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Black Sheep wrote:Rin isn't mentally ill or anything of the sort, she is just a human being with a complex inner self, and like many people she has multiple drives, creating a fragmented personality which causes her to be unsure of what she wants to do, because while a part of her may want to do something, another part may be against it, think about it as having multiple small personalities, something which is quite visible in people with artistic personalities and possibly one of the reasons why so many artists appear to be weird, confused, unable to communicate and everything else you may find "odd", since it's something that is very hard to be at peace with, since some of the "fragments" may have destructive impulses (again, something visible in people with artistic tendencies), which is seen in her route multiple times, additionally this is also why Rin appears generally irrational and not very logical most of the time but still has very logical and philosophical moments.

That's one hell of a long sentence
But will all that said, what if all these fragmented drives are a result of mental illness or a mental disorder?

Munchenhausen wrote:

Black Sheep wrote:Rin isn't mentally ill or anything of the sort, she is just a human being with a complex inner self, and like many people she has multiple drives, creating a fragmented personality which causes her to be unsure of what she wants to do, because while a part of her may want to do something, another part may be against it, think about it as having multiple small personalities, something which is quite visible in people with artistic personalities and possibly one of the reasons why so many artists appear to be weird, confused, unable to communicate and everything else you may find "odd", since it's something that is very hard to be at peace with, since some of the "fragments" may have destructive impulses (again, something visible in people with artistic tendencies), which is seen in her route multiple times, additionally this is also why Rin appears generally irrational and not very logical most of the time but still has very logical and philosophical moments.

That's one hell of a long sentence
But will all that said, what if all these fragmented drives are a result of mental illness or a mental disorder?

Have you never woken up feeling slightly different than usual? Or even found yourself deciding upon what you want to do? Have you never had conflicted feelings about a subject? That's basically what it is, Rin just happens to be highly imaginative and contemplative and is also not really good at managing these inner conflicts, impasses and changes,which causes her to question who she is multiple times, also, keep in mind Yamaku does not accept mentally disabled students, so the only way she could be mentally ill is if she hadn't been diagnosed.

Technically, we have no continuous self. So Rin could very well be struggling with that too.

About the Alexthymia thing, what does means exactly "Feel sensations instead of emotions" ? Pleasure / excitement often occurs in me a strong sensation in the solar plexus so I don't think it's abnormal, or there is a nuance in this symptom that I don't understand ? i'm just curious.

Zarys wrote:About the Alexthymia thing, what does means exactly "Feel sensations instead of emotions" ? Pleasure / excitement often occurs in me a strong sensation in the solar plexus so I don't think it's abnormal, or there is a nuance in this symptom that I don't understand ? i'm just curious.

Wiki notes a symptom as "distinguishing between feelings and the bodily sensations of emotional arousal"...So 'instead' may not necessarily be the correct word as that suggests emotions are entirely replaced by physical sensation, whereas this indicates more an issue of conflation.

"Pleasure/excitement often occurs in me as a strong sensation in the solar plexus" - This would be somewhat of an example, I'd think. Pleasure doesn't occur as a strong sensation because it isn't a physical sensation as such. Pleasure occurs in the brain, with no particular sensation connected. One with such a symptom would perhaps conflate certain sensations and emotions (as if the sensation is the emotion itself), leading to such statements. Presumably, should that sensation cease to occur in response to the emotion, they might consider the feeling itself to have vanished.

I am 100% convinced, Rin has a form of autism. There are hints and evidence throughout Rin's story, which Ill break down, and hers is the "best" story of them all, because of how complex and consistent it is, while still blind siding and surprising me. If you bear with me and read the long comment, Ill show you to my best ability all the clues and hints towards autism that are riddled throughout the beginning, middle and end of Rin's story. Truly, Rin's story is that of a mystery, Rin being the question and the answer lol.

1. Rin's artistic talent and reasons for painting.
People with Autism are usually very, VERY skilled in one area. Hers being drawing and creativity. What more she is painting to show people who she feels, for people to understand her. If she was autistic, she would feel and think completely alien to most people. She literally has no idea how a person without autism thinks, and is doing her best to just play along. She literally wants someone to look at her paintings, and understand how she feels and thinks, because of the romanticizing of art by her art teacher. In fact, it was because of how the art teacher put art, as being "Undefineable" what distracted me from realizing Rin was autistic earlier. We the reader are purposefully thrown off the scent, by thinking she is the way she is, because she's an artist. When the closer truth is, she is an artist, because she's autistic, doesnt understand what people feel and think around her, feels like the only one in the world who thinks like she does, and can only break through this through painting... and of course she is utterly disappointed because everyone is looking at her art as art, and her as an artist, nothing more.

