Tsui No Sora

, abbreviated as ''SubaHibi'', is a Japanese visual novel developed by KeroQ. It was released for Windows in 2010 and was given an international release by Frontwing in 2017. It is KeroQ's fourth game after ''Tsui no Sora'', ''Nijūei'' and ''Moekan''; it shares many characters and plot elements with ''Tsui no Sora,'' of which it is an expanded retelling.

Gameplay

The game requires minimal interaction from the player, as the duration of the game is spent on reading the text that appears onscreen; this text represents either dialogue between the various characters, narration, or the inner thoughts of the protagonist. A number of choices exist, some of which determine the plot branch on which a story continues. Viewing all the branches is necessary to proceed to the next story. The game generally follows visual novel conventions, with the text appearing at the bottom of the screen, but segments exist where it is overlaid on the entire screen.

Plot

''Wonderful Everyday'' consists of seven chapters, the titles of which are taken from '' Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and '' Through the Looking Glass''. Most chapters take place in the fictional Suginomiya neighborhood of Tokyo and recount the month of July 2012 from different perspectives. A prologue chapter, largely unconnected to the main narrative, focuses on Yuki's relationship with Zakuro and the fictional Wakatsuki sisters, Tsukasa and Kagami, who the player is given a choice of a romance with.

Seven years prior to the beginning of the story, young Tomosane Mamiya is living a peaceful life in the village of Sawaimura, with his half-sister Hasaki, and Yuki Minakami, a student at a nearby dojo, while estranged from Hasaki's mother, Kotomi Sasami. Kotomi had an affair with a cult leader in order to give birth to "the savior," resulting in Hasaki's birth as twins alongside her brother, Takuji. The leader deemed that neither could be the savior, and cast Kotomi out. Kotomi directs Takuji to kill Hasaki as she believes that her death will restore Takuji's powers. Hasaki survives, but Yuki dies saving Hasaki, and Takuji is stabbed and accidentally killed by Tomosane. The trauma of the incident causes Tomosane to develop a dissociative personality disorder, at which point he introjects the personalities of Yuki and Takuji, from whose perspective certain chapters are shown.

Kotomi, grieving Takuji's death, raises Tomosane as Takuji. Takuji is victimized by severe bullying which escalates to rape; causing Tomosane's personality to resurface, albeit believing that he is an alternate personality of Takuji with no memory of his past. Tomosane believes he must erase Takuji so that Yuki may become the dominant personality. To this end, he bullies Takuji (unaware of the disassociation), trying to make him disappear.

Takuji meets and develops a crush on a girl named Zakuro Takashima, who Yuki also meets and briefly dates. Zakuro, meanwhile, is bullied by several students at the school. After being gang raped, Zakuro meets two girls who convince her that they must have a near-death experience to prevent an oncoming apocalypse. The ritual results in the deaths of all three girls. Takuji witnesses Zakuro's death, which further traumatizes him and changes his personality. Tomosane again attempts to erase Takuji, but is defeated and disappears.

Yuki learns of Zakuro's death the day after, and investigates. Takuji discovers Zakuro's apocalyptic prophecy written on her desk, and this motivates him to carry out her supposed dying wishes. Yuki finds a message board where students theorize about Zakuro's death. Unbeknownst to Yuki, the message board's administrator is Takuji, who later announces to the class that Zakuro's death was an omen of the coming apocalypse. Claiming that they will be forgiven by Zakuro's spirit if they follow him, he recruits his classmates into a cult and orders them to commit various crimes.

Tomosane reassumes control of his body and tries to stop Takuji, but fails. Yuki, experiencing dissociative amnesia, is confused by the impacts of Takuji's actions. Takuji leads the cult to leap from the roof in a mass ritual suicide. Hasaki attempts to save Tomosane's body from falling. Tomosane, now remembering the truth of his past, takes control again, at which point he breaks his fall.

