Pretty Pretty Psychos – Happy Sugar Life Review
Well @cmdrcluckcluck got me into this and like most shows he refers with pink haired protagonists, it’s about a psychotic murderous girl. Admittedly this show is an example of a slow burn and not what I expected, but I still found myself catching up in a two day period. The gist of the show is the following of Satou Matsuzaka as she embarks on her Happy Sugar Life with the adorable and innocent Shio Kobe. The thing about Happy Sugar Life is that it has a great deal of symbolism that I’m pretty sure someone with a psych degree would be able to make heads or tails about much better than myself. As for me, I get that the show is about a cast of individuals that are all damaged in one way or another and part of the draw for me is finding out how.
Like watching a car crash, I just couldn’t stop watching and wondering what was going to happen next. It wasn’t necessarily a good thing but it sure had me enthralled even if it was a bit trash. In the first episode we have Satou being introduced as a rather promiscuous and bright young woman, who has settled down with her one true love. To support this love, she’s been working hard even going so far as to be over worked by her boss. Turns out this is “punishment” for turning down her colleague Taiyou, and after being under paid significantly and talked down to by her boss, Satou snaps. However unlike my expectations of a gloriously gory gutting, we have Satou uncover Taiyou tied naked in a closet along with recording proof of her employer’s sexual misconduct. This kicks us into one of the more interesting themes where Satou can “taste” emotion, finding most human reactions as “bitter” and disgusting. We do find that Shio provides her with all the “sweet” taste in the world, and this allows Satou to maintain a sense of sanity.
Over the next few episodes we find a number of other broken and/or horrid humans that round out the cast. One of the worst being Satou’s own teacher, Daichi Kitaumekawa who also has been stalking her. Turning the tables and threatening to reveal him to his family, Kitaumekawa is blackmailed by Satou to throw away a bag, which he disposes of in a furnace and is convinced this is a body, later concluding it’s Satou’s aunt whom no one can contact. Another cast member is Asahi who we find placing posters to find his missing sister, Shio. He starts out okay, even getting constantly bullied, beaten, and living out in the streets (specifically in a park, under a bench) but finds himself also just going justifiably insane, threatening other individuals with a baseball bat in order to find and rescue his sister from whatever fate befell her.
One of the most surprising twists was when we found out about Satou’s aunt, who Kitaumekawa was convinced had been occupying the bag he disposed of earlier. Turns out she’s alive, and that a large part of Satou’s promiscuity and outlook on love derived from her insane aunt. While beautiful, Satou’s aunt happens to be an extreme masochist, and trust me when I say extreme. The woman instilled in Satou that accepting the love of anyone, no matter how violent was a form of love that one can use to fill their heart like a jar of candy.
The last really important character of note is Shoko Hida, Satou’s best friend who was actually in fact in love with Satou, as is just about every damn person in the show that’s not in love with Shio. Shoko makes the terrible mistake of showing her disgust of Satou’s aunt which Satou infers as a disgust of her, remembering how many past acquaintances assumed because her aunt was weird and crazy, she too must be weird and crazy. They aren’t wrong but still, it left Satou with some scars. This in mind, Satou finds herself unable to trust Shoko won’t go to the cops when she discovers that Satou has been harboring Shio. Finally succumbing to her pink-haired yandere mindset, she stabs Shoko and bleeds her out. The last episode they’ve aired reveals Satou, her aunt, and Shio embarking on a task to hide the evidence of their crime, as well as escaping to another province or country. All the while, Asahi and Taiyou (who Asahi caught lying and coerced/counter blackmail/convinced into helping him) are searching for Satou and Shio. This sets up for what could be a great conclusion, or it could fall flat. I plan on watching it when it drops in a couple days and giving a more overall review then. In the mean time, I hope you’ve enjoyed the synopsis and hopefully I’m not the only one watching the show.
