Characters / Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life

Characters that appear in Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.

For information on the characters as they appeared in the original game Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life, (including Another Wonderful Life and its sequel DS/Cute) go here. For characters from other entries in the Harvest Moon/Story of Seasons series or the franchise in general, go here.

Protagonists

Maya on the left, Shion on the right.

The protagonist/player of the game. They started feeling aimless in life and contacted their deceased father's friend Takakura in Forgotten Valley. Hearing of the farm their father used to run there, they decided to move to the valley and make the old farm prosper again, as well as think about starting a family.

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• The Ace: Can become a master farmer, rancher, angler, chef, archaeologist, and more. Whenever you improve at any skill, everyone in town notices and heaps praise on you when you talk to them.
• Adaptational Slimness: The female protagonist (Pony) in Another Wonderful Life had an hourglass figure. For the remake, all outfits fit the protagonist the same way regardless of gender/pronouns, so Maya is flat-chested by necessity.
• Adaptation Name Change:
  • Mark —> Shion
  • Pony —> Maya
• Big Town Boredom: Takakura speculates this as a factor of their interest in moving to the Valley.
• Call to Agriculture: They had no real idea what to do with themselves, so they opted to move to Forgotten Valley and take over their dad's old farm. This can then be immediately refused, resulting in a Non-Standard Game Over.
• Celibate Hero: Defied, as with the original. If you still insist on staying single at the end of your first year, you’re kicked off the ranch and the game ends.
• Character Customization: The customization options range from face/eye shape, skin tone, the color of their eyes and hair, hairstyle, and clothing options. For the first time, the player can also choose their character's gender identity between male, female, or non-binary (via pronouns). Skin tone, face shape, and eye color cannot be changed after the start of the game; hair style and color however can be changed, as well as outfits, in the mirror in the house.
• Composite Character:
  • In the original games, Mark and Pony had very different tones in their responses to bachelorette/bachelor heart events, with Pony being quite snarky, spunky and rough while Mark was The Everyman with a bit of a goofy side. Now that both sets of events can be seen by any player, the responses have been modified slightly to meet more in the middle, though the bachelors’ heart events still have notably more Video Game Cruelty Potential.
  • In a different sense, any lines either Mark or Pony had that referenced their own gender have been altered to be gender neutral (regardless of pronouns selected) and combined with each other. For example, the “I gained weight after giving birth” mirror remark was changed to “I gained weight after getting married”, in order to make the lines relatable to all gender possibilities.
• Curtains Match the Window: The default appearance of the character on the customization screen (and Shion) has dark brown hair and dark brown eyes.
• Disappeared Dad: The player's father, who was a farmer in Forgotten Valley for a brief time long ago, has recently died; his old friend Takakura has gotten a letter from the player, which describes their wish to come out to try their hand at farming.
• Happily Married: You have eight potential partners to pick from to make this happen, but it isn’t a happily-ever-after just because you’re married— how happy the marriage is depends on their affection level, and raising/lowering it causes their dialogue, behavior, and schedule to change.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: The player can choose what they are called. This includes an option for a nickname to their eventual spouse after the wedding.
• In the Blood: Takakura remarks that you have your father’s spirit to be doing something this drastic. If your child goes into agriculture or ranching, he makes the same comment about them towards you.
• Life Will Kill You: The protagonist dies—not of anything major, just drifts off in their sleep.
• Meaningful Name:
  • "Shion" is also the name by which the flower Aster tataricus is known in Japanese. The blossom’s symbolic meaning in Hanakotoba (the Japanese language of flowers) is “I won’t forget you” — which rings doubly well for Western players who recall Wasuredani being dubbed “Forget-Me-Not Valley” in the English localizations of the original games.
  • In antiquity, "Maya" (馬屋) meant a horse stable— fitting for the farmer formerly known as Pony. It's also just one letter off from the other official name for that ponytailed protagonist, “Aya”.
• Missing Mom: Wherever the player's mom is, she isn't even mentioned at all.
• Personal Effects Reveal: The official website for the remake says that the protagonist found out about the farm while sorting through their deceased father’s effects.
• Purely Aesthetic Gender: The gender of the character—male, female, or nonbinary—doesn't affect the story line, skills, or even whom you marry (cause every marriage option is player-sexual). It's about how you want to be refered to and seen.
• Passed in Their Sleep: Implied to be how they die at the end of the final chapter.
• "Rediscovering Roots" Trip: Their journey to Forgotten Valley is one of these, as they discover the hidden life and passions their father had kept to himself and work to finally make his dream come true.
• Vague Age: While the official Japanese guidebook for the original game confirmed the protagonist’s age to be 25, it’s unclear whether this has changed for the remake— though the fact that the protagonist of the remake starts going gray at the same point as the original did would indicate at most a very small difference, if any.
• Virtual Paper Doll: You can change your hairstyle, hair color, and outfit at the mirror in your farmhouse. Doing so each day (while also checking yourself out in the mirror each day) gets you bonus affection with Rock and Molly.
• Starting a New Life: Moves to Forgotten Valley to start a whole new life as a farmer.

Your Child

Gordy's son, Molly's daughter, and Rock's son (toddlers)

At the end of the first year and past the Time Skip, you and your spouse will have a child. It's your influences and choices that help direct them, as the years pass, into what they might grow up to be. You may have a daughter or a son, with the choice picked during your wedding ceremony (and you can let it be random).

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• Babies Make Everything Better: Naturally, given that raising your child is such a major part of the game. Nearly all of the spouses express how their life wouldn’t be complete without their little darling. On a sadder note, some of the spouses have low-affection dialogue admitting that if it wasn’t for their child, they wouldn’t be sticking things out with you.
• Baby See, Baby Do: Doing certain actions within a certain radius of your toddler or child affects their skills and interests. For example, brushing your animals while your kid is nearby (not necessarily looking at you) will help the ranching interest. This works best in Chapters 2 and 3, as it gets harder to influence your child once they’re a teenager.
• Baby Talk: Your toddler speaks this way during Chapter 2, replacing r’s and l’s with w’s and so on.
• Bratty Teenage Daughter: Your child will be more prone to moodiness and distance from you in their adolescence, and you can potentially see at least one cut-scene of them arguing with your spouse. The severity of your child’s teenage phase depends on what kind of personality they’ve developed, as a very broad principle, a high chattiness/mouthiness value results in generally ruder dialogue. They grow out of it.
• Calling Parents by Their Name: Your child will do this if you are a nonbinary player—rather than appending Mama or Papa to your name, your child will just call you by your name alone. They'll also use your name along with the parental title if you're in a same sex marriage, to distingush you from your spouse.
• Child Prodigy: Your child’s normal dialogue and response to things often checks for how skilled they are at the field they’re talking about— at a proficient level, their responses are quite insightful even in Chapter 3. At the end of each chapter, residents who are associated with the skill your child is highest in may remark that your child has an unusual gift in that field.
• Clingy Child: Nami and Gustafa’s children are very shy, and want to be held and snuggled often. Chris’s fortune for Nami’s child has a warning about spoiling them, and Nami herself says she’s worried hugging them too much might be detrimental… though whether this has an impact or whether “spoiling” is a mechanic hasn’t been confirmed.
• Curious as a Monkey: Especially with Rock and Molly’s children, who are constantly asking things. Each of those spouses admits they were like that as kids, too.
• Dumb Jock: Implied if the other parent of your child is Molly or Rock. The child will have high natural skills in Athletics but no natural inclination towards Academics at all. You'll have to push really hard to make them a scholar. Also applies in a gameplay sense, as pursuing athletics inclines your child to be more mischievous and less shy, and is diametrically opposed to pursuing the scholar skill (which does the opposite).
• Family Eye Resemblance: Your child will always have eyes like your spouse’s, no matter how unusual.
• Fearless Infant: Rock and Molly’s kids are each quite brave and eager to explore all over the valley. Rock in particular is always nervous about the potential for his child’s happy-go-lucky nature to put them in danger, and Molly will not be pleased if you aren’t careful about their whereabouts. It’s a good idea to monitor their location and the exits to the ranch during the day so they’re where they should be, though they should still come home before bedtime unless the player dropped them far from home.
• Follow in My Footsteps: Your child can follow in yours, if you push for them to be a farmer or rancher like you've been. (The game subtly encourages this by making those endings happier in tone.) Your child can also follow in your spouse’s footsteps, and some of the spouses let you know they would prefer this when beginning Chapter 2 (Nami and Gustafa both want their kids to travel, Lumina wants her kid to be an artist).
• Girliness Upgrade: The female child will go through this after the transition from teenager to adult; as a teenager, she wears shorts, has her hair in a side ponytail and is rebellious in personality, but as an adult she has shorter but wavier hair, wears a dress, and has mellowed out considerably.
• Hello, [Insert Name Here]: You will need to name your kid during the cutscene where you first see them. Or as Takakura puts it in a Shout-Out, "Now, what was his/her name again...?"
• Hidden Mechanic: There are four main hidden parameters that affect your child’s personality, with each parent passing on a unique initial blend of stats that roughly reflect their own character— these starting stats are then subject to change over the course of the game. The exact mechanics haven’t been completely cracked, with the official JP guidebook for the remake providing the most information. (There are more hidden checks in dialogue for parents being strict vs. not strict, and skill vs interest/aptitudes vs shortcomings). Rather than just being one of these four types, much of the possible dialogue is tagged using combined checks on hidden stats, resulting in your child’s expressions being quite dynamic and engaging. The four stats (and the English words used to refer to them) are:
  • Naughtiness: The Japanese word used here is yancha— mischievous and hyper, excited, cute little rascal. A highly naughty child will be cheerful, energetic, very outgoing, and always on the move. Naughtiness can be raised by developing the athletic skill and lowered by developing the scholar skill. The larger the difference between a child’s chattiness and shyness, the higher the mischievousness will be. Rock’s child starts with by far the highest naughtiness, the next highest is Molly’s child having “average” naughtiness, the rest are low.
  • Shyness/Despondence: A highly shy^note ochitsuki / 落ち着き child will be calm, quiet, timid, downbeat, well-behaved, and scared of unfamiliar sights and sounds. They prefer to stay inside the house and love being held, snuggled, and comforted. Nami’s child has the highest shyness, but all children are average or above (except Rock and Molly’s kids, who are both very low) Shyness is raised by pushing academics and lowered by pushing athletics.
  • Chattiness: The name (literal translation of the JP oshaberi^note  おしゃべり) has nothing to do with being outgoing and is more like “mouthiness”. Chattiness is associated with rude, snarky, and negative/pessimistic remarks. Nami’s child will naturally have chatty/mouthy dialogue in later chapters, and it’s easy for Molly’s child and Rock’s to become quite mouthy if their naughtiness goes down— though Rock and Nami are tied for the highest starting chattiness, it manifests in Nami’s more clearly due to the way naughtiness vs shyness interacts with chattiness. Chattiness, like shyness, increases when academics outweighs athletics and decreases when the reverse is true. It intersects with “aptitudes vs shortcomings” on the skills side and “strict vs not strict” on the spouse side to create different flavors of sassy dialogue. The basic theme for both is that kids who are pushed more tend to lash out more, whether being pushed into a field they’re not skilled in or by parental pressure. (The easiest example is Molly‘s child, who will become more grumpy if you push him to be a scholar like Molly wants.)
  • Normalcy: The Japanese word being kisokutadashi-sa.^note 規則正しさ— some English fan translations render it “energy”, which seems to be a mistranslation. Normalcy increases to the extent that ranching, farming and athletics skills outweigh, music, and art skills, and kids with higher normalcy have dialogue that sounds… well, normal. Diligent, responsible, and earnest. Cecilia and Matthew’s kids start with the highest “normalcy” (their kids’ stats are all equal). Lumina and Gordy’s are slightly low, Gustafa and Nami’s are low, and Molly and Rock’s are the lowest.
• In the Blood: Your child will inherit not only their hair color, eye color, and several physical traits from your spouse, but each spouse also offers specific strengths and weaknesses in six different skills. In addition, the personality your child begins with is determined by your spouse, and is expressed mainly through four stats called naughtiness, shyness, chattiness, and normalcy.
• Lamarck Was Right: Each spouse gives strengths and interests in one of six talents, depending on their parent's personality. For example, Lumina's child will have high interests in music, but little interest in farm work, Rock's child will be very athletic but not very strong in academics, and Cecilia's child will have a very high draw towards farm work but not as much interest in music.
• Last-Minute Baby Naming: Since the game skips straight from your wedding to several years later, the prompt to pick your child’s name comes when they’re already a toddler. It’s explained in-universe as Takakura trying to remember what their name was while talking to your dad.
• Moving-Away Ending: Four of the six potential paths for your child will result in them leaving the valley to strike out on their own. Only if they become a farmer or rancher like you are will they stay in the valley. The Artist ending has them leaving in secret, not even telling your widowed spouse they left except via note later.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up: Averted, just like the original game. Your child will appear first as a toddler, then grow to a child, a teenager, and finally an adult.
• Nurture over Nature: You'll have influence over your child's path in life—both by showing and gifting them things, and by, in the case of farming, wishing for them to follow in your steps each winter. Your influence is strongest their younger years; as they get older and more independent, they'll become more set in their life path. You can push them towards what you'd like them to be or leave them to their own interests, and need to do some really hands-on parenting in your child's early years if you want them to follow in your footsteps as a farmer if they're not naturally inclined; only Cecelia and Matthew offer the strongest inclination towards a life as a farmer, while (for example) Lumina's child has very little inclination at all, preferring art, music, and academics. If you are successful in guiding your child towards farming, they'll eventually take over the farm when you pass away.
• Patchwork Kids: The child you have doesn't look purely like your spouse (or have a generic child look that every kid gets regardless of parents like in older games). While the child will always have the spouse's hair, eye color, and some of their facial features, the player having the darkest skin tone means the child will be some shade of tan—and if the father is Gordy, the child will take on a darker skin tone like his. Conversely, having a light-skinned player marry Rock or Gordy will result in a child whose skin tone is partway between your farmer's skin tone and your spouse's.
• Siblings Wanted: In later years, your child may say they wish they had a cute younger sibling. (Sadly, it’s not possible to have a second child with your spouse.)
• Straying Baby: As toddlers, if they’re out of the house past their bedtime, your spouse will go out to collect them and tuck them into bed. If they’re really far from home (which requires the player to intervene, as even the most mischievous toddlers try to path home well before bedtime), the dialogue is different with the spouse being more nervous than they’d usually be— Rock and Molly, overcome with worry, will give you a What the Hell, Hero? and tell you to be more careful.
• Strong Family Resemblance: The child will have a mix of traits from both you and your spouse; while hair and eye color will always match the spouse, they'll have your skin tone blended with your spouse's. (If you have the darkest skin, it will add a noticeable tint to the child's, and with Gordy it'll be the darkest possible.)
• True Art Is Angsty: Invoked in-universe. Kids with artistic leanings will be much more moody, cranky, and even mouthy, and if they grow up to be an artist they'll quietly leave in the middle of the night, not even telling your widowed spouse they're gone, and will only send a letter later saying they had to leave.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The ending epilogue will show after your death what career your child took on, before the Playable Epilogue kicks in.

