The Hanako Thread - Spoilers, obviously

[DRKO]

It was a masterpiece, a true work of art. The work of Four Leaf Studios can certainly rival that of professionally-developed works in earnest.

Many manly tears were shed... Certainly an emotional rollercoaster.

[Shockproof Jamo]

Well, I'm currently almost 11 hours into Hanako's path (slow reader, I know), and after everything that I've seen so far... I am sold. Completely and utterly. At the beginning of Act 4, all I can say is... this is just too good. Thank you, KS Devs, for going trough all this. I don't know what drove you, but I'm glad it was there to the end. This game, this VN, is just pure gold. Your talent for an indie team is just remarkable. The art, the writing... It's not often in history, when something of this level of high quality gets released to the public completely free of charge, willingly by it's own developers.

What we got is indeed not some hentai fuck fest at all, like many VN's tend to be. This is definitely more like an in-depth character study, where the creators have clearly put effort into understanding what they're writing about. Hanako's case has so far gotten a very touching treatment. The writer seems to understand traumatized people extremely well, and instead of offering quick solutions, like the popular VN cliché "fucking makes everything better", Mr. Nakai indeed needs to be very careful with his choices, or face the results of destroying this delicate flower called Hanako. Wonderful, an excellent execution of the idea that had it's humble beginnings in a single piece of probably semi-accidentally created concept art.

Sad to see that the team is now disbanding, but by God, what a way to go.

[Uliana]

While I did get the aesop of Hanako's route the first time round (got her good end on the first try YES), reading all the posts here made me understand those lessons a little bit more. Then I realized they shed a light on another aspect of Hanako's personality: her love of games.

Hanako as we know loves games, her favorite being chess. And we know that she's also knowledgeable in games like pool. Then I realized what those two games have in common: they're 2-player games where both participants are opponents to each other. In Shizune's route Shizune comments something along the lines of that while Hanako is good, she approaches games not from a competitive angle but from an emotional one: she doesn't play to win (even though Hanako has a competitive streak all her own, as revealed by her reading up on advanced chess moves). And now I know why.

Because in a game where your friend is your opponent, it's one of the times where she truly feels like an equal. The "White Knight and Broken Bird" (as someone here well described) mentality has no place to manifest in a setting where the one you're trying to protect is your enemy, and Hanako can truly show that she has abilities that her partner can respect in the capacity as equals. Note how it's implied that Hisao and Hanako were closest playing in the pool tables, with both trying to outmatch each other and the former even acknowledging how Hanako is good at the game. The Hanako we see gaming isn't the shy and introverted girl we know, but one filled with confidence at her abilities.

Someone give this girl a gaming console for... rehabilitation purposes please.

[Brogurt]

That's deep, man
And I have no reason whatsoever to disagree with it.
I might guess that that's the reason why she doesn't seem to mind losing very much (correct me if I'm wrong). If anyone were to go easy on her and let her win, that might imply that they don't have enough respect for her to consider her a challenge, or a threat. And the big thing in her route is that she does not want to be pitied.

I cannot imagine how awesome it would be to play Street Fighter or Marvel vs. Capcom with her.

[Clankmaster]

I did Hanako's path first and damn near cried. I ended up with the bad ending but went back a few saves and got the neutral ending and good ending. They were all emotionally draining and for now I think ill take a brake before I do any of the other paths. I will probably do Rin's path next since i hear its really good and I loved her act 1 story line. I was really sad when I got to the end of Hanako's good ending and found no epilogue, but i guess the dev team left it open like that so you can infer about what happened.

[AshWullfer]

After playing Hanako path 24 hour....(Yeah...i play wile reading you know...) i feel pain in her back ground story....beying bully since Elementary....Lost her parent in burning house aciden...no wonder she afraid to meet some body until today.

This is the first time....i would say....i like you Hanako....
BTW, i already got the 3 ending (Sad, Normal, and Best) and complete all her capter.
When i get a sad ending....i fell sad, to see her anggry and....kick out Hisao out her room.
See for your self.

[xeno]

Just here to say that Hanako, when she's playing pool, is hot as hell.

[ultrarare]

Just here to say that Hanako, when she's playing pool, is hot as hell.

You're not the only one!

My reaction:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WlpBO3L6UJo

Ah, my lightly-toasted waifu.

[groundzero123]

They were all emotionally draining and for now I think ill take a brake before I do any of the other paths.

I see Im not the only one...

