Katawa Shoujo Forums

In short, put your house in order first before doing anything else. Doesn't just apply to countries.

Thnks guys. This threads giving me a lot to think about.Thanks for starting it.

pandaphil wrote:Thnks guys. This threads giving me a lot to think about.Thanks for starting it.

No prob. I tossed out what I think about Hanako, others tossed in theirs, we think about it, everything was cool.

Next up Emi by popular demand of one vote as of me starting to write this post.

Emi is the kind of girl who will (literally) run over anybody who gets in the way of a good time. Our first meeting with the legless track star results in her plowing into Hisao like a quarterback on the football field. With a first impression such as this, anybody would have a hard time forgetting her. Emi is the star of the track team despite the distinct lack of flesh-and-bone legs below the knees. She gets along well with acquaintances on the track team and isn't known to pass up a party lightly. She makes obvious efforts to help the "messy-haired transfer student who looks lost around the track" when she could just as easily laughed at the pathetic wimp clumsily attempting to deal with his own plights. She can try her hardest to look a cute as she can one minute and then be brazen enough curse louder and harder than the salty sailors she desires to become. With all of this combined, she is bright, friendly, not afraid to show her less than feminine characteristics, and quite possibly the second Genkiest girl to be found in the game behind Misha.

Those who have not read Emi's path might question, "How can anything be wrong with such a friendly girl?" Those who put the effort into reading between the lines can say that she is just an actor. She can act friendly, she can show concern, she can even drag the new guy off the track when he suffers a heart flutter but through it all she is just wearing a mask to keep people off her back. This doesn't mean that Emi is just some cold robot without the ability to feel. On some deep level of her mind, she does care about the people around her but the first thing that is always on her mind is "I was broken once by caring too much. I will not let that happen again".

This may just be my own brand of paranoia taking over but I had Emi pegged as a type A stepford smiler since act 2. I saw this because that was basically me through high school and to a lesser extent even now. She has already established a base personality upon herself that mimics herself before her accident that everybody is familiar with. The bright and friendly girl who can take anything can keep on coming. She has become a master at maintaining her current personality among the local population because she knows what they expect her do to in any given event like when she, Rin and Hisao tried to go out for a picnic and it started to rain. Sure she was upset the rain came uninvited but how often do you see somebody act up that much when plans get ruined by nature? I have every confidence that if Emi were to move away from Yamaku and she wanted to put on a different personality around a new group of people, she could pull it off expertly like Roger from American Dad. I know this for a fact because I did the exact same thing when I started to attend college just to see what would happen and that was well before I had even heard about Katawa Shoujo.

Going through all this can make a guy say "Just what got into her to make her do this?" Emi and her father were unfortunate victims of a car crash. Emi lost both her legs below the knees and her father died before he even reached the hospital. From what most of us can gather from the game, she and her father shared a very close bond and he was the source of Emi's interest in running. I'm not going to try to interpret what her bond to her father was but it was strong enough where she wanted to be able to run again even though she had lost her legs. The head nurse of Yamaku as we later learn from the man himself was also the nurse who looked after Emi following the accident. He told us that Emi was so determined to be able to walk and eventually run again that she would continue to practice on her prosthetics so long after everybody else that her stumps would bleed. Even told Hisao that they had to hold her back from practicing too much or she may have even caused irreversible damage to herself that would prevent her from walking period. Emi was desperate to regain some sense of normalcy after the accident and for her, the connection between her now dead father and running was it.

After the rehabilitation and gaining the ability to walk on prosthetics, her personality mirrored what it was before the accident. She returned to school, she joined the track team, she enjoyed life, she even got a boyfriend (before Hisao) for a time. Almost nobody who didn't know her before the accident could even guess what she had been through. I could and I'm sure other readers did too. Through act 2 and 3, there would be tiny slip-ups. Her face would take on a hint of melancholy at strange times, often when the subject of running or her future was mentioned. During one of their daily morning runs, Hisao noted that her smile seamed off. He put is as a tightness that made it look like Emi was fighting a losing battle and didn't even care. She would either deflect or completely evade questions about her future presumably because she just hasn't considered it yet. She acted somewhat defensive when Hisao began to question if she ever spent time with anybody other than Rin when other people would probably just give a straight answer. Even in that same conversation, Emi had that depressed and melancholic expression when she said that her father got her into running.

