Katawa Shoujo Forums

SpunkySix wrote:she does an awesome job working through them with her running. Little girl's a tough cookie.

"Working through them"

Which part of letting them control her life is working through them?

And yeah, Misha's still to pink.

She isn't really pushing through them. She's running away from them. Until her good end, that is.

Guest Poster wrote:She isn't really pushing through them. She's running away from them. Until her good end, that is.

Okay, whatever. Either way, she has some crap in her life and she's managed to not let it break her. She's going about it the wrong way obviously, but she hasn't layed down and died and it's still not easy for her to keep from doing that. That's the point. Remember, the doctors were all surprised at how quickly she recovered from her physical damage, and that was a direct product of Emi being mentally tough.

I guess I have a different perspective on it as a competitive runner though. I mean, regardless of the reason, you don't get that fast by being a mental wimp.

What that means is she dealt with different kinds of problems in different ways.

Beating her disability is a physical challenge that she faced head-on. And that's admirable, no doubt about it.

Losing her dad, though, was an emotional matter, and was the dark cloud hanging over most of the route.

SpunkySix wrote:

Guest Poster wrote:She isn't really pushing through them. She's running away from them. Until her good end, that is.

Okay, whatever. Either way, she has some crap in her life and she's managed to not let it break her. She's going about it the wrong way obviously, but she hasn't laid down and died and it's still not easy for her to keep from doing that. That's the point. Remember, the doctors were all surprised at how quickly she recovered from her physical damage, and that was a direct product of Emi being mentally tough.

I guess I have a different perspective on it as a competitive runner though. I mean, regardless of the reason, you don't get that fast by being a mental wimp.

Except she did let it break her. Sure, she recovered from the physical stuff but she is nothing but broken from the mental stuff.

Potato wrote:

SpunkySix wrote:

Guest Poster wrote:She isn't really pushing through them. She's running away from them. Until her good end, that is.

Okay, whatever. Either way, she has some crap in her life and she's managed to not let it break her. She's going about it the wrong way obviously, but she hasn't laid down and died and it's still not easy for her to keep from doing that. That's the point. Remember, the doctors were all surprised at how quickly she recovered from her physical damage, and that was a direct product of Emi being mentally tough.

I guess I have a different perspective on it as a competitive runner though. I mean, regardless of the reason, you don't get that fast by being a mental wimp.

Except she did let it break her. Sure, she recovered from the physical stuff but she is nothing but broken from the mental stuff.

Is she? To me, being broken is laying in bed and moping all of the time. It affected her, yes, but it didn't break her.

SpunkySix wrote: I guess I have a different perspective on it as a competitive runner though. I mean, regardless of the reason, you don't get that fast by being a mental wimp.

Except she did let it break her. Sure, she recovered from the physical stuff but she is nothing but broken from the mental stuff.[/quote]

Is she? To me, being broken is laying in bed and moping all of the time. It affected her, yes, but it didn't break her.[/quote]
No, she's not laying in her bed moping all the time. Instead she's breaking down in tears when she's alone, running to the point where she's actively hurting herself to stop the mental hurting, and is unable to form any kind of meaningful relationship with anyone.

That's pretty badly broken. She's not living. She's going through the motions of living.

Oddball wrote:No, she's not laying in her bed moping all the time. Instead she's breaking down in tears when she's alone, running to the point where she's actively hurting herself to stop the mental hurting, and is unable to form any kind of meaningful relationship with anyone.

That's pretty badly broken. She's not living. She's going through the motions of living.

We have a winner!

Potato wrote:

Oddball wrote:No, she's not laying in her bed moping all the time. Instead she's breaking down in tears when she's alone, running to the point where she's actively hurting herself to stop the mental hurting, and is unable to form any kind of meaningful relationship with anyone.

That's pretty badly broken. She's not living. She's going through the motions of living.

We have a winner!

This is all very interesting, especially when I'm doing Emi's arc in 'After The Dream' and sorting out her fate after Hisao dies.