In ''Jabberwocky I'', the player is offered a choice to have Tomosane romance Yuki, Hasaki, or no one. Depending on the branch chosen, one of three endings follow.
*''Hill of Sunflowers''
Tomosane survives his fall. A year later, he revisits Sawaimura with Hasaki and Yuki. They reflect on their memories of Sawaimura, and Hasaki expresses jealousy towards Yuki for courting Tomosane's love.
*''Wonderful Everyday''
Hasaki and Tomosane visit Kotomi and reflect on her role in the incident.
*''End Sky II''
Yuki awakens on the rooftop of Kita High, greeted by Ayana. Yuki questions Ayana about what has become of Tomosane, to which Ayana responds cryptically.

An epilogue chapter follows Tomosane and Yuki, who is still sharing Tomosane's body after the events of ''Hill of Sunflowers''. Yuki wishes to pursue a romance with Tomosane; he initially rejects as he fears she will disappear, but they commit after confiding their feelings. Yuki assures Tomosane she will never disappear, and they promise to always live together.

Characters

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:Yuki is the protagonist of the ''Down the Rabbit-Hole'' story. A habitual truant with a taste for cigarettes, she considers herself antisocial despite having an aptitude for getting along with other girls (and for intimidating boys). She is a fan of classical literature who spends much of the school day reading on the rooftop. As a result of her grandfather's stewardship of a kobudō dojo, she is a skilled martial artist. It is later revealed that Yuki shares a body with Takuji and Tomosane, and that her personality was introjected by Tomosane after she died saving Hasaki in the events of ''Jabberwocky II''.

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:Takuji is a boy in Yuki's class and the protagonist of ''It's my Own Invention''. A timid boy who is an otaku and stammers when he speaks to others, he rarely attends class and spends most of his time in a secret hideout he has constructed. He undergoes a profound transformation after witnessing the death of Zakuro, leading him to recruit his fellow students into an apocalyptic death cult. Unbeknownst to Takuji, he is actually an alternate personality of Tomosane, introjected after the original Takuji's death in ''Jabberwocky II''.

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:The protagonist of the ''Looking-glass Insects'' story, Zakuro is a girl from the class neighboring that of Yuki and most of the other characters. Timid and soft-spoken with a tendency to space out, she is the frequent target of pranks and bullying by the rest of her class. She considers Kimika her friend, though their relationship is frequently troubled. After being subjected to gang rape, Zakuro loses her grasp on reality and participates in a group suicide, believing a near-death experience will reawaken incredible powers she possessed in a previous life. Takuji's witnessing of her death traumatizes him, and sets the rest of the plot in motion. In the branch narrative of ''Looking-glass Insects'', Zakuro becomes Kimika's lover.

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:Tomosane is the protagonist of the ''Jabberwocky'' and ''Jabberwocky II'' stories. Considered the strongest fist-fighter in the school, he rules its most unsavory elements by fear and is also a source of dread for Takuji, whom he brutalizes frequently. He works part-time as a piano player, and has a tumultuous friendship with Yuki Minakami. It is later revealed that Tomosane's true identity is Tomosane Mamiya, Hasaki's older half-brother, and that Yuki and Takuji are alternate personalities which he introjected after their real-world counterparts died. In one of the ''Jabberwocky'' branches, he and Hasaki become romantically involved in an incestuous relationship.

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:Hasaki is the protagonist of ''Which Dreamed It'' and is Takuji's sister. She is a shy and quiet girl who carries a stuffed rabbit with her everywhere she goes. Seven years prior, Hasaki was the victim of a violent incident in the village of Sawaimura, where her mother directed her twin brother to kill her, an event which traumatized her and left her aggrieved after Tomosane's personality disappeared.

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:Kagami is Yuki's childhood friend, and is described as a stereotypical tsundere. She is fiercely protective of her twin sister, Tsukasa, of which she is the older of the two. It is later revealed that Kagami and Tsukasa are mental creations of Takuji, based on the similarly named and designed characters from ''Lucky Star''. Takuji and Yuki see Kagami and Tsukasa in place of Hasaki and the rabbit doll she carries due to Takuji's denial of Hasaki's existence.

