Which girl has the best chance for an LTR with Hisao?

[Liminaut]

Starting a relationship at 18 and having it last is a small miracle, but it does happen. Out of the canonical girls, which do you think has the best chance of build a truly long-term relationship with Hisao? By LTR, here I am thinking of 20+ years, marriage, kids, that kind of thing. The big deal.

My ordering:

1) Lilly
Lilly has fairly spectacular abandonment issues (during her confession, she insisted Hisao promise to stay with her forever) and repression issues (during said confession, she had plans to leave for Scotland). Because of this, I think that once she truly attaches herself to Hisao she's going to stick like superglue, and that she'll smooth over any problems that arise. For Hisao's part, he's basically happy to let Lilly be in control. Even in the epilogue, it's clear Lilly is basically driving things – and Hisao is OK with that. In other words, their neurosis dovetail nicely. And that's the real secret to long-term love.

2) Emi.
'Please stay'. That simple non-commitment could paradoxically lead to a very long relationship, one day at a time. Not having huge romantic expectations could mean that they are very easy on each other. Their biggest challenge might come when they go off to college. Hisao might be able to get into a much better college that Emi can, and then they may have to make a hard call.

3) Shizune
I think this could work if Hisao learns to provide more active support. I could see Hisao becoming the steady, nurturing force in Shizune's life that her parents could never provide.

4) Hanako
Hanako has some deep, deep issues; a kiss and a couple of muffins won't fix that. The good times are going to be great but the bad times are going to be awful, and the more Hisao loves Hanako the worse the bad times will be. There's only so much heartache a person can take, and I think Hisao will have to bail sooner or later, for his own sake.

5) Rin
Hisao couldn't handle Rin's weirdness in the VN. Long-term, not a chance. I could see the two perhaps maintaing a long friendship, perhaps with occasionally benefits, but not a genuine romantic relationship.

[AaronIsCrunchy]

I more or less agree with this ordering aside from the first two, where I would have Emi at the top and Lilly in second - but only just. I think that for Emi to be able to tell Hisao about her father and why she is the way she is took a huge amount of trust to be built up, and I doubt that she would be in a hurry to 'lose' another person that she thought very highly of. That said, I hadn't thought of the implications that college might have, and it's more likely that Hisao and Lilly would go to the same college, given they're both looking at teaching.

[SpunkySix]

"Please stay" was heavily meant to imply "as long as we're still alive" so unless something goes horribly wrong all of a sudden due to a freak occurrence, I see such a simple request as the catalyst for a very strong long-term bond between the two of them.

[Liminaut]

That said, I hadn't thought of the implications that college might have, and it's more likely that Hisao and Lilly would go to the same college, given they're both looking at teaching.

In the epilogue, Lilly and Hisao are very much planning on going to the same college.

[Liminaut]

"Please stay" was heavily meant to imply "as long as we're still alive" so unless something goes horribly wrong all of a sudden due to a freak occurrence, I see such a simple request as the catalyst for a very strong long-term bond between the two of them.

Interesting. You and I got completely different meanings out of the same passage. I got that the request was atemporal -- no time idea involved. Please stay *now*; next year or next week or tomorrow isn't part of the request and will get managed when it comes.

[brythain]

I more or less agree with this ordering aside from the first two, where I would have Emi at the top and Lilly in second - but only just. I think that for Emi to be able to tell Hisao about her father and why she is the way she is took a huge amount of trust to be built up, and I doubt that she would be in a hurry to 'lose' another person that she thought very highly of. That said, I hadn't thought of the implications that college might have, and it's more likely that Hisao and Lilly would go to the same college, given they're both looking at teaching.

I'd put Emi first, with Shizune second. The first is likely a pretty normal relationship, and college is not a problem if you look at the many options available in the Tokyo region, for example—high density, so easy commute, and many Japanese universities have a teaching track. The second, given Shizune's personality, would take us probably to some place like the University of Tokyo, with Hisao being her interpreter at times. In both cases, there's a chance of a reasonably stable extended family unit, which can be important. The other three won't give you that (except perhaps Akira for Lilly).

[SpunkySix]

"Please stay" was heavily meant to imply "as long as we're still alive" so unless something goes horribly wrong all of a sudden due to a freak occurrence, I see such a simple request as the catalyst for a very strong long-term bond between the two of them.

Interesting. You and I got completely different meanings out of the same passage. I got that the request was atemporal -- no time idea involved. Please stay *now*; next year or next week or tomorrow isn't part of the request and will get managed when it comes.

That is... really interesting, actually. And just as valid.

