The "feels" bazaar.

[yummines]

No worries, i got that same feeling too. especially after watching Toradora! and finishing School Rumble

try focusing on other things, and do things that require deep thought.

or the exact opposite, something so mindless your mind cant help but not think.

for the former, maybe read a book or watch a show like Serial Experiments Lain or Cowboy Bebop

for teh latter, maybe play a game like Microvolts or read a manga like Bobobobobo

[Axelownz]

We have all been there man, empty feeling or really emotional after finishing KS. The only thing i can say is to find something else and kind of just move on. I got Netflix not too long after and started watching Soul Eater personally. Eventually the feels faded and i got past them.

Thats not to say the feels were not intense. Playing Rin's path while having a rough time in my personal romantic, or failure of a romantic life just about killed me emotionally.

[Potato]

I gave myself roughly a month before starting on my last route (Rin). I'm not done with it yet.

My advice would be leave it alone for a good long while until the details fade a bit from memory then replay it. Or, alternatively, just go through again and see how/if your perspective of events changes knowing what's going to happen already. Lilly's awkward glances and hushed conversations with Akira took on a considerably heavier feeling after realizing what they were all about...

[Pyramid Head]

Call me strange, but isn't that a good thing? The sensation of being emotionally drained is kind of like being physically drained after an orgasm. Something that plays with your emotions effectively does typically leave you feeling emotionally empty. Warm happy feelings are overrated, it's the high prior to being emotionally drained that makes shit like Katawa Shoujo and Silent Hill 2 worth checking out. Plus, bourbon tastes better when you're feeling dead on the inside. Suddenly it goes from being beaten to death by a delicious sledgehammer to having your head blown the fuck off by a delicious anti-tank 40mm cannon.

Or is that just my unusual tastes and the fact that i am old enough to drink speaking?

[Potato]

Call me strange, but isn't that a good thing? The sensation of being emotionally drained is kind of like being physically drained after an orgasm. Something that plays with your emotions effectively does typically leave you feeling emotionally empty. Warm happy feelings are overrated, it's the high prior to being emotionally drained that makes shit like Katawa Shoujo and Silent Hill 2 worth checking out. Plus, bourbon tastes better when you're feeling dead on the inside. Suddenly it goes from being beaten to death by a delicious sledgehammer to having your head blown the fuck off by a delicious anti-tank 40mm cannon.

Or is that just my unusual tastes and the fact that i am old enough to drink speaking?

Actually, the only way bourbon (or any other such drink) can taste much better is if they removed the actual alcohol, which tastes like shit and ruins the actual delicious part of it...

The rest of that's right on track though. Nothing wrong with a bit of being dead.

[Pyramid Head]

Call me strange, but isn't that a good thing? The sensation of being emotionally drained is kind of like being physically drained after an orgasm. Something that plays with your emotions effectively does typically leave you feeling emotionally empty. Warm happy feelings are overrated, it's the high prior to being emotionally drained that makes shit like Katawa Shoujo and Silent Hill 2 worth checking out. Plus, bourbon tastes better when you're feeling dead on the inside. Suddenly it goes from being beaten to death by a delicious sledgehammer to having your head blown the fuck off by a delicious anti-tank 40mm cannon.

Or is that just my unusual tastes and the fact that i am old enough to drink speaking?

Actually, the only way bourbon (or any other such drink) can taste much better is if they removed the actual alcohol, which tastes like shit and ruins the actual delicious part of it...

The rest of that's right on track though. Nothing wrong with a bit of being dead.

That is the fifth dumbest thing i've heard this week. Ignoring crap from politicians, that is the dumbest thing i've heard this week. Do you understand anything about the fermentation process? The brewing process? Or maybe the little detail that ethyl alcohol in it's pure state has no taste at all? The flavor of the drink comes entirely from impurities left in by the brewer, while a high proof does mean it was allowed to ferment longer and was distilled probably more than once, removing the alcohol would ruin everything since it would remove the aromatic qualities of the drink and also remove the kick which is part of the experience. Besides, alcohol free whiskey? That's a sin against nature. It's like declawing a cat. Decaffinating coffee. Mortal Kombat with a T rating. It's just wrong.

[Potato]

Call me strange, but isn't that a good thing? The sensation of being emotionally drained is kind of like being physically drained after an orgasm. Something that plays with your emotions effectively does typically leave you feeling emotionally empty. Warm happy feelings are overrated, it's the high prior to being emotionally drained that makes shit like Katawa Shoujo and Silent Hill 2 worth checking out. Plus, bourbon tastes better when you're feeling dead on the inside. Suddenly it goes from being beaten to death by a delicious sledgehammer to having your head blown the fuck off by a delicious anti-tank 40mm cannon.

Or is that just my unusual tastes and the fact that i am old enough to drink speaking?

Actually, the only way bourbon (or any other such drink) can taste much better is if they removed the actual alcohol, which tastes like shit and ruins the actual delicious part of it...

The rest of that's right on track though. Nothing wrong with a bit of being dead.

