The Happiness Patrol (Season 4)

The fourth season of the British-Japanese dystopic steampunk anime series *The Happiness Patrol* aired from October 21, 2015 to March 2, 2016 in a variety of regions, notably TV Tokyo in Japan, BBC One in the United Kingdom, and NBC in the United States. The season was written and directed by the series' creator, Jay Stevenson, and produced by J-Animations. The soundtrack was composed by Susumu Hirasawa, Shiro Sagisu, and Joe Hisaishi, and features insert songs from a variety of Japanese and Western artists, including Spitz, The Pillows, Shikao Suga, Suede, Alex G, R.E.M. and Boards of Canada. The fourth season's opening theme is "Duvet" by boa, and its ending theme is "Sarah" by Alex G.

*The Happiness Patrol* takes place in a dystopic society where industrialisation has turned planet Earth into an entirely man-made industrial site, wrought with pollution, overpopulation and crime. The government responsible for this are overthrown in a coup in the events leading up to the series, and the new government's solution to the issue is to reduce overpopulation. A social ranking system is introduced in which every citizen is given a card with their total social point score: the higher the score, the more access and therefore freedom one has. Every three months, the bottom 1 billion in the ranking system are executed. The fourth season follows Adam, who narrowly escaped death in the end of the third season, as he runs away from everything he knows and tries to survive long enough to reach the mountains, where he believes people will be as they weren't built over by the old government. Adam has to try and do everything he can to stay alive and avoid capture by the authorities, who are hunting him down after finding his body missing. Meanwhile, the Happiness Patrol themselves struggle adjusting to life without their leader, and devote their efforts to pressuring the government into disabling outdated mechanisms installed in homes decades ago after one of their members, Isaac, dies due to one of them. The government, led by Mister, focus on enforcing stricter rules into their society in order to counteract rampant crime. By the end of the series, the government are introducing a secret police force, the Happiness Patrol's rally to remove the mechanisms is unsuccessful, and Adam is ultimately caught and killed by the authorities.

The season was announced in December 2014, during the airing of the third season. The series' voice cast all reprise their roles, including Yuri Lowenthal as Adam, Jason Bateman as Zell, Thandiwe Newton as Eleanor, Alison Brie as Jess, Nicole Kidman as Jara-Kan and Keith Silverstein as Mister. The series aired on Wednesdays at 11 p.m. and consisted of 20 episodes.

The fourth season of *The Happiness Patrol* received universal critical acclaim upon release, and is often regarded as the series' best season, as well as being viewed as J-Animations' magnum opus in the following years. The show received immense praise for "long-awaited innovation", featuring a gripping and raw overarching narrative, and dividing time equally between the two concurrent main narratives. Adam's storyline was marked as the highlight of not only the season, but the entire show up until that point, being seen as emotionally powerful and thrilling storyline that not only helped to develop Adam as a character, but also helped to build the world around him. Yuri Lowenthal's voice acting in the season was highlighted as one of his best performances in his career. The storyline following the removal of mechanisms was also praised as taking something cited as "mundane" and managing to get the viewer heavily invested. One critic from IGN stated it was "a reflection of how much [the Happiness Patrol] have developed as people". The season's use of insert songs was praised, as were the themes for the season, both of which "encapsulated the atmosphere of isolation". The season's soundtrack was praised. The art direction, specifically the colour palette, were also praised monumentally. Many believed the season to be a turning point for the show. The final episode of the fourth season achieved enormous critical adoration, seen to be the best episode of the entire show and one of, if not the best, episode of any J-Animations series, a status it still holds today. The decision to kill Adam's character was one met with surprise, but respect, by the majority of reviewers. The series won its first Anime of the Year award at the 2016 International Anime Awards, amongst multiple others, seen as a surprise as the season ran up against fellow J-Animations series *Elixir*, whose currently aired season had been cited as one of the series' best.

The ratings for the fourth season peaked at 68 million viewers for the season finale. It was the most successful season of the show in terms of viewership at the time of airing. The series was collected into two 10-episode DVD and Blu-Ray volumes, with the second of the two volumes remaining the best-selling volume of the series. In 2023, the season was released internationally on Netflix for streaming, as did the rest of the series. A fifth season began airing in October 2016.