Yamaku Book Club (20220124 Dish Washing)

[Oscar Wildecat]

Hanako basically fell in love with Shizune because "Oh, wow, she saved me! I do believe I'm getting a case of the vapors!"

Hanako O'Hara? Hisao Butler?

Anyway...

I liked The Most Surprising Thing, on the whole. While it fails the "test of time", in that the full-release invalidates (or at least makes implausible) a number of the required story elements, it retains enough of the "flavor" of the characters involved to keep me rooted in the KS environment.

BTW, my personal hypothesis on the amount of crap BEFFs one finds on the Internet -- Sturgeon's law aside -- is that a BEFF tends to be a easy source of inspiration for new fanfic writers. Thus, the field is flooded with first time writings...

(Disclaimer, this is not to say that new author equals bad and experienced author equals good, 100% of the time. But, if you have new author equals good, you should find that same author with experience will be better. Conversely, if you find an experienced author who is bad, his early works will probably be even worse.)

[bhtooefr]

The BEFF discussion moved over into the limits of fanfic thread: http://ks.renai.us/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9185

Although, because it's relevant to this thread, I did find the fic I was looking for, and PMed Sea to revoke my nomination of it (or another Hanako BEFF). It... wasn't as good as I recalled it being, it's not on these forums, and the discussion I wanted to start with a Hanako BEFF happened anyway.

[Sea]

Righto, lets start working on the queue, firstly; selected by Mirage is:

Broken Dolls

It shall be read and discussed by the 27th, I hope to see ya'll there and you can change your fic you want in the queue with a PM at any time. Happy readings.

[Mirage_GSM]

Actually, after rereading the stories myself, I amended my suggestion to only reading Broken Dolls.
Apart from one OC that was taken from the other story knowledge of the "prequel" is not required, and Broken Dolls is long enough as it is.

[Sea]

Actually, after rereading the stories myself, I amended my suggestion to only reading Broken Dolls.
Apart from one OC that was taken from the other story knowledge of the "prequel" is not required, and Broken Dolls is long enough as it is.

I shall make an edit then,
DISREGARD THANK GOD FOR HANGOVERS!

[Sea]

So its 24:01, STILL COUNTS!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
P.S.: Link up

[brythain]

So its 24:01, STILL COUNTS!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
P.S.: Link up

Hmmm, just a boundary note: what constitutes 'Broken Dolls'? I found myself reading all the way to the nice prequel that loops back to the beginning.

[Oddball]

So its 24:01, STILL COUNTS!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
P.S.: Link up

Hmmm, just a boundary note: what constitutes 'Broken Dolls'? I found myself reading all the way to the nice prequel that loops back to the beginning.

That's further than I read. I stopped about the time the cripple fetish guy returned and announced he was going to marry one of the main characters.

Do the prequels actually having anything to do with Katawa Shoujo again?

Anyway, from what I did read, I thought the takes on Emi and Kenji were actually some of the more interesting parts of the story. Shame they were quickly brushed away and never seemed to show back up again. The cripple fetish guy was also a nice realistic but vile villain for the story, but his comeuppance with the mob scene and the forced marriage felt like it was inserted from a different story entirely.

[brythain]

So its 24:01, STILL COUNTS!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
P.S.: Link up

Hmmm, just a boundary note: what constitutes 'Broken Dolls'? I found myself reading all the way to the nice prequel that loops back to the beginning.

That's further than I read. I stopped about the time the cripple fetish guy returned and announced he was going to marry one of the main characters.

Do the prequels actually having anything to do with Katawa Shoujo again?

Anyway, from what I did read, I thought the takes on Emi and Kenji were actually some of the more interesting parts of the story. Shame they were quickly brushed away and never seemed to show back up again. The cripple fetish guy was also a nice realistic but vile villain for the story, but his comeuppance with the mob scene and the forced marriage felt like it was inserted from a different story entirely.

I liked the protagonist because she was even more Emi than Emi in some ways. More visceral. The Kenji here was good, and if you read to the end, it degenerates into Kenji being… even better? Not quite sure. I pegged this one as 'dark comedy', but I realised it was just plain comedy. The author is proud of the OCs he's managed to introduce; that appears quite a few times in the thread. Summary: story fun, writing ok, characters OOC/OTT.

[dewelar]

So its 24:01, STILL COUNTS!
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!
P.S.: Link up

Hmmm, just a boundary note: what constitutes 'Broken Dolls'? I found myself reading all the way to the nice prequel that loops back to the beginning.