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:Tsukasa is Yuki's childhood friend,and often acts as the mediator between Yuki and Kagami. It is later revealed that Tsukasa and Kagami are mental creations of Takuji, based on the similarly named and designed characters from ''Lucky Star''. Takuji and Yuki see Kagami and Tsukasa in place of Hasaki herself and the rabbit doll Hasaki carries due to Takuji's denial of Hasaki's existence.

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:Kimika is a girl in the same class as Zakuro, and her friend, though she considers herself to have betrayed Zakuro and often treats her coldly in an attempt to alienate her. Like Zakuro, she is the frequent target of bullying. After Zakuro's death, she becomes Takuji's devoted follower, and pursues him romantically. She is a potential love interest for Zakuro in the branch narrative of ''Looking-Glass Insects''.

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:Ayana is a mysterious girl who is typically encountered by the various protagonists on the school rooftop. She speaks enigmatically, and frequently makes literary references and strange jokes that others find more unsettling than amusing. Her conversations often concern the , a concept only she herself seems to truly understand. She is shown to have telepathic and precognitive powers, although the source of these abilities and her true nature are never explained.

Development

The first game developed by SCA-DI and his studio KeroQ was ', first released in 1999. Because of some technical issues with the game, compounded with a large audience of people who wanted to play it in spite of those issues, KeroQ began production on a remake of the game. However, the remake's scope drastically expanded during production, leading SCA-DI to realize that he was in fact creating an entirely new work, which would eventually be released as ''Subarashiki Hibi'' (shortened as ''Subahibi''). While ''Tsui no Sora'' was inspired primarily by the works of Friedrich Nietzsche, ''Subahibi'' instead pulled concepts largely from the works of Ludwig Wittgenstein, particularly the '' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus''. As the producer, planner, and scenario writer for ''Wonderful Everyday'', SCA-DI worked on the character designs and graphics alongside Kagome, Motoyon, Suzuri, and Karory. Renowned mangaka Aka Akasaka, creator of '' Kaguya-sama: Love Is War'', contributed to the backgrounds assets.

Prior to the release of ''Wonderful Everyday'', a demo of the game was made available on the official website on January 30, 2010. ''Wonderful Everyday'' was originally planned to be released on February 26, 2010 but a release was announced on December 26, 2009, pushing the release date one month back to March 26, 2010.

The opening song of ''Wonderful Everyday'', , was performed by Hana, who also performed the ending songs and . Monet performed the other ending songs: , , and . The lyrics for all of the songs were written by SCA-DI. The music was composed by Matsumoto Fuminori under the alias "skaz", ryo from Supercell, Pixelbee, and H.B Studio. Matsumoto was also in charge of composing the opening song and the ending songs ''The Final Smile'' and ''Cursed Life/Blessed Life'', while Pixelbee composed the other ending songs.

''Wonderful Everyday'' contains many intertextual references to a variety of philosophical and literary works, including '' Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' by Ludwig Wittgenstein, ''Alice in Wonderland'' by Lewis Carroll, ''Cyrano de Bergerac'' by Edmond Rostand, '' Critique of Pure Reason'' by Immanuel Kant, ''Steppenwolf'' by Hermann Hesse, and many others. This proved to be a challenge for the TLWiki translation group, as the translation's main editor herkz was involved in cross-referencing the English versions of many of these titles with the translators' interpretations of their appearances in the text. It was said by one of the translators, vvav, that as SCA-DI's interpretation of ''Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus'' carried some of the greatest narrative significance, it is sometimes believed to be "required reading" for fully understanding the story, prompting them to research Wittgenstein's body of work for the project. Vvav also said that SCA-DI had made the challenging philosophical concepts driving the narrative accessible to general audiences, making it easier for them to comprehend when translating the game. However, vvav also admitted that, while they put in an "honest effort to be realistic with myself" about parts of the story that they needed to do more research for, as they lacked formal higher education in the fields of philosophy and literature, it was entirely possible that some errors had been made.