Bachelorettes

Cecilia

Cecilia was taken in by Vesta two years ago and works on her farm alongside Matthew. She's a sweet young woman that loves nature and working in the fields. Matthew seems to have his eye on her.

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• Affectionate Nickname: Matthew and Vesta both call her "Ceci", showing they have a soft spot for her.
• Animal Lover: Loves all things to do with nature, including the animals.
• Arranged Marriage: Vesta tries to set her up with one so she'll have someone to take care of her. Her 8-heart event has her go on a date with said mysterious someone (though she wasn't pleased to do it), and her 9-heart event has her openly say she turned him down because she's in love with you. Should you manage not to woo anyone during the whole first year, she's one of the two default options—so she still turns him down, because she believes marriage should be for love, not merely convenience.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Between the original three bachelorettes, she's the brunette.
• Caring Gardener: While she's technically a farmer rather than a gardener, she's a sweet girl who loves nature and working with crops.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Has some mild traits of this when talking about her love of plants; you can be weirded out by this or agree with her.
• Developers' Desired Date: If you somehow go the whole year without wooing anyone enough, she and Rock will be your default options for marriage. Cecilia is also the female candidate whose child has a natural inclination towards both farming and ranching^note For Molly ranching is at #2 between athletics and music, for Nami farming is at #3 behind art and academics, and Lumina's child has no natural drive to farm or ranch at all. so they'll likely take over the farm after you.
• Dub Name Change: "Sepiria" was changed to Celia in Natsume's English translation of the original games. The remake has XSEED choose Cecilia as a rename instead, which is a little closer to the Japanese name.
• Education Mama: After farming and ranching, her child is inclined towards academics, and she mentions wanting her child to become a scholar.
• Idiot Hair: Has a strand poking up from the middle of her bangs. While she's not an idiot, she's still rather innocent.
• The Ingenue: The sweetest and most innocent out of the bachelorettes, closely followed by Lumina. Even your teenager can remark that she's too naive for her own good.
• Mistaken for Related: A meta example, but quite a few players have assumed that Vesta is a relative of hers, making Matthew her relative of some kind (and his feelings about her weird). While the official Japanese guidebooks for the original Wonderful Life games—plus the English biographies obtained through connecting Friends of Mineral Town to those games—did confirm that Vesta (and by extension, Marlin) was her relative there, they aren't related at all in the remake. She mentions a brother and parents back in the city and states she was sent out to the valley to live with Vesta, who is described as a family friend of her parents.
• Nature Lover: Flowers are the easiest gift to give to her to raise her affection. Her 4-heart event has her and the player go to spend some time at the goddess spring in the woods, with her remarking that it's the most peaceful spot to her (and getting upset if the player makes noise instead of being quiet). Her 6-heart also has her go to the same place to lament the Arranged Marriage Vesta is considering for her.
• Shipper on Deck: Matthew's six-heart event has her pretend to be tired and leave, so that Matthew and the farmer can be alone to talk.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Should the player not marry her, Cecilia will become more cynical and sometimes even nasty to Matthew and other men. One optional event in later chapters (that requires you to also not be married to Matthew) shows her yelling at Matthew that he can't do anything right when he takes too long bringing her the carrots she asked for. Her change in personality is partly because of a previous heartbreak of hers—which can be implied to be you—and due to how influential Vesta is to her.
• Yamato Nadeshiko: Borders on this, placed in a rural setting. Cecelia is gentle, kind, and pleasant but with some iron will—she defers somewhat to Vesta's authority, but refuses the Arranged Marriage being set up for her. If you do marry her, she's the most gentle and calm of the wives, focusing on her child and the farm in general. Even her talking stance is somewhat deferential, with her hands behind her back and a little forward tilt and cant of her head—the other three girls all talk with their hands.

Molly

Molly works as a waitress in the Blue Bird Café, having moved from the city to the valley after multiple heartaches. She's looking for love, but her terrible luck with romance keeps getting her hurt.

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• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Out of the original three bachelorettes, she's the blonde.
• Breaking the Cycle of Bad Parenting: The details of her separation from her parents are not made clear, but she's resolved to give her child the opportunities that she was not afforded herself.
  Molly: When I look at [Child's name], I just feel so relieved knowing [he/she] won't have to go through what I did.
• City Mouse: She came from the city to start a new life, and doesn't know much at all about rural life at all. Her two-heart event on your farm has her both startled by your dog and shocked that dogs mark their territory like that.
• The Ditz: Implied; if she's your child's other parent, she (like Rock) will give no natural skills in academics at all, instead giving high Athletics, Farming, and Music in that order. She still wants them to be a scholar, though.
• Dub Name Change: MuuMuu was originally changed to Muffy, now it's Molly (since Natsume kept the "Muffy" name).
• Education Mama: She's absolutely determined to make a scholar out of her child...regardless of how little natural talent they have for the field. It's the career she proposes for them at the beginning of Chapter 2, and her post-marriage dialogue will reflect this desire.
  Molly: [Child's name] is going to be a star student! I'll make sure of that if it's the last thing I do!
• Everyone Loves Blondes: She's a lovable, kindhearted and glamorously attractive lady who attracts many customers to the Bluebird Café.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Natural golden blonde hair and a cheerful, sweet personality to match.
• Leg Focus: The in-game camera has a habit of starting at her feet and panning up to her face.
• Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places: She's hoping to find a long-lasting relationship with someone that will cherish and respect her, but hasn't found anyone that matches yet. Should the player not marry her, she'll have several events across the game mentioning how her latest relationship ended badly—be it because she was being two-timed, too old, or intended to be used as nothing but a mistress.
• Mama Bear: If her child isn't present at bedtime during chapter 2, her reaction is notably more frantic than the other wives— even giving the player a What the Hell, Hero? for not being careful. She was separated from her parents, and is terrified of the same thing happening to her own baby.
• Meaningful Appearance: She has a mole near her left eye. In Japanese tradition, having a mole near one eye represents sadness due to its resemblance to a teardrop, which is fitting since she's a Stepford Smiler who's troubled by her repeated failures to find a meaningful romantic relationship.
• Meaningful Name: The new English name XSEED picked for her, “Molly,” contains a subtle nod to her previous English name “Muffy,” in that they’re both diminutives of the same name— Mary. The name “Mary” can be traced to meaning both “love, beloved” and “bitterness, rebellion”— fitting for a woman who has suffered so much in pursuit of love.
• Older Than They Look: While she has a Vague Age (as all the bachelorettes do), it's implied through the narrative that she's older than the player and the other options.
• Old Maid: She's one of the oldest bachelorettes and very insecure about still being single due to her lack of success in romantic relationships.
• Parental Abandonment: As she reveals in her dialogue after marriage, Molly was forced to grow up quickly as a result of being separated from her parents as a child, which informs the way she parents her child: she's determined to be a very involved and supportive mother so that her child never has to go through the ordeals she suffered. If her child isn't present at bedtime during chapter 2, her dialogue is notably more panicked than the other wives.
• Playful Cat Smile: Fits her lively, bubbly personality. She passes it on to her child, too.
• Starting a New Life: She moved from the city after one too many heartbreaks, as she heard that the Valley was a place she could disappear in.
• Stepford Smiler: Especially when not married, with her repeated lamenting of her latest relationship failing, she puts a smile back on her face and pretends to continue holding onto hope of finding someone.
• Supermodel Strut: Molly walks with a noticeable swish in her hips—she knows she's pretty and attractive.
• Supreme Chef: She's a much more skilled cook than Cecelia, Lumina or Nami, though they all have to learn how to cook somewhat from the much more skilled Lou. The Time Skip after marrying her has her delighted to have such a big kitchen to work in now to make wonderful meals.
• Wrong Assumption: Molly's 8 heart event has her hiding out in the player's house, saying a scary person was following her around the valley and pleading to stay with the player for safety. It's her employer, Gavin, who worried about her going supply shopping alone and followed to escort her. He, Carter, and Charlie all come to fetch her from the player's house—mostly because Gavin left the café unattended to look for her.