That's further than I read. I stopped about the time the cripple fetish guy returned and announced he was going to marry one of the main characters.

Which...may or may not be further than I read, which was the scene at graduation where cripple-fetish-guy's ex-girlfriend returns and is going to marry him...which...you know, screw it. I don't remember, and I'm not sure I want to. This story was a big old bunch of WTF, and not in a fun way. I've read worse, maybe, but I very quickly realized that this was an Eight Deadly Words (Warning: TV Tropes link) story for me.

[brythain]

Which...may or may not be further than I read, which was the scene at graduation where cripple-fetish-guy's ex-girlfriend returns and is going to marry him...which...you know, screw it. I don't remember, and I'm not sure I want to. This story was a big old bunch of WTF, and not in a fun way. I've read worse, maybe, but I very quickly realized that this was an Eight Deadly Words (Warning: TV Tropes link) story for me.

I agree with the not wanting to remember part, but I do remember rooting for the protagonist and her friend to get better. They were obviously working at it so hard...

[dewelar]

Which...may or may not be further than I read, which was the scene at graduation where cripple-fetish-guy's ex-girlfriend returns and is going to marry him...which...you know, screw it. I don't remember, and I'm not sure I want to. This story was a big old bunch of WTF, and not in a fun way. I've read worse, maybe, but I very quickly realized that this was an Eight Deadly Words (Warning: TV Tropes link) story for me.

I agree with the not wanting to remember part, but I do remember rooting for the protagonist and her friend to get better. They were obviously working at it so hard...

Hmmm...that must have been beyond where I'd read. I saw two scenes where they were working out: the one at the beginning, which was more about...whats-her-name and Luke and the spewing of venom at Emi, and then another one which was about whats-her-name and Eri(?) kinda-sorta confessing to each other. The second of those was probably the best scene of the ones I read, and would have been sweet if the author had gotten me to care (or, more precisely, not gotten me to not care) before that point .

[Oddball]

Which...may or may not be further than I read, which was the scene at graduation where cripple-fetish-guy's ex-girlfriend returns and is going to marry him...which...you know, screw it. I don't remember, and I'm not sure I want to. This story was a big old bunch of WTF, and not in a fun way. I've read worse, maybe, but I very quickly realized that this was an Eight Deadly Words (Warning: TV Tropes link) story for me.

What I read was further along.

The story continues past graduation, with no more Yamaku appearances, no more KS characters showing up, and the two main girls aren't disabled anymore (or they just stop mentioning it. I can't remember which.) After several chapter of ... things ...happening that I don't remember any of... cripple fetish guy returns and that was pretty much where I stopped.

Also, I seem to remember Hanako being mentioned several times early in the story as being the girlfriend to one of their friends yet I don't remember Hanako ever actually appearing in the story.

[bhtooefr]

I'll note that I actually went ahead and read Thank God For Hangovers, too, just to get context for everything. But, it's out of the scope of this thread, so...

The story doesn't quite mesh for me. There's a platoon of reasonably well fleshed out OCs that I could easily see going to Yamaku, although the villains (especially Shou Mukai... one date and he's announcing his engagement? What the actual fuck) end up cartoonish. The jumping back and forth pacing is strange. The non-villain characters' actions were a bit unrealistic in places. And, while I can understand relief that their kids are straight and therefore won't have to deal with direct homophobia... Nikki's words in the one-shot where their kids are dating actually came off as homophobic in and of themselves, and you'd think she'd be the last person in this story to be homophobic.

And, Hanako did appear, but not all that much.

[Mirage_GSM]

I stopped about the time the cripple fetish guy returned and announced he was going to marry one of the main characters.

I think you'*re mixing up two seperate characters here...

...but his comeuppance with the mob scene and the forced marriage felt like it was inserted from a different story entirely.

*whistles innocently*
I sewar that's not why I recommended this story. I didn't even remember that scene. It's been almost four years since I read it^^°
But yes, this scene was a bit over the top and didn't quite fit in with the rest of the story.

All said I think it's a mistake to read this story (or any of Kosher's stories for that matter) and expect serious drama or realistic relationships. They're a bit like Hoitash's: meant to entertain, zany, witty and sometimes hilarious.

Nikki's words in the one-shot where their kids are dating actually came off as homophobic in and of themselves, and you'd think she'd be the last person in this story to be homophobic.

Point in case: Never omit a gag just because it isn't in character.
If that isn't for you, then Kosher's stories aren't either. If you can look past that and just go with it, you'll have one hell of a ride.