A22's Blogpost

[Caesius]

She's not a tsundere.

[Deimos]

The tsundere that's in a position of power and uses it to force <CHARNAME> into doing her bidding, ect ect ect yada yada yada.

The term tsundere is too hard for Shizune - a regular tsundere woul be much more bipolar and up to now she did not seem to be swaying between overly sweet and more forceful behaviour. She was more or less consistent with her rather individual character.

But the fact she's apparently got such a reaction from people is actually a good thing. I remember in Baldur's Gate II a certain pair of characters got very strong reactions (Aerie and Anomen were their names if you didn't know... and Aerie was a winged elf that had actually had her wings amputated, so imagine a sort of cross between Hanako and Lilly and Emi or Rin. So she'd fit in at the school)

That is a wrong assumption - attention does not equal anything good. I know modern society is too lazy to distinguish between these two but as thoughtful people in a discussion we should do it. And if I remember correctly at least Aerie got most of her attention because she was horribly done and programmed in terms of personality.

Also, if I had a disability, and people I talked to knew I had a disability, but they don't know what that disability is, I wouldn't want them treating me any different just because I might die if I try to push them out of the way or whatever. Shizune and Misha knew Hisao had a disability, but they didn't show any interest in finding out what that disability was until they saw the pills in his room, so they just treated him like they would treat any other cute new guy. You might find that bitchy, but I think think it's great that they're like that.

Why do you justify the perceived (and maybe true) impoliteness and thoughtlessness of these fictional characters with "They just want to get to know him."
To what lengths do people nowadays go before they stop? There are people with really nasty and deadly disabilities in Yamaku and should not the president of the student body be more considerate of her flock of little disabled sheep?

[Caesius]

Why do you justify the perceived (and maybe true) impoliteness and thoughtlessness of these fictional characters with "They just want to get to know him."
To what lengths do people nowadays go before they stop? There are people with really nasty and deadly disabilities in Yamaku and should not the president of the student body be more considerate of her flock of little disabled sheep?

I honestly have no idea what you guys are talking about when you say Shizune and Misha are inconsiderate regarding Hisao's disability. Could you elaborate a little bit?

[Snicket]

I think the purpose of the blog post was to stir up things a bit....and it worked.

[Out of the Loop]

Why do you justify the perceived (and maybe true) impoliteness and thoughtlessness of these fictional characters with "They just want to get to know him."To what lengths do people nowadays go before they stop? There are people with really nasty and deadly disabilities in Yamaku and should not the president of the student body be more considerate of her flock of little disabled sheep?

Normally, she (the president of the student body) probably would be more considerate of her flock. However, in a scene where Hisao is carting a can of paint for Rin and is accosted by the Nurse, he makes an observation about how the students and medical staff/adults are a tightly knit group. So with that in mind, Shizune and Misha wondering what kind of disability Hisao has is only natural and curious of them. Asking will sate their need to know and if Hisao ever has a heart attack in front of them they will know what to do quicker than if they never asked at all. In a way, she is being more considerate this way, looking out for his health; if not being a bit nosey in the process.

[Deimos]

Why do you justify the perceived (and maybe true) impoliteness and thoughtlessness of these fictional characters with "They just want to get to know him."
To what lengths do people nowadays go before they stop? There are people with really nasty and deadly disabilities in Yamaku and should not the president of the student body be more considerate of her flock of little disabled sheep?

I honestly have no idea what you guys are talking about when you say Shizune and Misha are inconsiderate regarding Hisao's disability. Could you elaborate a little bit?

I would not say that they are inconsiderate towards the person called Hisao (and by extension the player) but they give me the impression that they prioritise their own goals (that is: getting to know Hisao and implementing him in Yamaku their way) rather than being a tiny little bit more empathic towards Hisao's situation.
And this can be repulsing for people who are annoyed by such a scenario.

And, you have quoted me but can you please answer my questions regarding the strength of your counterargument?

Normally, she (the president of the student body) probably would be more considerate of her flock. However, in a scene where Hisao is carting a can of paint for Rin and is accosted by the Nurse, he makes an observation about how the students and medical staff/adults are a tightly knit group.

A group of which Hisao is not a real member yet. When dealing with each other they are probably doing a good job but we should not forget that Hisao is the new kid in school and needs to be integrated and that is the essence of Act 1 and we choose our preferred heroine according to how we want to be treated.
And people not liking Shizune's way of dealing with that matter are free to dislike her.