Nami

Nami is a drifter who eventually came to Forgotten Valley, then forgot—or "forgot"—to leave again. She stays at the Lei-Over Inn and spends her days and nights exploring the valley, but is slowly starting to run out of money and unsure of what to do, since she really doesn't want to leave.

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• Aerith and Bob: Sports a Japanese name in a valley where most of the residents tend to have Western names, with a few exceptions.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Out of the original three bachelorettes, she's the redhead.
• The Bus Came Back: Averted for the remake. In the original A Wonderful Life, if the player did not befriend or marry her, Nami would leave at the end of the first chapter, having run out of money to stay in town. A cut scene in later chapters could be triggered where Nami would return to the valley for good, citing that she missed Lou's cooking. However, while Nami suggests she'll have to leave soon at several points in the remake (including her nine heart event), the leaving and returning cutscenes were removed, so she never actually goes through with it— she's always still in town when the second chapter rolls around (though she'll note that she didn't plan to stay another year), and Tei and Lou are more than happy to host her forever as a free guest after she runs out of money.
• Blue Means Smart One: She's the most blue-toned of the bachelorettes (wearing a blue flannel shirt and shoes, and having Icy Blue Eyes) and has the potential to pass on the highest skills for academics to her child.
• Boyish Short Hair: Unlike all the other bachelorettes, she has short, spiky bright red hair that is always a mess. She's also a lot more tomboyish in her interests. While the others can be romanced with flowers of any kind, she only likes the autumnal Trick Blues and prefers the cool, unusual things from the dig site like clay sculptures.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: Nami takes a little longer to warm up to the player than almost all of the other love interests. She starts with the lowest initial friendship (40 out of 100 as opposed to everyone else starting with at least 50) and unlike the other girls, doesn't like flowers other than Trick Blues. The player needs to gift either specific meals or items from the dig site to woo her best. Even after marriage, she remains a bit aloof—though she clearly cares for her spouse and child.
• The Drifter: Starts out as this, and it's the reason she came to the valley. Should she not marry or befriend you, she'll consider leaving the valley as she doesn't have money to keep staying— but as with Another Wonderful Life, she doesn't actually leave, having grown too attached to the Valley and seeing Tei and Lou as her surrogate parents.
• Endearingly Dorky: Nami's post-proposal event shows a different side to her, getting fired up about archaology. After the two of you help out Carter at the digsite, she's unusually talkative and goes on excitedly about the outing. She realizes you're silently staring at her, and asks "What?" You can either tell her "you're so cute" or that you're not used to seeing her so talkative.
• Family of Choice: Tei and Lou make it clear that they see Nami as their daughter, and she returns the sentiment. She herself is implied to be estranged from her birth family, with her eight-heart event suggesting she's being financially cut off, her father simply hanging up on Tei when asked if he wanted to speak to Nami, and Nami herself indicating she hasn't seen them in a while.
• Like a Daughter to Me: Tei and Lou will say this about her verbatim both during your marriage announcement event and if you talk to Lou or Tei separately. During the Fireworks Show in the first year if she's not the player's date, she's with them to watch the show, and this is also true with the Winter Starlight Concert. Her six heart event has the two of them distressedly come to the player's house asking them to help find her, after she left money in her room and went missing. She'd intended to leave but came back because she was hungry and forgot she was leaving. At least, that's what she claims.
• Hidden Depths: Nami may appear to be an aloof, standoffish drifter, but she's more than that. She's a Nature Lover and music lover, and smarter than she lets on. She's often wandering in the forest (and gets irritated when spoken to there—she's trying to enjoy the sounds of nature), and has insights to say about the weather and seasons (as a nod to her being a weathergirl in Magical Melody). Her second rival event with Gustafa has her her quietly listening to him playing music while hiding from behind a tree, saying his music reminds her of home, and if you marry her she can reveal she was made to learn the piano as a young girl. As for her smarts, she can be found curiously looking around Daryl's lab and is interested in the dig site and things from it—and if you marry her, her child will have both high artistic and academic skills before anything else.
• Icy Blue Eyes: Her eyes are piercing and sharp, fitting her emotionally detached, cool personality and her habit of analytical people-watching.
• Maternally Challenged: Mostly remains a laid-back parent that will let her child wander around and not keep too strict of an eye on them, given that she's a wandering type of person herself.
• Messy Hair: Her hairstyle is a spiky mess, compared to the sleek parted hair of the GameCube game. However, the sleeker hairstyle there was more of a grapical limitation, as images from the guidebooks show her with the same style of messy, spiked hair.
• Mysterious Past: Nami's past isn't revealed to nearly the level of the others, even in cut scenes. There's a hint she has a somewhat sour relationship with her parents—when her father calls the inn, he just thanks Tei for taking care of her and says he doesn't need to talk to her before he hangs up. It's later implied her family is cutting her off financially after she gets a letter, because she says she'll need to work from then on. Should you marry and have a child with her, she may wonder what they're up to nowadays, and it's implied she hasn't seen them in some time. Several of the secrets the player's child can relay reveal that Nami may actually come from a really rich or well off family, and Nami herself can reveal after marriage (if shown the musical score) that she was made to learn the piano as a young girl— adding some nuance to her habit of walking near the manor and liking Gustafa's music.
• Nature Lover: One of her Hidden Depths. She's often found in the forest, and if spoken to there, she gets irritated that the player is talking to her at all while she's trying to listen to nature and she'll lecture you about it.
• Tomboy: Nami is a lot more tomboyish than the other bachelorettes. She's got Boyish Short Hair, doesn't like any old flower like the others—Trick Blues are it—and prefers odd things from the mines as her best gifts. Unlike Cecilia, Molly, or Lumina (who cuts her hair to her chin and wears a dress after Chapter 1), Nami never changes out of her pants into anything more "dressy" or ladylike as the years pass, keeping her cuffed pants, t-shirts, and flannel. A lot of queer players in older versions of the games eagerly pursued her as "Mark" to imply a same-sex marriage, and she's still highly popular for same sex marriage now that it exists. She can even be interpreted as nonbinary or genderfluid.
• Tsurime Eyes: Nami has eyes that turn up much sharper at the corners than the other bachelorettes. She's much more standoffish to start, strong willed, and considers herself "weird"—she's not anywhere near as "gentle" or ladylike as the other three are.
• Smarter Than You Look: A more subtle one. She shows interest in the dig site and Daryl's lab, considers herself "weird" (she'll say you're both a pair of weirdos during your marriage) and passes on the highest academic skills to her child of the four bachelorettes.

Lumina

^{Click here to see her later chapters appearance.}

Lumina lives in the mansion on the top of the hill; she was taken in by her grandmother Romana (who refuses to be called as such, insisting on being called by "aunt") after her parents died. She plays the piano and sometimes struggles with pieces, wondering if she should give up playing—and when the player moves in, she's happy to have someone in the valley near her own age to be friends with.