Lilly: Sweet and sophisticated, that girlish giggling sprite and her pouting sprite really won me over. I understand her being loyal to her family, and the goodbye scene at the yamaku gates WRECKED me, especially when it was her and Hanako, Oh god.... good thing I got the good ending though, despite the heart attack.... So, Lilly is waifu, I guess

Hanako: IMO she actually does better in Lilly's route by making her own friends, but even so her social anxiety is highly relatable to a semi-hikkikomori like myself. Her H-scene was PAINFUL though, I wish I skipped it . I'm still worried about her a lot. Her good ending was absolutely amazing (and the park scene WRECKED me) but I think the neutral ending is probably the most realistic one for her.... but, even friendzone for me is ok. I can't really see myself dating her IRL, but I do want to help her wherever I can...

Emi: Cute and funny at first, gets somewhat depressing later, but not as bad as Hanako. Her H-scenes were by far the funniest (Rin storming in to see the cloud, and of course lemon pie ) . I read on this forum that she seems to suffer from PTSD and it seems to be the case, I mean she's normally quite friendly and bubbly but her real personality can be rather more demanding. The gravesite scene WRECKED me. Still love her to bits though

Shizune: I understand her good intentions and she's trying to give people a good time by working so hard in the student council, but her insistence on competing for EVERYTHING is kind of annoying at times, though also a source of humor. I enjoyed her route (as it was my first one) but the Misha portion WRECKED me when you find out she's lesbian and loves Shizune so much she would don her crazy drills and go all bubbly just for her bff. It really wrecked me . As for myself, I don't think I could date Shizune, to be honest. Also since she has problems with Lilly, my *ahem* waifu (though they do reconcile later on). Misha's adorable though (her "confused" sprite and her "sad" sprite are HNNGGG for me )

Rin: Gosh, what do I say.... her route was pretty depressing, though her codeine rant was admittedly pretty funny. . Man, Rin just could not catch a break. The part where she was yelled at by Nomiya.... I actually could see where Nomiya was coming from, seeing as he's a bit like my own dad who really means well but pushes me to go "make contacts" and "do things" I'd rather not do. I could really relate to Rin at that moment.... And her first H-scene in the Atelier WRECKED me too.... AND the dandelions in her good ending... And her neutral ending where it seems like she'll kill herself for her art....
Therefore, I am firmly putting her in friendzone territory. She's better off in Emi's route, just by staying at Yamaku, with Emi and her art club people, and while Nomiya will still push her, at least it will be in familiar surroundings.

It's hard for me to rank them, so I'll just do them in order I completed them.

Hanako-This might by default be my favorite route, just because this was the first one I did and I didn't try to get any girl or ending, I just answered the questions honestly on how I personally would respond if I were in those situations. She had the longest lasting impression with me. After I was done with hers, I just kind of sat there in silence for about 20 minutes thinking. She was also the first in many where I found myself screaming at Hisao "What the eff is wrong with you?! Why would you react that way/say that to her?!" I her story was the one I cared most about and I feel like the love developed over that story was a real, true and deep love. It was the story where I could most see it lasting as a long term relationship.

Emi-A tossup for me between her and Lilly of my favorite girl. It kind of tore me apart every time I played everyone else's arc and Emi would pop up, I'd just kind of say "aw, my Emi!" They lightly touched on the phantom limb thing with her, and I kind of wish they would have done more with it, but I also understand they're limited for time and the real story was her emotional state. I really liked this arc because it showed an athlete's side, where they can overcome physical aspect of it, but it's always so much difficult to overcome the mental. No matter how hard, or fast, or long she ran, she couldn't run away from that.

