The WATATEN! an Angel Flew Down on Me ending song ‘ Happy Happy Friends‘ is incredibly cute. Not just the song, but also the closing animation segment that accompanies it.
‘Happy Happy Friends’ is sung by WataTen5, which is composed of voice actors Maria Sashide, Rika Nagae, Akari Kitō, Hitomi Ōwada, and Naomi Ōzora.
And it is one of those anime songs you first hear and think “Meh, that’s not very good”. A few minutes later, of course, you’re bopping around your house singing “Happy happy friends”, and creating fake Japanese lyrics in your head to go with it.
As for WATATEN! an Angel Flew Down on Me, it’s one of those animes that got a little more controversy than the creators probably expected when it was released earlier in the year.
That was due to the series being about a young woman who has a massive crush on a child that is a friend of her younger sister and, of course, in some narrow-minded western minds that immediately meant “pedophilia”.
As someone who very intelligently commented on the Crunchyroll review page said about any controversy connected to the show, however, this is how an anime series like this is probably looked at in Japan:
“The cultural difference lies in the fact that Japanese culture seems to be more accepting of the freedom of fiction, which ties into the Japanese concepts of honne (true opinions/desires, kept to oneself) and tatemae (public opinions/behavior). A lot of freedom is given to you in the realm of honne ; as long as it doesn’t harm anyone (in a sense, as long as it doesn’t affect your tatemae ), almost anything is fair game.
Now, pedophilia is just as illegal in Japan as it is in the west, and I imagine that it’s just as much detested. Anyone that makes a defense of those themes directly with the phrase “cultural differences” is most likely lying or is very misinformed about Japanese culture.
What is different is that people are less judgmental of fiction that some might consider questionable, and are also less judgmental of those that enjoy it.”
In other words, the Japanese are more open-minded than quite a few westerners and, yes, if recent ‘controversies’ about some anime series are to be believed that seems to be very true.
Watch the ending animation, and listen to the WATATEN! an Angel Flew Down on Me ending song ‘ Happy Happy Friends‘ in the video below.
You can currently watch the series (which is very funny, and so lovely and moe) on Crunchyroll.
You will find more of these fabulous anime songs on our Best Anime Songs list.
Related reading: Non Non Biyori’s opening song ‘Nanairo Biyori’ is addictive (and so is the anime series!) — listen