Please Be Happy Review – Happiness Has To Be Earned

Happiness feels like an ideal that, for some of us, is completely out of our reach. This is the main topic that developer Studio Élan is playing with in their latest title, Please Be Happy. For those not in the know, they’re a modest studio, having only been founded since 2016. However, their focus on true to life themes and yuri has earned them a following.

Their latest release Please Be Happy is no different from their earlier works. The title already released on the PC through both Steam and Itch.io. I had personally never read any of the works. Still, its premise caught my attention. The question was: would I be able to find happiness, or is it unobtainable after all?

Hoping To Never Forget

Please Be Happy’s story follows Miho, a young girl who happens to also be a nine-tailed fox spirit, otherwise known as a Gumiho. She has been wandering the world, looking for a single person who showed her kindness when she was a fox. She possesses an ability that makes everyone whom she meets soon forget her.

Her latest adventure has taken her to Wellington, New Zealand. It’s here that she meets Juliet, a vampire who runs a small library, and Aspen, an aspiring writer. Miho quickly makes friends with the pair, but is soon to realize that with her magic, things may not be as easy as she hopes. So, will her friendships and love with Aspen and Juliet be worth fighting her magic for?

If this description sounds a little heavy when you read it… well, that’s because it is. Please Be Happy‘s narrative revolves heavily on the topic of “loss” and “moving forward”. Miho’s main power to make those forget about her quickly becomes a burden as she meets more people she chooses to care about.

This alone starts to create boundaries and friction between Miho and the two love interests, Juliet and Aspen. After all, a single day apart would mean all memories and the love held for Miho would disappear. We even get to see this multiple times with side characters such as Lena.

Miho will run into Lena a few times and each time she needs to reintroduce herself and treat Lena like a stranger. Despite that, perhaps depending on what you choose, Lena and Miho might be friends just a day ago. This issue of Miho’s is unique and adds drama by itself.

The memory loss also makes Miho more relatable as her fears about her friends forgetting her are very real. I’m not going to sugarcoat it, Miho is a fantastic protagonist. While at times she can be dragged along by the story, she has her own agency and will always strive to do better for herself and her friends. It wasn’t long before I was personally rooting for her happiness.

The only issue I had is that sometimes the tone seemed to whip around a bit too much. However, both routes find their footing soon enough. I found that one route was more satisfying than the other but both are worth reading through to the end.

Art is Subjective

Outside of the story, I found the art of Please Be Happy to be very pleasant. Studio Elan crafted each CG spectacularly. I frequently saved a screenshot so I could easily get back to them. It’s a style that is anime inspired but feels fresh. Even now as I look at the key art it’s easy to fall in love with it.

There is a roughness in it that makes every piece feel even more unique to the other. Even the music is memorable and I find myself humming along. I won’t be forgetting Please Be Happy anytime soon and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

So, it’s unfortunate that this port to PlayStation is less than ideal. There were plenty of times where I would need to load my save or restart the application. This was mostly due to the AI bugging out. The most common bug I faced as I played through had to do with the map.

This map allows you to select what Miho does with her time. If on this screen you open the side menu to create a quick save. The menu bugs out no longer allowing you to select an option. A reload of a save or quick save makes fixes the issue but becomes annoying fast.

There is a lot of other little bugs like text overlapping at times in the menu, or functions not working. There is also a problem of easily exiting the main menu when paused. Normally pressing the pause button on the menu would unpause the game. In fact, the help guide assures you that this is what should happen.

However, if you open any menu say options or to make a save to come back to. You must now navigate all the way to the return button. These problems are not difficult to work around, but it mars an otherwise excellent experience.

Please, Be Happy

I have a lot of feelings towards Please Be Happy almost all positive. Studio Elan has made a story that will stick with me for a long time. While the Ui is a problem that should have been fixed the art stands out. Having problems that while annoying can be overlooked.

While, I had to put the game down a few times I always came back. I’m glad I did otherwise I feel like I would have missed out on something I now love. I’m already planning to recommend this title to my friends and plan another playthrough.

Please Be Happy is now available on PlayStation 5.