Name: Spoiler-free review of Our Happy Time. A suicidal and a death row inmate talking about life.
Item: Watashitachi no Shiawase na Jikan
Rating: 85
Author: Benkei

Waifra

Spoiler-free review of Our Happy Time. A suicidal and a death row inmate talking about life.

════ ⋆★⋆ ════ Considerations ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ ● This is a spoiler-free review. ● 80+ in my rating means really good. ● I've got to read this work on a friend's recommendation. I didn't look too much into the synopsis and just started reading.

● This manga deals with heavy themes such as abuse, suicide, and depression.If you feel like those themes are sensitive topics for you, please skip this review and the manga. If you are struggling with any issue, call your country's hotline. Take care ♡.

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The Story ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The story is centered on Juri Mutou, a woman who is constantly attempting suicide and has lost all her passion. Her aunt, Monica, who's a nun and does community service by talking to death row inmates, tries to bring her to talk with a very specific inmate, Yuu, who keeps attempting to kill himself.

The story of Our Happy Time is really good. I found the pacing to be very nice. Each chapter counts as a diary entry. Each one represents a different contact with Yuu. The story is very dramatic and gives you a knot in the throat at times. There are also great dialogues that made me think about certain aspects of life.

With a short work (8 chapters), I was really afraid of it having a mediocre development and/or ending, but I am glad that wasn't the case. Everything is well done, with a nice conclusion to the work.

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The Art Style ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ The art style is good. Even with a small number of characters, it wasn't like a simple copy and paste. I was especially fond of how they designed the hair on the main character.

The only criticism I have is about noses. Several panels because of the way that the author uses shadows. They look like blurred spots, and it's just unsettling. Everything else was really well done, too: backgrounds, minor details, etc. Besides the nose, everything else is great.
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The Characters ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ There are a small number of characters in this work. Yuu, Juri, her small family, a guard and a small number of supporting characters. Yuu, Juri, and Monica are very well developed with good dialogues, backgrounds, and interactions while everything else exists to support the drama.

In my reviews, I always like to talk a little about the main characters. I liked Juri. You can see how she slowly starts to change while the work progresses and how her background mold her into who she is.

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Conclusion ════ ⋆★⋆ ════ If you're like me, you skip everything and read only the conclusion because you don't want to get spoiled with other themes. So I will try to be brief on this point:

Just read it. It's very short work. Even while trying to pay a lot of attention to the art, background, and everything else, I was able to read it in less than 2 hours. There are also some really good thoughts and discussions about life and choices.