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Shiawase (幸せ): what it means in anime
幸せ
しあわせ · shiawase · happiness; good fortune; luck JLPT N3
Shiawase means "happiness" or "happy" in the deep, contented sense. 幸せになって ("be happy") is what a dying or departing character says to someone they love.
Where you hear it 2 of 42 series
Lines from the Japanese subtitles of episodes 1–3 of each show. A translation is shown only when it clearly matches the line; counts are subtitle lines containing the word.
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Mob Psycho 100 · 7 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 3
これって 笑顔とか幸せがテーマでSo the theme here is smiling and happiness?
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Cowboy Bebop · 4 lines in episodes 1–3 · this one from episode 1
じゃあ きっと幸せになれるわ
Usage and nuance
It is both a noun and a な-adjective: 幸せな家族 is "a happy family", 幸せです is "I'm happy". For momentary cheerfulness Japanese uses 嬉しい (ureshii) instead; 幸せ is about a life or a state.
Mob Psycho 100 and Cowboy Bebop both put the word in a character's mouth at the point where the show asks what a good life is. It is rarely a throwaway line.
Written 仕合わせ in older texts, the word originally meant how things come together, which is a nice way to remember it.
Hear 幸せ in Mob Psycho 1007 lines in episodes 1–3 · tappable subtitles · free, no account