Happy Cafe volume 2 continues right where volume 1 left off with its cast of three main characters as they work at the Bonheur Cafe (Happiness Cafe): Uru, the short high-school girl; Shindo, another part-time worker who falls asleep when he gets hungry and Ichiro, a young pastry chef.  In addition, several of their customers – notably Sakura, an elementary school girl – have become more central to the stories.  Most of the stories in volume 2 continue to develop the characters and their relationships with one another.

In addition, volume 2 contains Kou Matsuzuki's debut work, Estimated Young Man and Girl.  This short piece is about the development of a romance between two unnamed characters: a fourteen-year-old girl who appears to look like an adult and a young adult man who is in charge of their newspaper delivery.  The young man also has a mother who looks far younger than she is.  When the young man is immediately able to tell that she is a teenager and not an adult, it sets off a chain-reaction which leads eventually to a blossoming romance between the two.

Overview:
Happy Cafe is a light-hearted romance that focuses more on the comedy slice-of-life aspects than the romantic elements, at least thus far.  Uru continues to worry about her ability to actually be helpful and Ichiro at one point even makes light of this by saying she and Shindo together are worth one person.  It is clear though that the two guys want her to stay; later in the manga, her mother comes to visit with the intention to force Uru back home if she isn't helping the cafe.  While she ultimately is able to stay, it is not because of her ability to work well, but rather the positive influence her personality has for the cafe's atmosphere.

The short story is a more clichéd romance piece about the development of a romance between a young girl and a guy.  For a debut work, it is quite good, but when compared to Happy Cafe, it doesn't hold up in terms of the story's content.  It is, however, a great piece for an indication of just how far Matsuzuki has progressed.

Matsuzuki's art style in Happy Cafe is clean and simple while still getting the important details of the characters across.  Her drawings of Uru are quite cute and of all the characters she is most likely to become the chibized version, although Shindo has his moments as well.  The lack of such for Ichiro helps define his character as well as always being more serious, since the more comic-relief oriented a character (in some of the comedic anime and manga) the more likely they are to be chibified.  With the short story, Matsuzuki's drawings are a bit darker and more cluttered overall, but still high quality none-the-less.

Happy Cafe volume 2 serves up another slice of happiness. Those who enjoyed volume 1 will continue to enjoy volume 2. Those who missed out on volume 1, you can get right in and for the most part feel like you're not missing much.

ComicsOnline gives Happy Cafe volume 2 3 out of 5 sweets.

Buy Happy Cafe volume 2 today!

See also:
Happy Cafe volume 1 review

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