Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume

Yup, I decided to write a manga review about it, because tbh, hell yeah, it deserves it. So first comes the info.

Aka: 幸福喫茶3丁目, 행복카페 3번가, Happy Cafe

Genre: Comedy, Romance, Shoujo, Slice of Life

Author: Matsuzuki Kou

Illustrator: Matsuzuki Kou

Year: 2005

Serialized in: Hana to Yume

Licensed by: Tokyo Pop

Site: Hana to Yume

Read Online: Mangafox, Onemanga, Mangahelpers, Mangareader

Summary: Uru Takamura is 16 year old cheerful girl who decides to become independent and live on her own when her mom re-marriages. While Uru wanders in Shiawase trying to find a path in her life, she passes by a cafe named Bonheur in the 3rd block, and she overhears 2 costumers who were leaving the shop say how happy they were. Moved by the words, Uru gazes at the cafe and imagines she wanted to make someone happy like that, in a place just like that.

On the next day, Uru goes to the cafe for an interview, but for her surprise she discovers the employees are 2 apathetic living beings: the sadist Shindou-san, who’s looking for the store while the manager is out, and Ichirou Nishikawa, literally a sleeping beauty since he immediately falls asleep when hungry (seems his body burns a lot of calories…) and to make it even more strange, the only way to wake him up is to put food on his mouth. However, Uru also has a bizarre characteristic: super strength!

Uru manages to get the job! This is a step forward in Uru’s life, who will be now working daily with the demon king & weirdo. Will this also be a new start for happiness?

Characters

NEW 01/05/2011

Note: The characters info was based on the story and Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume character profiles. Highlight the blank parts to read minor spoilers.

Cafe Bonheur

The kid with the inhuman strength.

Uru Takamura moved on her own when her mom re-married. She is a high school student and works at the Cafe Bonheur, along with Shindou and Ichirou, rapidly becoming friends.

Uru is a cheerful and kind person whose personality matches her looks perfectly. She is an only child who was raised by her single mom. For her, happiness is the most important thing and she is always thinking about others and their own happiness. Uru is sensitive, although (innocently) oblivious at times, and, even though she has sad times, as the death of her father when she was 3, she holds them with a smile and keeps her unstoppable positive attitude, and will absolutely not bother others. Because of this, Uru is not entirely open with her friends and won’t take the initiative, although they are extremely important to her. However, she’s honest and Shindou and Ichirou are aware of Uru’s consideration and will, either directly or indirectly, get her, consciously or unconsciously, cheered up. Uru is particularly solicitous of Shindou but also reactive when it comes to him.

All smiles, attached, curious, emotional, carefree, extrovert, humourous, naïve, energetic, … she really does have the character of a dog…

The demon king.

Satsuki Shindou works in Cafe Bonheur and everyone knows his usual grumpy face. He takes care of the shop while the manager, his adoptive dad, is out travelling. He disciplinates looks after Uru and Ichirou, the cash register and bakes the cakes.

Although Shindou always keeps his tough face, he had a sad past, having been abandoned by his mother when he was a child, and this still haunts him. Gladly, his adoptive father is an incredibly doting parent and Shindou admires him and thinks of him as a model to follow, the reason why he turned into a baker, to make people happy like his dad made him when baking and giving him cake; it was like magic.

Since his childhood (atleast since he’s with his adoptive dad), he has always been mature and, as Uru, won’t give others trouble. Shindou-san is very serious at work, and at everything, to be honest. One wonders if the neutral face spartan doesn’t have any more faces. The answer is yes: he is a tsundere. Shindou is an introverted gentleman with militar discipline and usually can tell when Uru is troubled, and will help her. This proud and stubborn person will never admit how he is fond of Uru and Ichirou.

The handsome weirdo.

Ichirou works part-time at Cafe Bonheur since he was 16. His habit of constantly getting asleep unless fed, allegedly due to his metabolism, doesn’t make him the perfect helper. Not that he tries, too.

