Review: HAPPY CRAPPY LIFE

It takes a lot of talent to write a BL comedy about two messy dudes trying to fix their respective lives and make it work, and this manga is the proof of just such a talent.

HAPPY CRAPPY LIFE (Happi Kuso Raifu), by Harada.  First published in 2018 and first published in North America in 2023.

PLOT:

Kasuya had it all: a powerful, high-paying job, an engagement to his boss's daughter, and all the benefits of big-city nightlife.  Thanks to a sex scandal, he was shipped out alone to the countryside, left to stagnate in a small town full of gossipy old men and Kuzuya, a jobless, horny mess of a man.  

When a visit to the local bar leads to Kasuya's big secret going public, Kasuya realizes he can't go back to his old life.  Furthermore, Kuzuya is more than happy to indulge Kasuya's love of butt stuff since he can't get laid either.  That one terrible, drunken night might be the beginning of something beautiful for them both...if they can just figure out how to tolerate one another first.

STORY:

Now this is more like it!  Happy Crappy Life feels like a miracle.  It's a frank and messy sort of romance with a wicked, bawdy sense of humor.  It feels less like your average BL melodrama and more like someone asked for 'what if It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, but make it BL?'  and I absolutely love it for that.

At its heart, Happy Crappy Life is an odd couple story.  Kasuya tries his hardest to project a polished, professional image and to keep his desire to get railed on the down-low.  Kuzuya is a small-town slob who doesn't seem to care what others think about him or his sex life, so long as he can figure out some way to satisfy his needs, get out of town, and get away the guy who's been sexually bullying him for years.  The personality clash between these two is the fertile field from which most of this manga's drama and humor arises, and Mike Wolfe's gloriously naturalistic translation only adds to the fun.  If anything, it only gets raunchier and funnier as it goes.

It's also rare to see a BL manga that mines so much humor from the everyday sloppiness of sex.  There are jokes about DIY sex toys and porn, dealing with hook-up apps, a tragic backstory involving anal sex-induced diarrhea, and so much more.  For as much importance anal sex has in this genre, I don't know if I've seen any other BL manga acknowledge the awkwardness and messiness inherent in it.  It also acknowledges the social stigma applied to the men who receive it, regardless of where their orientation might fall.  It's definitely not common to feature a main couple who are switches (much less to mine so many jokes over their frequent, sometimes violent conflicts over who gets to top).

That's not to say that Harada has no sympathy for either Kasuya or Kuzuya, as individuals or as a reluctant couple.  It's more that Harada recognizes that sometimes life can be messy and awkward, that sometimes the person you need isn't necessarily the person you want or get along the most with, and that you can find a sense of community with others even out in the sticks, even if sometimes it's forged in the most embarrassing ways.  Even the bully turns out to be just another awkward dumbass, as we learn in the bonus chapter.  All of these connections are valid, even if they are not perfect.

ART:

Harada's art is a thing of beauty.  It's not just that her character designs are varied, expressive, and attractive.  It's not just that she is absolutely fearless with her (uncensored!) sex scenes or with the many dongs we see throughout this book, in just about every state possible.  It's not just that she's got just as much of a knack for drawing bawdy comedies of error as she does for writing them.  It's not just that she manages to capture the run-down charms of a small Japanese town in summer.

It's that she nails all of these qualities in the most effortless way possible.  The back cover copy truly isn't joking when it says that she "breathes new life into the modern BL scene."

RATING:

Happy Crappy Life is the kind of mess I can get down with.  It has it metaphorical feet rooted in some of the awkward realities of life, but it never forgets to laugh at the ridiculousness of two dudes trying to figure out their lives and themselves.  It might be the best series in the Kuma library and I'm really excited to see what the rest of it is like.

This manga is published by Denpa Books under their Kuma imprint.  This series is ongoing in Japan with 7 volumes available.  4 volumes have been released and are currently in print.