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• Adaptational Curves: While Another Wonderful Life and Special Edition had increased Lumina's age to adulthood to rework her from being a general NPC to a love interest for Rock and Mark (as with the NPCs-turned-bachelors) she was not given a redesign to reflect this change. The remake corrects this by making her taller and much shapelier than even her old adult model, to make the fact that she's an adult more apparent from the start and highlight that her costume change is due to her mental growth rather than just growing up in age.
• Age Lift: Like Another Wonderful Life and A Wonderful Life: Special Edition, the game ages up Lumina from her age in the original release to being already an adult when Chapter 1 starts to allow her to be marriageable, as she was not originally meant to be a love interest for Rock or for the player. However, it also takes the extra step of making her Chapter 1 appearance physically older as opposed to simply having Lumina with her adult clothes and hairstyle at the start like previous entries past A Wonderful Life have done.
• Angry Cheek Puff: Her upset expression, often accompanied by holding her hands behind her back and looking off in the distance.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Rock seems to push her buttons quite a lot, while she isn't afraid to fire sharp retorts at him.
• Blue Blood: The young, well-raised granddaughter of the valley's richest woman. However, outside of the butler Sebastian calling her (and really everyone female) madame or miss, she's not treated very upper class by the others—and if she marries the player, she goes down in class even if not fully socially.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Whether the player has raised her affection to the point she'll accept their blue feather or not, if they marry a bachelorette that isn't her she will say a few words to them before pouting, crying and running off, which reveals that she harbored a crush on the farmer. She also has a special variation on this scene if the player marries Rock— she gets upset and runs off in the same way, but she speaks to him instead of the player. This trait continues into marriage: showing her the necklace Flora gave you and telling her honestly that it's from Flora will result in a misunderstanding as she coldly replies "Give my regards to Flora," causing her hearts to drop.
• Elegant Classical Musician: She's a pianist, befitting an upper-class lady like her. Her playing reflects her character growth, both gradually becoming more refined and polished over the years
• Expository Hairstyle Change: Cuts her long hair into a chin-length style after the first chapter to indicate her acceptance of her role as heiress to the Villa, and her personality becoming more mature and ladylike.
• First Love: Claims that the player is this for her in her eight-heart event.
• Gilded Cage: Although she has the most comfortable life out of the candidates by far, her upbringing has also isolated her, since her grandmother's butler often overlooks her and she has no other peers her age around.
  Lumina: I've had a comfortable life in Forgotten Valley. Aunt Romana and Sebastian have been good to me. And yet...I'm just so lonely.
• Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She loves music and plays the piano, and is being raised by her grandmother to be a Proper Lady, but she starts off wearing comfortable jean pants and walking around nature a lot. The tomboyish streak becomes a lot milder from the second chapter on as she accepts her role as the heiress to the Villa.
• Green-Eyed Epiphany:
  • Has one regarding the farmer, running off crying should they end up marrying one of the bachelorettes. She does not react at all if you marry a bachelor with one exception in Rock.
  • Has one about Rock should you marry him, she still runs off crying but now it's after talking to him, not you.
• Immaturity Insult: Calls Rock "unbelievably immature" in their third heart event together. He doesn't react in the slightest as they walk off. She then softens it by acknowledging that she can be just as selfish as him. He objects to this last bit, telling her she's more honest than anything, and he admires her for it.
• Identical Granddaughter: An event with Sebastian involves a picture of a young Romana, who can easily be mistaken for Lumina due to their strong resemblance.
• Lonely Rich Kid: Lumina lives in a mansion with a butler and her grandmother, and has no housework to worry about, spending her time either practicing the piano or studying art. But due to the low population, she doesn't really have many close friends in the valley because there's not many peers for her around, and she's overall rather shy. She's excited when the player moves in, as she thinks they can be a friend.
• Mom Looks Like a Sister: Due to being the youngest of the love interests, Lumina ends up looking barely middle-aged by the time the others have gone gray or her own child reaches adulthood.
• Not So Above It All: During her third rival event with Rock, she'll admit that she can be selfish too. Rock instead says she's honest about her feelings.
• Ojou: She's a well-bred lady from the upper echelons of society, lives in a Big Fancy House on a hill staffed by a butler, and she's talked about delicately by other townsfolk.
• Parental Abandonment: Both her parents died when she was a very young child, and she now struggles to remember what they even looked like.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Was a general teenage resident in the GameCube version of A Wonderful Life, but like Another Wonderful Life and Special Edition, the remake has her start Chapter 1 as already being an adult to be a rival for Rock's affection and a bachelorette.
• Raised by Grandparents: Her grandmother Romana took her in after both her parents died.
• Riches to Rags: Should the player marry her, Lumina will gladly go from living in a mansion and playing the piano daily to living with the farmer in their—nice, but admittedly rougher—farmhouse.
• Sheltered Aristocrat: Naturally, as she's been raised in luxury with a personal butler to attend to her every need. When proposing to her her grandmother says she'll need to be taught basic household things like sewing and cooking. After marriage, she confesses that despite her best efforts she still can "barely crack an egg" and begs you not to tell Romana how much she's struggling in the kitchen.
• She's All Grown Up: Her appearance from the second chapter onward makes her look more mature and ladylike.
• Stepford Smiler: She has some particularly chilling lines of dialogue that reflect this situation with a player who neglects her, compared to the other spouses.
  Lumina: I never gossip to Aunt Romana, so you needn't worry. I wouldn't dare tell her you don't care for me... It's shameful enough for me to say aloud, much less to her.
• Tareme Eyes: Her eyes are a bit droopy— her concept art describes them as "sleepy"— and they fit her wistful, melancholic nature.
• Tsundere: She is a prim, proper, and kind young woman. Pushing the wrong buttons, however— especially if your name happens to be Rock— brings out her hidden forceful and temperamental nature, causing her speech to become less refined. While he jokes that she has a crush on him, she is quite quick to shut him down. If Rock marries the player, though, Lumina gives him the same reaction that she normally gives a player who marries a bachelorette, pouting and crying before running off. According to Sebastian, her harsh side was her default in her youth.
• Uptight Loves Wild: Part of the dynamic between her and Rock: she envies his lack of restraint, as she feels confined by her aristocratic expectations.
• Used to Be a Tomboy: Diary entries from her child reveal that she was more tomboyish as a child than when we first meet her in Chapter 1.
  Diary Entry: Even though [Lumina] grew up prim and proper, sometimes you'd be hard-pressed to think that at all. Like, apparently when she was a kid, she refused to wear skirts because she hated the idea that girls had to act all graceful and ladylike all the time.

Bachelors

Matthew

Matthew is Vesta's younger brother and works on her farm. He moved to the valley because of his frail health, something that remains an issue for him. He appears cold and abrasive at first, but proves to be kind-hearted when he opens up to people. He seems to have a protective streak when it comes to Cecilia.

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• Adaptational Nice Guy: Some of his rougher edges have been toned down for the remake or removed entirely, while keeping his core rough-around-the-edges character intact.
• Bedhead-itis: As part of his redesign, Matthew was given permanantly unkempt, disheveled hair as an outward indicator of the toll his chronic illness is taking on him.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: They've been toned down from the original game, but compared to the other bachelors, his are significant.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Out of the original three bachelors, he's the brunet; his hair is black.
• Brutal Honesty: He doesn't mince words when giving you his opinion on your gifted items.
  Matthew: The crop I got from you tasted terrible. You've got a long way to go.
• Career-Ending Injury: Had to give up an executive position at a prominent company due to his worsening health.
• Deadpan Snarker: He can be quite sarcastic when telling off the player.
  Matthew: Do you like ruining people's days? Because you sure are great at it.
• Defrosting Ice King: He takes a while to open up to people because of his shy and often awkward way of dealing with others.
• Delicate and Sickly: His health was frail during childhood and worsened about five years ago, to the point that he had to let go of his high-powered job in the city and stay in the Valley with his big sister Vesta. He remains somewhat sickly, stating that extreme temperatures are bad for him and that spring and fall are best for his health.
• Dub Name Change: "Masshu" was originally changed to Marlin, now it's Matthew—closer to the original.
• Establishing Character Moment: His introduction scene shows his grouchy exterior by having him grumble at his sister Vesta when she calls him over, showing his lack of social graces as he takes her comment about the Valley being a "hoppin'" place literally and bluntly asks why he should help you when Vesta encourages him to do so. When left alone with you his shy and nervous side comes out, as he stutters out some awkward conversation before suddenly running off to go do his work.
• Friendless Background: If you go through the effort to befriend him, Matthew reveals that you're his first ever friend.
• Hands in Pockets: His default standing and walking position.
• Hidden Depths:
  • It's shown that he does some sewing from time to time, as he reveals that he's the one who made the scarecrow out in Vesta's field.
  • He's smarter than he reveals; not only did he work a very prestigious office job, but is interested in hybrid crops. And while not to the degree of Gordy or Gustafa—farming and ranching come first—he still passes on Academic skills to his child.
  • After Chapter 1, Matthew will often visit Nina's grave to pay his respects. If you talk to him here, he reveals that he was very close to his grandma as a kid and Nina reminds him of her. Oddly enough, his affection for you goes down if you befriend Nina and/or Gary in Chapter 1.
• I Coulda Been a Contender!: Reflecting on his office days, he will remark by Chapter 2 that he would be president by now if he had been able to stay with his former company.
• Ineffectual Loner: Doesn't enjoy socializing and doesn't see the point in getting close to others, with the exception of Cecilia... and potentially the farmer.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's brusque and awkward, but does seem to care for people when they've earned his trust. Part of his protective streak towards Cecilia comes from wanting to make sure she's safe.
• Like Brother and Sister: One of the rival events for Matthew and Cecilia has him opening up to you that he's always thought of her as a sister... but recently, he's wondering if he sees her more like a sister or a single woman.
• Perpetual Frowner: Tends to frown a lot, though he does smile more when the farmer befriends or even romances him.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The sullen, withdrawn blue to his sister Vesta's exuberant, extroverted red.
• Smarter Than You Look: Not only does he show lots of interest in hybrid crops, but also passes on a decent level of academics to his child.
• Strong Girl, Smart Guy: His big sister Vesta is physically tough and does most of the physical farm work. While Matthew himself admits he isn't cut out for working the fields at all, he does have a marked interest in hybrid crops and enjoys researching them in his spare time.
  Vesta: Matt ain't the sharpest sickle in the shed when it comes to fieldwork, but that boy does his research. He says he knows a ton about hybrid crops, and I believe it.
• Through His Stomach: Unlike other bachelors who can be wooed with the free and easily picked flowers, Matthew prefers crops from your farm or soups like Milky Soup and Eggy Soup.
• Vague Age: While the manual by Natsume included in the Western releases of the original three Wonderful Life games listed his age as 32, "Marlin's" age was not listed in the official Japanese guidebooks. Since his appearance has changed for the remake, it's unclear whether his age has changed too. A line of dialogue in Chapter 2 that was preserved for the remake implies that he is at least in his thirties in chapter 1—he remarks that if he still worked at his company he would be president by now.

Rock

Rock lives at the Lei-Over Inn run by his parents, Tei and Lou. He is always up to doing something other than working and lounges, naps, or wanders around, trying to find something to spend some time on—or perhaps someone to spend it with.