Ichirou, son of a designer (who likes to drag and dress up kids) and a doctor (who has a weak health), experienced some loneliness, nevertheless a loving (even though weird) family, and also developed an attitude of pleasing his parents and not to make them trouble. He is a prodigy, excelling both physical and psychologically, and this combined with his introversion made him a hard to approach person and created a snob image. Due to this and jealousy of others, Ichirou (possibly) grew pretty much without friends and colder, not making effort to. Even though Ichirou would sometimes care to reply them, with class and sarcasm, he was getting seriously stressed if it weren’t Shindou and the manager. For the first time, when seeing how people were happy, Ichirou felt like he wanted to be there.

Ichirou is a calm and gentle person, who likes to bluntly tease Shindou and Uru while keeping his constant neutral face. They are very precious to him, and he is much caring of Uru. In spite of his enigmatic and ludicrous attitude, Ichirou is sensible and sharp detecting other’s emotions.

The arthralgic doting father with no sense of direction.

Cafe Bonheur’s manager is a cheerful blond-dyed-haired man. Initially away in the beginning of the manga, he later on is presented to us by a curious chain of events whereafter turns being a normal sight in the cafe’s routine. He gives off a grandpa feeling with his terrible joint pains and his gentle personality – very doting towards kids. He also described himself as a shy person while his identity was still unraveled. He loves his son the most.

Besides his current situation, there’s not much we know about his past. When he took Satsuki in, he was a teenager already living by himself. He confesses his longing for «a family» when talking to Uru. It is safe to assume he has no connections with his parents or others relatives beside his son.
It seems there may be more to one event where he injured his knee and from where he may have been getting phamton pains, same is to say his artheritis are in fact phatom pains.

Nishikawa Family

Jirou is Ichirou’s younger brother and only sibling. The two brothers have a very strong affection for each other. Both of them inherited their parent’s beauty and also their mom’s ability in drawing. However, while Jirou inherited their father weak stamina, Ichirou seems to have got more of their mother’s.

Ichirou and Jirou’s father is a doctor called, as we can guess by their names, Tarou. (Ichirou – first child, Jirou – second child, Tarou – eldest child). In spite of being a father of both a highschool and primary school students, he looks surprisingly young. He has a frail condition and oftens gets sicks. Because of this and his busy schedule, he doesn’t spend a lot of time with his children which worries him about their happiness.

His wife is a children cloth designer. She is the responsible one for Ichirou’s awakening-after-food-shove.

Takamura Family

A mother with a youthful personality and age issues.

She raised Uru since she was three-years-old as a single mother,

×××

I’m SO happy I found it. I 100% recommend it, has I’ve said before in here. It has a peculiar hilarious humour that I like so much. Even though it has its originality and differentiates from others, you can find this humour’s “type” in, for example, OHSHC… I can’t remember more atm (head down). What can I say, even though it’s shoujo, I would rather give a BIG emphasis in the comedy genre. It seems that it’s completed but I can’t find the scans of the last volumes (really hard to find them) and I want to read them so badly =<. Anyways, here’s some stuff below.

Reasons to read it:

  • A thing that I like about it, is that each character is versatile but keep their characteristic traits.
  • The comedy is granted. I truly assure you. Aside the funny characters’ personalities, the way the mangaka uses the emoticons is very well made to catch and give impact to the comedy.
  • This is a manga that you can read over and over again and still be amused.
  • It has a fantastic unique main heroine, an aspect that I give a lot of importance (heart Uru)
  • The story it’s very smooth and clear and actually the plot is very-constructed and connected, not predictable at all, even though it’s soft.
  • You have to love Ichirou and Shindou-san… I mean, the smexy demon-king and weirdo duo totally rules.

For me, Shiawase Kissa Sanchoume was really addictive but mostly refreshing. Truly refreshing. I mean, how many mangas have I read and I finally find this particular humour that I was (unconsciously?) searching and hoping for? Lol, it’s like a click. I’m truly happy I finally found another of the few mangakas I can place my trust on, because I know that whatever they do, I will enjoy it. And that is hard to find. Can’t wait for a new oneshot project of hers called Orenji (Orange) Kenji!

To conclude, my opinion is that it’s a sweet manga with the best comedy evah made that I will always adore. Heart.

Hey, hey, don’t leave yet! Check some wallpapers and previews (previews from Onemanga/Mangafox, ty scanlators!, and wallpaper from Hana to Yume).

Links

Fanlist series – Uru Takamura – Shindou – Ichirou Nishikawa

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