[Exterminator 2000]

In addition to my first post I have to say that Hanako's path seems to be affecting me quite a bit. To be honest, I didn't get much sleep tonight as my subconscious couldn't really shut down, and I'm still reflecting on the story now. To make things clear, this is nothing bad, like suppressed negative feelings coming up or something; it rather inspired me to think a lot about my life, and what kind of person I am (or want to be). That is something that only world-class literature or the very best of movies may do in a person: Taking their thoughts to beyond the story, and reflecting on one's own life. This is especially true since I can relate both to Hisao as well as Hanako in more than one way.

What can I say? This is a masterpiece, a one-in-a-million lucky strike, especially considering the hardships the developers no doubt went through. Yet they put all their heart and effort into it and managed to get this wonderful thing called Katawa Shoujo done. You have my deepest respect, 4 Leaf Studios. I'm looking forward to the other paths, and I'm not expecting them to be worse, merely different.

Regarding something that has already been said, I'd like to agree: The sex scene was as tastefully and believable as possible given the circumstances, though that seems only fitting given that is has such an impact on the story and its ending. Bravo!

They were all emotionally draining and for now I think ill take a brake before I do any of the other paths.

I see Im not the only one...

Yup, you're not alone. I need to distract myself with a few other things before I continue with KS. I think I'm going to take Shizune's or Emi's path next (hoping they're a little more upbeat overall).

Because in a game where your friend is your opponent, it's one of the times where she truly feels like an equal. The "White Knight and Broken Bird" (as someone here well described) mentality has no place to manifest in a setting where the one you're trying to protect is your enemy, and Hanako can truly show that she has abilities that her partner can respect in the capacity as equals. Note how it's implied that Hisao and Hanako were closest playing in the pool tables, with both trying to outmatch each other and the former even acknowledging how Hanako is good at the game. The Hanako we see gaming isn't the shy and introverted girl we know, but one filled with confidence at her abilities.

Someone give this girl a gaming console for... rehabilitation purposes please.

My goodness, you are right. I can't believe I didn't really understand it before. Now that you say it it makes all the more sense. Thank you for pointing this out! I had somehow, subconconsciously, felt it was something like this, but hadn't put much thought into it beyond that. Thanks!

It was a masterpiece, a true work of art. The work of Four Leaf Studios can certainly rival that of professionally-developed works in earnest.

Many manly tears were shed... Certainly an emotional rollercoaster.

Well, I'm currently almost 11 hours into Hanako's path (slow reader, I know), and after everything that I've seen so far... I am sold. Completely and utterly. At the beginning of Act 4, all I can say is... this is just too good. Thank you, KS Devs, for going trough all this. I don't know what drove you, but I'm glad it was there to the end. This game, this VN, is just pure gold. Your talent for an indie team is just remarkable. The art, the writing... It's not often in history, when something of this level of high quality gets released to the public completely free of charge, willingly by it's own developers.
[...]

Once again, I have to agree with what has already been said. I couldn't have said it better. It makes me truly happy to see that my hopes and high expectations weren't disappointed. Though reading some of the blog posts in the past already strengthened my confidence in 4LS a lot. They're true artists, and I think it is safe to say they have grown much and became professionals during the creation of KS - in the very best sense. They know what they are doing (or were doing).

[Deltamon]

In addition to my first post I have to say that Hanako's path seems to be affecting me quite a bit. To be honest, I didn't get much sleep tonight as my subconscious couldn't really shut down, and I'm still reflecting on the story now. To make things clear, this is nothing bad, like suppressed negative feelings coming up or something; it rather inspired me to think a lot about my life, and what kind of person I am (or want to be).

That's quite interesting, since it's been doing the same thing for me, but for me it's much more in negative sense. Since quite often after I watch or read stories like this, I start to reflect it to my own life which hasn't been all that good or happy and after that follows the inevidable feeling of loneliness. So while I do really love stories like this, and I really enjoy good romantic stories with happy endings.. It always ends up reminding of my own life, and how I haven't found my happy ending yet. Especially considering that I'm turning 26 this year, and most of the stories like this are based around school life, where my own school life was more or less living hell. It always get's me the feeling like I missed something in my life and it's next to impossible to get it back now even if I wished. But I was just always too shy or too badly hurt by others to even be able to do anything for it back then.

It's not the first time I'm getting this feeling, and I'm sure it won't be the last time..

