Rin's Path discussion *spoilers*

[Raburesu]

I wonder if Hisao was the first person she ever took to see the Worry Tree.

Definitely. Rin doesn't have any other friends, and Emi doesn't count. She's not the type to be interested regardless, and I'd say Rin is well aware of this. Her head is made of bubblegum foam bath jelly, after all.

All in all, she feels it's just right to talk to trees when you feel *spoiler if you haven't guess from the title of this topic* all right.

Having thought about it more, I'd speculate it may have been included by Aura intentionally to show change in Rin. It was definitely something I noticed right away when I read it, that's for sure.

Perhaps I'm merely over-analyzing. Wouldn't be the first time.

[Tezzeret]

Penny for your thoughts?

Rin is awesome

I would almost guess she was speaking from experience, but I wonder if Hisao was the first person she ever took to see the Worry Tree.

I would certainly think Hisao was the first.

I still giggle when i hear Worry Tree

[Exterminator 2000]

Just finished Rin's bad and good ending last night. FINALLY. Still have the "true"/neutral one to do.

Here are my two cents, after having played through all routes except Lilly's (which I'm really looking forward to):

If I hadn't heard about it being such an emotional rollercoaster, I would've been surprised about the melancholia present in her path. At least, judging from Act 1 I wouldn't have suspected something quite like this. What also surprised me is the often-occuring lack of music, especially in Act 2 (iirc). Even moreso when thinking about her own theme, Parity (which I love to say the least). Of course this is due to the lack of uplifting moments during most of her path, so I guess it's only natural.

As for the plot itself, I found it especially tiring and emotionally draining due to Hisao constantly pointing out to just how different the two of them are. ("Oh noez we will never be able to understand each other") Seriously, this got old real quick. I mean, in the end he still stuck with it, so why whine so much? Maybe I'm just weird, but I think part of the fun of being around Rin is not knowing exactly what is going on behind that emerald eyes of hers. She's a mystery, yeah, so DEAL WITH IT.

Then again, Hisao is pretty much a good example for the average person in her route, with all the mistakes that includes; if he was different, how could the writers have shown her issues to deal with her situation?

Speaking of "her situation": As far as I can remember it was never said explicitly, but is there some kind of specific mental issue she is suffering from? Asperger's is often mentioned in the forums, but I can't remember it being said in the game.

Anyway, despite the issues I'm having with Hisao's behavior and such, I want to say I really, really enjoyed her route. And the last line of her good ending seriously gave me watery eyes.

In short, writing, Art, choice of BGM: Amazing.

[NoOne3]

As for the plot itself, I found it especially tiring and emotionally draining due to Hisao constantly pointing out to just how different the two of them are. ("Oh noez we will never be able to understand each other") Seriously, this got old real quick. I mean, in the end he still stuck with it, so why whine so much? Maybe I'm just weird, but I think part of the fun of being around Rin is not knowing exactly what is going on behind that emerald eyes of hers. She's a mystery, yeah, so DEAL WITH IT.

This made me thinkink.
Anyone else think, they could see signs of Hisao adjusting to the state of things? Not just accepting it. In last scenes (can't remember properly, one was at his dorm corridor) he even started talking a bit like Rin, and tried to pick up her strange word game while talking back. It stood out for me, since there was no internal monologue about incomprehension afterwards.

The ending itself seems deliberately bitter-sweet, but those moments leave some hope.

[Tezzeret]

This made me thinkink.
Anyone else think, they could see signs of Hisao adjusting to the state of things? Not just accepting it. In last scenes (can't remember properly, one was at his dorm corridor) he even started talking a bit like Rin, and tried to pick up her strange word game while talking back. It stood out for me, since there was no internal monologue about incomprehension afterwards.

The ending itself seems deliberately bitter-sweet, but those moments leave some hope.

I noticed that too. It makes sense though. He spent enough time around her it was only a matter of time before he starts to think and act like her in little ways, a means for him to truly understand her. In a way i think it's what made me chillax about his stupidity early on in her route. A redeeming factor. All the time i kinda felt his pain of not understanding her but it was irksome that he made so many mistakes when a better option was present.

