ewx wrote:Do the majority of people in real life have parent related problems?
Suddenly I feel really lucky for having normal parents.
Having "normal" (read: good) parents is a very good thing, and something you shouldn't take for granted. I think, statistically, the standard nuclear family is no longer the majority. I'd like to imagine it's still the plurality, but I don't really have numbers for that sort of statement.
While having a child with a disability can't be anything you'd wish for or something to look for, wouldn't having a disabled child make the parents want to be closer to their child and get them the best possible future? Maybe this is just making me realise that I'm a bit idealistic.
Having a child with a disability is a real challenge. Like any other sort of challenge, it breaks some, and makes others stronger. There's no one reaction to that sort of situation. So some families come out better for it, some come out worse, and some come out roughly equal.
I know most stories seem to have at least one parent missing, dead or dying but I just felt like we should have been exploring more about the girls specifically, instead of the problems in their life caused by other people. I'm not saying that those issues should be completely glossed over but the parents thing seems to take centre stage in most routes.
But the girls don't live in a vacuum. People are not the products of their surroundings, but they are influenced by them. It's kind of like that early reading exercise - the girl is an unfamiliar word, and her friends, family, experiences are the rest of the sentence. They provide context so you can get some understanding of the unfamiliar word. Hell, the neex to observe the context was a key point in (one branch of) Emi's route.
I cannot say I'm an expert on Japanese culture but are kids really expected to obey their parents at all costs?
That seems a bit harsh.
Not harsh. Un-American. Perhaps I'd go so far as "Un-Western," but that could sidetrack us into a whole discussion on the differences between Western Civilisation and Oriental Civilisation, including their respective development through the ages. But, culturally, extreme deference to the parents (particularly the father) is a near-universal imperative.
Her problem with birthdays seems to be entirely the result of losing her parents though and I can't help but think that she doesn't just forget about that for the rest of the year until it comes round again.
That her parents died on or near her birthday is entirely fanon. It is made abundantly clear that she dislikes the experience of being treated as special one day a year and ignored (and/or reviled) the other 364.
Doesn't she write notes to Hisao at some point in the game?
I can't help but feel that Jigoro's stubbornness caused Shizune to effectively copy most of his traits (i.e. stubborn, competitive) as some lomd of coping or defensive mechanism against her father.
PS: Yeah, Jigoro is a major asshole.
Shizune does write notes, after much effort to avoid doing so. She dislikes it, and for good reason. Try it sometime. You'll probably get annoyed and frustrated quickly even if you cheat and allow others to talk to you. Using a pen and paper to talk is bad enough; using it to talk
and listen is torture.
As for Shizune and Jigoro's relationship, I could write quite an essay on that one. I don't really have the time or inclination to do that right now, so I'll leave you with Jigoro's own defense:
Jigoro wrote:Who do you think you are to assume that my life is so easy? You haven't even read my biography, yet you are able to tell me how I should handle all my affairs, including dealing with my own daughter. You could never understand. Even if I were to get up from this couch, walk over to you right now, and punch you in the forehead with brass knuckles with a condensed edition of my life story on them, leaving my biography imprinted in your face, you would not understand. For twelve years, Shizune did not even talk to me, even though I hired multiple tutors and interpreters of all sorts for her to try and get her to become normal. It isn't as simple as you think it is. If she does not want to bother with me, then fine. I assume that is normal. When was the last time you talked to your parents?”
If you're willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that "become normal" was just an imprudent word choice, is it really that indefensible?