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• Abhorrent Admirer: The narrative itself treats him this way in all of his heart events, giving the player much harsher ways to shut him down than any of the other candidates. Even the best answers to some of his romantic events come off as snarky from the player, appearing they're more tolerating him than flirting. In his 2-heart event, following the best dialogue options results in him offering to teach the player all about "this and that"—cut to the farmer's thoroughly disgusted expression. The English localization changed his line to have him instead offer to "teach you some stuff about the valley"— making the player seem more repelled by him when they respond with the same look of contempt for the toned-down offer.
• Ambiguously Brown: He's not given a race at all—his parents are also not given a race—but has tan skin, which he will pass on to his child.
• Big Ego, Hidden Depths: His second rival event with Lumina plays out as this kind of episode: starting off with his usual bravado, revealing a tender side, and then quickly restoring the status quo. She's thinking about her late parents and trying to remember anything about them, since they died when she was young. Rock first bluntly suggests she just ask Romana and Sebastian about them; his smirk vanishes when she reveals they refuse to tell her anything despite her best efforts. Something switches in Rock, he cheerily suggests she just forget them entirely, which Lumina is first shocked by (as it really does come off as Anti-Advice). He gently cautions her that for them to react that badly, it's likely something she really doesn't want to know. Although he acknowledges it's not what she wants to hear, if they're so determined not to tell her anything, it's out of her control. If he were in her shoes, he'd stop worrying about a past he can't find answers to and look towards the bright future. This uncharacteristic advice genuinely touches Lumina and her previously worried expression turns to a smile... only for the silly music to return as Rock turns around, loudly monologuing to himself about how amazing he is at giving advice to the point that he can't help but fall in love with himself. Her smile fades back into weariness and she walks off from this spectacle in disgust while his back is turned.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Out of the original three bachelors, he's the blond. It's not natural—he's actually brunet.
• Casanova Wannabe: Has the audacity to describe himself as a "stud" in his intro event, while his 2-heart event has both Lumina and the player decide Screw This, I'm Outta Here— no matter what option you select, the scene ends with you ditching him.
• Cloudcuckoolander: One of the oddest bachelors in the series, with many offbeat ideas and conspiracies. His 4-heart event has him decide that the farmer's dog is his rival and brag he beat it in a footrace, while his 2-heart (if the player goes to the pond with him) has him accusing Cheerful Child Hugh of murdering a turtle—one who isn't even dead.
• Curtains Match the Window: Partially hidden from the player. While he appears to be blond, seeing him from the back shows the natural brown base—and if the player marries him, their child will have brown hair, not blond(e). Also fits in a different sense: looking at his official art, his redesign carries over the two-toned eyes he has in the original games—brown fading into a golden color, matching the two tones of his hair in the remake.
• The Ditz: He's not the brightest bulb; this passes on to his child, as he will give no natural skills in academics at all, much like Molly, (instead offering Athletics, Ranching, and Music).
• Dark and Troubled Past: Discussed, but not explicitly revealed within the game. Despite being way too open in general and eager to be “buds”, he’s far more guarded about his past than the rest of the candidates. Rock makes it clear to Lumina in their second rival event that he wouldn't want to dig up a potentially painful past— warning her that if Romana and Sebastian are so set on keeping her in the dark about her parents, she's better off not knowing the Awful Truth. He adds that if he had a past like that, he'd prefer to bury it entirely... which just so happens to be how he acts about his relation to his own parents already. As he emphatically tells the player in high-friendship dialogue at the Inn, the fact that he looks nothing like his parents is none of anyone's business and sometimes the apple just falls far from the tree— end of discussion. After marriage, he only reveals with some hesitation that he's originally from the city, which doesn't match up with Tei and Lou's past as having been world-travelers up until starting the Inn. You get a further clue from looking at the framed family photograph in Tei and Lou’s bedroom: A young Tei and Lou, with a little boy between them who is not Rock.
• Developers' Desired Date: If you somehow go the whole year without wooing anyone, he (and Cecilia) will be your given options for marriage.
• The Hedonist: Makes his "all play, no work" philosophy very clear in his introduction scene, even getting upset if the player says that one should work to eat and saying they're like everyone else. Most of his dialogue and heart/rival events revolves around leisure activity, partying, and trying to score a date. If you marry him—or get a low-affection (between zero and six hearts) reverse proposal—he'll let you know upfront that farming's not his thing so he'll leave all the work up to you. Downplayed if he's over six hearts, as he instead vows to make the player happy. After marriage, he will remark that farm work has become fun. He still says he wants to party together—after he's done with work for the day.
• Hidden Depths:
  • In spite of his anti-work rants, he shows a genuine interest in fashion design— he discusses getting a job in the industry, fired up at the idea to write a book on the topic… though he stops and admits he probably isn’t capable of writing and publishing a whole book. If you marry someone else, your teenager can tell you Rock is actually quite knowledgeable about fashion, and if you do marry him he redirects his passion towards styling his child’s outfits. It’s implied that he (like Gordy) made the outfits his toddler and child wear.
  • His Animal Lover nature. Caring for and snuggling your animals is the only type of farm work you do that raises his affection rather than lowering it, and on rainy days he goes to play with the cats at the villa. And while he frames it as a battle when he tells you about his “epic rivalry” with your dog, his second heart event boils down to him visiting your farm and playing with the pup. After marriage he still doubts whether he could properly care for the livestock without messing up, but he still visits them for hours every day and tries to at least learn everything he can from Takakura in order to play advisor to you on dairy ranching (the way Matthew does for crop hybridization), and at high affection he spends almost all day with the animals, joining Takakura in making his rounds to the barn/coop. Also there's something to be said about the fact that—after atheletics—your child with him has a high natural skill towards ranching. The kid got it from somewhere.
  • Talking to Tei when he's cleaning the guestroom Rock stayed in reveals that Rock used to live independently, but had to move back in with them prior to the start of the game for some reason— something Rock himself never even hints at, his own dialogue giving the impression that he never moved out of the Inn since moving to the Valley as a kid. Given he admits after marriage that he wonders if there's anything he's capable of doing right, it suggests Rock is trying to take a devil-may-care attitude about past failures while Desperately Looking for a Purpose in Life.
• Hot Consort: The Japanese version of his 2-heart event has him briefly mourn his (completely imagined) missed chance to be this for the Harvest Goddess when he goes into his flight of fancy about Urashima Taro (who is known for being taken away by a goddess to be her consort).
• Innocently Insensitive: His introduction scene establishes this off the bat. He misconstrues your facial expression as being interested in what he has to say, and happily obliges by rambling everything about himself he can think of. This also applies to his interactions with other townsfolk; he is determined to befriend Gordy, but his way of reaching out is to barge into his trailer at 1 in the morning and loudly, obliviously ask why there's "trash" everywhere.
• Jerkass: Comes off as this during his rival events with Lumina. The first one has him implying her mansion is haunted, and the second has him telling her not to worry so much about her late parents and live in the present with those she loves now—and implying himself as one of those loves. Lumina walks off in disgust.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rock certainly comes off as abrasive, often saying the wrong things at the wrong times and talking up his own ego, but his behaviour is shown not to be malicious— his heart events and rival events have him trying to help both you and Lumina out of genuine concern, he expresses just as high of an opinion of everyone else in town, and he absolutely lives for his child if he becomes a father. He visits the other bachelors on Van's market days to try to hang out with them... not that he's particularly good at it.
• Lazy Bum: Prefers to live his life without too much stress, lying around and just having fun. He gets upset when, in his introduction event, you reply with "he who doesn't eat doesn't work," and reacting to his anti-work speech in his six-heart event by calling him a "doofus" makes him upset with the player. His low-heart reverse proposal (when you're not romantic or friendly with anyone, so he's the default) has him saying that his parents have told him to get his life together—and well, since you have your life together...
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: He's a rare male example of this role in his rival events with Lumina (and your first heart event with her)— he exists in these scenes solely to liven up her life and help her live more freely, just showing up to play support to her without pursuing any independent goals himself and in spite of talking about himself, he never says anything about himself (intentionally). He revolves around her in these events to the point that he simply walks offscreen as soon as her need for him is over in your first heart event with her— which looks bizarre if you selected the correct option from the start, because he just walked in and then walks out for seemingly no reason. He's a deconstruction: Lumina might be in the only position where his advice would prove useful, as she's on the extreme end of overthinking and ruminating and explicitly says she needs someone to help her let go of what she can't control. However, it's obvious that Rock takes his advice in his own life to an unhealthy degree, and although Lumina apparently benefits from it, his own life is a mess from following it.
• Nonconformist Dyed Hair: His hair is blond in major contrast to his dark haired, serious working parents. Looking at him from the back shows the natural brown base—and if the player marries him, their child will have brown hair, not blond(e).
• Papa Wolf: Rock retains his goofiness as a father, often embarrassing his kids with how silly he can be. He shows a slightly nervous side when you show him his kid, asking you please not to take them too far from home. If you do so anyway and drop them somewhere, when bedtime comes and his kid is missing he gets quite serious. He immediately fears something unspeakable has happened to them and desperately searches for them. He and Molly are the only spouses who give the player a What the Hell, Hero? if this happens.It's heavily implied that Rock, like Molly, was separated from his birth parents for some reason—neither of them can stand the idea of repeating history with their child.
• Prince Charming Wannabe: He certainly seems to fancy himself quite the catch. He arrives at your ranch in his four-heart event expressing his conviction that you'll be so elated to see the guy of your dreams at your doorstep, you'll just HAVE to invite him to a date "with tea and cookies and stuff!" Since he fails to make it to your doorstep, you only learn this because Rock makes sure to include it in his story to you while explaining how he ended up dozing off in front of your chicken coop— in other words, he's using his stupid narrative device to flirt with you in the present.
• Sexiness Score: Rates himself a perfect ten in his post-engagement event... right before awkwardly running offscreen.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: Rock has a borderline-delusional form of this mindset while having no media literacy, leading him to imagine himself as the Urashima Taro to the Harvest Goddess's Otohime (the kicker being that she keeps him in her palace for centuries without his knowledge) and the "Julio" to your "Romiet" (oblivious to the nature of the Shakespearean tragedy).

Gustafa

Gustafa is a songwriter and a bit of a hippie. He wanders around the valley, enjoying nature and finding inspiration for music or a good place to play his guitar in.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Gustafa sports soft stubble instead of a beard and his nose was made smaller, making him look younger than in the original version.
• Animal Lover: Loves nature and animals, even getting the farmer's dog to listen to his music.
• Beautiful Singing Voice: He's a musician, after all— we can't hear his singing voice in-game, but if the candidates' remarks are anything to go by, it's positively angelic. Each of the other candidates mistakes their own child's voice for Gustafa's— in Chapter 3, when they're prepubescent and approximately 6-10 years of age.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Out of the original three bachelors he's the redhead, though his hair is more of a dark auburn shade.
• Establishing Character Moment: His introduction event shows his easygoing, gentle demeanor, as he isn't bothered by having been skipped over earlier during your tour through the valley, and he takes the opportunity to invite you to sing some songs with him at his place, showing him as friendly and down-to-earth.
• Extreme Doormat: His responses if you choose the rudest options in his events (and in your marriage to him) come across this way in a tragic sense, as he doesn't react no matter what you say to him:
  • During his blue feather scene, unlike all other Blue Feather proposals his scene has a yes/no variant— you can outright refuse to hear the song he spent a year writing for you. He nonchalantly moves on by making a toast to you.
  • If you respond to him asking you why you picked him by saying that marrying him was a mistake, he responds with a smile, "Ha ha ha...A mistake? Well, we all make mistakes..."
  • If you reject his high-affection reverse proposal (in which he says "one thing's become clear to me, and that's that I need you") he just says "All right... Well, I hope life's good to you. Farewell."
• Friendless Background: Your child can relay to you that he didn't have many friends growing up. By the time of the game, though, he's the most socially adept of the four bachelors— he visits many of the other artisans in the valley, and puts on the Starlight Concert himself.
• Leitmotif: "Cheerful Gustafa" — a gentle, hypnotic, somewhat mystical string and woodwind piece that plays when inside his yurt.
• Long-Haired Pretty Boy: He qualifies as this as of the remake— he already had shoulder-length hair and a slender build, but now his facial features have been softened to be more delicate and conventionally attractive, his beard reduced to soft stubble.
• Love at First Sight: Implied during his Blue Feather scene. His heart events have him "suddenly inspired" to burst into song, with each event introducing a new verse. His proposal reveals that he wrote the song with you in mind from the start, and he asks you to note the first letter of every verse— it spells out "LOVE U". You can get his 2-heart event on the second in-game day, showing that he had this all planned out from very early on in your relationship.
• Meaningful Name: Gustafa is a name with Swedish origins that is traditionally given to monarchs, and means “staff of the Geats”— hinting at his connections to royalty. “Staff” is also doubly fitting, in the sense that it’s used in musical notation.
• New-Age Retro Hippie: Acts a bit like one. He has longer hair than any other bachelor—to his shoulders—lives in a yurt (saying it allows him to pack up and move), burns incense, prefers to be out in nature and saying things like "groovy" and "far out". It's also often the topic of his songs.
• Odd Friendship: You might be startled to visit Mad Scientist Daryl's decrepit laboratory and find the kindhearted, nature-loving New-Age Retro Hippie Gustafa taking it easy inside. He just thinks the sounds of the lab are beautiful.
• Perma-Stubble: Keeps some soft stubble around his chin, an update from the beard in the original games.
• Prematurely Bald: Intentionally left ambiguous for the remake— director Mika Hoshina explains in this interview that while his original self was bald under the hat (at 25), his remade self has purposefully been designed to leave it up to the player's imagination whether he's got hair under his hat or not.
• Round Hippie Shades: Always wears a small pair of round John Lennon-esque shades, fitting with his characterization as a New-Age Retro Hippie. You can only see his blue eyes from the side in cutscenes. He takes them off to sleep when he’s married, but his eyes are shut, naturally.
• Renaissance Man: Other townsfolk remark that Gustafa can play any instrument. He himself is quite humble about his abilities.
• Smarter Than You Look: He doesn't appear to be dumb, but after music passes on very high academic skills to his child.
• Street Musician: Not along a street per se, but he is often seen seated around various parts of the valley playing his guitar, and is the host of the winter Starlight Concert.
• Tenor Boy: Implied by the fact that each of the marriage candidates mistakes their Chapter 3 prepubescent child's singing voice for Gustafa's.
• Thinks Like a Romance Novel: A downplayed example. He has a very romantic approach to life, appraising situations on how dreamy they are above all else, and romancing him until the end reveals he wrote a whole love song for the player with a scheme of having the first letter of every verse spell out "LOVE U"... on Spring 2. That said, he isn't reckless about his mindset the way Rock is— he's more careful to adhere to common sense and knows how to behave in a socially acceptable manner.
• Through His Stomach: Along with flowers, he likes milk and will say it's "far out" the day after you give him some.
• Two Guys and a Girl: Gustafa, Nami, and Gordy form a trio of friends, with the wanderers often joining the artist at his studio to hang out together. All three of them have interactions and events with each other, bonding over having similarly unconventional lifestyles.
• Wandering Minstrel: His relatives^note Possibly himself—he's implied to be talking about himself in a humble way. were court musicians, even. His yurt makes a perfect portable home for his wandering-musician lifestyle, though he seems to be lingering in Forgotten Valley longer than he usually does. Your child with him can remark on this in their diary, wondering why he married you when he seems like he hates being tied down in one spot for too long.
• What Beautiful Eyes!: Unlike previous Wonderful Life entries, which had Gustafa's eyes completely obscured by his Opaque Lenses in-game, the remake modifies his shades to allow players a glimpse of his eyes from the side, revealing deep blue eyes.

