Shiawasette Naani (しあわせってなあに, lit. "What's Happiness?") is a 15-minute-long children's OVA produced by Gakken Holdings Co., Ltd. with animation assistance from a then-unknown Kyoto Animation under the director Tatsuya Ishihara. Released on July 9, 1991, it is the very first animation created by Ryuho Okawa, the late founder and leader of the Japanese religious movement Happy Science, based on a children's book of the same name he wrote.
The OVA centers on a down-on-his-luck boy named Alto, whose bad grades at school caused him trouble with his parents and teachers. This eventually leads him to consider running away from home until another boy dressed as a sailor appears out of nowhere to make him reconsider his decision. After being taken up in a cloud and finding out the other boy is an angel after fighting over a golden marble, Alto falls into a dark void.
This animation can be watched in Japanese with subtitles here
, as it's the only Happy Science animated work that hasn't been exported overseas.
Tropes:
- Always with You: Before escorting Alto out of the Spirit World, Tenshi-san appears a miniature fetus in his hand and reassures him that he's been always with him from birth and will be.
- Astral Projection: Implied. When Alto meets Tenshi-san and calmly lays down next to him on the grass, both go up on a cloud. Being a child, the former understandably muses if he's dead, but the latter distracts him with a lecture on how he should "live brightly."
- A Boy and His X: This anime is about a boy and his guardian angel.
- Author Tract: It's basically a Happy Science screed condensed into a 15-minute OVA, only that it simplifies and downplays the disturbing elements of the cult's teachings to make it more palatable for kids.
- For Happiness: Tenshi-san lectures Alto on how he should "live brightly" and be cheerful so he can lighten up people's lives. When he asks what's the purpose of smiling for the sake of it, the angel answers by asking Alto if he'd rather be gloomy and worry others instead.
- Journey to the Center of the Mind: When Alto sees the golden marble he took from Tenshi-san earlier on, it lights up in the dark void he fell into. Then, Tenshi-san comes out of it to inform it's his inner world before escorting him out.
- Our Angels Are Different: The angel lecturing Alto takes the form of a blond, blue-eyed boy the same age as him dressed in a sailor suit, and is summoned into the void Alto fell into with the latter's happy thought. Moreover, he's also revealed to be the boy's guardian angel.
- Solid Clouds: Alto and Tenshi-san end up sitting on a cloud after resting on the grass. This is justified since it's an out-of-body experience and it's just Alto's soul and an angel "sitting" on the cloud.
- Think Happy Thoughts: When Alto falls into a dark void following the reveal that the strange boy he talked to was an angel, he starts despairing until he looks at his reflection in a mirror and laughs at it, which summons the golden marble he tried to snatch from the angel into his pocket. When Alto takes it out, he sees Tenshi-san coming out from inside the marble, telling the former that his happy thought opened up his heart and summoned the latter.
- Took a Level in Cheerfulness: Alto becomes more sprightly after his out-of-body experience with Tenshi-san, taking heed to the latter's lesson on living brightly.