Since the accident that took both her legs and her father, Emi had set up a wall both stronger and less obvious than Hanako's. This does not mean that she considered herself a lost cause. Emi still truly wanted to enjoy her life but to her, the only way to do that was on her own. Emi (and the nurse too I think, could be wrong) mentioned that she had a boyfriend before Hisao. I believe they enjoyed a similar relationship as Emi and Hisao did and I'm not totally convinced that Hisao was the first to get in bed with her. However, the relationship between Emi and the other guy became strained when Emi didn't want him getting any closer to her than they already were. This caused them to eventually break up because the other guy wanted more than what Hisao roughly called "friends with benefits". And then came along Hisao.

Out of nowhere, the new guy happens to be in the hall and Emi flattens him like a pancake, making him firmly aware of the "fastest girl on no legs". They have lunch on the roof, she convinces him to start running in the morning with her, said running almost gives him another heart attack and she drags him to the nurse. And that was just the start. Even if she didn't intend for it to happen, she began to care for him in her own way, whether that was telling him to work more to improve his heart or slapping fried food out of his hand during the festival and trying to brush it off as "helping the new guy". Notice how Emi is the only girl where you don't see the fireworks at the end of the festival. Granted that was more Hisao's fault due to him leaving early for a slice of cake and homework but still.

Over time, Emi seemed to put more stock in Hisao. She showed real concern for Hisao the day after her track meet when he mentioned a small chest pain. When she got sick after running in the rain, Hisao was the one to actually see if she was ok instead of calling like her coach did. When Emi got an infection on one of her legs, she was completely distraught by the fact that she had to be in a wheelchair for a few weeks. It was Hisao that she called instead of the track captain or even her friend Rin. The day after her cold, Emi blatantly stated that she had a small crush on Hisao which lead to their first kiss. Coming from a girl who had almost resigned to a life alone, it was like Hanako thanking Hisao for reading with her in the library with her during the festival.

The tipping point for Emi was when she was forced into a wheelchair on the nurse's orders. She knew that she was having problems with her leg but she wanted to ignore it and hoped it would go away for fear that she would be stuck in a wheelchair. We know how that turned out. The tipping point wasn't the fact that her leg got infected; it was the fact she was in a wheelchair and couldn't run to take her mind off her troubles. After the initial shock of his girlfriend in a wheelchair subsided, one thing led to another and the two found themselves grinding against each other followed by a perfectly timed intrusion by Rin. By the time exams com up, Emi stated that she was having too much fun with Hisao to be able to study for them and wanted to stop hanging out after school for a few weeks. I believe this is at least partially true since friends can be distracting when you try to study she also mentioned that she was having trouble sleeping which led me to believe that she didn't want Hisao to see her so distraught from the nightmares about the accident. By this point, I am confident in saying that this is where she fell in love with Hisao but refused to either show or acknowledge it.

After the exams were over and gaining permission to wear her prosthetics again, Hisao displayed his concern for Emi which erupted in Emi taking offence at the idea that somebody could see her as broken and wanted to fix her like some guy bringing his car into the shop for repairs. "I've already had everything I knew ripped away from me once. I don't know what I'd do if it happened again. So I can't rely on you. Or the nurse. Or anyone else. Just me. That's how it's got to be." Hisao was understandably floored by such a blatant rebuff of his care for her as I'm sure many of you were too. The next day at the track, we got to see just how good of an actor Emi really was. She was bright and sunny just like always and after a moment, said that she was able to sleep better because of the talk the previous night. Emi telling Hisao that she slept better because she refused his concern for her was just a kick in the balls no matter how you look at it. What made it worse for Hisao was that Emi was still acting all friendly and nice, even commenting on a good run as if expecting that nothing was going to change between them after the talk the night before. Even Hisao thought that she was putting on an act.

Here's the kicker. By this point Emi isn't just acting, it's a double- layered act. The top level is what we see; a type b tsunder girl who will act friendly by default but will get pissed when you press her on the wrong subject. The second level going on in her head is that of a confused girl wondering just who hell this stupid guy is for trying to be the knight on the white horse and try to save her from her problems. The bottom level, the true Emi, is confused about Hisao's concern for her. The true Emi sees a guy that she helped for little reason other than that she could trying to help her. This Emi doesn't yet recognize the fact that Hisao may feel more for her than that of just friendship. The nurse even said that if Emi told Hisao that she was having nightmares about the accident (and she did), then he was making progress and even said that Hisao had about the best chance out of anyone to help her at that point of the year. In the same conversation and to prove the nurse right, Emi barges in and invites Hisao for dinner at her house.

