Kenji Komiya, father of two and homeowner already at 39, looks like he has it all. On his way to enjoy a day trip with his family, he gets lost while driving in the forest, ending up in a mysterious amusement park. Enticed by the free-entry policy, he walks in only to understand that all visitors have been trapped in some sort of twisted game run by Mr. Bunny, the masked host of the venue. Forced to ride the deadly attractions, only those who will show their guts (literally) will escape death. But as the truth about his wife and kids unfolds, the foundations of Kenji’s existence are shattered.
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Known for his gory style and stories where the ordinary turns into nightmare, often involving high schoolers such as in “Creature!” and “Kiriko,” mangaka Shingo Honda here broadens his narrative focus to embrace a whole family, with main character Kenji fulfilling the role of the relatable loser. Indeed, the Komiya household reveals itself as a huge mess: Firstborn Ritsu, allegedly a math genius, has a liaison with his homeroom teacher, while little Rin does not mind dating way older men for some extra money. Not to mention the secret revealed by Kenji’s better half Misa, a major cliffhanger closing the volume, and locking in the reader until the next one.
However, all of the above are little more than cliches for any manga enthusiast, to the point that it is not too hard to predict what will come up in the next page. It is likely that Honda conceived the Komiyas as the embodiment of Japanese society’s contradictions, where the contrast between one’s public persona (tatemae) and their true self (honne) often sees the former prevailing. And that is precisely what Mr. Bunny commands everyone to avoid if they wish to survive, as if this whole madness was some sort of sick act of philanthropy towards the emotionally-repressed participants. Yet, it seems like this blurry rule is more of a convenient trick, on the side of the author, to get characters out of their predicaments in any situation, making “HAPPYLAND” even more predictable.
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Therefore, it is evident that “HAPPYLAND” is anything but a work of poignant social commentary. Rather than that, it is an easy-to-read, easy-to-forget splatter divertissement, whose style is reminiscent of that of Shintaro Kago, not only because of the surgical precision in depicting the bloodbath, but also in the degree of realism of facial expressions in close-ups – which is hard to find in mass-consumption seinen manga. Overall, this is probably its greatest quality, together with the design of the attractions turned into death machines, which shows a great deal of creativity and creates a cynical contrast with the cute, puppy-like appearance of the park’s staff.
In the end, “HAPPYLAND” has a totally different take on gore from that of Nakatani D’s “Reversible Man” or the above-mentioned Kago, as violence is not conducive to a more subtle critic of censorship, or of the abuse of graphic imagery by mass media. It might be a good reading if one happens to have a spare hour, but it is unlikely that this series would remain on anyone’s bookshelf.
