History Manga / Happiness

A manga from Shuzo Oshimi, creator of ''Manga/TheFlowersOfEvil'' and ''Manga/InsideMari'', which ran in ''Bessatsu Shonen Magazine'' from 2015 to 2019.

* ADateWithRosiePalms: Makoto engages in this in the first chapter.

* BodyHorror: The vampires captured and vivisected by the MenInBlack don't look too good afterwards. Or during, when they're still conscious. [[spoiler:Sakurane]] cutting into his own forehead would be comparatively mild if it wasn't for everything else, including torturing (and very likely sexually assaulting) another character.

* DeathBySex: The couple that engages in sex on the page is the one that sees both participants killed painfully by the end of the story. The others, while almost certainly not chaste, keep it implied.

* BittersweetEnding: It's not the bloodbath you might expect, but it's not all sunshine, either. [[spoiler:Sakurane is dead and the cult performs mass-suicide in despair. Yuki dies, but he seemed to believe he had nothing to live for anyway. Gosho survives to marry Sudo, and they live a happy life together and start a family with the surviving former cultist. Saku eventually escapes captivity once again. Makoto manages to find a way to obtain fresh blood without killing, and does not seem unhappy, but he can't return to his old life and has to wait for Nora to regenerate herself to have any company, a process that takes at least fifty years. His family and Gosho clearly still miss him every day for the remainder of their lives.]]

* BittersweetEnding: It's not the bloodbath you might expect, but it's not all sunshine, either. [[spoiler:Sakurane and his cult are defeated and slaughtered. Yuki dies, but he seemed to believe he had nothing to live for anyway. Gosho survives to marry Sudo, and they live a happy life together and start a family. Saku eventually escapes captivity once again. Makoto manages to find a way to obtain fresh blood without killing, and does not seem unhappy, but he can't return to his old life and has to wait for Nora to regenerate herself to have any company, a process that takes at least fifty years. His family and Gosho clearly still miss him every day for the remainder of their lives.]]

* HealingFactor: Vampires can heal from practically anything, though it can take time. [[spoiler:Saku recovers from being ''decapitated by a train'', and Nora from having her brain removed from her skull. The only one to truly die is Yuki when his body is ripped apart and devoured -- and he still manages to communicate for a little while after that.]]

* NearDeathExperience: A slashed throat induces one in [[spoiler:Gosho; she sees her little brother, who sadly tells her it's not time to see her yet.]] The character wakes up to discover the building is on fire, but is galvanised to survive.

* FullyEmbracedFiend: Both Nora and Saku are very old and have come to terms with what they are after forgetting their human lives. They don't want to conquer or enslave humankind, but they're not especially interested in it either. Saku in particular refers to humans as chattel and meat.

* NotUsingTheZWord: None of the vampires actually use the word "vampire". It's a human character who drops it first a fair way into the story; Nora prefers "like what I am", "abomination" and similar. Both of the existing vampires would seem to pre-date modern pop culture, which may explain it.
* OurVampiresAreDifferent: They are day walking but with the sun clearly bothers them, sense when another vampire is near, and are able to let out echoes that only other vampires can hear. They can fly, regenerate from almost anything given time if they're old enough, and it seems one must be turned by biting. They also have a trait shared by vampire bats -- one that recently fed well can regurgitate into the mouth of another, allowing members of the species that cannot hunt to be cared for.

* VampireBitesSuck: Biting is messy and painful, with the victim struggling all the way, and a prudent vampire will finish by tearing out the victim's throat to stop them coming back.

A manga from Shuzo Oshimi, creator of ''Manga/TheFlowersOfEvil'' and ''Manga/InsideMari''.

* BittersweetEnding: It's not the bloodbath you might expect, but it's not all sunshine, either. [[spoiler:Sakurane and his cult are defeated and slaughtered. Gosho survives to marry Sudo, and they live a happy life together and start a family. Yuki dies, but he seemed to believe he had nothing to live for anyway. Saku's fate is unknown. Makoto manages to find a way to obtain fresh blood without killing, and does not seem unhappy, but he cannot return to his old life and has to wait for Nora to regenerate herself to have any company, a process that takes at least fifty years. His family and Gosho clearly still miss him every day for the remainder of their lives.]]

