Katawa Shoujo Forums

Guest Poster wrote:No. It was never the guy's duty to fix Emi's trauma for her or put up with the stonewalling for an extended amount of time. It was a highschool relationship, not a marriage. The guy started it with certain expectations and broke it off when it became clear that Emi wasn't able to meet those expectations. He was her highschool boyfriend, not her therapist.

BTW, I'm kinda wondering if the nurse never tried referring Emi to Yamaku's therapists. As far as I know those therapists are there exactly because part of the student body has a condition as a result of some nasty accident and PTSD symptoms are probably higher than average in Yamaku's student base. Maybe he knew Emi wasn't going to attend therapy anyway or maybe his personal bond with Emi got in the way.

Emi is so stubborn, I wouldn't be surprised if her and the nurse had several fights over the matter of therapy before he finally decided that she wasn't going to do it

Xanatos wrote:

Katie wrote:So, to take this conversation a step further, does anyone think it was needlessly cruel to break up with someone that had undergone so much trauma, and that Emi's boyfriend should have shown more tolerance to her situation - no matter how many years it took, or even if his efforts never reaped fruit at all?

Absolutely not. If anything was cruel, it was her starting a relationship with no intent to ever allow it to grow into anything worthwhile.

different people have different definitions of worthwhile, I'm sure Emi was perfectly happy in her relationship with her old boyfriend, and in her and Hisao's relationship in the beginning/middle

Mahorfeus wrote:I still think that it is a freaking miracle that Hisao had the patience and stubbornness to get through to her.

I think there was some luck involved too. He just managed to catch her on the anniversary of her accident, when her defenses were at their weakest.

Time to lay the cards on the table. Love it when Hisao does that.

BananaPudding wrote:

Xanatos wrote:

Katie wrote:So, to take this conversation a step further, does anyone think it was needlessly cruel to break up with someone that had undergone so much trauma, and that Emi's boyfriend should have shown more tolerance to her situation - no matter how many years it took, or even if his efforts never reaped fruit at all?

Absolutely not. If anything was cruel, it was her starting a relationship with no intent to ever allow it to grow into anything worthwhile.

different people have different definitions of worthwhile, I'm sure Emi was perfectly happy in her relationship with her old boyfriend, and in her and Hisao's relationship in the beginning/middle

Perfectly happy? Yeah, no. No she wasn't. She just wouldn't risk any greater happiness because that would also risk losing that greater happiness.

[quote="Xanatos"
Perfectly happy? Yeah, no. No she wasn't. She just wouldn't risk any greater happiness because that would also risk losing that greater happiness.[/quote]
yea your right, bad choice of words on my part, I meant more that she was perfectly "fine"

BananaPudding wrote:

Xanatos wrote: Perfectly happy? Yeah, no. No she wasn't. She just wouldn't risk any greater happiness because that would also risk losing that greater happiness.

yea your right, bad choice of words on my part, I meant more that she was perfectly "fine"

A woman who says she's "fine" is going to make your sorry ass sleep on the couch. I like to think her first was the track captain and he got turned off of chicks by her issues.

Either way, Emi's first relationship was wrecked by her distance. Hisao got lucky.

I can see where it would get pretty frustrating for a guy. Especially if they're a sensitive type. Having someone constantly changing the subject, going on about running, or suggesting they go get ice cream when you want to sit down and have a frank talk about your feelings to try and form a closer emotional bond can get pretty frustrating.

I guess its why she and Rin are so close. Rin doesn't give a damn how Emi is feeling at any particular moment.

pandaphil wrote:I can see where it would get pretty frustrating for a guy. Especially if they're a sensitive type. Having someone constantly changing the subject, going on about running, or suggesting they go get ice cream when you want to sit down and have a frank talk about your feelings to try and form a closer emotional bond can get pretty frustrating.

I guess its why she and Rin are so close. Rin doesn't give a damn how Emi is feeling at any particular moment.

They aren't so close though. I believe Rin mentions Emi is not really a friend and Emi just thinks Rin is "weird". But yeah, Emi likes Rin because Rin doesn't question her or seek closeness and Rin likes Emi because she just runs (ha) with anything Rin says instead of asking for clarification.

For casual friends (or even good ones who know you have off-limit topics), that is good enough.

Katie wrote:So, to take this conversation a step further, does anyone think it was needlessly cruel to break up with someone that had undergone so much trauma, and that Emi's boyfriend should have shown more tolerance to her situation - no matter how many years it took, or even if his efforts never reaped fruit at all?

How do we know her boyfriend hadn't gone through worse? Let's face it, you don't exactly go to Yamaku because you're bad at math.

Katie wrote:So, to take this conversation a step further, does anyone think it was needlessly cruel to break up with someone that had undergone so much trauma, and that Emi's boyfriend should have shown more tolerance to her situation - no matter how many years it took, or even if his efforts never reaped fruit at all?

How could he know about the trauma when its likely that she shut him down whenever he asked about it?

pandaphil wrote: How could he know about the trauma when its likely that she shut him down whenever he asked about it?

It did take quite a bit of scouting on Hisao's ending, as well as some taking of subtle hints, in order to come across on anything remotely along the lines of Emi's issues. All of that, as well as a bit of pressuring, before he was given the full story. Remember that this is also on Emi's period of personal weakness, it taking place around the date of the traumatic experience. As mentioned before.

We know almost nothing about the boyfriend, aside from the fact he was unable to push against Emi, over some obscure line that Hisao barely managed to cross himself. Though, on Emi's side, the whole point of the issue is that her trauma causes her to keep a barrier between herself and those that she loves. And not all relationships were meant to work out, considering most don't, during high school. Simply assuming, the boy probably couldn't handle the complications in the relationship, as he might've become overburdened with the mental/emotional stress. Much to he and Emi's dismay/frustration, perhaps.

On what Oddball said, maybe Emi's first boyfriend might've had his own issues, as well. There's definitely a stubborn side to our no-legged track star, so while I would love to talk about that, that post (and a majority of what's been/will be said in this thread) would be heavily based on and built towards speculation.

Stupid thread ahead...

Actually, no. The game clearly states what happened, but asking for different views of the truth doesn't make you stupid. Thread approved.

Katie wrote:So, to take this conversation a step further, does anyone think it was needlessly cruel to break up with someone that had undergone so much trauma, and that Emi's boyfriend should have shown more tolerance to her situation - no matter how many years it took, or even if his efforts never reaped fruit at all?

Nope.

The highest respect you can show to a girl like Emi is to not take her trauma into consideration and respect her as a full and unbroken human being.

Once you add pity to the mixture you dont really respect nor love the person.

So it would be best if the guy just dumped her without even thinking about her legs nor her past history IMHO.

Also, Emi´s issues arent that bad. She is not psychotic, just a bit neurotic, which most of us are in one way or another. Considering what she went through (lost of legs + father) she managed pretty well. She is also young, and a lot of people have psychological problems in their teens, trauma or not. So, all in all, she is doing quite well.
She is not shy. She is open for physical contact. She is open for relationships. Yes, she has issues, but she works on them. Maybe she doesnt even need a psychologist, just time. And that is what happens in her arc. Maybe she would figure out her problems on her own. In her past relationship maybe neither she or her boyfriend were ready to deal with her issues. Its not the guys fault anyway, most teens can barely manage their own problems.

And you can see Emi is reaching out by the way she goes after Hisao. She is the most pro-active of all the girls, even inviting him to run with her, spend more time with her and even ask him to eat with her.