Oddly enough, I've actually seen a couple of episodes of this cartoon, even though it was clearly never intended for the likes of me. (Blood? Gore? The visceral disassembly of cute, fluffy little animals? And me being notoriously squeamish? No thank you.
)
I remember my brother first describing it to me as being "exactly like Itchy and Scatchy" (a rather ineffective selling point, given that I've never cared that much for I & S), but when my morbid curiosity finally got the better of me a few short years later, I discovered to my detriment that he was way off the mark. I mean, at least in I & S the gutting and dismembering is as a result of the deliberate actions of a very sadistic rodent (even if his feline victim is totally undeserving). With Happy Tree Friends, on the other hand, the characters are all just so darling and, well, happy, and are really just out for a good time in which to enjoy one another's company. I have to agree with Mr. M about the crappy, crummy feeling that tends to seep in whilst watching them befall one tragic, bloody accident after another. C'mon, they're so damned adorable. I really don't want to see them die.
If HTF is your thing, then you're welcome to it. Same goes for I&S. Me, however, whenever I fancy my fill of seeing two supposedly cute and innocent little creatures inflicting nasty injuries upon one another, I'll stick with Aardman's
Pib and Pog. Pib and Pog were a work of bloody genius. Without a drop of blood at all, in fact.