[Caesius]

Why do you justify the perceived (and maybe true) impoliteness and thoughtlessness of these fictional characters with "They just want to get to know him."
To what lengths do people nowadays go before they stop? There are people with really nasty and deadly disabilities in Yamaku and should not the president of the student body be more considerate of her flock of little disabled sheep?

I honestly have no idea what you guys are talking about when you say Shizune and Misha are inconsiderate regarding Hisao's disability. Could you elaborate a little bit?

I would not say that they are inconsiderate towards the person called Hisao (and by extension the player) but they give me the impression that they prioritise their own goals (that is: getting to know Hisao and implementing him in Yamaku their way) rather than being a tiny little bit more empathic towards Hisao's situation.
And this can be repulsing for people who are annoyed by such a scenario.

And, you have quoted me but can you please answer my questions regarding the strength of your counterargument?

Okay. Here's how I see it: Although they do have their own goals regarding the Student Council and the festival, and Hisao comes at just the right time to help them, and they could very well have been entirely been motivated by their own needs to get to know Hisao at first (though I still think it was also because they thought he was cute and wanted to get to know him), I appreciate the way they didn't relentlessly prod Hisao about his disability out of childish curiosity like you would expect from someone who actually is motivated entirely by their own needs or curiosity. They seem to realize that Hisao is new to the school and probably still in denial regarding his mostly invisible disability, so they make him comfortable by treating him like a completely normal person and not making a big deal about his disability until he shows symptoms of his disability, for which they express concern.

So to me, they are empathetic towards Hisao's situation -- at least as much as any of the other four girls are, in fact. By paying little attention to the fact that he has a disability, they give him personal space where it's most important (even if they ignore it in every other aspect, which I find to be more cute than inconsiderate). I can't say if they would've acted exactly the same way if he had came into the school without an arm or a leg, but I like to think that they would.

[Deimos]

Okay. Here's how I see it: Although they do have their own goals regarding the Student Council and the festival, and Hisao comes at just the right time to help them, and they could very well have been entirely been motivated by their own needs to get to know Hisao at first (though I still think it was also because they thought he was cute and wanted to get to know him), I appreciate the way they didn't relentlessly prod Hisao about his disability out of childish curiosity like you would expect from someone who actually is motivated entirely by their own needs or curiosity. They seem to realize that Hisao is new to the school and probably still in denial regarding his mostly invisible disability, so they make him comfortable by treating him like a completely normal person and not making a big deal about his disability until he shows symptoms of his disability, for which they express concern.

So to me, they are empathetic towards Hisao's situation -- at least as much as any of the other four girls are, in fact. By paying little attention to the fact that he has a disability, they give him personal space where it's most important (even if they ignore it in every other aspect, which I find to be more cute than inconsiderate). I can't say if they would've acted exactly the same way if he had came into the school without an arm or a leg, but I like to think that they would.

I will never deny the possibility that Misha and Shizune could turn out to be the most caring people concerning Hisao's condition. However I do not see substantial proof for that theory up to this point.
On a sidenote: I do acknowledge the fact that they are beneficial to Hisao.
And no girl in KS has shown childish curiousity about Hisao's predicament other than Rin with her fairly amusing guesses of him being - you know .

And I am widly speculating with what I am going to say now (please bear that in mind) but I do not think that Misha or Shizune had a decision on a more than subconscious level to treat Hisao the way they do. I was getting the impression they were both more like: "Let's just see what is going to happen between him and us."
This may change with the release of further Acts but for now I am inclined to think that the two girls are not concerned with Hisao until they are confronted with obvious signs of his disability. There is not much proof to verify that but on the other hand there is no extremely valid counterargument I can think of.
Treating somebody normally does not make him normal. Letting somebody feel normal does not equate to being normal - feelings can be deceiving.

PS:
We may think highly of Shizune but the fact that there are no people beside her and Misha in the Student Council always seems suspicious to me - some invisible councilors like in YMK would have avoided negative implications of an empty student council with Shizune as president.

[Malinor]

I must admit, while it's far from solid evidence, the fact that Misha and Shizune are alone in the Student Council will remain very telling to me until we get more information. While I never personally felt like she was too harsh to Hisao, I did note that she was pushy. To everyone.