Gordy

Gordy lives in a trailer and works as a metal-sculpting artist. He's often out pursuing inspiration and trying to come up with new ways to develop his art.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: Cody in the previous versions was hulking and imposing (akin to a Scary Black Man), which juxtaposed his more laidback, quiet, and humble nature. Gordy, in comparison, looks much younger and less hulking, which puts his appearance more in line with the other bachelors.
• Ambiguously Brown: His ethnicity is not stated, but he is the darkest-skinned person living in the valley and has naturally blond Afro-textured hair in his official art (though his in-game 3D modeled hair appears loose and wavy instead). These traits are Truth in Television with Melanesian populations, but the topic of race is never addressed in-game.
• Ascended Extra: Used to be a regular resident who could be gifted (and thus help influence your child towards artistic pursuits), but was made into a bachelor, bringing the total of male love interests to four to match the bachelorettes.
• Baritone of Strength: He's incredibly strong physically, and one of your child's lines can point how cool and deep his voice is.
• Big Town Boredom: In Gordy's case, he found the city overstimulating and thrives in a quieter environment.
  Gordy:The bright lights, the overwhelming noise... The hustle and bustle of the city was just too much for me. But here? I feel so much more alive.
• Birds of a Feather:
  • Gordy is very close friends with Gustafa due to their mutual passion for creative pursuits. The two of them often visit together to exchange ideas, with each of them finding the other's work inspiring and praising it to the player.
  • He also gets along quite well with Nami, due to their similarly contemplative, introverted personalities. Along with Gustafa, they have a Two Guys and a Girl dynamic and the three of them can often be seen hanging out together in Gordy's trailer.
• Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: Out of the now four bachelors, he's the blond, passing his hair color on to his child. Rock's blond hair is dyed.
• Brought to You by the Letter "S": Wears a shirt (and shoes) with a stylized G on it, which appears to be his signature as an artist. If you have kids with him, they'll also have the G on their clothes, starting from toddlerhood.
• Character Tics: Gordy is often found standing with his arms crossed, lost in thought. As he doesn't accept gifts when in this state, this tic makes it difficult to befriend the contemplative man.
• City Mouse: He originally came from the city, and moved to the Valley to get away from the noisy, overwhelming environment.
• Color Motif: Red, fitting his passionate and intensely focused character. His gloves even have stylized flames on them for added elemental association.
• Ditching the Dub Names: His Japanese name has always been Gōdi^note ゴーディ but Natsume's English translation of the original Wonderful Life games changed this to Cody. For the remake, XSEED chose to stick to the Japanese name by rendering it "Gordy" in English which not only adheres to the original pronunciation, it's a known name for players in the Anglosphere and better explains the stylized "G" on his shirt than the name "Cody" did.
• Eccentric Artist: He works in metal sculpting without the use of tools, so he instead punches the large spheres around his trailer until they match the images in his head— a process he describes as a conversation with the raw metal, filled with mutual respect. He also lets the rain add rust to the sculptures.
• Establishing Character Moment: His introduction scene first has him silently staring at the water while lost in thought, seemingly stand-offish if the player tries to talk to him. After some silence, he waxes poetically on the nature of the ocean before turning and walking away, never really acknowledging the player— showcasing his introverted, contemplative personality as an artist absorbed in inspiration, who marches to the beat of his own drum.
• First Love: Being focused on his art has come at the cost of a love life, and he confirms that the player was his first love in a Chapter 5 event with his child.
• Genius Bruiser: He's clearly brimmming with strength, and (when he chooses to speak) he makes eloquent and insightful philosophical observations, revealing that he has a rich inner world underneath his silence.
• Gentle Giant: He's easily the tallest and strongest of the candidates and even the townsfolk in general, and he also breaks into florid poetry about nature, using his immense strength to create rather than destroy.
• Grand Romantic Gesture: Gordy's post-engagement event has him show you his latest piece— the now-complete sculpture in front of his trailer, an abstract depiction of your love represented through celestial motifs, and reveals that he has you to thank for all the inspiration he's had lately.
• Guyliner: While he no longer has the mohawk he had in the original Wonderful Life games, his redesign still flaunts his alternative style by giving him black eyeliner.
• Hidden Depths:
  • While Gordy is quiet and introverted, he is not shy. When he does speak, his words are well thought out, deliberate and cut straight to the heart. He's the only spouse who never gets embarassed or flustered during the engagement or wedding, and reacts to the surprise wedding arch at the Goddess Spring by calmly and boldly taking the initiative.
    Gordy:...What d'you say? Let's have our wedding, here and now.
  • After marriage, he references Zhuangzi in his sleep.
    Gordy: Mmm... I have wings? When did I become a butterfly? No, the butterfly was me. Wait, that can't be right...*snore*
• Hunk: Despite not having the huge muscles that he did in the original version, Gordy does remain the most muscular of the bachelors.
• Lonely Bachelor Pad: His live-in studio is a tiny trailer and extremely spartan, with his bed being smaller than him. It also gets a relatively high amount of visitors, cramping the already small space. After marriage, he's extremely appreciative of the living conditions at your farm.
  Gordy: This place is the polar opposite of my studio. It's warm and inviting...and it smells much better, too.
• Made of Iron: Exaggerated. Gordy punches solid hunks of metal for hours at a time every day to create his art. Not only does he suffer absolutely no damage by doing this, but it's the metal that bends at the impact. If you show him golden objects, he tells you that he prefers to work with stronger materials, so he isn't pulling his punches by using softer metals, either.
• Massage of Love: After marriage he mentions that he's quite skilled at these and offers them to you, though you can't actually take him up on it.
  Gordy: Come here. I'll give you a massage. My hands are pretty good at sculpting— years of working on art'll do that to you.
• Nature Lover: The theme of his art is stated to be "return to nature," with Gordy preferring to let natural elements like rust become part of his art. Your child can ask why he works with metal if that's the theme. It happens to be a good parallel for his own life— someone who escaped an urban environment to be healed by nature.
• One Head Taller: While all of the bachelors are taller than the player, Gordy is noticeably so; the top of the player's head is only up to about his shoulders.
• Promoted to Love Interest: Became an available bachelor when he was previously just one of the residents in the valley.
• The Quiet One: Doesn't talk much and keeps to himself, and is always focused on finding new inspiration. (Notably, he starts out with some of the lowest initial friendship of anyone in the valley, at only 30 out of 100 where most average around 50 or so). He later admits that it's not that he's standoffish, he just rarely knows what to say to others.
• Signature Headgear: A headband with a messy paint-streak design, showing his athleticism along with his artistic sensibilities.
• Smarter Than You Look: He's not dumb—just quiet—but passes on high academic skills to his child, matching Gustafa and Nami in this way.
• Sudden Eye Color: In the original Wonderful Life games, Gordy/Cody had Black Bead Eyes. As part of his redesign for the remake, he was given purple eyes.
• Technicolor Eyes: His eyes are purple, underlining his mysterious and poetic character.
• You Don't Look Like You: His appearance changed drastically compared to the original game, where he sported a mohawk, a much larger, muscular build, and wore a gray shirt with ripped sleeves.
• Vague Age: His age was listed as 36 in the manual by Natsume that came with the Western releases of the previous Wonderful Life games, but his age was not listed in the official Japanese guidebooks. As his appearance has changed drastically compared to those games, it's unclear whether his age was changed, too. The US manual says that all the candidates are near the player's age, so that may make him closer to his 20s.

Human Villagers

Takakura

The player's mentor, and their late father's best friend whom worked together to found the farm. He sent the letter to you about your dad, and guides you through getting set up and settled down.

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• Aerith and Bob: In a valley with names like Matthew, Vesta, and Chris, he's got the Japanese name Takakura.
• Amazon Chaser: It's implied he has a thing for Vesta, although he tries to deny it. Poorly.
  Takakura: Vesta's really somethin' else... ...Hey. Don't get the wrong idea. I just come here to listen to Vesta's advice. Farming tips and whatnot. ...Women are real dang tough.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Big thick ones over his always closed eyes.
• Eyes Always Shut: Never has his eyes open.
• Mentor Archetype: He not only assists you on the farm—taking crops to sell in the city and bringing back items you order, including stock breeding—but guides you around town to meet everyone your first day and serves as a father figure since yours has since passed on. There's a new section, Takakura's notes, that help you get started on the farm with some basics as well, and the in game player's manual for physical copies is written like a notebook from him.
• Parental Substitute: Serves as this in the valley to you; wherever your mom is, she's not there with you, and your father passed on, so he's your parent figure and watches out for you. This is exemplified in his interactions with your child, who will call him Grandpa.
• Perpetual Frowner: Always has a serious look on his face, compared to most other characters. He does smile when given gifts he likes or talking about them later, but it's not the wide grin that others have. (One heart event with Molly can have you say he's always grumpy, but you'll lose friendship ratings with him doing that.)
• Platonic Life-Partners: With your late father; they founded and worked on the farm together for years before your father died, and he's often speaking to him up above during the transitions between chapters about how things are going.
• Talking to the Dead: He does this frequently to your late father/his best friend. The opening has him speaking to your father about you coming to try a hand at farming, and the Time Skip between chapters has him talking about what's gone on in the passing years. He'll also talk to you, when you die before him.