Most of dinner went along fine. They eat a good home-cooked meal, they talk and they joke with each other, Emi insults Rin's mural to avoid the subject of her accident and recovery. Then Emi's mom mentioned if Emi would visit her father that year which caused Emi to "go to the bathroom" for a bit. Hisao talks to her mother for a bit for some advice when Emi Kicked him out of the house, feeling betrayed by her mother for thinking that she told Hisao the full story and at Hisao for prying so much into what Emi thought as something he didn't absolutely need to know. It was an entire week before Hisao was able articulate his thoughts enough and confront Emi on the roof. It was there on the roof that Hisao was able to break through Emi's wall of defenses and all of her acting and got right to the point. "I'm not going to help you because I think you need Rescuing. I don't want to be a knight rescuing the damsel in distress. I want to help you, even though I know you can do it on your own". It was also there on the roof where Hisao confessed to Emi and cemented their relationship.

The following day, they got in a quick run, hopped on the early bus and went to Emi's house for lunch. After lunch, Mrs. Ibarazaki, Emi, and Hisao, got in her car and drove to the cemetery to pay their respects to Emi's father. Emi confessed that losing her father convinced her that few people were worth getting close to if it meant they could be taken away so easily. Emi confessed that she fell in love with Hisao and then tried to push him away before some unforeseen thing or event took him first. This whole time, Emi loved Hisao and feared him being taken away from her would have destroyed what was left of her. They catch a ride back to Yamaku thanks to Mrs. Ibarazaki and go to Emi's dorm room where they shared their first night not as "friends with benefits" but as a couple.


*Looking back again* I am definitely reading too much into characters that don't even exist and I am completely fine with that. Again, I didn't expect my ramblings to go on for so long but then again, a large portion of this instantly goes through my head every time I see her, on top of the fact that you guys asked for it. Even if it was from py point of view, I hope this gave you guys another view on Emi. I think Lilly will be next and will probably be shorter than this.

One thing about Emi was how she sees her mother now. Given her motto of not letting anyone near her, where does that leave her mother?

Personally, I don't think Emi has truly grasped the meaning of being "alone". I get the feeling that she's taking her mother's support of her for granted.

Unlike Emi, I am somewhat quiet, and I do believe that I'm alone, but not lonely. I talk to myself as if there is someone inside me listening. It is not something most people do, and I think Emi don't as well.

I get the feeling that Rin caught onto what Emi was up to. She probably knew that Emi has some reasons for wanting to appearing so hyper (I always thought it was quite impossible for people to be laughing/smiling sincerely all the time.). Being Rin, she doesn't question Emi's motives, but just hang around with her.

YZQ wrote:One thing about Emi was how she sees her mother now. Given her motto of not letting anyone near her, where does that leave her mother?

Personally, I don't think Emi has truly grasped the meaning of being "alone". I get the feeling that she's taking her mother's support of her for granted.

Unlike Emi, I am somewhat quiet, and I do believe that I'm alone, but not lonely. I talk to myself as if there is someone inside me listening. It is not something most people do, and I think Emi don't as well.

I get the feeling that Rin caught onto what Emi was up to. She probably knew that Emi has some reasons for wanting to appearing so hyper (I always thought it was quite impossible for people to be laughing/smiling sincerely all the time.). Being Rin, she doesn't question Emi's motives, but just hang around with her.

Emi's probably your typical teenager who takes her mom for granted. Shes taken the loss in her own quiet way, and tries to be supportive of Emi as much as she can. You kinda wish she'd taken a more active role in helping her daughter recover, but I guess she just figures that she'll grow out of it on her own.

pandaphil wrote:

YZQ wrote:One thing about Emi was how she sees her mother now. Given her motto of not letting anyone near her, where does that leave her mother?

Personally, I don't think Emi has truly grasped the meaning of being "alone". I get the feeling that she's taking her mother's support of her for granted.

Unlike Emi, I am somewhat quiet, and I do believe that I'm alone, but not lonely. I talk to myself as if there is someone inside me listening. It is not something most people do, and I think Emi don't as well.

I get the feeling that Rin caught onto what Emi was up to. She probably knew that Emi has some reasons for wanting to appearing so hyper (I always thought it was quite impossible for people to be laughing/smiling sincerely all the time.). Being Rin, she doesn't question Emi's motives, but just hang around with her.

Emi's probably your typical teenager who takes her mom for granted. Shes taken the loss in her own quiet way, and tries to be supportive of Emi as much as she can. You kinda wish she'd taken a more active role in helping her daughter recover, but I guess she just figures that she'll grow out of it on her own.

Hate to use the "assume=ass out of u and me" wisecrack. But, I guess being a widow with a disabled child in hand means that she had other stuff to take care of, and just have to hope that some things sort themselves out (even when they don't).

I'm going to have to disagree with you on this one.

Emis is energetic, boastful, impulsive, and happy. She feels like people should push themselves to get better and likes helping out others.