On June 15, 2012, it was made public by TLWiki that a fan translation was in the works. Three years later, it was made public that the translation was complete and it was being edited. The team was later contacted by Frontwing to negotiate acquisition of the translation to be released officially. A Kickstarter campaign, announced by Frontwing during their panel at the 2017 Anime Expo, was planned to fund the production of a limited physical release and other merchandise. It was originally slated to launch on July 12 of that year, but was delayed and instead commenced on August 2, 2017, with a goal of $80,000 and stretch goals of $120,000 and $180,000 to fund an English translated artbook and new scenario content by SCA-DI that, it was said, would have released in the summer of 2018. The Kickstarter campaign reached its goal on August 6 and ended on August 27, with an ultimate total of $105,928, though it continued to receive additional pledges through slacker backers via BackerKit. The game was released on Steam on August 30, 2017, with newly redrawn higher resolution assets. Due to Valve's prohibition of adult content on the platform and its importance in the narrative of the title, it was decided they would release a censored version of the first chapter on Steam, and a free patch that readers could download to unlock the rest of the content. The adult content patch released fully uncensored, save for a brief scene depicting bestiality which Frontwing said had been cut due to legal concerns, although no text was removed due to this. Concerning ''Subahibi'''s international release, SCA-DI expressed that he was nervous on account of the extreme nature of its content, but that he would be very happy if it was able to lead to his other works getting localizations as well.

Prior to the release, one of the editors of ''Wonderful Everyday'''s English translation, herkz, posted a Twitter thread criticizing Frontwing for decisions they said the company had made in producing ''Subahibi'''s English version. Herkz said that the Frontwing staff had refused to let the team finish much additional work on the translation that remained to be finished, such as an additional translation pass and technical modifications. Herkz also said that Frontwing had not facilitated communication between the TLWiki team and their internal staff, and called the quality of the finished product into question. In a reddit AMA held by Frontwing, TLWiki translator vvav responded to herkz's tweets, saying that their discontent over having been denied ultimate control of the game's finished script was indicative of a strong emotional attachment to their long-term personal investment in the work, but told fans that the end product would be a quality one nonetheless. When asked what had been done to address potential inconsistencies in translation that might have arisen from the script changing hands between the TLWiki team and Frontwing's internal translators, the company's PR representative declined to comment, citing non-disclosure agreements.

On July 20, 2018, an updated rerelease suffixed "Full Voice HD Edition" was released in Japan. This new version featured new art, menus, and a newly designed user interface, and added voice acting for every character, as only one male character was voiced before, and used the higher-resolution assets included in the English release the previous year. It also contained a brand-new short scenario called "Knockin' on Heaven's Door." This version's additional content has not received any official release in other regions. On December 25, 2020, KeroQ released the "10th Anniversary Special Edition," a complete collection containing the Full Voice HD Edition of ''Subarashiki Hibi'', the original ''Tsui no Sora'', and an all-new remake of ''Tsui no Sora'' featuring new art and a dramatically revised and expanded script.

Reception

''Wonderful Everyday'' won the bronze prize in the overall category of the Moe Game Awards 2010, as well as the gold prize in the Scenario category.

The game also made a good showing in the 2010 PC game rankings on Getchu.com, a popular online Japanese games shop. It ranked second place overall as well as first place in the Scenario and Music categories, and 3rd in Graphics. Additionally, Yuki Minakami was voted the 4th best character from games of that year.

Writing for ''Hardcore Gamer'', Marcus Estrada gave a positive review, praising the story's complexity and the quality of the artwork, however they noted that a significant portion of the game constituted an "absolute madhouse of cruel imagery." Although the title came strongly recommended with a 4.5/5 score, and an encouragement to go in knowing as little as possible, readers were cautioned to "steel themselves" and "be prepared for anything" on account of the extremity of the content within.

Notes

References

External links

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*{{vndb, 3144

2010 video games
Apocalypticism in fiction
Bishōjo games
Bullying in fiction
Dissociative identity disorder in video games
Eroge
Fiction about cults
Fiction about suicide
Frontwing games
Incest in fiction
LGBT-related video games
Rape in fiction
Romance video games
Single-player video games
Video games developed in Japan
Visual novels
Windows games
Windows-only games