Happy-chan

Frontispiece featuring Happy-chan, Papa, and Ryohei

**Happy-chan** (ハッピィちゃん) is a shojo work of Fujio Akatsuka, serialized in Shueisha's *Ribon* magazine.

## Overview

This slice-of-life series centers around the young girl Sachiko, nicknamed "Happy" for her undying cheerful nature. She is joined by her little dog Koro, and the two get into various situations around the neighborhood.

It was essentially a younger equivalent to Matsuge-chan, which had been already been running in Hitomi at the time. However, after June 1961, the *Happy-chan* feature was ended and the new *Matsuge* series itself took its slot in Ribon. Happy, Ryohei, and Koro would cameo in the fourth chapter of the run, briefly meeting Matsuge and Mimi-tan before going their separate ways.

Akatsuka would also utilize the father character from Mother's Song, along with the older brother Ryohei and the Imagawa Shop owner and children. These can be seen as a further early usage of Akatsuka's Star System, although the characters themselves do not remain relevant into his gag career.

## Characters

### Sachiko, aka "Happy-chan"

(サチ子, ハッピィちゃん)

The protagonist, a third grade girl referred to as both "Happy-chan" and "Happy-kun", if not simply "Happy" itself. Her happiness is infectious and she brings joy to those around her. She has a hair style similar to the protagonist of *Matsuge-chan*, and wears an oversized bow and headband like her.

As with Matsuge, Happy's hair length shortens over the course of the series, likely for simplification purposes in her design.

### Mama

The housewife of the family, who does what she can to keep up with Happy.

### Papa

An old salaryman who is kind, but busy. His design, as mentioned before, is derived from Misuzu's father in *Mother's Song*.

### Ryohei, "Big Brother"

(良平)

Happy's older brother, a young man that often wears a suit. He is a much less antagonistic and shady version of the previous Ryohei from *Mother's Song*. His design is altered mid-series, and he winds up gaining smoother hair and a generally different look.

### Yoshiko Kawai

(川井ヨシ子)

Happy's best friend. She is a young girl with glasses and braided hair, similar to the Yo-chan in *Matsuge-chan* but younger and preferring to wear skirts rather than pants. As with that character, her own very nickname (as said by her sister) is indeed "Yo-chan".

Her big sister appears to get along well with Ryohei, as she and Happy observe one day out in the rain.

### Yoshiko's Big Sister ("Kawai-san")

A young woman who is a co-worker of Ryohei. She shows up a few times in the series as his girlfriend, though she is only ever referred to as "Big Sister", "Kawai's Daughter", or "Kawai-san".

She can be seen as a loose counterpart to the Kyouko character that existed in *Mother's Song*.

### Koro

(コロ)

Happy-chan's pet puppy, who accompanies her when outside. Though her mother initially refuses to let her have a pet, she relents by the end of his debut in the second chapter.

He winds up having stories focused around the exploits and trouble that he and Happy can encounter.

## Serialization

The series ran from March 1960 to June 1961, for a total of 16 chapters. However, as mentioned above, a revival of *Matsuge-chan* took its place as the following Akatsuka feature in the magazine.

## Reprints

* Akebono: 15 chapters reprinted in a volume of the "Fujio Akatsuka Complete Works" imprint. The Harenchi Masterpiece collection is reprinted as extra content, along with the one-shots of Nonko-chan and Sacchan.
* Shogakukan: The above volume was digitized for the 2002 Complete Works DVD-ROM set.