The problem lies in the fact that this isn't all there is to Emi. When she slows down enough to think about things, there are still the nightmares, the memories of her father, and her phantom pains. It's just that in her mind, those are her problems to deal with. Nobody else needs to worry about them. Usually they aren't even a big deal. In fact, it's better if people didn't even know they existed. Rather than wearing a mask and pretending to be something she's not, she's just not showing you all the sides to her. People get to see Emi at her best and that's all. She doesn't want anybody to see her weaknesses.

Emi is fairly social. It's just that she can't have any real close friends, because those are the kind of people that want to help you when you're troubled. In a way, Rin is the perfect "safe" friend for Emi, much like Lilly is to Hanako. Rin's inability to express herself means Emi can be friends with her without them every being really close and Rin's odd mannerisms and way of thinking allows Emi to let her guard down just a little without Rin actually thinking (or telling others) that anything may be wrong. Remember what Rin said on her route? Sometimes people cry for no reason.

In many ways, I think Emi's mindset of not letting people close is less a strongly held belief and more of a conscious choice. She likes socializing and having friends. It's just that her fathers death is still something she hasn't gotten over, and experience has taught her that letting people get close only makes it hurt more when they leave.

Emi is quite literally a person that runs away from her problems. She runs because she can't think about her problems and run at the same time. When she's faced with somebody getting too close to her, she pushes them away and suddenly it's not a problem anymore.

YZQ wrote:
Hate to use the "assume=ass out of u and me" wisecrack. But, I guess being a widow with a disabled child in hand means that she had other stuff to take care of, and just have to hope that some things sort themselves out (even when they don't).

You're right of course. I just figured they were your typical teen daughter and parent, who don't quite understand each other despite their mutual pain. I'm afraid I'm still new to this whole 'character analysis' thing, and understanding how people think. Probably why I'm so lonely in RL.

But I'm trying.

I agree, but that's the thing with being true friends: we want to see your good and your bad sides. In fact, if we are seriously good friends, it shouldn't matter; we just want to see you. As Emi learnt in her route, "through thick and thin" is not just an expression. We may not be able to help, but we need to know.

Sometimes, it is strength which allows us to show weakness.

Any chance we could do Rin next? I just finished her story and my, there's a lot there to try and wrap ones brain around.

pandaphil wrote:Any chance we could do Rin next? I just finished her story and my, there's a lot there to try and wrap ones brain around.

Rin is Rin.

Xanatos wrote:

pandaphil wrote:Any chance we could do Rin next? I just finished her story and my, there's a lot there to try and wrap ones brain around.

Rin is Rin.

Have to agree with Xan on this one. I have a personal rule of not speculating her thoughts. Darn one-of-a-kind girl.

Emi seems pretty simple to me, maybe it's because I tend to act the same way.

When Emi lost her father, she probably lost the person she would go to for help during a tragedy of that magnitude. Between the weight of the tragedy itself and losing the person she would confide in, I would imagine the only option she saw was to soldier through and deal with it herself.

She deals with the pain by either toughing it out or uses running as a distraction, and since she has made it this far on her own she feels like she's strong enough to keep going and doesn't need anyone's help. If she doens't need help, and relying on someone else emotionally might just make things worse, why risk it? When Hisao comes along there is the possibility that she will just lose him and he approaches her issues like she's a broken little girl who needs him which is an insult to everything she's endured.

The reason he gets through to her at the end is because he made it clear that he was going to stick around no matter how hard she pushed back, and he tried to approach as an equal. The most important part of that speech in the end was that he focused on how strong and determined she was to help him and he's just trying to do the same for her, as well as the fact that everyone (not just Emi) needs help.

I could be wrong, but everything about her character made perfect sense to me. I don't want to burden friends with my problems and I absolutely hate it when people decide they want to fix a problem in my life. (not that this is a good thing...)

Xanatos wrote:

pandaphil wrote:Any chance we could do Rin next? I just finished her story and my, there's a lot there to try and wrap ones brain around.

Rin is Rin.

Yep... The more I tried to analyze the Rin story, the more confused I became. I loved the ending and it provided a little bit of clarity, which is enough for me.

YZQ wrote:

Xanatos wrote:

pandaphil wrote:Any chance we could do Rin next? I just finished her story and my, there's a lot there to try and wrap ones brain around.

Rin is Rin.

Have to agree with Xan on this one. I have a personal rule of not speculating her thoughts. Darn one-of-a-kind girl.

Rin's thoughts: "What does anatidaephobia mean? Emi's panties are really blue. My nose feels funny. I hope nobody touches my left ear today. Oh hey, a cloud..."

But yeah, figuring out Rin's depths is tricky (though I do try, I refuse to do so publicly). She's just Rin.