An Unusual Friendship (Misha x Hanako; Complete)

[Lap]

A lovely coda to a sweet story. I really like the notion of Kenji finally getting his shit together & growing up. Nice little lagniappe.

Thanks for the fun ride! An unlikely pairing, but you made it work.

[NelNinja]

That was really good! Got a little teary eyed during the epilogue when Kenji mentioned how far he had come and being involved with Hisao's death.

Applause!

[Deselp0]

This is kinda wierd since it’s my first post on this site plus reviving this thread after a long down time. I wanted to thank you so much for this story! I enjoyed every moment of reading this tbh.

Maybe this is just my opinion but I really enjoyed the heavier use of group scenes. It really gave the sense of community at Yamaku which in turn gives the whole story a stronger heart, one of the best scenes for me was misha and hanako asking for advice about the uh... thing with lily . It was fun reading everyone’s reaction to this really wierd turn of events. Speaking of which while a few complained about some of the more... anime-like plot points... laden in this story. I felt that you handled it well by allowing the reaction of the main characters to be a reflection of who they are. Using strange and out there circumstances are odd but I think they’re great when abused to further the development of everyone’s arc.

The mains were fantastically written. Hanako was brilliantly written. She gets quite angry often and while she isn’t vocal about what she wants, she seems vocal about her frustrations with certain scenarios. I have fairly serious anxiety and I feel one of the traits that isn’t represented as well is the swings of anger when you are trying to push someone away and I felt it was wonderfully well handled *slow clap intensifies*. Misha was fantastic, I always felt that her character had serious potential to do more and it just seemed to click here. My main worry throughout the series that having a primarily comedic character as a main character would mean through a long term story eventually her personality would go a little flat. That never happened.The story kept its energy from start to finish.

I really appreciated my time with this story. It got to the point that I really didn’t want it to end because I was having so much fun spending time with this wacky tale with a heart of gold. Thank you for the time and effort you put into it. It really shows, have a nice day!

[Hanako Fancopter]

What an excellent comment to get! Seeing a response like that, nearly a year after completion, really makes me happy I actually sat down and did this thing. I'm glad you liked the use of group scenes, I've probably said it a bunch by now, but I felt there was so much untapped potential there from the game. I also felt for a time that I didn't really want to stop writing it either, but nothing lasts forever. And of course my thanks as well to everyone else who commented!

[Monsto]

I was intending on making this post a year ago but the forums really don't seem to like certain email addresses.

This fanfic oddly means a lot to me. Sure, it's not the greatest fanfic of all time, but it still does a great job of giving us insight into how some of our favorite characters might react. Perhaps dying in Act 1 truly is the best route if this is the outcome...

[StealthyWolf]

Certainly an interesting experience, this story. I'll start by saying my overall experience was a positive one with this story, though it did leave me conflicted a few times. Usually I have a better intro to theses things but I don't really have one for this story so I'll just get into it. (As always with me, prepare for a ramble.)

As I said, overall a positive experience, that being said I'm going to start with my gripes with the story. The largest one being I felt like the story as a whole was really conflicted with what it wanted to do. It felt like it was taking itself rather seriously for the most part, but would force upon itself some strange turns or moments that just felt really out of place. The easiest one to pick on is the "comforting" meme occurring 3 times. This wouldn't be a problem for me if that was the tone this thing took from the beginning, that being of "fun" and meme-y rather than a serious exploration of an AU. This also meant that I took issue with some of the more lax characterization of characters like Rin, Emi, and (less so but still) Miki. I'll talk more about that point in the next section. Point is, it felt like sometimes the story was a serious exploration and journey following... well... "an unusual friendship," but would use it's meme-status as a shield to side-step some issues in the more important points in the story as a whole. Specific example, Lilly's arc. I felt it could have been explored in a much more convincing fashion. It was mentioned that it was not really a part of the plan so foreshadowing and building it up from the beginning would've been hard, but it still could've been woven in a bit more smoothly. Hmm, I think I'll move on to the next section to explain my feelings as a whole a bit more.

The first thing I had to do not long after starting this was accept that this is definitively an AU. So with that, I accepted that some characters would likely have shifted from the VN. Hanako being the first big one. Overall, I'd say her shifts were acceptable. She's not the same Hanako from the VN, and I'd go so far as to say her issues only resemble VN!Hanakos. She is quite different though. However, I could accept those changes. Other changes I were fine with were: Shizune not longer being mute since it does favors for her and Misha's arc in this story; Misha having a disability so to speak, and it's one that works well both in explanation and to explain plenty of her oddities; and Lilly being a bit more exaggerated in her worst traits. But then I have issues with some of the other changes.

