Happy of the End (2024)

Among the best of the best?

Note: For now, this review covers only Ep. 1 to 6. It is a conversation between me and my friend, Taeko.

ME: Kimi to futari, hanauta majiri, kasanaru tabi, iro asakaya, kimi ga suki datta....

TAEKO: Oh for god's sake, are you still singing that song?

ME: Yes. What's more, I wrote down the lyrics, decoded the Kanji, translated it, and memorised the lines.

MY HUSBAND (from the kitchen): Neeeeeeeeeerd....

TAEKO: So, Happy of the End. I feel we aren't going to disagree much on this one.

ME: No! I don't know how the last two episodes will turn out, but so far, it might be among the best of the BLs I have ever seen. I wonder if it has the potential to be the best of the best.

TAEKO: Praise indeed! I'm surprised at how much they were able to pack into just 6 episodes so far... Even though I feel some things have been lost in the process.

ME: Like what?

TAEKO: Chihiro, for instance... His abandonment by his whole family, I think, deserves more attention, and more justice than the show has given it. It was limited to just a few scenes, and needed more emotional heft than that. On the other hand, you might be able to better relate to his being in love with a bisexual man than I can. Did the show come too close to suggesting, though, that bisexuals are just greedy and sleep around?

ME: No, I just think Shun'ichi is an arsehole, and deserves to be lonely forever.

TAEKO (laughing): I love it when you become catty. But Haoren's storyline -- it is very well done.

ME: Right? He might have the worst life it is possible to have in Japan. And just when you think that the show couldn't possibly go *there*, it goes there. I can't think of a taboo it hasn't touched... except, maybe, incest.

TAEKO: You never know. I'm still not sure if the guy who drops his trousers was his dad, step-dad, or someone else. However, I wanted to ask you something. You loathed Hanya Yanagihara's "A Little Life," because the protagonist, Jude, suffers physical and sexual abuse throughout the book. Just when you think Jude's life couldn't get any worse, it does. What's different about Haoren? Is this show not 'pain porn' too?

ME: I did think about it. But no. Jude's whole story of abuse is told from a purely psychological perspective. It was all about him, and how other people related to him. Besides, much of the book is about self-harm. Jude's only purpose in the book was to suffer, be god's gift to men, and to eat at posh restaurants. The book is set in wealthy Manhattan, and half of it was interior-porn, half food-porn. Not here. Both Chihiro and Haoren -- especially Haoren -- are victims of sociological problems, and societal structures (or strictures): Haoren's lack of koseki, for instance, or child trafficking, or poverty, or pervasive homophobia. Shinjuku is as much of a character in the show as Haoren or Chihiko. The whole neighbourhood and all the lives in it are impermanent and precarious. Hanya's New York is just a place for eating, shopping, and fucking. To put it another way, in "A Little Life", Jude cuts himself. Here, it is Maya's clients who cut Haoren.

TAEKO: Interesting. Speaking of Maya, Asari Yosuke is an amazing actor. As soon as he appeared on the screen, my hairs stood on end. That frog scene... Ewww.

ME: As is Kubota Yuki. Kaji is a fascinating character, because, unlike most other characters, his moral compass is not easily decipherable. He doesn't have the clarity that even Haoren has. He sends Haoren to Maya, and says something homophobic to Chihiro. He later repents of both, but it is not clear he might not do it all again. The writing could have been better in that scene, but I didn't think a BL was even capable of such subtle characterisations. Then there is also Yamanaka So as Matsuki -- another strange character. The simultaneous admixture of care and predation, of abuse and regret. His facial expressions were just superb. He convinced me in one minute why someone would *want* to be his pet.

TAEKO: But are we happy with the main actors?

ME: Beppu Yarai is a revelation for me. His eyes dance, his lips seduce, his body invites pity and sorrow. I'm less sure of Sawamura Rei.

TAEKO: I disagree. Rei was a revelation for me. You expect the hardened victim of child abuse and trauma to be this mere carapace of a human being, incapable of a smile, and incapable of hope. Haoren even declares himself to be so. But his actions belie his thought, and Rei captured that very well. And he's not this big, burly, intimidating, "blokey" bloke. His littleness and fragility are precisely what feel are subversive. Plus, you know how I love tiny tops.

ME: You're weird, you are. But I still think Rei might have been miscast. Do you have any reservations about the show itself?

TAEKO: I found the frequent flashbacks tiresome. Especially when it was repeating the same scenes of abuse. In a short series, every second is precious. I also thought the slaps and the hitting weren't convincing. They needed better stunt coordinators.

ME: I agree with the second point, but am willing to write it off as budgetary constraints. Besides, that scene with the man tied to the car, and the one with the suitcase, were horrific enough that I can never forget them. The flashbacks, though, I can explain.

TAEKO: How?

