Please Be Happy
Developer: Studio Élan
Publisher: Sometimes You
Platforms: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $19.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
When it comes to heartwarming and charming visual novels focused almost entirely around female romance, Studio Élan has become one of the go to western developers for fans of the genre. Ever since their first release back in 2016 with Highway Blossoms, the studio has regularly been releasing new stories for yuri fans throughout the years and now one of their latest titles, Please Be Happy, has arrived on Xbox. With a fair share of fantasy elements and two primary routes with four total endings, is Please Be Happy as comfy and enjoyable as the developers claim?
Story
An unknown time ago in Korea, a human stranger stopped in the woods and during his rest, found a wild fox living in the forest. Despite the fox’s wary nature, the man fed the animal and began a routine of returning to the forest everyday to feed the fox to the point that it would eventually wait in the open and play around with the stranger. Unfortunately, one day the stranger told the fox that he would be leaving soon and after that, the fox never saw the man again. That hasn’t stopped her from searching the world though, as not only has the fox transformed into a “Fabled,” the in-game world for fantasy creatures that walk among humans, but she has become a gumiho, a nine-tailed fox capable of transforming into a human herself.
The problem is, this fox girl has no basis for who she is or what she even wants and this is thanks to a mysterious power that accompanies her ability to shapeshift between human and fox, and that is that anyone who meets her forgets who sshe is the very next day. As such, the fox has spent decades traveling the world, stealing and scamming her way through life when she needs to spend time as a human or simply digging out a den and living as a fox, in a search that has blended into simply surviving and adventuring across the globe with the fox girl taking a new name every time she enters a new country. This time around, she has chosen the name Miho and has traveled to Wellington, New Zealand after hearing that it was a lovely place.
While Miho gets herself settled in, transforming to zip away from immigration, lockpicking to steal food, and slumbering in a dugout fox den in the local forest, she makes a few encounters along the way. The first seems innocent enough, a chance meeting at a library and later at a coffee shop with a human named Aspen that dreams of being an author, while the second has a stranger feeling to it as not only does this other girl, named Juliet, offer Miho a place to stay at that very library, but even doubles-down on that same offer after being robbed by none other than Miho herself. While these chance encounters are simple enough for a fox that has lived for perhaps over a century, what isn’t is the fact that both of them manage to remember her name the next day. This chance encounter with Juliet and Aspen begins Miho’s journey from searching for a long lost memory to instead finding out what it is to be human and perhaps love on the way.
Please Be Happy is something of an interesting romance visual novel in the way that while it does feature romance and two separate routes, one featuring the human Aspen and the vampire Juliet, that each have two endings of their own, this really isn’t a story about romance. True, there is romance and feelings that clearly develop between Miho and her chosen companion and a slew of differences between the two routes as the progress through the second half of the visual novel, the actual core aspect of the story feels like it is more about making Miho a member of society, someone that can function beyond simply living on the edges of people’s minds.
Perhaps this is because this visual novel is written in a manner meant to be more slice-of-life and comfy rather than anything else, but it is clear that there is a certain level of optimism and sincerity through even the most simple of interactions between characters that the writers knew what they were doing here. This makes not only the slice of life parts work, but the romantic moments as well, nevermind how impactful they happen to be on the more poignant scenes that crop up here and there. These are Fabled creatures living amongst humans after all, and with a potential vampire love interest, the signs of potential tragedy are all there. This level of depth even appears in some of the side-characters’ storylines as well. Outside of interacting with Aspen and Juliet, Miho will also have time to spend with Tommy, a human that can see a particularly small plant-like Fabled that has taken a liking to him through his parents’ divorce, an energetic Swan-hybrid named Lena that is trying to set herself apart from expectations, and the odd Mr. Kim feels like the simplest of the bunch.
That being said, while it is evident from the getgo the overall tone for Please Be Happy was meant to be more cozy with elements of fantasy mixed in, it would have been nice to see some more tension and stakes raised from time to time. The few issues that do arise are quickly resolved to the point that they are seemingly nonsensical problems in the first place, especially involving Miho’s unconscious ability to be forgotten, and while it is again only touched upon lightly, it would have been nice to see more elements of the Fabled and humans interacting with one another and what the actual history was there given more depth. While this is by no means a short visual novel, clocking in at around eleven hours depending on reading speed for a single route, some extra details here and there to build the world these characters are living in would have been nice.
Gameplay
Please Be Happy plays similar to what anyone who has experienced a visual novel should expect. There is an option to auto-play dialogue, skip previously read text, a backlog to re-read something, and even the ability to rewind scenes if needed. As mentioned, Please Be Happy is not a static visual novel as there is not only the choice that players make that set Miho down either Aspen or Juliet’s path but also choices that will determine what ending players will receive as well. It is also interesting to note that there are times that Miho is given free time to explore Wellington on her own and can select from various locations to visit. Some of these locations will be empty while others may have a character portrait with them that feature the aforementioned side characters Lena, Tommy, and Mr. Kim. It is worth noting that while players can try to focus on clearing a side-character’s storyline in one run, it is impossible to clear all three. That being said, given players have at least two routes to play through, this replayability is a plus.
There are various other aspects such as unlocking background music that players can listen to in the menu as well as CGs in the gallery as they progress, but it is worth noting that the UI can be a bit finicky, especially involving the “quick bar” that players can pull up during gameplay. Often, when pulled up even by accident, the only way to make the quick bar properly close was simply to select something, either quick save or auto being the best choices. One thing that is rather nice about Please Be Happy is also the way it isn’t afraid to change up its presentation from time to time, going from that of a more standard visual novel to novel-esque instead, usually reserving these for longer scene-setting pieces of exposition or describing an event in detail rather than skimping on smaller elements for the sake of brisk pacing.
Audio & Visual
Please Be Happy may be a visual novel at heart but it isn’t afraid to experiment with different presentation styles at times. Sure, characters and their sprites will occasionally simply sit on screen talking to one another with their character portraits shifting, but there are also many times that scenes are displayed with full blown CGs or altered angles to give players a better and more dynamic look at the interactions that are happening. It also helps that the seemingly hand-drawn soft looking artwork is absolutely gorgeous, whether it is the character artwork or even the backdrops, every visual element in the game shines thanks to how much effort Studio Élan has put into the game.
In some rather interesting fashion, all dialogue is voiced in English in Please Be Happy, including faceless NPCs that simply speak from the sidelines and are never given proper names. This level of dialogue is nice and the voice actresses for Miho, Juliet, and Aspen deserve a ton of praise for their efforts in showing the emotions these characters go through throughout the story. As for the soundtrack the title features a beautiful collection of background music that remains mostly calm and comfy throughout and features a couple of really catchy background tracks but isn’t afraid to put on some more dire sounding tunes during the rare dramatic moments throughout the story.
Overall
Please Be Happy may be a bit of a slow to grow romance visual novel that doesn’t quite explore as much of its plot and worldbuilding that it could have, Studio Élan’s latest efforts to try something different has worked out incredibly well. By tying together romance that is slow to develop while focusing more on solving the issues involving the main character herself, this slice-of-life style visual novel excels at making Miho and most of the rest of the cast highly entertaining and easy to fall in love with, though if we had to pick a favorite, we’d go with Juliet.
Capsule Computers review guidelines can be found here.
