Upwards, Rain! The Post Office of Farewells Remarks

In any fantasy world of different races, cultures, and systems - ever wonder how they handle all tasks that keep a society running? Trash collecting, sewer management, making sure people have access to water. And of course, the mail.

The value of mail in modern society has changed due to the sheer speed of how we can receive information and the sheer volume of information we consume in a day.

The beauty of fantasy is that, just for a moment, we can at least pretend to go back to where receiving a letter is never junk, to where people meticulously work and care that a piece of mail goes to where it needs to go, and most important of all, even lost or undeliverable mail matters.

"Upwards, Rain! The Post Office of Farewells" is a visual novel by Studio Elan, but originally an internal-studio yuri game jam project by written by caps, art by theo minute, and scripting/gamework/art by papaya. I have been a longtime follower of Twofold and in turn caps/salty studios, so when I saw this in that game jam along with the art I knew it would be a good one. Though, after finishing it, good would be an understatement.

What I love about "Upwards" is the writing and the cleverness of it all. I believe it takes real skill to write something so complete yet so open-ended in what is a kind of short story. There's so much lore and thought in the world of "Upwards", but it doesn't bog down or take away from the main plot. Rather, you get enough context through the main pair that gets you through the world and if you are intrigued enough there's more out there that you can read. It is quite a world that has been thought out, and I would love to see more done with it.

Of course, what's a world without a good cast of characters that live in it? You meet the first pair, Rain, the newbie of the post office still learning the ropes and Mizore, the kind-hearted gentle soul keeping an eye out on the ground floor and especially on Rain. Once Mizore leaves, of course Rain is immediately up to no good when Mila, on the verge of tears but held up by the thinnest string of hope, walks in. In her youthfulness and her naive and her lack of understanding of how the real world works, they go in their adventures upwards up the post office letter tree - meeting two more characters, solving puzzles, and getting a bit of a reality check, in more ways than one.

While the climax is a bit heartbreaking, I appreciate the hopeful tone and the resolution of it all. We call this, in my book, a really satisfying ending. Also, it made me realize the ultimate wordplay among the many different wordplay scattered around the whole VN. I first realized it after reading some manga and with my slight dyslexia with the name of the post office: Mortem Post. Given the latin nature of the first word, it begs the question "where have I heard that in a phrase before"?. Combine that with the end, you get a nice realization. Plus, add in the name of the village too. I have been saying some of the media I have been watching lately have been a bit too on the nose. But this one gets a pass.

Speaking on that ending, woo boy. Without any spoilers, the weight of one has to take on because of tradition and because someone needs to take on a job that's so emotionally taxing. Then to be criticized by an innocent-in-the-way-of-the-world child who calls you "evil" for having high standards. She showed immense patience to not have crashed out even harder.

All in all, "Upwards, Rain! The Post Office of Farewells" is sooo well-written that it is a must-read for a short 2 to 3 hour visual novel. I don't have to speak for the art or the scripting or the music. All of it elevates each other and creates a perfect blend of what makes a visual novel such a unique medium of storytelling.

I highly recommend giving this a read. With that, here is the first ever: Moguri Stamp of Approval. Yay~!!

As always, thank you for reading down this far. I know I ramble a lot, so hopefully all my of thoughts made a bit of sense. Take care, and keep on reading!

Steam Link to "Upwards, Rain! The Post Office of Farewells"

Itch.io Link to "Upwards, Rain! The Post Office of Farewells"