Happy-Go-Lucky Days Updates: Based on Takako Shimura’s two volume Manga collection, Happy-Go-Lucky Days is an LGBTQ based anime anthology.
Just like the other mangas written by Shimura such as Sweet Blue Flowers and Wandering Sun, Happy-Go-Luck Days also talks about LGBTQ issues which can be watched by the fans on rent from Asian Pop-Up Cinema from September 19 2020 onwards, though we should also give a warning here.
Though the anime first seems like a charming adult LGBTQ show, it does not take much time to turn into a creepy one.
Though this show has a common delightful story in LGBTQ community ( not so common in movies) that goes like this:
A woman when attending her ex-girlfriend’s wedding with some delicate feelings in her heart, comes across another ex-girlfriend of the bride-to-be, they hook-up. A cute and wholesome feeling right?
Happy-Go-Lucky Days Theme song
However, the second short revolves around a very common BL genre, it can appear to be problematic for some. The story is a student-teacher based romance which is actually made very less creepy by the fact that the teacher appears to be young, there is very less amount of physical contact between the two and fortunately for fans who did not intend to be creeped out, the student and teacher do not act upon their feelings for each other.
Not really bad for a short film and not actually a reason to call this anthology creepy. The third and the final story divided into two shorts is so creepy that it seems like a technical deal-breakup.
The story does not consist of any LGBTQ characters but there is an almost psycho pedophile who makes a sex tape with her teen cousin while sexually harassing her teen cousin and also forces him and his friends to watch this offensive sex tape.
Happy-Go-Lucky Days turns from a literal Happy-Go-Lucky anime to a downright offensive and dreadful one. The fact that the shameful story about a straight pedophile takes so much of the runtime in an LGBTQ based film leaves us with no choice but to question director Takuya Sato’s judgement in choosing source material.
The anime is presently streaming from September 19th and was released in Japanese theaters on October 23 2020.
