Re: Am I the Only One That Didn't Like Lilly's Route?
Posted: Sun Mar 04, 2012 2:21 am
Okay, let's back up a moment. There's a MAJOR issue here that's bothering me: People are not using "Mary Sue" correctly.
This is in part because, as a derogatory term, "Mary Sue" is a term so broad and so flexible as to be largely useless for anything but name-calling. Sure, there are traits that can be narrowed down, and there are three generally levied against "Sues": One, they have no flaws. Two, their abilities are generally extraordinary. Three, due to one and two, they generally garner almost universal admiration from the rest of the story's cast. So let's go with that definition, because we need to define the term before it's any use at all.
Let's tackle these in reverse order. Who treats Lilly with general admiration? Well, Hisao, but he's falling in love with her. Bliss stage and all that; his opinion is biased, and that's normal and expected. Akira is family and her positive opinion is also therefore largely meaningless. Hanako likes her, but her route sheds light on that relationship and makes it less positive than it initially appears. Shizune dislikes her, and everyone seems slightly on the positive side of neutral.
What are Lilly's extraordinary abilities? Let's be frank, she doesn't really have any. Her academics are never really touched upon. Her hearing, sightless navigation, and sense of touch are good, but they're good because she needs them to compensate for her lack of sight. Outside of those realms, her abilities aren't ever really touched on. Well, I guess we do know that she's mediocre at chess; Hanako beats her and Shizune beats Hanako.
What are Lilly's flaws? Well, she has minor personality problems, certainly, the kind that might be expected of any individual. But she doesn't really have flaws, per se, not in the way that all of the other central characters do. But, I contend, this is the point: Lilly's story brings to the forefront the flaws in Hisao, our protagonist, that have developed due to his heart condition. Lilly is a relatively static character, but that's because Lilly's route is really written more as Hisao's, serving as the story of how he comes to terms with the way his life has changed. There is conflict in the story, but until late in the story, all of it is internal, resting entirely on Hisao's slow adaptation to his new life. All of that internal conflict serves to slowly push Hisao forward such that when external conflict does arise, late in the story, Hisao is in a position to realize how flawed his attitudes are and begin to change so that he can be caretaker as well as the one taken care of.
Lilly does not have a complex dealing with her sight because both Hisao and the story hold that attitude up as an end goal of Hisao's development. She's presented as someone who is used to her disability and doesn't really let it bother her. And I think it's a good thing to have one character who has it all together in a game like Katawa Shoujo. Part of the message of the work as a whole is that people with disabilities are, at the end of the day, still just people. Their disabilities don't define them any more than our lack of disability defines any of us, and some people come to that realization sooner than others. I think the work needed a Lilly to tie it together and add a spectrum of attitudes to the cast.
So in summary: I do think Lilly's route is well-written, but you have to see it for what it is. It's a rare inversion of the "guy meets girl, helps girl solve all of her problems, girl falls for him" story cliche, and the story focuses almost entirely on his inner conflicts. And also, for the love of everything holy, please stop calling her a Mary Sue. It's an annoying malapropism.
This is in part because, as a derogatory term, "Mary Sue" is a term so broad and so flexible as to be largely useless for anything but name-calling. Sure, there are traits that can be narrowed down, and there are three generally levied against "Sues": One, they have no flaws. Two, their abilities are generally extraordinary. Three, due to one and two, they generally garner almost universal admiration from the rest of the story's cast. So let's go with that definition, because we need to define the term before it's any use at all.
Let's tackle these in reverse order. Who treats Lilly with general admiration? Well, Hisao, but he's falling in love with her. Bliss stage and all that; his opinion is biased, and that's normal and expected. Akira is family and her positive opinion is also therefore largely meaningless. Hanako likes her, but her route sheds light on that relationship and makes it less positive than it initially appears. Shizune dislikes her, and everyone seems slightly on the positive side of neutral.
What are Lilly's extraordinary abilities? Let's be frank, she doesn't really have any. Her academics are never really touched upon. Her hearing, sightless navigation, and sense of touch are good, but they're good because she needs them to compensate for her lack of sight. Outside of those realms, her abilities aren't ever really touched on. Well, I guess we do know that she's mediocre at chess; Hanako beats her and Shizune beats Hanako.
What are Lilly's flaws? Well, she has minor personality problems, certainly, the kind that might be expected of any individual. But she doesn't really have flaws, per se, not in the way that all of the other central characters do. But, I contend, this is the point: Lilly's story brings to the forefront the flaws in Hisao, our protagonist, that have developed due to his heart condition. Lilly is a relatively static character, but that's because Lilly's route is really written more as Hisao's, serving as the story of how he comes to terms with the way his life has changed. There is conflict in the story, but until late in the story, all of it is internal, resting entirely on Hisao's slow adaptation to his new life. All of that internal conflict serves to slowly push Hisao forward such that when external conflict does arise, late in the story, Hisao is in a position to realize how flawed his attitudes are and begin to change so that he can be caretaker as well as the one taken care of.
Lilly does not have a complex dealing with her sight because both Hisao and the story hold that attitude up as an end goal of Hisao's development. She's presented as someone who is used to her disability and doesn't really let it bother her. And I think it's a good thing to have one character who has it all together in a game like Katawa Shoujo. Part of the message of the work as a whole is that people with disabilities are, at the end of the day, still just people. Their disabilities don't define them any more than our lack of disability defines any of us, and some people come to that realization sooner than others. I think the work needed a Lilly to tie it together and add a spectrum of attitudes to the cast.
So in summary: I do think Lilly's route is well-written, but you have to see it for what it is. It's a rare inversion of the "guy meets girl, helps girl solve all of her problems, girl falls for him" story cliche, and the story focuses almost entirely on his inner conflicts. And also, for the love of everything holy, please stop calling her a Mary Sue. It's an annoying malapropism.