Favourite Route

[elk9]

I would say my favorite was Emi's. Mostly because their relationship felt so natural. I must say Emi's bad end left me feeling bitter and helpless. When Hisao meets her in the track and Emi acts like nothing happened and even says she actually slept well and Hisao thinks to himself: "Again, that smile." Then Hisao calls out at her for the last time and she responds very irritated "What!" Damn it, my heart felt so much pain that I actually felt kind of depressed.

Hopefully, I tried again and got the good ending in which Hisao runs after her and delivers an awesome speech and says that he doesn't care if she does not tell him about her past, he'll just give her affection freely. And then followed by Emi's fabulous CG where she finally breaks down and opens up to him.

Of course the rest of the routes were masterfully done. I must admit I cried in Hanako and Lilly's routes. I enjoyed the scene where Rin and Hisao just lay on the floor motionless, smoking in the Atelier. For Shizune's route, I really enjoyed Hisao's internal monologues, especially the one at the final scene, of course Kenji and Jigoro's rants were pure gold. I'm so glad there were many styles of writing so that at least everyone enjoyed a specific route.

[Sephiru]

Wow, I'm surprised so few voted for Shizune. That's my second favorite. Really close tie.

[quellsnarg]

Wow, I'm surprised so few voted for Shizune. That's my second favorite. Really close tie.

Shizune is my favorite character, but all in all I think Emi's was a better route, and I think Rin's was the most well written... if I had to rank them by how good they are technically, Shizune would probably be square in the middle. I still love Shizune tons though and hers will probably be the first that I play again.

[BlanketGhost]

Hanako's route... hands down.

I mean you kind of have a relationship set up with the other girls mid-way through story, but for Hanako...

It was a long and painful struggle between the two, but at the end. It was worth it...

Truly worth it.

[DuaneMoody]

Faggots, the lot of you.

[Thrasher Thetic]

Faggots, the lot of you.

Wow, props for the SHI HEIL propaganda poster. +1 internets good sir.

[danyo]

Lilly's is my favorite one, mainly because not one, but 2 girls end up having a better life. Lilly get's to stay with the people she knows and loves, and hanako ends up making new friends and interests.

My favorite girl though would probably be emi, I just like her cheerfulness.

[fcd15]

Lilly's the best. Nothing touches that. Nothing ever will.

It's 5am right now and I'm really sleepy, but I felt like just blurting out my opinion. I'll give it some more though tomorrow, but you know what I mean. She's the best. She's deservingly winning the poll. That's enough for me to take my leave. Good night

[contown]

I always worry that these polls might depress the writers that didn't get the highest votes...

[zanzarra]

Emi. It was the first route I ended up with, and after having played the demo first and being really interested in Rin, I felt disappointed at first, because from what I've seen so far, she just didn't interest me very much.

I was proven wrong.

All of the KS characters are wonderfully written, but Emis route has exactly the right mix of drama, fun, romance, etc. to make it an overall enjoyable story.

Character-wise, I'ld have to vote for Rin, though. I can relate to her trouble with expressing yourself with words and I really agree on her dislike for labels where there isn't a need for them.
Her route comes as a close second, but it's a bit too emotionally exhausting to be my favorite.

The routes Lilly and Shizune both tell nice stories with good endings that make you think, but they didn't touch me emotionally, as much.

Hanakos route was very emotional for me too, but it was ruined a bit by Hisao, who is after her for the wrong reasons until far too late.

Overall, I love how every route really tells a different story, inspiring different thoughts - all of them forced me to reflect on a lot, wich is always a wonderful thing if an entertainment medium manages that.
This was my first VN and I really feared at the beginning that it'd be just "picking the girl that appealed to me the most" and then playing through a little story until I "get the girl" in the end.

[danyo]

I always worry that these polls might depress the writers that didn't get the highest votes...

I'm pretty sure that the dev's ( I hope at least ) are fully aware that a lot of people like multiple routes, if not all of them. I think they'll be able to take pride in that, they all worked together and made 5 amazing stories, while they still all felt very different.

[A Humbled Fan]

Honestly, now that I've played through all but Rin's, they've all shined in their own way. Sure, not all of them touched me like Hanko's, or made me laugh like Misha has, but they are all incredible pieces. The authors should take great pride in what they've done.

[newnar]

No doubt, Hanako.

[Pomegranate]

I honestly can't understand the love for Lilly. I guess I personally feel like she's very...fake and somewhat condescending with her 'refined' attitude. Maybe I'm just uncultured for never meeting a woman with that kind of attitude towards life but it struck me as her kind of not feeling that other people were worthy of her actual thoughts, just her thoughts through a whipped cream filter so they were perfect and calm.

My favorite has to be Emi's, it took me totally by surprise though. When I began the VN I only intended to play 1, maybe 2 routes because I was talked into it, and felt kind of strange about dating a girl with no arms or no legs. My first time through, despite shooting for Lilly at the insistence of the person that convinced me to try it, I ended up at Emi's and ragequit and started over. After going through Lilly, Hanako, and Shizune, I finally decided to suck it up and deal with my discomfort and was blown away by Emi. The natural feeling of their relationship just was unrivalled. Even the sex sex sex more sex didn't seem unnatural to me, if only because I can see where she's coming from based on my own life, lol. But in the end she hit closest to home and had to be a favorite.

[Dave1]

I honestly can't understand the love for Lilly. I guess I personally feel like she's very...fake and somewhat condescending with her 'refined' attitude. Maybe I'm just uncultured for never meeting a woman with that kind of attitude towards life but it struck me as her kind of not feeling that other people were worthy of her actual thoughts, just her thoughts through a whipped cream filter so they were perfect and calm.

My favorite has to be Emi's, it took me totally by surprise though. When I began the VN I only intended to play 1, maybe 2 routes because I was talked into it, and felt kind of strange about dating a girl with no arms or no legs. My first time through, despite shooting for Lilly at the insistence of the person that convinced me to try it, I ended up at Emi's and ragequit and started over. After going through Lilly, Hanako, and Shizune, I finally decided to suck it up and deal with my discomfort and was blown away by Emi. The natural feeling of their relationship just was unrivalled. Even the sex sex sex more sex didn't seem unnatural to me, if only because I can see where she's coming from based on my own life, lol. But in the end she hit closest to home and had to be a favorite.

I kind of got the opposite reaction. I tend to think people who are "refined" are normally extra polite and courteous, rather than condescending. And with her not letting people in on her thoughts,that's really the entire conflict of the route. She doesn't want to be a burden on anyone, including hisao. It's not until the end that she opens up enough to allow him to help her with her issues.

I enjoyed Emi's route alot. Honestly I think its probably a little more accurate as far as a highschool romance goes. But it didn't give the same emotional reaction that Lilly's did.