ME: I thought of it as repetition compulsion. You play the same traumatic moments over and over again in your head, and repeat them in life, in order to right the wrongs. Very common in PTSD.

TAEKO: You've told me about that, and I admit I can't wrap my head around it. But here, isn't that more of a generous interpretation on your part?

ME: Possibly.

TAEKO: Tell me though, didn't the inner monologues bother you? Where they tell, rather than show, everything? You used to say that it was a mark of the director's lack of confidence in himself or his actors.

ME: I could have done without it. But I do think that the decision to retain the basic structure of manga/BL storytelling, while trying to fit such an unusual story within it, might have been deliberate.

TAEKO: How so?

ME: Because it is jarring. The whole framework is jarring. The grammar of BL/Manga sets certain expectations for you, and their fossilised vocabularies then provoke predictable reactions to predictable events. Here, however, the grammar is there, but not the vocabulary. So, I don't necessarily feel the way I'm supposed to feel.

TAEKO: That *is* true, actually. I thought the portrayal of abuse was almost cold, clinical. And I didn't necessarily feel I needed to cry or be sad. It made me numb, which is perhaps how Haoren felt. Plus, there was no loud music to tell me how I ought to feel throughout the show.

ME: Can we talk about the music, and how good it is?

TAEKO: You're not going to start singing again, are you?

ME: No, I mean the background music. It wasn't particularly original -- there were those sustained guitar chords for the romance, and the xylophone ripples for Maya -- but it was atmospheric, and at least felt assonant with the plot.

TAEKO: You seem to like the show so much more than I do. Which is surprising. Because if anyone is a cynical arsehole between the two of us, it's you. If you weren't partial to this show, you wouldn't set aside so many of your pet peeves as you have done.

ME: You're probably right. But I must say, I wasn't thrilled with that white blanket scene, when they finally make love after Haoren has disclosed his wounds. After all that boldness on the streets, why this shyness between the sheets? Especially after the fleshlight scene, which was just... heartbreaking. I'm still holding out hope for a proper kiss, or another love scene. But if I don't get it, I might not be as livid as I normally get.

TAEKO: Again, not like you at all. Let's talk again next week. I'm sure we'll have more to talk about.

MY HUSBAND (setting the table): Neeeeeeeeeeeerds....

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The Healing Power of Love: A Journey of Suffering, Pain, and Shared Dreams of Happiness

