If you knew me in real life, you'd know I'm intensely picky about romance. It doesn't really seem like I should have to be picky - I suppose it doesn't make sense to me that I should have to be picky - but lord, there is so much romance that is contrived or problematic or misogynist or all of the above. Nowhere have I encountered these issues more (well, nowhere except for the shonen-ai genre, in which a healthy, natural romance is a needle in a haystack) than in shoujo and in josei. Yet, I believe I encountered this as one of the most highly-ratedcomplete josei comics on a manga website, and was encouraged by a review that said it gave the genre a unique and feminist twist into reading it. Thus, here I am.

I read the first couple chapters and nearly dropped it, thinking to myself, "oh god, this is just gonna be like all the other josei-style stuff I can't stand, with characters who do stupid things and make stupid sacrifices for a relationship that's problematic and overwrought and that I'll hate." On another website I found out about the comic's fantasy twist, and since I do always love a time loop storyline (and this comic will absolutely reference just about every well-crafted time loop storyline - never seen an Edge of Tomorrow reference in fiction before and I appreciated the love for that criminally underrated movie), I came back a second time with hope in my heart that I was sure would be quickly crushed.

Except, to my great surprise, it wasn't. It was amazing. It was hilarious. (I lost count of how many panels I screenshotted and sent to my unsuspecting friends.) It averted so many terrible tropes, and you felt for each and every character by the end of this funny, often poignant, and sometimes painful journey. And best of all, it ended the way I feared it wouldn't but desperately wanted it to (the author even said many of their readers wanted it to end the way I didn't want it to, so I am eternally glad they persevered). The love story is not quite what you'd expect from the story's description, and it's as much about love as it is about character development and the changing nature of the heart and soul. (Oof, that sounded pretentious, my apologies, but it's true.)

All in all, I didn't expect to even like this webcomic, and instead I fell in love with it. If you love charming characters with a side of humor and a handful of tears, or if you want to watch awful josei tropes be parodied and blessedly avoided, I cannot recommend Happy If You Died enough. Now, to watch the K-drama adaptation and hope it's as good!