Vesta

A cheery, experienced farmer who runs the other farmstead across the river, with the help of her younger brother Matthew and farmhand Cecilia. Despite technically being your competition—there's only two farms—she's good-natured and always willing to lend some friendly advice. You'll buy seeds from her (at least to start).

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• Amazonian Beauty: While she has difficulty finding a special someone, it's implied she has at least one secret admirer in the form of Takakura.
• Boisterous Bruiser: A rare female example. She's a good deal taller than her already-tall brother Matthew, has a hunky physique, and a high-spirited, hearty attitude.
• Brawn Hilda: Her physique is unconventionally hunky, and she has trouble finding a man who can keep up with her.
• Fiery Redhead: Wild, unruly red curls that match her rowdy personality.
• Hidden Depths: While she is eager to make matches for Cecilia and Matthew, your child can reveal that she herself was married once; what happened to her husband is not explicitly revealed within the game itself. She is also very empathetic towards Gary's grief at the beginning of Chapter 2.
  Vesta: Watchin' your soulmate pass on before you do must hurt like heck... I wouldn't wish that kind of heartache on my worst enemy.
• Mama Bear: She wants the best for Cecilia. May the Goddess help you if you hurt her—and if you lead Cecilia to think you’re interested in marriage only to back out, Vesta will never forgive you.
• The Matchmaker: Already has an arranged marriage in mind for Cecilia (who is far less enthused about the match than Vesta is), and Matthew's introduction scene has her not-so-subtly trying to set the two of you up to talk privately.
• Meaningful Name: Shares her name with the Roman goddess of the hearth, home, and family— fitting for a fiery Mama Bear, although it makes her role as The Matchmaker a bit ironic.
• No Guy Wants an Amazon: She’s experienced difficulty with men being scared off by her success and go-getter attitude, as your child can reveal to you:
  Child: I heard Ms. Vesta grumbling about how guys are kinda intimidated by her because she's so accomplished.
• Parental Substitute: Although Cecilia's parents are alive, Vesta is currently her guardian. She's even taking the role of arranging Cecilia's marriage, something that would normally be done by one's parents.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: The exuberant Red to Matthew's quiet, withdrawn Blue.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: She's a confident go-getter and a strapping self-made woman, while her younger brother Matthew is pensive, reticent and dealing with a downturn in his health and career.
• Statuesque Stunner: She's one of the tallest characters in the game, and the tallest of the women.
• Strong Girl, Smart Guy: Between her and her little brother Matthew, Vesta does more than the lion's share of the actual fieldwork. On the other hand, Matthew is more interested in agricultural science, and researches crop hybridization in his spare time.
• Sweet Baker: Matthew and Cecilia note that she likes to bake pastries and bread, and she's quite maternal and friendly.

Tei

Founder and and co-owner of the Lei-Over Inn^note Mitemitei Inn in Japanese together with his wife Lou. He happened on Forgotten Valley many years ago, ending his travels to settle down and start the Inn as a respite for wanderers like himself. He's a gregarious, friendly man who's always eager to share stories from his travels and praise his wife's incredible cooking.

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• Adaptational Attractiveness: In the original game, his eyes were never open and his nose was quite bulbous. His eyes are now open by default, revealing them to be greyish-blue, and his nose was made smaller.
• Ambiguously Brown: Like Lou and Rock, his skin is a darker shade than most of the cast, but it's unclear what race he's meant to be. The name "Tei," his Fu Manchu 'stache, and his slightly idiosyncratic Japanese imply he's intended to read as vaguely Chinese.
• Apathetic Clerk: While he's affable and kindly, he isn't exactly fond of his job. At high friendship, he will ask you every day what you'd think if he resumed his world travels. If you respond with "You have an inn to run!" he half-heartedly acknowledges this before admitting that he doesn't think he'll ever shake the urge to pick up and go.
• Artifact of Doom: Tei points out one of these as part of his collection (on display in the room Rock stays in), but waves off any fears about its potency.
  Tei: D'you see that wooden decoration on the window? A tribe of people once used something like it to put curses on one another. A little scary, right? But hey, Lou and I are doing just fine! Nothing to worry about!
• Big Eater: Much of his dialogue revolves around his wife's irresistible cooking, and his ability to make it disappear.
• Big Fun: He's jovial and delights in entertaining visitors, and frankly says that he and his Lou aren't in the best of shape.
• Calling the Young Man Out: When Tei brings Rock up, it's to call out his behavior—telling you that Rock broke his favorite souvenir (which is kept prominently on display behind the front desk), that he was a handful even as a boy, and that he's unlikely to ever make anything of himself at this rate. Rock's marriage announcement in particular has Tei and Rock taking shots at each other throughout.
• The Casanova: Unlike his unsuccessful son, Tei had a genuine way with women before settling down with Lou.
  Your Child: I heard Mr. Tei used to have a lot of ladies hanging off him. He must be really strong!
• Common Law Marriage: In keeping with the theme of the Lei-Over Inn household, it's revealed in high-friendship dialogue with Tei and Lou that they aren't legally married and never had a wedding. In an optional cutscene later on, Nami can reveal that she's arranged a wedding for them as a thank-you gift— you don't get to see the wedding itself, but seeing the event raises affection with Tei, Lou, Rock, and Nami.
• Ditching the Dub Names: "Tei" has been his name in the Japanese version since the very first Wonderful Life installment, but Natsume called him "Tim" in their translations. For the remake, XSEED went with his original name.
• Dub Personality Change: He's far more silly, and has a more affectionate relationship with Lou and especially with Rock in the English translation than in Japanese.
• Eating Contest: If you show Tei the gold medal, he tries to convince you he won first place in a track meet before caving and admitting that it was "less of a track meet and more of an all-you-can-eat."
• Elephant in the Room: Tei and Lou have an adorable family photograph on the desk in their bedroom. Examining it tells you the small child between Tei and Lou "looks nothing like Rock." The event where you obtain the Blessed Milker has Tei realize with some embarrassment that you noticed the picture, and he tells you all about the location where the photo was taken... while he completely avoids acknowledging or explaining the child in the photo. This is a slightly modified version of the Strange Hoe cutscene from the original Wonderful Life games, and that scene also had Tei/Tim not address it at all, despite the child being the main thing your farmer remarks upon when they examine the photo for themselves. Looking closely at the picture in Photo Mode reveals that the child has a completely different build and appearance to Rock's child, whose official description says he looks exactly like a small Rock.
• Friendly Shopkeeper: Extremely genial and sociable.
• Happily Married: Tei absolutely dotes on his wife, and is obsessed with her prowess in the kitchen. An event in later chapters has them discuss their marriage— in spite of his insecurities about being a simple travelling man, she reassures him that despite his fears, she doesn't regret being with him. Although there's a topic neither of them can breach, with Tei cutting her off before she can say it, the two are still determined to be happy together.
• Like a Son to Me: In the Japanese versions, he uses the same phrases for Nami and Rock during their respective marriage announcement cutscenes— with a couple words changed to fit the tone of their relationship:
  • In Nami's marriage announcement: "This child is my precious daughter."
  • In Rock's marriage announcement: "Even a child like this is my son."
• Nice Guy: His manner is extremely pleasant, as expected of someone who works in the hospitality industry.
• Obsessed with Food: All of his seasonal dialogues have him connect the current season with his appetite.
• Really Gets Around: In his traveling days, both in the locomotive and romantic sense.
• The Slacker: A much milder case than his extremely indolent son, but Tei himself says he mostly just slacks off these days, having little work to do given the lack of customers. Given that the Inn is used as a restaraunt more than a hotel, Lou is the one doing most of the day-to-day work. He works the front desk and cleans the rooms when Van is in town, though, and can be seen tending to the community garden.
• Walking the Earth: Used to be a traveler before settling down as an innkeeper, and reminisces about his travelling days very fondly.
• Why Are You Not My Son?: Showing him your toddler with anyone will result in him comparing your child to Rock in this way.

Lou

Co-founder and second owner of the Lei-Over Inn alongside her adoring husband Tei. She's an incredible chef, with a repoitoire of recipes carefully curated from her years of traveling the world with her beloved. Always willing to impart her culinary wisdom to her trusted friends... and maybe even her secret spice.

