ArcCain wrote:1) Every time we get some alone time whit Shizune we either end up talking about nothing important
2) We go to her home to spend time whit her but we spend more time whit her brother, (which is pointless as we learn nothing nor gain anything from it)
3) we never see them do anything whit each other out side of work
4) Also there is only one choice in Shizune's path
5) once I sat down and thought about it it was just a waste of time
1) So a relationship isn't legit if they don't talk about super serious important stuff when they're alone? Better alert...Well, most couples everywhere.
2) So meeting people is pointless if you don't learn from it? Shit. I didn't learn a thing from meeting most of my extended family. I mean, it gave me the experience of meeting them and all, but who cares about that? I wonder if they knew it was pointless to ever bother knowing each other...
3) We see them do quite a bit together. Misha just happens to be there most of the time and the rest of the time, the stuff they do is largely mundane because life is largely mundane.
4) A story does not require abundant choices. Most have none.
5) So you do mean 'time when nothing super important or dramatic is happening' then. That's just silly. They can't all be idealized romance (Lilly) and traumatic backstories (Hanako). Some people are just people.
You've got Emi and Hanako with uncommonly tragic pasts. You've got Lilly as the idealized fantasy romance. Rin comes close to the realistic ideal but there's a struggle there on both sides. Then you've got Shizune who is basically just a friend who you happen to be with. No bullshit, no majorly changed dynamic, just someone with which to go through life. And that's as close to ideal as reality (not fantasy) gets.
The worst crime Shizune's route commits is being closer to reality than your typical love story
(What's more believable? That a guy runs all the way to an airport, has a heart attack, and still gets the girl who just happened to come back and stay with him...Or that a guy meets his girl's family and nothing of serious consequence comes from it?).
The in-game rivalry between Lilly and Shizune actually applies quite well to their routes as a whole: Lilly makes the best fictional story while Shizune makes a better real story. Though I guess if you're looking for a standard romance tale, it'd be a problem.
I can get where the critics (including yourself) are coming from but I just don't get it. None of the routes are flawless but I'd never call any of them wasted time.