because it's crazy af and sometimes those stories are interesting in how twisted they can be. Kind of like School Days, honestly.

A review copy was provided by the publisher, Yen Press, for an honest review. Thank you so, so much!