2. The fight between the art teacher then later Hisao.
This is VERY telling. When I first played through this part, it was like a light bulb went off in my head, and everything past and prior made 100% sense now. Hisao defends himself by distancing himself from the art teacher saying "He was trying to force you to be something you werent." its funny to note, Rin glances at Hisao (She was looking away, grimacing painfully) when he says this. Apply that to how Hisao was treating Rin... like a creative, spacey girl he had feelings for... she doesnt feel or think like Hisao, she is INCAPABLE. You can see it how she wants Hisao to understand her, she wants him to put it into words so it makes sense to him. She says she doesnt understand love later, while that is a very blanket comment, who truly fully understands such a thing? However, if she was autistic, knows far less what Hisao expects from her, if she were to be in a romantic relationship with him. Hisao fails miserably with Rin, when he tries to force her to explain her inner thoughts and motivations to himself and the art community... why? Because he's forcing her to be something she is not... someone who thinks and feels like he does. "Normal"

3. Rin's view on love and why she rejected Hisao so firmly.
How does Rin describe how she feels when being confronted with feelings of love? Fear. Hisao told her he liked her, romantically, and she abrubtly said no. Why? We later find out, she thinks Hisao is "scary" when she thinks about him that way. She interprets this, that romance, love, sex, is frighting. Yet, later in the Delirium scene, we see she was perhaps unable to stop thinking about Hisao and his intentions. Some are interpreting this as a sexual disorder, but I wouldnt call acting on feelings, triggered by someone you care about as abnormal, rather how she handled Hisao telling her this, and later recanted by visiting him in his room is what is more telling. She doesnt know how to tell Hisao her feelings, feelings that frighten and confuse her.

4. Eye contact and facial expression.
These are much simpler, she breaks eye contact and rarely shows emotions through her face, throughout the story. This is a common autistic symptom, nuff said.

5. Lack of empathy.
Ive already covered this, but autistic people are bad with empathy, because they have to understand what people are feeling to see things from there point of view. When asked why she doesnt try to see things from Hisao's perspective in an argument, she gets wide eyed, before expressing she cant. If she was autistic, she would literally be unable... poor Rin.

There's much much more hints and clues throughout the story but I wrote enough I think lol.

Acesahn wrote:I am 100% convinced, Rin has a form of autism. [...]

You're not alone, I know it's a big topic among KS readers. Personally I would say so too, although I doubt it would ever be confirmed or denied officially.
What sold me to it was the cloud scene in Emi's route (you know the one ).
It just blatantly reminded me of the time my autistic mate did pretty much the same thing. Main difference was that thankfully everyone was fully clothed, when he did it

and welcome to the forums!

Munchenhausen wrote:

Acesahn wrote:I am 100% convinced, Rin has a form of autism. [...]

You're not alone, I know it's a big topic among KS readers. Personally I would say so too, although I doubt it would ever be confirmed or denied officially.
What sold me to it was the cloud scene in Emi's route (you know the one ).
It just blatantly reminded me of the time my autistic mate did pretty much the same thing. Main difference was that thankfully everyone was fully clothed, when he did it

and welcome to the forums!

I havent played through them all yet, so Ill look foreword to knowing that your talking about lol. And thanks for welcoming me, I had to login and share my thoughts on Rin (I have a touch of autism, but not nearly as much as Rin would have if my theories are correct) and it was so powerful to me... so obvious to me, its odd that Its even up for debate in my mind lol. I mean its said over and over again, Rin is honest, she isnt playing mind games with Hisao, she doesnt enjoy toying with people... she gets pained when pressed about explaining her actions and how she says things. Heh Im not trying to use personal issues to sway an argument, but rather sad it isnt as enjoyable for a large percent of the people who complete Rin's story, to someone who can see all the paterns and clues. If you DO see it, like me, her story is a work of art... I have been selecting random chapters scenes from the library and replaying them, and I still get emotional and chills lol.