Japanese television continues to surprise with various styles and themes and this is confirmed by 'Happy of the End', the Japanese series that adapts the manga of the same name by Ogeretsu Tanaka, published in installments in the monthly digital manga magazine Boys' Love Qpa, a work winner of the Best Deep category at the Chil Chil BL 2022 Awards.
In 2021, Tanaka stated through an interview with Chil Chil that he came up with the plot while walking through the Tokyo neighborhood of Shinjuku one morning and wanted to write a story featuring its landscape. His frequent nighttime tours through its neon-filled streets, narrow pedestrian alleys, bars, restaurants and businesses of dubious reputation to obtain reference material for his interior and cover illustrations, were described as a "terrifying" experience.
The idea of ​​bringing the story told in the manga to moving images has since pursued the Japanese actor, screenwriter, assistant director and director Tomoyuki Furumaya.
Owner of a film universe with dozens of films, television series and specials over 30 years, which speaks of a feverish work backed by a recognized quality based on a style that identifies him, and makes him stand out among other directors, thanks to his obsession with telling stories conceived in a minimalist narrative design full of humanism, visions that between pain, suffering, irony and a good dose of humor cover the most universal themes.
This has been the case since his university years, when at only 24 years old, his 16 mm film, 'Shakunetsu no dojjibōru' (1992), won the grand prize at the Pia Film Festival, earning him a Pia scholarship to make his first theatrical feature film, 'This Window Is Yours', in 1994, with which he won the coveted "Dragons and Tigers" trophy at the Vancouver International Film Festival, ultimately obtaining the award for new directors from the Directors Guild of Japan in that same year.
With 'Bad Company', filmed 7 years later, the filmmaker from Nagano Prefecture won a Tiger Award and the FIPRESCI Award at the 2001 Rotterdam Film Festival, while with 'Sayonara Midori-chan' he came in second place at competition at the 2005 Three Continents Festival. He has also worked on television shows such as Mori no Asagao.
Faithful to the emotional core of the original manga, Tomoyuki Furumaya gives up his position behind the camera in episode 6 to let director Takahiro Komura do it, although always with his gaze and care down to the smallest details. Meanwhile, the script is written by the same director and Tadano Miako, who plays Keito/Haoran's mother.
The conflict in 'Happy of the End', the romantic and psychological drama with an LGBT+ theme, is exposed from the first minutes: disowned by his family for being gay and rejected by his newly married ex-boyfriend, Chihiro Kashiwagi, a "cool" young man, tough, lonely and gullible about 25 years old, meets Keito in a bar, a beautiful, mysterious man with a strong sense of obsession of the same age, and suggests that they have a one-night stand.
However, at the hotel, Keito beats Chihiro unconscious. The next morning, Keito reveals that he was sent by Matsuki, Chihiro's former employer, whom he had invited to live with him as a "pet", to retrieve his cards after Chihiro stole them when he was evicted for sleeping with other men. Without a place to live, Chihiro ends up staying with Keito.
After Chihiro confesses that he is a boy who feels so empty that he has thought about death, Haoran, who also experiences loneliness, proposes sex to him, the same sex interrupted on the night him attacked him. Through emotional ups and downs, their relationship becomes deeper and deeper. Through emotional ups and downs, their relationship becomes deeper and deeper.
While living together as friends with benefits, Chihiro and Keito grow closer and open up about their past: Chihiro tells Keito that he was disowned by his family for being gay and how he fell in love with a classmate in high school, who left him four years later to marry a woman.
For his part, Keito reveals that his real name is Haoran and that his drug addict mother is a prostitute who came from China. Furthermore, he confesses that due to his mother's abandonment, he was forced at the age of 15 to work as a minor prostitute with older and violent clients. He tells him that Matsuki himself had been one of his regulars at that time.
While living together as friends with benefits, Chihiro and Keito grow closer and open up about their past: Chihiro tells Keito about him family and how him fell in love in high school with a classmate, who abandoned him four more years. late to marry a woman.
Meanwhile, Keito reveals that his real name is Haoren and that his drug addict mother is a prostitute who came from China. Haoren has never known love. Being abandoned by his mother, and without the support of any other close being, the child no older than four or five years old is forced to live on the street and at the age of 15 to work as a minor prostitute with older and violent clients. He will confess to Chihiro that Matsuki himself had been one of his regulars at that time.
The series is populated by tormented and depressed characters, who seek light on their path and when they find it, they cling to it. When pain chokes us and makes us relive our darkest thoughts, it will be love's turn to make its way to want us to embrace life. Although everything seems to agree to plunge Haoren and Chihiro into the deepest darkness, both will fight tooth and nail to find closure to their traumatic past and live happily together as a couple.
According to the author of the manga, he wanted to show through an ironic distortion the inner world of heartbreak and suffering of "Haoran" (浩然), which symbolizes greatness or nobility, because thanks to the incorrect pronunciation of this Chinese character by the character who never went to school and whose mother abandoned him early, he becomes "Haoren" (好人), which literally translates as "good person."
In this way, instead of giving the character attributes related to his name, Ogeretsu Tanaka gives him qualities completely at odds with his life full of pain and difficulties.
After being asked by Chihiro why he makes love with his clothes on, we will soon discover that Haoren, in addition to the wounds he carries in his soul, carries physical scars on his body as a result of the abuse and humiliation received in the past.
Only love breeds wonder. Only love turns mud into a miracle. Only love can restore Haoren's greatness and nobility.
As the episodes progress we will discover two fascinating, unique, complex characters.
The series stands out for telling an extreme, but very human and touching story about two lonely and broken men who are hungry for love and affection. Chihiro is what you would call a gigolo, while Haoren is someone who doesn't understand the feelings of others. In this sense, both compensate for what the other lacks. They complement each other, and by being together, they recover their emotions, direct their lives and heal their souls with the power of love.
One without a penny in his pocket and a roof over his head. The other, with a rubbish job as a "scout for stewardesses and sex workers" making girls sell their bodies. Living on the fringes of society, Chihiro and Haoren could begin a new life together out of their pain and suffering.
Once Chihiro takes Haoren for a walk to Ueno Park, a short distance from Shinjuku, where they both live, it will be revealed that she does not even know of his existence. This will confirm to us his bitter, sad, broken, empty life.
Without education and even a telephone, those who have never set foot in any school will receive jokes from other people, like those from a real estate agent, because Haoren will not know how to respond politely. All this will define and configure the character.
Rei Sawamura, who is also a member of One N' Only, does a convincing job playing Haoren, a young man with emotional problems. As Haoren attempts to build a life together with Chihiro, he is harassed by Maya (Yosuke Asari), an abusive pimp for whom Haoren previously worked. On the other hand, he grieves for her mother, a Chinese woman who works as a prostitute and whose drug addiction has affected her so much that he no longer recognizes Haoren.
Beppu Yurai, the actor who plays Kashiwagi Chihiro, is today one of the most in-demand actors in Japanese television and cinema, after playing Saruhara Shinichi / Saru Brother in the tokusatsu franchise 'Avataro Sentai Donbrothers'.
This actor does a great job showing the range of Chihiro's emotions as he tries to make sense of her relationship with the young man who fulfills assignments of dubious decency.
With a life of suffering and emotional deprivation very similar to Haoren's, Chihiro's own older brother refuses to recognize him in public for being homosexual. Alienated by an exclusionary society, these two people with their broken souls and wounded bodies find salvation in each other.
Both will have the support of Ryohei Kaji (Yuki Kubota), an older brother figure to Chihiro and Haoren, a man who, although he gets angry quickly, is a good guy deep down, as Tanaka drew this character in the manga.
The cast works excellently together, giving realism and depth to the relationship of the main characters.
The soundtrack is composed by Kōji Endō. The opening track is "2Colors" by The Spellbound featuring Jesse (Rize/The Bonez.
The series has an undeniable richness in its various artistic components: the photography, the sets, in constant mutation, the music, and the essential editing work, which place us, as viewers, before a moving story in which the sudden friendship between the main characters is strange, but believable. The complexity of Chihiro and Haoren's relationship and the discovery of their tragic pasts is what drives the series.
What I like most about 'Happy of the End' is its strong, sensitive and moving message to those people who feel like they are missing something, or who want something but don't know what it is, or who are struggling every day and feel somehow dissatisfied. Haoren and Chihiro live their lives to the fullest even in the depths of despair. Despite their frustrations and stormy pasts, these characters do not give up and fight against all adversities.
On the other hand, I am struck by the fact that Haoren, like the semen in the relationship, is more androgynous than the uke. Likewise, this is how the characters were designed in the original work.
The latest work from the director of 'Candy Color Paradox' stars Rei Sawamura from "Living With Him", known to BL lovers for playing Haruna Keita in the series 'Kare no Iru Seikatsu', from 2024.
The series is a heartbreaking, sensitive and honest portrait of two young people who are emotionally connected to each other despite the traumatic and heartbreaking nature of their past.
The landscape and cinematography are beautiful despite the harsh reality that the series exposes and affects many young Japanese in the circumstances reflected through the protagonists. For decades we have wanted to believe that Japanese youth have everything to be happy in the nation that is considered the third largest economy in the world.
However, we then discovered, through the novel coronavirus, as the country prepared to host the Japan 2020 Olympic Games, that hundreds of thousands of Japanese, perhaps millions, many of them young, many of them prostitutes, many of them disowned by their parents for being homosexual, many of them harassed and discriminated against by a heteronormative and patriarchal society that refuses to accept LGBT+ people, they live in internet cafes throughout the Land of the Rising Sun, faced with the impossibility of being able to pay renting a home.
With the closure of these establishments due to the quarantine, suffering the eviction of their places to sleep, and faced with the increasing precariousness of their lives, they were forced to steal a snack from a child and run away, wait for someone to leave them abandoned in a park or a bus stop a box of chocolates that will be checked to see if there is still any left inside to put in your mouth, prostitute yourself for a few coins that are enough to buy a newspaper with which to cover the cold of the night in the streets, or spending the night among garbage bags, outdoors, along with the darkness, inclement weather and violence, portrayed in the series.
'Happy of the End' is a moving and fascinating study, beautifully told and skillfully acted, of two men struggling with the consequences of living through traumatic events.
The series fulfills its objective for me, in addition to wanting to jump to the other side of the screen to accompany Chihiro and Haoren on their journey of suffering, pain and shared dreams of achieving happiness, inviting me to reflect on a raw and sad reality.