First is Misha. Unfortunately it felt like some of the other wide-reaching changes with Misha didn't sit as well with me. It felt like as a character she had less depth than in the VN. I'm not saying we needed a hair-cutting arc with her, but it felt like her issues were only addressed at the very beginning and mentioned at the very end. She was a little too light-hearted, forgiving, and care-free throughout. The biggest offending moment for me was how quickly she accepted the events with Lilly at the birthday party. Again, this goes back to the lack of foreshadowing - specifically the way Misha handled it simply did not work for me without any foreshadowing. In a bubble, her explanation for understanding and giving Lilly a fair chance works, but in execution it felt a little too easy. Misha is known for being emotional under the surface, and fearing losing those closest to her. But that doesn't come into play at all here. Yes she had grown in different ways from the vn, and her independence from Shizune is proof of that, but it's moments like this that should typically give characters at least a momentary re-lapse. She's still not around Shizune all that much, and though she does have other friends by this point, I don't think she considers anyone to be nearly as close to who as either Shizune or Hanako. So she'd essentially be cut off from both of them if Lilly really did manage to take Hanako from her. Maybe this "drama" would've only lasted a short-period as she worked out her feelings. Maybe even only a few paragraphs. But jumping straight into "Okay, lets go talk to Lilly now and say it's fine that it happened" (a bit of an exaggeration but close enough in practicality) just felt a little flat to me. The suggestion for a threesome just felt like an exaggeration of all the other issues I mentioned so I'll not go into detail with it.

Then comes Emi/Rin/Miki. Again, I had to accept that some changes were fair game since this is an AU, but sometimes things are just a little too absurd. Rin is a very difficult character, but she also is nowhere near as easy to understand as she was in this piece. Which I guess can be fine, but it just felt a little wrong. Emi's was less of an issue, but her usage for the mems was a bit much at times. Miki was... fine at times. But she felt so one-note. On one hand (heh) she doesn't get much characterization in the VN so the worlds your oyster type thing, but on the other it a character that shows up as much as her should feel a bit more fleshed out. She was extraordinarily predictable and like Rin and Emi it felt like certain traits were just a little too exaggerated.

Finally for this section is Hisao. Honestly this little bit would be a lot worse if not for the Epilogue, but even still I think a lot of my issues still apply. After his end came to pass and the immediate fall-out was dealt with, all I had left to think about was "So what was the point?" This is an AU, so Hisao wasn't really needed. Misha and Hanako could've still gotten together as the story was going, and most of their issues would've still been present. It felt like very few characters actually changed in the long run as a result of his presence in the story. And what changes did happen felt... disconnected in a way. I mean, a kid died. I don't know, maybe it just didn't resonate with me. I just felt like this story could've worked and been fine without him in it at all. However, I did like the epilogue and Kenji's growth. It was a nice little touch that did remedy some of the issues I had with it.

So with that I can transition onto what I did like in this story. First off, the writing itself was enjoyable through and through. If it weren't for the over-usage of "comforting" (imo), I'd have very little issues with it as a whole. It read really well.

I mentioned earlier the changes to Hanako, so I'll start there. Though I would be interested in seeing how a Hanako more closely resembling VN!Hanako could find friendship with Misha, I understand that would be a daunting task. So this Hanako is fine. The story of her angers and insecurities works well and the way she and Misha come together is believable. I found a lot of her interactions with Misha to be rather cute and fun. Specifically I liked how she and Misha connected of LN's and the story of Misha's drills coming to be. It was cute, fun, and worked well. I liked her characterization, story, and arc in this story.

I also agree that the group scenes as a whole were rather enjoyable. Spare the earlier mentioned gripes, I had fun with the odd "roof gang" and the mishaps they went on, and I enjoyed all the other interesting events that happened throughout like the cooking class, picnics, etc.

I also really enjoyed Shizune's growth the the changes done to the more typical Takashi's we see. That was a fun aspect to read as well. Though I think Shizune transitioned into speaking a little too well a little too fast, it was fine.

Hmm, well I know the "good" section seems rather small by comparison, but just know my overall experience, as I said at the start, was a positive one. I liked this read and enjoyed the majority of the execution. It's hard to go as in depth with the good as you can with the bad, because it starts to feel empty over-praising the good. Basically, good story, thanks for writing, even if I felt like some of it could've gone better.

[Sharp-O]

This was great! I'm glad to see other people agreeing that any other partner for Hanako is better than Hisao Especially ones that challenge her, engage her with humour, and essentially goad her into improving herself.

Good job, Fancopter!

[Hanako Fancopter]

It's a bit surreal to log back on here and see people still commenting on this five years later. Part of me almost regrets that I wrote it, it feels like something that was done by another person. But it probably gave me some amount of writing practice for other things, and at least a few people still find enjoyment in it.

[Konun]

Have read this story multiple times over the last few years and it is one of my favourites.