Parents

[Steinherz]

It's not sad, it's true.
It's very common for kids to have issues with their parents. Add on the fact that with the disabilities causing more issues with their relationship (Lilly and Shizune) and it's no wonder they have parental issues.

P.S: Jigoro is an asshole. Also, it's not stated if Mayoi (Shizune's mother) is dead or not. Just not around.

Do the majority of people in real life have parent related problems?
Suddenly I feel really lucky for having normal parents.

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.

Yes, a lot of people have problems with their parents. Personally, if I go three days without arguing with either of mine, it's a good week
And most people coddle their kids too much, if their child has a disability they'd likely be even worse when it comes to that.

Parental issues (WARNING: TVTropes link!) are an extremely common storytelling device. So much so that it's generally considered more notable when the parents are well-adjusted, rational, and, you know, alive.

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.

Well all of them really don't have any issues with their disabilities. Lilly is perfectly fine with her blindness, Rin's adapted to hers, Same thing with Emi, Shizune is stubborn and bulldozes through hers quite elegantly ( ). Really the only one who has any major problems with hers is Hanako, and all of her issues were due to the bullying she got after she was burned.

Lilly's problems aren't caused by her parents so much as a culture that basically demands she obey them at any cost (and in the bad end, Hisao's inability to stand up for anything).

Hanako's issues are much more a result of her peers than her parents. The loss of them is brought up far less than the reactions of those around her.

And Shizune's problems are entirely her own. "B-But Jigoro never learned sign language!" - Yeah, and she never picked up a pen and pad either.

The only one with issues explicitly tied to parents is Emi, really.

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.

It's not harsh. It's the Japanese way I mean I've read about someone in Japan MURDERING THEIR PARENTS because he didn't get accepted into a college they wanted him to go into. The Japanese are very honor-based. Sometimes to a fault.

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.

I think it was stated somewhere that the fire that killed Hanako's parents happened around her birthday. So she equated her birthday with her parent's deaths.

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.

Yes, Shizune does write Hisao notes, but that's because he's a peer. Not her father.

[Xanatos]

I cannot say I'm an expert on Japanese culture but are kids really expected to obey their parents at all costs?

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.

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.

1) Pretty much. The culture is incredibly...Outdated in this way. It'll catch up though.

2) There is little if anything in-game to suggest her birthday issues are related to that incident. She hates her birthday because she hates the false cheer and pity.

3) Yeah, she writes to Hisao. And? That in no way invalidates the fact that all her interpersonal issues with family are as much her own stubborn doing as her father's. They're both obstacles to themselves.

[Guest Poster]

It's not harsh. It's the Japanese way I mean I've read about someone in Japan MURDERING THEIR PARENTS because he didn't get accepted into a college they wanted him to go into. The Japanese are very honor-based. Sometimes to a fault.

That's probably not so much honor-based, but rather related to the fact high school kids are under tremendous pressure to get into the most prestigious university possible and high school students compete on a national schale each year. KS kind of glosses over this, but Japanese high school students in their last year tend to do very little more than attend class, study, spend the evening in cram school and then study and memorize some more. I suppose with that kind of pressure, some kids snap eventually and turn on the people at the source of that pressure.

I think it was stated somewhere that the fire that killed Hanako's parents happened around her birthday. So she equated her birthday with her parent's deaths.

It wasn't stated anywhere in the game, that's just fanon. Only Hisao does some guesswork that gets close to this train of thought and it's just that...guesswork. The real reason for her birthday hate is revealed during the park scene at the end.