[Blanc]

Hmm, quite agree for Lilly and Emi. But I put Rin/Shizune for 3rd. If referring to the 3rd END, Hisao accepted RIn's quirks even though he doesn't agree to all of them. Both of them had chosen to deviate from the society, so I don't think he would leave her until the end, though most likely Hisao dies early of arrhythmia. For Shizune, if Hisao would meet her in the future, I don't think their feelings would change to each other since Shizune treats Misha and Hisao as her driving force to become a philanthropist, and especially if Hisao and Shizune were together. I put Hanako 5th, same reasons with Liminaut.

[bhtooefr]

My own rationale, not in order:

Shizune: It becomes a LDR at the end of the VN. Probably doesn't stand a chance.
Lilly: It all depends on whether Lilly learned her lesson. And, the fact that Lilly did almost abandon Hisao, and it took him almost dying while trying to stop her, will be in the back of his mind forever. Also, she may have family pressure pushing her to leave Hisao.
Emi: She'll want it to last until one of them dies, but even though she managed to open up, she's got some quite severe PTSD. The highs will be quite high, but the lows will be quite low.
Hanako: This is going to be a quite rocky road as well, really. Also, Hanako's lack of life experience may make things just a little bit worse. And, she may be somewhat more self-destructive than Emi - Emi is self-destructive because she's afraid of depending on, and then losing, someone else. Hanako having any self-destructive habits would be triggered by her depression telling her that she doesn't deserve someone else.
Rin: I think they could easily end up drifting apart.

So, in order...

Lilly, and it's fairly weak
Emi
Hanako
Rin
Shizune

[Oddball]

Lilly turned her back on her familiy for Hisao, I'd say she's a keeper.

I'd also rank Hanako very high, as she places a strong value on those she cares for and Hisao and her have much more in common than any of the others. Yes, it's not going to be easy. They'll have to work on it, and Hanako is probably always going to have some trouble, but by the end of her route, Hisao has already seen her at her worst (or at least very bad) and seems dedicated to sticking with her.

Emi... I'm agreeing with the others in saying that it doesn't sound like she's ready for any kind of long term commitment. Her decision to NOT look towards the future still seems rather unhealthy to me. As strong willed and emotional as she is, this is the relationship I see most likely to end in a messy fight.

Rin, I can easily see them drifting apart. I don't see it ending badly though. It's actually the relationship I see mostly likely for them to just decide they want to stay friends instead.

Shizune's relationship never seemed that strong to begin with to me and by the end it's questionably if they're even still together.

[Atario]

Oddball beat me to saying what I was gonna say. Well done.

[Mirage_GSM]

"Please stay" was heavily meant to imply "as long as we're still alive" so unless something goes horribly wrong all of a sudden due to a freak occurrence, I see such a simple request as the catalyst for a very strong long-term bond between the two of them.

Interesting. You and I got completely different meanings out of the same passage. I got that the request was atemporal -- no time idea involved. Please stay *now*; next year or next week or tomorrow isn't part of the request and will get managed when it comes.

I'm with Spunky on this one.
Yes, the request is "atemporal" as you put it:
"Please stay with me" - not for a year or until graduation but rather for as long as fate allows us to be together.
I took it as a sign that Emi accepted that there are some things you can't do anything about. It is the culmination of Emi's character development during the story, while your interpretation implies no growth altogether.

[SpunkySix]

"Please stay" was heavily meant to imply "as long as we're still alive" so unless something goes horribly wrong all of a sudden due to a freak occurrence, I see such a simple request as the catalyst for a very strong long-term bond between the two of them.

Interesting. You and I got completely different meanings out of the same passage. I got that the request was atemporal -- no time idea involved. Please stay *now*; next year or next week or tomorrow isn't part of the request and will get managed when it comes.

I'm with Spunky on this one.
Yes, the request is "atemporal" as you put it:
"Please stay with me" - not for a year or until graduation but rather for as long as fate allows us to be together.
I took it as a sign that Emi accepted that there are some things you can't do anything about. It is the culmination of Emi's character development during the story, while your interpretation implies no growth altogether.

That wording was what did it for me. It implies to me that she's accepted that she could lose Hisao at any point in time, and is happy just being with him for as long as life allows instead of worrying about being unable to be with him for an impossible "forever".

[brythain]

That wording was what did it for me. It implies to me that she's accepted that she could lose Hisao at any point in time, and is happy just being with him for as long as life allows instead of worrying about being unable to be with him for an impossible "forever".

This is what made "Hisao, you said you’d never leave me," the hardest line I've ever written about the Emi-Hisao relationship. I must confess I had manly tears in my eyes as I typed that in and saved the file.

[SpunkySix]

That wording was what did it for me. It implies to me that she's accepted that she could lose Hisao at any point in time, and is happy just being with him for as long as life allows instead of worrying about being unable to be with him for an impossible "forever".

This is what made "Hisao, you said you’d never leave me," the hardest line I've ever written about the Emi-Hisao relationship. I must confess I had manly tears in my eyes as I typed that in and saved the file.

Wow. I felt the impact of that, and I don't even know the context.