Happy Live, Show Up! Common Route - Honestly I was expecting more, but Karentia is cute.

Happy Live, Show Up is a visual novel developed by FAVORITE (known for Hoshizora no Memoria) and released in 2021 that keeps most of the elements of the genre's original visual novels, but moves the setting away from Japan to the cold, harsh Russian winter instead. I've been writing from time to time on my stream page dedicated to it, which you can find here Happy Live, Show Up Notes.

The story follows Akito Yukihara, a second-year student at Laikask Academy as he encounters Sofia Tulina, a girl who is striving to become a magician after her magical potential awakened only recently. Akito is a former magician who, for unspecified reasons, left the stage and no longer wants to be involved with magic.

Sofia, of course, asks him to teach her, and after much reluctance, he gives in and starts teaching her temporarily until a better arrangement can be found. Then, one by one, more people join their group, including the prodigy violinist Karentia Berrybell, the cosplay specialist Pechka Monica, the genius street performer Roo Mao, the ballet student Clarice Clawnya, and Akito's best friend, Jean Chanel.

Karentia x Sofia yuri was a great lead at the beginning, but it never materialized into anything which is something very very sad.

Honestly Ivanof was an hilarious character in the few scenes he was into. It's rare that I like these side characters, but he did well.

Together, they create a troupe with the intent to participate in an upcoming tournament for performers by putting on a play. It's a classic "club" story, but seen from a more artistic angle, and I honestly liked the idea of a group of completely different individuals joining up; I was curious to see what kind of trouble they might create.

Unfortunately, the common route turned out to be one of the most boring things I've ever read in my history of visual novels. The game uses a "heroine of the week" approach, tackling each character's initial problems one by one to explain their personalities and make you care about them.

I said that I don't like Sofia's personality much, but it's without doubt that she's REALLY hot. Unbelievably so.

Roo looks almost angelic if you just see the picture, but once she starts talking you realize...

The issue is that the developments were bland and uninspired. Karentia's story, for example, focused on her rebelling for the first time in her life against a violin teacher who didn't want her to spend time with other students. The premise could have worked, but the teacher shifted back and forth between obnoxious and accepting, never creating a real "wall" to overcome. There was no "payback" in the event.

Sofia's story was a bit better; she overexerts herself trying to impress the others but causes grief instead when she loses consciousness and is asked not to use magic for a while. There were some stakes in the event, and it also connected well to Akito's past trauma. It was only a small glimpse, of course, but it was enough to interest me.

Bossy Pechka is great Pechka, I can't wait to see her story too. She's my second favorite after Karentia, hopefully she can deliver a solid story around the now disbanded club.

Clarice is absolutely beautiful, but the personality can be spotty. I'm not sure exactly what happened to her yet, but it's something that I'm curious about.

I'm really curious, though, because they show a mysterious girl in a flashback. That heroine technically has a route in the walkthrough, unlocked only after completing Sofia's route, which makes me wonder how they are going to handle it, given that we have literally never seen her except for one small, blurred flashback scene.

I have only completed the common route as of this date and am currently going through Karentia's route, but I wanted to write this post to crystallize my opinion up to this point and then compare it once I have completed a few more routes. Will they manage to change my opinion with the specific routes, or will it end like this?