Manga: Happy Cafe
Shiawase Kissa 3-Choume (幸福喫茶3丁目) by Kou Matsuzuki
US Title: Happy Cafe
Published by Hakusensha/Hana to Yume
English version TokyoPop
Serialized in Hana to Yume
[Years unavailable, first book pubbed 2005]; 15 books complete
Demographic: Shojo
Genre: Romance
Uru Takamura is a 16 year old High School student whose mother recently remarried. Feeling like a burden on her younger new father, she asks to move out on her own. As she is moving in, she notices people coming out of a nearby cafe talking excitedly and looking completely happy. “If only I could make someone happy…”, she thinks to herself. She spies a flier asking for help on the door and decides to start working there the next day.
Cafe Bonheur, though appearing to be a normal cafe, has rather unique employees. Ichiro-kun falls asleep when he is hungry and must be awakened by putting food in his mouth. While awake, he is a slacker and a bit intimidating. Shindo-kun, wearing only dour expressions, is very scary and has a curt attitude even with customers. Uru is confused how these two could have produced the incredible happiness she had witnessed in the departing customers, until she witnesses an act of kindness from Shindo and spies on him while he makes his cakes and pastries. Uru, too, is unique. She looks like a middle-schooler and possesses herculean strength, which also causes havoc with breakable things like dishes, cups, glasses and doors.
She doesn’t know if she will be able to survive her slightly scary co-workers, friendly customers and her own strength, but she is giving it her all. Perhaps she can succeed in making someone happy, but right now she has her doubts.
When I glanced at Happy Cafe when it fell into my hands, I recognised the cover from a series of books I would pick up and put back down at the Japanese bookstore. Curious, I read the first couple pages. Before I was really aware of it, I had fallen easily into the story.
As others have pointed out on other websites, the story is rather simple and without the interesting points of a grumpy, dour, scary pastry chef, a narcoleptic-ish, lazy, slightly scary alternate employee, and a strange little girl with super strength, it might even be average and boring.
However these unique characteristics make it a story I can and do enjoy. I was beginning to feel my former statements regarding liking only unique shojo was starting to become false, so as a check I read a ‘regular’ romantic shojo manga and became bored and just put the manga down. When I picked this one up a while later, I was immediately pulled in. I think I will continue to claim only unique shojo.
The first book contain five chapters, each one a new adventure as is common in episodic series. Through each story we learn more about our heroine, and I think I am not giving much away when I say we also learn more about her mysteriously scary co-workers as well. She gets the job, how else can we talk about the cafe? The fun part is HOW she keeps it.
I have to admit, I don’t really see a romance yet. There is a super hot guy and blushing and moments of weakness, but it feels more like the beginning of friendship. I can’t wait to see how the series evolves these characters and I look forward to the English translations.
In the meantime, I think I will run off to my local Japanese bookstore and grab a couple issues in Japanese and see what I can read.
Recommendations: Its a fun read. I think that it would be good for people who have problems reading as the wording is easy and the story flows well with the art. If I was stocking this in my bookstore, it would be labeled in that mysterious area between pre-teen and teen. I might’ve actually read this when I was in grade school had it existed at that time. It is fluff. Better readers out there might like it for its fast read and open art. If you are serious about your romance and your artwork, you may not be so entertained.
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