Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile is an entry in the soul-crushingly popular Final Fantasy series. It is part of the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, specifically an interquel to Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children.
On the Way to a Smile is an anthology of short stories showing where each member of the cast (as well as newcomer Denzel) ended up after the events of the game, as well as the aftermath of Meteorfall, including the abandonment of Midgar, the construction of a new city built on the outskirts of Midgar aptly named "Edge", and the advent of the strange terminal illness called "Geostigma" that appeared shortly after Meteorfall.
On the Way to a Smile was written by Kazushige Nojima, the main writer for several Final Fantasy games. Each story was originally published in various tie-in media for Advent Children before all of them were eventually collected and published in a single book.
Episode: Denzel received an Animated Adaptation by A-1 Pictures and Be Stack with Asahi Production, which was included on the Blu-ray release of Advent Children Complete, the Updated Re-release of Advent Children.
Final Fantasy VII: On the Way to a Smile provides examples of:
- Animated Adaptation: Episode: Denzel was adapted into a 30-minute OVA that was included on the Blu-ray of Advent Children Complete.
- The Atoner:
- Barret began wandering the world after Meteorfall, searching for a way to atone for the destruction he inadvertently caused as the leader of AVALANCHE.
- Tifa, also plagued by guilt for her role in AVALANCHE, reopened her Seventh Heaven bar as a way to give the newly-built town of Edge a place to unwind and destress.
- Badass in Distress: Rufus spends the majority of "Episode: Shinra" being under captivity by a former Shinra trooper and later by one of Hojo's colleagues.
- Bondage Is Bad: The basement that Mutten locks Rufus in is all-but-said to be a BDSM dungeon, with red walls with whips and chains attached to it, which Rufus finds unsettling.
- Covers Always Lie: Despite appearing on the cover, Vincent, Cloud, Cid, Sephiroth, and Cait Sith do not get their own episodes, though they all do show up in other characters' episodes, to varying degrees of prominence.
- Dramatic Irony: After saving a human from a Nibi bear attack, Nanaki decides to take care of the bear's cubs after it is killed. He grows to care for the two cubs as though they were his own. The two cubs are ultimately killed by the very same human he saved earlier.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Yuffie in her episode returns home to Wutai expecting to be welcomed as a hero for saving the planet, but is instead treated as patient zero of the Geostigma epidemic and gets locked up in her home by her father.
- Evil Is Petty: After asking his father how he would escape in the event of an attack on Shinra HQ, President Shinra builds a panic room to be used by Rufus when he becomes president in case of such an attack. The room is emblazoned with giant "L"s everywhere, which he says stand for "Loser", because he believes that none of Shinra's enemies are powerful enough to attack them directly, so building a panic room is cowardly. The room ends up saving Rufus's life from the Diamond Weapon's attack.
- Framing Device: Episode: Denzel has the framing device of Denzel recounting his life to Reeve, which technically makes it the only episode to take place after Advent Children.
- Interquel: The story takes place after the original game but before Advent Children.
- No Place for a Warrior: Some of the cast, particular Cloud and Barret, struggle to adapt to the new life.
- Simultaneous Arcs: Most of the episodes take place within the same timeframe, and characters often cross paths (or are mentioned in passing) without much explanation as to what they were doing immediately before the central character of that episode met up with them.
- Trauma Conga Line: Denzel, in a very short time frame, lost both his parents, his hometown, a kind old woman that took him in after that, multiple friends after that either due to Geostigma or just leaving town after being adopted, and then contracted Geostigma himself.
- "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: Each episode details where the cast of VII ended up after Holy and the Lifestream stopped Meteor from destroying the planet.
- Villain Episode: "Episode: Shinra" focuses on Rufus and the Turks after the Shinra tower gets blown up by Diamond Weapon.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: Cloud and Tifa's relationship was troubled from the start of "Episode: Tifa" and kept improving before snapping back. This culminates at the end where Cloud leaves her and does not come back, right after the most hopeful point in the story, and they won't get their happy ending until the end of Advent Children.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Kilmister, who kept Rufus captive in a cave full of Geostigma patients, initially researched a cure for it, but upon realizing the disease contains parts of Jenova, instead opts to use the information to create another SOLDIER more powerful than Sephiroth. When Rufus himself contracts Geostigma and learns that Kilmister has no intention of finding a cure, has him executed.