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• Accent Adaptation: In the Japanese version of both the original and the remake, Lou has a noticable Kansai dialect. Unlike Natsume's translations of the original Wonderful Life games, which ignored her accent when adapting her speech, XSEED translated Lou's Kansai regional accent by having her speak in a laid-back vaguely southern style.
• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: During Rock's 8-heart event, her desperation is palpable as she tells you that since you're actually willing to spend so much time with him, she hopes you'll marry her hopeless, unpopular son even if you just like him the tiniest bit because, well... even this much is a first for him, and he may never find someone who likes him again. No pressure!
• Ambiguously Brown: She has a darker skintone than most of the cast, but it's unclear whether she's meant to be foreign compared to the Japanese countryside-inspired setting. Her Kansai accent is pointed out by Vinnie— having a (much less comprehensible) Kansai accent himself, he remarks that they're likely from the same region which would suggest she's Japanese.
• Big Eater: She cites the many, many appetizing foods she's tried during her travels with Tei as the inspiration behind her culinary masterpieces.
• Chubby Chef: She's a wonderful cook and pleasantly plump.
• Comfort Food: Her specialty— according to Tei, it's dangerously addictive.
• Common Law Marriage: In keeping with the theme of the Lei-Over Inn household, it's revealed in high-friendship dialogue with Tei and Lou that they aren't legally married and never had a wedding. Lou says they just never had the chance. In an optional cutscene later on, Nami can reveal that she's arranged a wedding for them as a thank-you gift— you don't get to see the wedding itself, but seeing the event raises affection with Tei, Lou, Rock, and Nami.
• Ditching the Dub Names: Her name was originally "Ruu" in Japanese, but Natsume used the name "Ruby" for all the original Wonderful Life games. XSEED localized her name as "Lou", which matches the Japanese pronunciation.
• Does Not Like Spam: Quick Pickles, Sushi, and Veggie Tempura.
• Doting Grandparent: If you marry Rock, bringing your Chapter 2 child to Lou can result in her cooing over the toddler and offering to buy them anything they want. Your child just laughs.
• Dub Personality Change: Her slip-up in Rock's 8-heart event is slightly more shocking (in a sort of Black Comedy way) in Japanese. In English she says he "ain't a gentleman, exactly" and is "not most folks' cup of tea". In Japanese she says he's known to be shunned and seems taken aback that you're not doing that, then starts to call you an abnormality for getting close to him before catching herself and speaking sweetly again.
• Family of Choice: The Inn's household is structured like a nuclear family, but most of the members are not tied to each other by law or blood—Tei and Lou aren't legally married, Nami is a wanderer who's more of a daughter to them than Rock...and to top it off, it's heavily implied that Rock himself isn't their biological child, either.
• Feminine Women Can Cook: All of the bachelorettes struggle with cooking to some degree, and after marriage you may find them visiting Lou for some cooking lessons.
• Formerly Fit: Tei can reminisce about this topic to your Chapter 3 child, who reports it back to you:
  Your Child: Mr. Tei said that Ms. Lou used to be really skinny!
• Happily Married: Out of the couples in Forgotten Valley, Tei and Lou are the most openly affectionate towards one another. Nami can point out how lovey-dovey they are, wondering aloud if all married couples are like that. In a Chapter 5 event, Tei and Lou can be seen reaffirming their love for each other. Although there's a topic neither of them can address aloud, with Tei cutting her off before she can say it, the two are determined to be happy together.
• Mama Bear: She's an extraordinarily polite and hospitible woman, but if you cross Nami, she has far harsher words for you than Tei does:
  Lou: How fickle can ya be? What even is Nami to you? Try thinkin' of her feelings for once!
• Nice Girl: Just as affable and kindly as her husband, she has a compassionate heart and thinks of all her guests as her children.
• Parental Favoritism: She happily tells you that she always wanted a daughter like Nami, visits Nami often in her guestroom, and hopes Nami will continue staying with them forever regardless of whether she's willing to pay for the room or not. With Rock, on the other hand, things are a bit more complicated...
• Parents as People: While Lou clearly cares for her wayward son Rock and wants to believe he still has some hope for his future, she's also just baffled by him— and if you pursue him to the point that you trigger his 8-heart event, she lets it slip that she looks down on you for getting along with him and asks you bluntly what there is to like about him. During his marriage announcement, she gently but clearly rejects any notion that she'll be lonely without Rock around, saying the only difference is that it'll be less noisy. Still, when the player and Rock walk off to their new life and Tei walks back into the inn, Lou lingers and watches them go with the same quiet sentiment as in Nami's case, with Tei having to bring her back.
• Secret Character: She appears in Story of Seasons: Friends of Mineral Town after giving 75 gifts to the Harvest Goddess.
• Secret Ingredient: Lou's special spice— she discovered it while travelling in a country far to the south, and she'll be happy to share with you if you befriend her and trigger a cutscene in the Inn's kitchen. It's required for completing the recipe list.
• Secretly Rich: One of the town secrets your child can disclose to you is that Lou is secretly hoarding a huge stash of money for some reason.
• Supreme Chef: Her cooking is second to none, and she's worked very hard to get where she is. Tei reveals that Lou's motivation stems from an incident when she entered a cooking contest:
  Tei: One of the judges said her dish was— get this— atrocious! Boy, did that steam her broccoli. She started cooking every day. Said she was training to be the best chef in the whole world. That judge had such a pretentious title, too... "Bon Vivant," I think it was?
• Team Mom: She and Tei have a tendency of picking up strays who only mean to stay short-term, which has caused the current dilemma that all of the hotel's rooms are currently occupied without any check-out date in sight. In the mornings, Lou can be found visiting Nami in her guestroom, where the two have nothing but kind words for each other. If you do vacate one of the guest rooms by marrying Rock or Nami, she notably has a harder time than Tei of saying goodbye to them. Even among the young adults in general, Lou acts as a cooking instructor to any wife you choose post-marriage.
• Textile Work Is Feminine: One of the town secrets that your child can report to you is that Lou is just as good with a needle as a ladle.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Her favorite meals are Stew, Shroom Stir-Fry, Baked Sweet Potato, Gratin, Veggie Biryani, and Curry.
• Walking the Earth: Together with her husband, the two of them explored the whole world as part of a band of travellers before happening on the Valley and deciding to settle down.
• What Does She See in Him?: Rock's 8-heart event has her asking you this. She's noticed that you seem to actually not mind being around her son, and asks what on earth you like about him. She explains that— with the way he is and all— people avoid him... but you don't, so she's wondering what's wrong with you. Er, rather, she's amazed at how charitable you are to spend so much time with someone like him.

Nina

An spirited elderly woman who lives with her husband, Gary. She dies in the Time Skip between the first and second chapters.

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• Cool Old Lady: She teaches you how to make her husband's well-liked dish, can also see the Nature Sprites, and races both against the turtle that lives by the pond and Hugh. In the latter case, the Nature Sprites helps her win.
• Eyes Always Shut: She never opens her eyes, though they're still expressive.
• Flowers of Femininity: Her clothing is covered in several flower motifs—except her hat, which is a ladybug print.
• Granny Classic: Has the short stature, sweet attitude, and kindliness of a classic grandma, even if she's not the player's.
• Grow Old with Me: She and Gary have been together for years to the point they're both gray. She passes away first.
• Happily Married: She is Gary's loving wife; they've been together for years. Hence hime being so devastated when she dies.
• Killed Offscreen: She passes away in the time between you marrying your spouse and your child being a toddler, in the span between Chapter One and Chapter Two.
• The Lost Lenore: To Gary after her passing; he moves from their house to a smaller hut near her grave.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Nina is the smallest character in the valley that isn't a child, only coming up to about the character's waist.
• You Can See Me?: Like the player, she can see the Nature Sprites. She tells the player about a dream she had of being brought to their house and shown a pot. During her race with Hugh when she's too tired to run, they pop up to say they'll help her and teleport her to the end of the race so she beats him.

Gary

Nina's husband, a somewhat gruff but kindly old man.

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• Dub Name Change: He was Galen in the GameCube game, and now is Gary.
• Grow Old with Me: He and his wife Nina have been together for years to the point they're both gray. She passes away first.
• Happily Married: He adores his wife, Nina; they have been married for decades until her death.
• Hidden Depths: A skilled fisherman—at least in the past. He loves fish, and befriending him and completing a task for him will net you the Blessed Rod.
• The Lost Lenore: His wife's passing has an effect on him; he become depressed (and so won't accept gifts until he is less sad) and spends most of his time reminiscing over her. He also keeps her ladybug hat in his new home.
• The Mourning After: Gary never truly gets over Nina's death, but as you become close to him again he becomes less withdrawn and depressed.
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Gary is shorter than the player, standing in a hunched stance.

Unusual Villagers

Vinnie

Vinnie is a strange two- (or maybe two-and-a-half) headed plant that arrives in Chapter 2, having come to the valley with Takakura as a seed he planted. He lives in Takakura's cabin and when befriended, he'll let the player make hybrid plants using crop seeds and boost or change them with foraged flowers.

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• Adaptational Name Change: He was Tartan before—a direct word translation of Tsurutan^note Tsuru means "vine" while -tan is a cutesy diminutive of the Japanese honorific -chan. So it's something like "Planty." by Natsume—but is now called Vinnie, which more closely preserves the Japanese style cutesy Punny Name.
• Black Bead Eyes: Has small black eyes on all three heads.
• Plant Person: More plantlike than most examples—complete with living in a pot—but fully capable of speech and sentience.
• Punny Name: Vinnie is a plant on the vine.
• Talking to Plants: Vinnie is the only character who loses friendship points if you don't talk to him regularly, and if he's not friendly you can't use his hybrid skills. Lucky, just talking to him a lot again—even back to back—will boost him back up.
• Towering Flower: He's much taller than the player or anyone else at over seven feet tall, reaching nearly to the ceiling of Takakura's cabin.

Nature Sprites (Jack, Ace, and Hart)

L to R: Jack, Hart, and Ace.

Three little Nature Sprites only the player can see (though it's implied Nina can too) who live in a big tree in the forest near the Goddess Spring; they are searching for "wonderfuls" (which are the in-game achievements) to try and return the goddess to the area. You can enter their tree-home by eating the strange mushrooms that are outside, and they sometimes pop up to give you some helpful advice.

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• Apple of Discord: This happens with the Blue Feather, with Ace and Jack fighting over which of them should have it. Hart breaks up the fight by giving it to you so you can propose to your loved one.
• Big, Thin, Short Trio: Hart is big, Ace is thin, and Jack is short respectively.
• Chromatic Arrangement: Ace is red, Jack is blue, and Hart is yellow. Notably, spots of each other other's colors can be seen in their undershirts and the bobbles on top of their hats. Clusters of three mushrooms in their colors can be spotted around the valley as little Easter Eggs.
• Cute Oversized Sleeves: Jack's oversized sleeves cover his hands, fitting his role as the youngest.
• Ditching the Dub Names: Their English names in the original Wonderful Life games (Nik, Nak, and Flak) could not be re-used as Natsume owns the rights to them (along with the term "Harvest Sprites", hence th). For the remake, XSEED chose the English names Jack, Ace, and Hart respectively.
• Dub Name Change: Their names in the Japanese version were localized into English as:
  • David -> Ace
  • Ebony -> Jack
  • Flat -> Hart
• Gentle Giant: Hart, the largest, is described as the most relaxed of the three.
• Invisible to Normals: They can't be seen by anyone except you—and Nina, who once had a dream about them and is teleported by them to win her race against Hugh. Lines from your kid's diary reveal that you become invisible or disappear altogether when you eat the mushrooms that let you enter their tree.
  Diary Entry: Sometimes [Parent] eats mushrooms in the forest...and then disappears!"
• Power Trio: The three are never seen separately, always in a group.
• Spoiled Sweet: Jack is described as spoiled due to being the youngest, but he has a generally sweet personality.
• Standing Between the Enemies: Ace and Jack are often seen bickering about things, leaving Hart as the one who has to break up their fights.
• Theme Naming: A possible case of Musical Theme Naming in the Japanese version, and after playing cards in the English version.
• Youkai: Like all Nature Sprites, they're explicitly korpokkur in the Japanese version: fairy-like little sprites originally from Ainu folklore, somewhere between a youkai and a cryptid.
• You Can See Me?: The sprites are suprised the first time you see them, and consider you to be a larger sprite because you can. They also are mentioned by Nina as her encountering them in a dream, and later assist her during a race against Hugh so she wins.

Mukumuku

A furry yeti-like creature who appears in the forest during the winter. He can only say a few words...initially. Daryl is trying to capture him for study.

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• Black Bead Eyes: Has small black eyes, compared to others.
• Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The yeti version; furthermore, he only appears in winter.
• Gentle Giant: A big furry yeti—who nevertheless is gentle and causes no problems for anyone.
• Pokémon Speak: Can only say "mofa" at first in various syllables. As he gets more friendly towards you, he'll start using your name as well.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Fish—any of them. He'll take two or three a day.
• The Unintelligible: He can only say "mofa" at first; he'll later learn the player's name and intersperse it as well.

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