Experimental can often mean taking a franchise out of it's home and into another genre, this was a short trend in the early 00s when Hentai Games were translated into wholesome anime titles, one such title being Happy Lesson.
I see you're into Teachers
The humble school teacher became a popular fixture of fan service at the time as the likes of Azumanga Daioh and to a lesser extent Onegai Teacher were being released to high acclaim, Happy Lesson took five teachers along with a couple of students and adopted sisters to surround you the protagonist, the art style very much designed at a higher quality as is Hentai games of the era.
From nothing Protagonist to misunderstood Delinquent
The anime lead Chitose is a troubled individual who was left with only his parent's house after they pass away, while his oldest adopted sister Hazuki looks after the younger sister Minazuki inbetween tours as a pop star. Seeing him struggle are five teachers beginning with Mutsuki Ichimonji the homeroom and languages teacher who decides that Chitose needs a mother figure in his life to get through high school fearing that Chitose may end up in prison or worse. This is the foundation of a wacky story as each mother brings something to the table, a far cry from simply dating teachers to bed them.
Each Teacher brings a unique character
Each teacher brings a different character to the table.
Mutsuki Ichimonji is sweet, caring and the most pro active but is not afraid to use emotional blackmail or to push an almost dominatrix like approach to both teaching and mothering.
Kisaragi Ninomai is basically Rei Ayanami as a science teacher, her approach is from an experimental side to see if being a mother can give her meaning to her existence as she claims to be not of this world, most of the strange moments in the show revolve around her.
Yayoi Sanzenin is a shrine maiden turned school nurse, her approach is more on the side of trying to heal Chitose's soul which can border on obsession, next to Mutsuki she's the most popular woman in school for many adolescent males.
Uzuki Shitenno the art teacher likes to be the fun mother who expresses herself through cosplay and acts closer to an older sibling, now that I think about it, she's most like a real life Otaku mother.
Satsuki Gokajo is very rambunctious and in your face, she's very much used to large families and being in chaotic loving environments, she basically wants to recreate what she had growing up for Chitose.
Throw in a little sister, a big sister, a tsundere school girl, a reverse trap rival and a strange science girl and you got one of the most impressive harem line-ups in anime until Nisekoi comes out.
Happy Lesson is why I prefer older Anime Women
The fact that the so called harem are mostly adults between 18 and 30 with fleshed out personalities with a mature presence made for an experience that made me appreciate older female characters more than the teenage characters in more popular anime, I mentioned in previous entries about Cat's Eye character Rui Kisugi and Pokemon's Lorelei are sexy women for showcasing a mature aura that many younger female characters lack, the same can be said for Happy Lesson's five teachers.
The everyone wins ending
When Chitose finally graduates at the end of the anime, a predicament is presented to the five teachers/adoptive mothers, seeing as Chitose is now a legal adult, it would become harder to hide the fact that he lives in a house with five unmarried women which became an integral part of the final OVA, the solution after a welcomed heart to heart between Chitose and Mutsuki one of many emotional moments in it's run, all the teachers transform into brides and decide to all marry Chitose, a bizarre ending yet still wholesome in delivery.
Making a comeback
As anime faces the stigma of teenage characters and their less than wholesome appearances and a law change upping the age of consent this year in Japan, there's been a rise in the number of young adult characters in anime making it okay to declare them waifus and husbandos, Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid, The Saint's Magic is Omnipotent and My Senpai is Annoying are just a few notable titles to use working young females as leads, even more extreme examples like Keijo at least makes the entire cast 18 years old by default. I haven't even touched the quiet revolution of the milf and dilf characters.
For Happy Lesson it was way too ahead of it's time, to capture any kind of popularity but had a big enough presence from the short lived Dreamcast era to warrant the game and plenty of heavy promotion with a number of high quality anime art pieces much like the one in this review.
