It was too... happy.Happy Cafe would have made a great one-shot with the first chapter, but a whole manga series... I don't see it. There's not enough going on.The main characters don't do much for me personally. I can see their appeal, just... not appealing to me.The art is so-so. Except for Uru, who is extremely short, any female character who appears looks stretched. The guys look just fine.Overall, just average. I admit it. When I first read the synopsis of this manga I rolled my eyes & thought "another stereotypical 'let's get the boy' manga". As some of my other reviews can testify, sometimes I'm proven wrong about my first initial impression of something. This manga was adorable. I'm not going to bother giving a manga synopsis as there's already another review here that does that quite well. I'm just going to jump to my review.Frankly, I really enjoyed this manga. There were parts of it that made me smile and others that made me laugh out loud at how cute & silly they were. (Which got me a few odd stares in the bookstore.) I absolutely adored the main character Uru, who is a rather tomboyish & insanely strong young girl. Uru lives on her own due to her mother remarrying & thinking that she's bothersome to her mom & new father. The whole "on my own" thing isn't new & moving out under such circumstances isn't either, but somehow Uru just brings a whole new flavor to it.I also liked the two male characters, Shindo (the main love interest) & Ichiro (eating machine). Now normally in many manga of this type, the fated relationship (& it's obvious that they're destined for each other) seems a little forced & "meet cute". The love building seems more natural in this book, although it still does fall under the "meet cute" category in many ways. Still, I like how Uru is willing to call Shindo out on many things rather than sit around & fret like so many other manga heroines do.If you like cute, get this manga. It's one of the better romance comedy mangas I've read lately & it's something I believe I'll be buying within a week of each volume's release.
I'm not a huge fan of shojo, but I have been trying to branch out and read different types of manga. I must say that Happy Cafe surprised me in a good way. It has elements of your stereotypical shojo plot, but the writing and the slightly different art style makes it something more. There are pages in this book you will most definitely "Awwwwwww!". Uru is adorable, and her quirky coworkers make you love the cafe even more. You can see clearly that Uru and Shindo are being set up as a couple, but nothing feels forced like in most shojo. The only thing that kept me from giving 4 stars is the meandering plot. Instead of building up to a greater story, the first volume centers around the stories/problems of customers. This is a bit distracting, and I feel like I would be more attached to the characters if the plot focused on the three of them. Still, you can't help but smile when you finish this volume! :D
—leprechauns
*For the whole series*Soooo cute. I absolutely love this story!!! Everyone's well written, and, more importantly, everyone's genuinely likable. Uru, though not coming with the whole romance angle very well, isn't dumb by any means. I feel like her naivete isn't at odds with her intelligence at all, and judging on how many books DO have that, it's probably a careful balance to walk. Plus, Uru's smile just makes me happy.
—keke_meke
nice series... luv it!
—bats
This is SO FUNNY!!!
—lamor
