Title: 素晴らしき日々～不連続存在～ フルボイスHD版
Developer: KeroQ
Release Date: 20th July 2018
Age Rating: 18+
Length: 25+ Hours
Links: Official Website, VNDB
Thoughts
Subarashiki Hibi (or Subahibi for short) is a game that needs no introduction – it’s widely regarded as one of the best galge out there and has received plenty of attention since the release of the original game in 2010. I always feel hesitant to touch games with such widespread acclaim as it makes me nervous that the game won’t live up to the personal expectations I have imposed on it. This lead to me having Subahibi in my “look carefully at from afar” category until one day I bit the bullet and impulsively purchased it on sale. Being a self-proclaimed idiot who primarily consumes and enjoys moege, was the dark and complex world of Subahibi something even someone like me could enjoy?
I would actually say for the most part that I liked the game and am glad I played it, which I found a bit surprising, haha. I will say I was taken in by the story and binged the game in just a few days because I was caught up in unraveling the plot threads woven amongst the individual chapters that make up the game. It’s not often this happens so I do praise the writer for creating an actually interesting story. I wasn’t that impressed with Sca-ji’s involvement in H2O but this was a much better representation of his skill.
I was also impressed with the characters and their development throughout the game. Aside from most of the minor side characters (who are usually downright trash) and one particular protagonist (who the game wants you to dislike), the characters are all quirky and likable, yet reasonably developed. They go through a ..lot… throughout the course of the story so it was hard not to root for their happiness. I definitely found myself crying over them because I was so emotionally invested by the later chapters.
As for the chapters themselves, they were generally an enthralling read and the pacing of the overall plot reveal was decent enough so as not to feel too much like an info dump. The game does have a tendency to feel a little repetitive at points but it would be difficult to avoid this due to the nature of the story itself.
Now I’m sure you can find other people out there analysing the deep philosophy aspects of the story. But i’m dumb and never cared for these conversations in game – they felt a little pretentious and long-winded at times as they just held up the rest of the story. Honestly the game’s primary message (in my opinion) is pretty clear – life is about enjoying the simple yet wonderful everyday, nothing more than that. I find this message strangely comforting – you don’t need to be exceptional, there’s nothing wrong with being normal or average provided you find happiness in life which I think is important to remember. In that regard, Subahibi is strangely a kinder story than one might expect – although you do have to go through some desperately sad/disgusting stuff to get there.
The Full Voice HD Edition of the game (obviously) adds in full voice acting for all characters (including male protagonists) and a story chapter. The additional voice acting, particularly for the male protagonists adds a lot to the game. It gives life and emotion to the words being said and makes them feel of comparable standing to the other main characters in the game. The additional chapter – knockin’ on heaven’s door – is essentially an epilogue to one of the endings of the original game and is a much needed conclusion for the relationship between two of the characters. The ending of this chapter had me tearful in a heartwarming way. It was the perfect way of ending the game for me and I was very happy with it.
The artwork, while a little inconsistent, is pretty good and is typical of Makura/KeroQ’s style. There’s a pretty decent amount of CGs overall but I hate trying to navigate through the CG gallery.
One of the areas where Subahibi undoubtedly excels is in its music department. The opening song is simply S Tier and one of the best eroge openings in my opinion. The BGM is extremely fitting and sets the tone of the scene well with a lot of beautiful piano tracks so you can’t really ask for much more. I was also impressed by how the BGM managed to make some scenes a lot scarier? It was pretty impressive sound design.
To put it a bit nicely, Subahibi is known for some of its darker H content. This is one of the reasons that I didn’t want to play but finally figured I could skip any scenes that were very uncomfortable. There is actually a decent amount of vanilla scenes but they will be disregarded here because those were fine, as well as a few so absurd they can stay. I also didn’t have a problem with most of the darker content because it had a story-related purpose – it is difficult reading these scenes but it is meant to be (I’m not happy they’ve ruined the H2O opening song for me though 😦 ). What I do have a problem with is there being some scenes – particularly involving side characters – that are strangely darker than the others and don’t have a purpose? Like in my mind they’re only there for the writer’s enjoyment because they could’ve been skipped and there would’ve been no detriment to the story.
Conclusion
Rating: 9/10
Whilst there were a few small niggles that stopped me from proclaiming SubaHibi to be perfection, I would still agree that it’s absolutely an excellent game with memorable characters, story and overall message. I definitely wouldn’t recommend it as someone’s first eroge but for people experienced with the genre it is probably worth a play if you have time.
Sca-ji has redeemed himself in my books and I will get around to Sakura no Uta soonTM. I’ve had it installed for like a year at this point, whoops.
Thanks for reading.
Zettai Renai! 
yasssss queen
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