IIRC, she obviously has a bad reputation with Lilly, and thus far I've seen no reason to believe it was started BY Lilly. She by extension appears to hate on Hanako, she badgers Rin when they meet outside the art room, and she yells at Emi when they meet in the hallway.

Clearly there's more to her and Lilly than we know yet, so that's passable. Thus far she really seems to just dislike Hanako completely because of her friendship with Lilly, which is pretty much just a bitch thing to do, and while Rin and Emi were technically doing something wrong, the way she gets on their backs about something minor paints her picture as more the CAUSE of the problem, rather than just being a part of it.

I mean, even with all that, I still can't judge because besides Shizune, I'm pretty sure none of the girls have even interacted with each other. With the exception of Lilly thinking Rin is strange and aloof, we don't yet know how any of the girls feel about each other at all. Shizune, however, clashes with everyone else in the cast, so it's no surprise that it can lead to annoyances with the viewers.

I mean, if your favorite girl is verbally assaulted by someone, it's no surprise that you might not give many points to the one in question; since Shizune does as much to 4/5ths of the main cast, I can only imagine that she'd catch some flak for it. On top of light manipulation of Hisao, which I imagine might rub some people the wrong way.

[Caesius]

I will never deny the possibility that Misha and Shizune could turn out to be the most caring people concerning Hisao's condition. However I do not see substantial proof for that theory up to this point.
On a sidenote: I do acknowledge the fact that they are beneficial to Hisao.
And no girl in KS has shown childish curiousity about Hisao's predicament other than Rin with her fairly amusing guesses of him being - you know .

Well, considering even Misha -- who is basically a hyperactive freight train -- doesn't bug Hisao at all about his disability like you would expect her too, and I have a hard time believing that she's simply clueless, I do believe that the two made a conscious decision not to ask Hisao about his disability rather than simply ignoring it/pretending it's not there. Which is probably the best thing anyone can do for Hisao, especially compared to Hanako, who most likely doesn't bother asking Hisao about his disability because she's so preoccupied with her own condition as well as completely baffled by the fact that a seemingly completely normal person would take an interest in her -- and an apparently cute one at that.

[Deimos]

And I have a hard time believing that she's simply clueless, I do believe that the two made a conscious decision not to ask Hisao about his disability rather than simply ignoring it/pretending it's not there. Which is probably the best thing anyone can do for Hisao, especially compared to Hanako, who most likely doesn't bother asking Hisao about his disability because she's so preoccupied with her own condition as well as completely baffled by the fact that a seemingly completely normal person would take an interest in her -- and an apparently cute one at that.

Well, it now turns into a matter of worldview and belief. If you do not think very positively most of the time - then by the power of doubt (thank you new blogpost!!!) one can be doubting that most people are as sensitive as you make Shizune and Misha out to be. And with this worldview Hanako has at least an excuse because she is unable to cope with her disability unlike Shizune and Misha and she does not imply that Hisao's disability is not worthy of mentioning - she may not adressing it because she does not want her or anyone else's disability to be spoken out loud - but that can also be doubted - I do not want to appear too bigote.

Well, considering even Misha -- who is basically a hyperactive freight train -- doesn't bug Hisao at all about his disability like you would expect her too.

Thankfully she does not tackle people in the halls.

A very good post.

Nicely written! Much better than my endless ramblings, awkward wording and too-much-into-detail nitpicking! And even some things I have not given too much thought up to this point. For example: the point with her dislike or frowning upon Hanako is very valid although the cause and extent can be subjected to debate!

[HeMeido]

Rin is not a mafia princess because of doubt that that could be made not fucking retarded.

Dear KS Devs,

You might be feeling like someone's watching you right now or like you're mere seconds from dying horribly. That feeling is me psychically bombarding you with hate rays.

[delta]

You better be happy that you don't know how many lolrandumb XD ideas that sound hilarious on paper but are actually just idiotic we threw out then.

[Synoptic]

I wonder if A22's disappointment lowered a bit after seeing his blog post getting the most replies ever (also most being good) and this awesome thread.
Hope so.

[HeMeido]

You better be happy that you don't know how many lolrandumb XD ideas that sound hilarious on paper but are actually just idiotic we threw out then.

If any of them involved cousins, sisters of any kind, maids, submarine captains, senpai, shrine maidens (but not nuns - those are icky), yangire, kuudere, teh rei, ghosts, mermaids, wolf gods or Harley Quinn, then I probably am happier now knowing about them.

Good call on cutting out the dog though. That would be weird.