Rin-I thought I would hate Rin's arc, because I couldn't stand her character in the previous two playthroughs I did. But, this may have been the only arc where I actually felt on the same page as Hisao, whom we're playing as. I've seen a lot of people say they didn't like Rin because they just don't get her, but I think that's what made this so well done. Every other arc, I almost hated Hisao because he would constantly just act like a moron or make completely stupid decisions that I would never make. But here, he and I were on the same page. Neither one of us understood her, and I became so much more invested in trying to figure her out in the story. I also thought the writer did an amazing job at showing what kind of dark recesses artists (all artists, not just the kind that use paints or sculpt. Actors and musicians are the same) are willing to go to within themselves for their art. I was honestly terrified for Rin in this arc and felt helpless, just as Hisao did, no matter how much I wanted to help or understand her. And I still don't completely comprehend all of the end, but that's okay sometimes, especially with her story. Just like with her art, sometimes it's just up to interpretation.

Shizune-Did not like her arc at all. I understand why she was the way she was, but I don't feel like there was ever any real revelation or resolution for her. I know many say "she let Hisao take over in sex in the end and that allowed her to release control" but I don't buy it. She let him be on top. That's it. She still controlled pretty much everything about the sex in that scene. Even when on her back, she controlled with her legs how fast and how deep he would go. Also, a large problem I had with hers (and kind of Lilly's) arc was there was no REAL explanation of the animosity between each other and no resolution or even attempt at resolution. I just felt very blah throughout the own thing and found it hard to even sympathize with her in her own arc.

Lilly-As mentioned above, it's a tie with her and Emi for my favorite girl. First off, being from a Scandinavian part of the Midwest, I'm partial to tall, blonde women, so she perfectly fit what I physically like in a woman, plus I loved her demeanor and how she treated people. Honestly, that really helped me get past the faults of her arc. I thought the writer did an excellent job in the writing of it, but this one more than any seemed very Soap Opera-ish. The conflict with her seemed a bit forced, maybe because all of the other stories were internal battles while hers was external in having to move. Also, I think this was the story where Hisao was most a whiny little B and constantly pissing me off because he was whining about having pretty much the perfect woman (in my opinion). This was probably the most mainstream-ish story, but I'd be lying if I wasn't choked up at the end when they're saying goodbye at the school. It also felt good that Hanako didn't end poorly because I chose her counterpart in this story like it felt with Rin/Emi (not that they ended poorly, but that you knew their backstory and knew they didn't get help if you chose the other). Also, was this the only one with a scene after the credits as well?

As you can probably see if you read all of that, most of my issues were with Hisao being a whiny little baby. There were multiple times in every arc other than maybe Rin where I had to put down my laptop and walk away because he was acting so effing stupid and completely counterproductive to what I would do or say in that same situation.

It will be quick.
Shizune : I hate her, an interesting story, but I really hate her. As a character, I really hate her personality.

Lilly : From far away, my favourite, my waifu. She's the kind of girl I love. Calm, mature, with manners... Her story was my favourite too. Two stories has made me cry on this game : Hanako and Lilly. Yeah, a bro can cry XD I know a blind woman, and I loved her, she is... like Lilly. So, I can say that my opinion is not objective at all.

Hanako : My second favourite girl. Second story who had make my cry. An interesting story, but too much dark I think, and crispy. Well, I mean creepy. A true little doll, you must have many gloves to talk to her, so much innocent, and so much shy... Well, my second favourite girl, as I say.

Rin : I really can't understand Rin, so..... I have nothing to say.

Emi : Anal. So much cute, so much innocent, a true little doll.... Without the sex face.

Miki : Mikiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii. Miki in your beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeed, Miki in your showeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer

Suzu : I want an official route about Suzu please :'(

(Yeah, I know, without any help, my english is a shame)

Lily:

Best girl and route, period. It is a bit clichéd and boring sometimes, but all the scenes are really interesting and the ending is amazing.

Rin:
Second best route because obvious reasons. I felt that the route felt too hard to sound dramatic and make Rin so angsty sometimes though.

Hanako:


Emi:
Best girl to hang out and have a good time. Her route is not epic but really touching and well made, but it lacks "something" to be better.

Shizune:
Good idea, bad execution.