Is Final Fantasy VII: On The Way To A Smile Worth Reading?

Recently, I’ve been making it my goal to watch all the Final Fantasy anime and films, and as part of this, I also thought I would include the light novel: On The Way To A Smile. As a direct sequel to the original FINAL FANTASY VII and a prequel to Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children, it’s a good book to read to understand what’s going on in Advent Children.

For context, here’s a link to my thoughts on Advent Children: Complete. But you may be wondering if you need to do any further reading before going into the film? The answer is, probably, yes. Because as much as I enjoy Advent Children as a fun film, it’s not… the best film if you don’t particularly enjoy Final Fantasy VII. The first version, which I’ll refer to as the incomplete version, is also, admittedly, a mess. But how does On The Way To A Smile help you to understand it? Well, let’s get into it.

On The Way To A Smile is a novella which includes a series of interconnected short stories about a selection of FFVII characters. These include Denzel, an orphan boy who is first introduced in Advent Children, and is the main character of the Original Video Animation: Episode: Denzel, and previous party members, Tifa, Barret, Nanaki, Yuffie, and the antagonist, Shinra. Interspersed between each short story is a short snippet of life in the Lifestream, which follows the perspective of Aerith, Sephiroth, and even Zack, as Sephiroth begins to infect the Lifestream.

Each story has one significant focus, which is on the Midgar Pox, or as it’s eventually to be known as, Geostigma. Geostigma is the disease that Sephiroth has been infecting those who are touched by despair and the Lifestream. It’s fatal, and it’s especially bad for those with depression, or preoccupied with how they will die. So, while each story focuses on everyone’s reaction to Geostigma, it’s also about moving on after Final Fantasy VII.

After Meteor, each character is struggling to come to terms with what to do next. Tifa and Cloud live in Seventh Heaven, where Cloud runs a delivery service, and has been saving money to build his own bike, Fenrir, all while the two are living with Marlene and Denzel as a family. Barret is trying to figure out how he can help people, when all he knows how to do is battle, and he doesn’t know how to help when they don’t even have Mako energy anymore, which is how he and Cid hatch a plan for him to get some oil to get things up and running.

Meanwhile, Nanaki is out on a quest to travel the world, as Bugenhagen wants him to understand those around him. So, Nanaki travels and ends up looking after two Nibi Bear cubs whose parents were killed by Hunters, and their tails are sought after by poachers. Nanaki is, of course, conflicted about this, as while the bears are also being hunted for food, they are killed in a manner that causes Nanaki to snap. However, Vincent does snap him out of it. You may have noticed that Vincent doesn’t actually have his own storyline here, and that’s because he would be getting an entire game in the form of Dirge of Cerberus.

Due to Nanaki’s storyline, it’s a key piece of lore in understanding the beginning of Advent Children. While I didn’t touch upon this in my Advent Children article, Nanaki and two cubs are running and overlooking what was once Midgar. It links to Vincent saying that Nanaki should imagine his future, and not imagine himself on his own, but while Nanaki does eventually see himself with the two cubs, he does initially imagine Vincent overlooking the city with him. However, Vincent points out this would only be once a year, as he finds Nanaki annoying, and laughs at him for calling his depression Gilligan.

Elsewhere, Yuffie is blamed for bringing the Midgar Pox to Wutai, and they focus on why she doesn’t have all the Materia in Advent Children. Instead, she has only the Healing Materia, as no one trusts her with the offensive ones. In this story, it’s revealed that she has stolen Nanaki’s phone (Nanaki got a phone during his travels), and is on a hunt for a Materia which will cure the Stigma. It actually does a good job of showing how much Yuffie has grown, as originally, she planned to find the one who brought the sickness to Wutai, but her goals shift when she realises how badly everyone is faring. So, she works to give everyone hope by hunting for Materia, even though Nanaki tells her it’s a fool’s errand.

Finally, we have Shinra’s story. The Shinra storyline focuses not only on Rufus following the attack on Shinra HQ, but on the Turks, and how they are vilified (rightfully) following the events of Meteor. It explains how Rufus got the Stigma, and how he was held hostage, and why the Turks specifically, are searching for the Nibi Bear tales to alleviate symptoms of Geostigma. While this is happening, Rufus reveals why they should look for Jenova’s head, as they don’t want another mad scientist finding it, as it was a mad scientist who kidnapped him, but it’s also that man who was trying to find the cure for the Stigma.

By all accounts, it’s not a long read. However, I won’t go too much into depth about Denzel’s storyline in this one. That, I’ll reserve for Moving Pictures: Episode: Denzel, as it focuses on that storyline specifically. But, if you’re a fan of Final Fantasy VII and want to understand how the original game linked to Advent Children, I would recommend watching it. It does help to explain a lot, and is overall a fun read, with all the characters showing development within the two years of the Meteor catastrophe.