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First Impression: Happy of the End

Overall: this is a grittier story. The series is based on a manga which I have read but I am trying to review the series on its own merits. 8 episodes about 25 minutes each. Airing on GagaOOLala https://www.gagaoolala.com/en/videos/4708/happy-of-the-end-2024

Content Warnings: there are major ones, see my comment with a spoiler for them

What I Liked
- a grittier story we rarely see
- flawed characters
- the cooking subverted trope
- act like grown adults who have gone thru some terrible things

Room For Improvement
- not a fan of exposition dumps but I realize they are trying to cover a lot in not much screentime

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A Toxic Relationship that can be offsetting

Love can be hidden in darkness; it just takes a little dedicated digging to find it.

Adapted from the manga series Happy of the End by Ogeretsu Tanaka, Keito/Haoren (Sawamura Rei) and Kashiwagi Chihiro (Beppu Yurai) are both broken men whose only experience with “love” has been abuse, rejection, and pain.

Each comes from different circumstances. Chihiro is raised in a world that rejects him because he’s gay. He’s been beaten down by the love he desperately tries to hold onto until he believes he’s worth little more than the garbage he steals. Keito is raised in a world full of abuse and anonymity, a world that has stolen his identity, his body, and his heart.

They meet in a bar and randomly live together after Keito beats Chihiro up.

Read the complete article here-

https://the-bl-xpress.com/2024/09/05/happy-of-the-end-first-impressions-ep-1-2/

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