ハピネス 10

After nine volumes of violence and pain, we fianlly get a glimpse of the titular happiness in a genuinely moving denoument. A story like this needs to stick the landing and Happiness does it beautifully. The best horror is always about something a bit deeper than what it says it's about, and underneat the gory vampire story is a pretty deep look at alienation, trauma, and ultimately what it means to be happy when you've experienced incredible sadness and loss.

It was nice to be able to not only read but truly immerse in a story in Japanese and I do think that if you can stomach the gore this is a great first manga to attempt in Japanese. The writing might have been easy to read, but the themes and characters were complex and finishing this series was a huge confidence booster. The trickiest part in this particular volume is actually the afterword, which is handwritten in incredibly scribbly kanji and I admit I looked up the translation to see what was there. Perhaps eventually I'll be able to read handwriting.