Have you wanted someone to indulge in March Madness? If so, I hope you enjoy me shining on the throwback webtoon Hapi Buni by Ryan Pagelow.
Summary
In a crazy cartoon world, we follow the daily escapades of one Hapi (blank) Buni. A fairly happy-go-lucky rabbit that is trying to find love. Unfortunately for Buni, he's about as lucky as a guy who's walked past 13 black cats while tripping under a ladder, breaking 80 mirrors on the way down. Still, Hapi carries on through life, constantly hoping for the best with a smile.
Characters
Hapi Buni: Our main protagonist Hapi is an innocent, jovial, optimistic, clumsy, and timid guy. In a world seemingly against him, Hapi may get some scrapes, but that never stops him from trying his best to succeed in romance and life.
Papi Buni: Buni's father and polar opposite. Papi is a messy, gruff, stubborn, manly, confrontational, and lazy character. However, beneath all the dirt, Papi does have the heart of a loving father.
Overview
Honestly, I'm so surprised I never covered this webtoon before. I know I made the throwbacks to address this, but that doesn't change the serious Mandela effect I'm feeling. Either way, Hapi Buni is one of those series that I don't have much to say, a running challenge for comedy webtoons.
Presentation-wise this series feels like a combination of old black and white rubber hose cartoon with a dash of your average early 2000s comedy webcomic. The primarily former leans a lot on no dialogue and having a world where no one is human, yet everything is alive. Combined with the little animations used for some of the chapters, Hapi Buni a simple but still entertaining watch.
Despite the title, very few things are happy about this webtoon. Hapi lives in such a crazy outrageous world a lot of humor lays into the absurdity or cruelness. From violent days-old food, germs the size of people, and literal living rainbows, I can't say that I truly ever know what will happen or what split-second turnaround is coming next. So much so that the more relatable chapters are the ones that surprise me the most.
However, the cruelty never passes the uncanny valley for me. Probably in part due to our protagonist. No matter how badly he gets thrown down, this rousy rabbit remains a jubilant joy, which while to some, feels just for the sake of oafish jokes to me, hits harder given the past couple of years. Through all their hardships Buni and his family remain relatively good people, ready to at least tackle every day with a smile. An admirable trait, to be sure.
Epilogue
Sorry if this is one of my slower entries, but sometimes there's only so much I can add. The good news is that if I play my current spring break right, the throwbacks should be getting a little faster, or at least I'll cover the series with more subjects. I hope you stick around to see where the spotlight takes us next.
YOU ARE READING
Webtoon Spotlight
RandomJust a simple person is trying to shine a little light on the beautiful world of webtoon. With a splash of sarcasm, narration, and spitfire along the way. And who knows I might have other segments just for the hell of it.