[Exterminator 2000]

That's quite interesting, since it's been doing the same thing for me, but for me it's much more in negative sense. Since quite often after I watch or read stories like this, I start to reflect it to my own life which hasn't been all that good or happy and after that follows the inevidable feeling of loneliness. So while I do really love stories like this, and I really enjoy good romantic stories with happy endings.. It always ends up reminding of my own life, and how I haven't found my happy ending yet. Especially considering that I'm turning 26 this year, and most of the stories like this are based around school life, where my own school life was more or less living hell. It always get's me the feeling like I missed something in my life and it's next to impossible to get it back now even if I wished. But I was just always too shy or too badly hurt by others to even be able to do anything for it back then.

To be honest, I understand everything single word of what you're saying far better than I'd like to. Usually, that is also the way it is for me; this time, however, I try to dismiss any negative feelings as they aren't helpful at all and instead focus on the positive aspects: Hanako and Hisao both seem to be strong enough to find their path and take their future into their own hands in the end. I find this inspiring to say the least.

It's not the first time I'm getting this feeling, and I'm sure it won't be the last time..

Probably not, but you can never be sure of that. Also, even if it doesn't help you right now, know this: you are not alone in this boat. I turned 27 a few months ago and I have had very similar feelings for a long time. Hell, I still do, at times. But I don't want to anymore. Thanks to my school life I suffered a lot from social anxiety (though not as much as Hanako) for a long time after school, probably without most people around me even noticing. I knew that I did, and I didn't want to, so I forced my self to go out more, even if it was only accompanying a family member or friend when going shopping. Small steps, really. And I won't even say that I am completely free of it even know. But that's what life is like: Doing small steps, getting forward with each step. And I really like how Hanako's path has managed to make this clear.

In a nutshell, I'd say that life is both about getting up each time you fall down as well as constantly trying to move forward and improve things: Yourself, your life, the person you are, and maybe even the world itself. KS certainly made me want to do it.

[Doc Forrest]

Finally found my username, so I thought I would do this properly.

*bows*

Weee, cpl_crud, thank you for providing such a rich story for Hanako. Well played indeed.

[WTF]

So after around 7-8 hours of reading/play I finished the Hanako-Path completely and I must state that it was just simply amazing. I almost cried of joy when I got the happy ending, I was really sad when I got the bad one and I was happy for both Hanako and Hisao when I got the normal one. The writer and the artists did an incredible job with this path. I share the feelings some of the people allready wrote down some pages back. I also am too taken up by Hanako's part of the story and probably will take one or two days off before starting another part (which will be Rin's I guess, because she interests me the most apart from Hanako of course). However I have one point that I didn't like about this part of KS. It's the adult-scene in the whole storry. I know I'm probably too spoiled from reading/viewing AAA+ grade Eroges but still I think that the whole was a bit too stif and hard to get trough. The art itself was okish but it was way less astonishing than the usual images (especially the pool-artwork made me go O.O), the text was really very hard to read for me. I will probably replay the Hanako part sometimes later with leaving the adult-content out because I think that the whole thing could be even better without it. Apart from that the whole story about Hanako, her past and the things that were necessairy to make her the person she is now really touched me a lot, I really hope that in the end she found what she searched for and is happy (mind drifting off right now)...

To wrap this whole thing up I would like to thank the devs again for delivering such an amazing pice of art and for filling the last days before the start of the second half of the school-year with something as amazing as this. At the same time I'm really sad, that the whole thing is "over" now, I really would like to see a second KS coming out at some point but I guess that after 5 years of hard work the 4LS needs some time off before doing anything into that dirrection (if it ever will happen at all).

[Deltamon]

However I have one point that I didn't like about this part of KS. It's the adult-scene in the whole storry. I know I'm probably too spoiled from reading/viewing AAA+ grade Eroges but still I think that the whole was a bit too stif and hard to get trough. The art itself was okish but it was way less astonishing than the usual images (especially the pool-artwork made me go O.O), the text was really very hard to read for me. I will probably replay the Hanako part sometimes later with leaving the adult-content out because I think that the whole thing could be even better without it.

There's reasons why the sex scene was bit awkward.. And I'm surprised that so many people missed out why, even if it was clearly explained bit later in the story.. And I really loved the artwork of that scene, especially the part where it starts with Hanako showing her burn marks on her back.. It's really artistic picture and I have it as my wallpaper right now.. As for the other parts, it was supposed to be as it is because of how it's related to the story. I still find Hanako really attractive however in those pictures, maybe even bit too much considering how badly she was supposed to be burned.. But like I said before, you have to imagine how it would be with those kind of burns in real life to get the right attitude towards them (I don't suggest you to go check burned skin images from the google tho, like I just did.. Some of the pictures are really disturbing).

However, leaving out the adult content would mean that you are skipping out really important part of the whole story.. I don't really suggest it.