* FanDisservice: A pretty girl not wearing a stitch? Sounds nice. [[spoiler:The same girl's corpse with her throat bloodily ripped out? Not as nice.]] It's also hard to be be sure whether Nora is appealing or disturbing -- she doesn't wear much (and sometimes she wears nothing), but she doesn't usually bother to clean the blood off, either.

* DeathBySex: The couple that engages in sex on the page is the one that sees both participants dead by the end of the story. The others, while almost certainly not chaste, keep it implied.

* HorrorHunger: Vampires, of course, crave fresh human blood. Though it doesn't seem necessary to keep them alive, the urge to drink is very powerful. Makoto successfully resists for quite a while; [[spoiler:Yuki doesn't, to the point that he can't stop himself drinking Gosho's blood even though he's horrified that Sakurane cut her throat]].

* SpookyPainting: The picture adopted by the Blood of Happiness vampire-worshipping cult as their icon: a minimalist line picture of a figure drinking blood from a woman's neck using a straw. It's not magical in any way, but it's... creepy.

* FanDisservice: A pretty girl not wearing a stitch? Sounds nice. [[spoiler:The same girl's corpse with her throat bloodily ripped out? Not as nice.]] It's also hard to be be sure whether Nora is appealing or disturbing -- she doesn't wear much, but she doesn't usually bother to clean the blood off, either.

* HorrorHunger: Vampires, of course, crave fresh human blood. Though it doesn't seem necessary to keep them alive, the urge to drink is very powerful. Makoto successfully resists for quite a while; [[spoiler:Yuki doesn't]].

* NearDeathExperience: A slashed throat in a burning building induces one in [[spoiler:Gosho; she sees her little brother, who's surprised and tells her it's not time to see her yet.]] The character survives.

* VampireVannabe: A whole cult of them, the Blood of Happiness. They don't seem all ''that'' bad as cults go, partly because they already have a docile vampire sitting in the basement. Their weirdest practice is holding bloodletting masses. It's their leader who's a genuine monster, and unfortunately they are fanatically devoted to him.

* FanDisservice: A pretty girl not wearing a stitch? Sounds nice. [[spoiler:The same girl's corpse with her throat bloodily ripped out? Not as nice.]] It's also hard to be be sure whether Nora is appealing or disturbing -- she doesn't wear much, but she also doesn't usually bother to clean the blood off, either.

The story follows Makoto as he tries to understand what's happened to him and the instincts and urges it's awakened, as well as the others he comes into contact with because of it -- Yukiko Gosho, a kind girl in another class who helps comfort him; Yuki, his chief tormenter, though there's more to him than meets the eye; and at the centre, Nora, the mysterious vampire girl.

* UndeadBarefooter: Nearly all the vampires go barefoot. The only exception is Makoto, who prefers sneakers -- even [[spoiler:Yuki]] coincidentally winds up barefoot after he's turned.

* BodyHorror: The vampires captured and vivisected by the MenInBlack don't look too good afterwards. Or during, when they're still conscious. [[spoiler:Sakurane]] cutting into his own forehead would be comparatively mild if it wasn't for everything else about him, including torturing (and very likely sexually assaulting) Gosho.

* TimeSkip: The story skips 10 years after [[spoiler:Makoto runs away from home and gets captured, Yuki gets taken in by Sakurane, and the deaths of Shiraishi and her family]].

* HorrorHunger: Vampires, of course, crave fresh human blood. Though it doesn't seem necessary to keep them alive, the urge to drink it is very powerful. Makoto successfully resists for quite a while; [[spoiler:Yuki doesn't]].

* NotUsingTheZWord: None of the vampires actually use the word "vampire". It's Sakurane who drops it a fair way into the story; Nora prefers "like what I am", "abomination" and similar. Both the existing vampires would seem to pre-date modern pop culture, which may explain it.