That is the fifth dumbest thing i've heard this week. Ignoring crap from politicians, that is the dumbest thing i've heard this week. Do you understand anything about the fermentation process? The brewing process? Or maybe the little detail that ethyl alcohol in it's pure state has no taste at all? The flavor of the drink comes entirely from impurities left in by the brewer, while a high proof does mean it was allowed to ferment longer and was distilled probably more than once, removing the alcohol would ruin everything since it would remove the aromatic qualities of the drink and also remove the kick which is part of the experience. Besides, alcohol free whiskey? That's a sin against nature. It's like declawing a cat. Decaffinating coffee. Mortal Kombat with a T rating. It's just wrong.

Well, then, they need to get some better brewers then because they're all turning out the same foul-tasting crap.

And I did declaw my cat.

[Pyramid Head]

Well, then, they need to get some better brewers then because they're all turning out the same foul-tasting crap.

And I did declaw my cat.

If you don't have the tongue for high proof drinks just say so, but a bold faced claim that they all taste the same has almost entirely disqualified your opinion on the subject. The difference between the cheapest bourbon and the cheapest Canadian whiskey is like the difference between Coke and grape Fanta. If you've been drinking from the same family of distilleries or the same type of cheap whiskey than maybe you could be forgiven, but this entire conversation actually leaves me suspecting you've had fewer whiskeys than my cat.

[Beanwell]

For basically no reason, I decided to watch Elfen Lied.

oh why

[DrNonookee]

Katawa Shoujo usually causes the depressing type of 'feels'

Really? In my case, this only happened with the bad ends. The *good* ends did the exact opposite - I got this great, warm, gleeful happiness from seeing Hisao and his chosen girl work through their hang-ups and earn their happy ending. Sure, I cried, but they were tears of happiness, not sadness.

If anything, KS cheered me up overall. A lot of media out there, especially romance-related, stuff, turns me off because it happens too 'easily' - people hook up either without any problems at all, or the problems they *do* have are unrealistic or played for laughs. Then KS comes along and shows what I believe to be the closest thing to *real* romance I've ever scene - good-hearted people who have their own individual hang-ups and problems with self-esteem that threaten to derail the relationship even after it gets going, and that they have to work through to make things work. Hollywood tends to gloss over these sorts of things in favor of more dramatic portrayals, which makes it hard to relate them to the sort of problems you'd have in real life; it's nice to find a story like KS that can create drama out of normal, believable elements, the sort of story that could actually happen to you. And if it can happen to you, maybe you can make your own happy ending too.

[HarvestmanMan]

Not getting them.

[Zezin]

I had a breakdown after Hanako's good ending about a month ago (give or take a week) and after it I felt so good. I never cried that hard before but I made it out and felt better. But as the weeks went on I realized I wasn't healed. What this game really did is make my past 8 years of therapy pointless. I have shut out nearly everyone I know. My former closest friends, I don't even glance at anymore. This girl I go to school with who was sort of my Hisao and me being Hanako (with a neutral ending). Now I suddenly flipped and I won't even acknowledge her.
The only time I talk anymore is in the SSD class because I feel those are the only people who understand what I've been through. I laugh at suicide victims now.
I'm not sure if this is because of KS but the symptoms of my disorder have gotten much worse.

Eight years of therapy. Eight years of progress in learning to feel safe with other people. Now I hate everyone just like I used to. The only people I like talking to now is my friend who is a brother to me because we literally grew up playing in the same crib, and this girl at my school who is missing her right arm due to a birth defect.

What I am confused about is that even though this game wrecked my entire life. I still love the fandom, alot. I love speaking to other KS fans looking at fan art etc. It's all over my wall photos on my Facebook page. Why am I so in love with what ruined me? Why did it make me shut out everyone who used to make me feel good? Why can't I feel sympathy for anyone anymore?

Anyone know?

[Brogurt]

Because Hanako's path is bad

[Zezin]

Because Hanako's path is bad

Bad for my mental stability? Yes.
Badly written? Not at all.

[ProfAllister]

I'd almost say that you're shutting others out because you had such a strong response to the game.

You've stated that you have had issues growing up. In a sense, you saw the students at Yamaku as "your people." It sounds like you've decided that "normals" are lesser people, because they don't understand your experiences. It's actually a rather natural reaction. And it's as mistaken as the guy who saws off his legs "for her."

You seem to have decided that only those who have truly experienced pain (in your estimation) understand the world, and everyone else is a fool who isn't worthy of your attention.

It's possible that you simply had shallow friends, and seem them for the empty shells they are. Doubtful, but I wouldn't discount it as a possibility.

But, even if they are shallow shells of human beings, it's wrong to shut them out. The perfect princes who's never so much as stubbed her toe is as human as the blind deaf triple amputee with schizophrenia. You recognize that it's wrong to deny humanity to the amputee, yet somehow have decided that it's justified to deny the humanity of the princess. The straight white christian male may have more societal benefits than the homosexual hispanic wiccan transexual, but they both remain human beings. To dehumanize someone because of their privilege is just as wrong as dehumanizing them for their lack thereof.

Of course, fighting a natural inclination like this is anything but easy. The best you can do is try to take to heart the platitudes that form (some of) the themes of KS - appearances can be deceiving; life is short, and there's no telling when it might end, so make it count; everyone has their own problems, and what may seem trivial to you is a major obstacle for someone else; and life is too valuable to waste it hating or hurting others