I don't think the ending was too bittersweet. The message clearly was but it was happy to me, Hisao finally begins to understand and reach her and Rin can be herself. All in all things should be looking bright in their future.

[Raburesu]

Speaking of "her situation": As far as I can remember it was never said explicitly, but is there some kind of specific mental issue she is suffering from? Asperger's is often mentioned in the forums, but I can't remember it being said in the game.

Anyone else think, they could see signs of Hisao adjusting to the state of things? Not just accepting it. In last scenes (can't remember properly, one was at his dorm corridor) he even started talking a bit like Rin, and tried to pick up her strange word game while talking back. It stood out for me, since there was no internal monologue about incomprehension afterwards.

I noticed that too. It makes sense though. He spent enough time around her it was only a matter of time before he starts to think and act like her in little ways, a means for him to truly understand her.

If Hisao is impressionable enough to adopt Rin's thought process, then it is indeed kind of nice to imagine that they can go on to be nonsequitorial together. Not sure if it's a good thing, but it is cute.

[Tezzeret]

I love Aura's second answer there

I think it's better that we don't get a final answer about any possible mental issues for Rin, better to draw our own conclusions. I think she's just weird, wouldn;t rule anything out though.

And honestly, as long as Hisao is capable of making Rin happy simply because he can understand her, then i don't care if he becomes a carbon copy of her.

[gecko]

I don't think the point is that Hisao finally understands Rin.
I think the point is he accepts she's thinking differently and loves her like that, misunderstandings included.
(and honestly, it gives a brighter outlook for their future - a couple of Rin would have serious problems finding its place in the adult world)

[NoOne3]

(and honestly, it gives a brighter outlook for their future - a couple of Rin would have serious problems finding its place in the adult world)

Yeah, it's like you always need a bass-player in a heavy metal band, so someone can translate between the drummer and the rest of the world.

[Bagheera]

I don't think the point is that Hisao finally understands Rin.
I think the point is he accepts she's thinking differently and loves her like that, misunderstandings included.
(and honestly, it gives a brighter outlook for their future - a couple of Rin would have serious problems finding its place in the adult world)

+1. By my reading the point was that he didn't have to understand her, he just had to accept her and love her as she was. Once he did that, and she accepted the fact that she was okay, that's when they knew everything would be alright.

[Raburesu]

I don't think the point is that Hisao finally understands Rin.
I think the point is he accepts she's thinking differently and loves her like that, misunderstandings included.
(and honestly, it gives a brighter outlook for their future - a couple of Rin would have serious problems finding its place in the adult world)

+1. By my reading the point was that he didn't have to understand her, he just had to accept her and love her as she was. Once he did that, and she accepted the fact that she was okay, that's when they knew everything would be alright.

“Her decisions always seem to be pretty… far out.”

Indeed, there would be no logical reason for Hisao to think this after Rin decided not to change, if he understood her perfectly; he would have anticipated her thoughts if he could.

As no two people, no matter how close, can truly understand each other completely, Rin, having wanted just that more than anything, at first, because of her utter loneliness, finding peace being together with Hisao despite them being unable to understand each other, is what they call “true love.”

It’s also what tinges the (good) end with bittersweet realism.

God, I love Rin’s path.

As an aside, someone should go through this thread, or any thread involving Rin, for that matter, and ctrl+f the words "understand," and "understood."

[Tezzeret]

I don't think the point is that Hisao finally understands Rin.
I think the point is he accepts she's thinking differently and loves her like that, misunderstandings included.
(and honestly, it gives a brighter outlook for their future - a couple of Rin would have serious problems finding its place in the adult world)

+1. By my reading the point was that he didn't have to understand her, he just had to accept her and love her as she was. Once he did that, and she accepted the fact that she was okay, that's when they knew everything would be alright.

“Her decisions always seem to be pretty… far out.”

Indeed, there would be no logical reason for Hisao to think this after Rin decided not to change, if he understood her perfectly; he would have anticipated her thoughts if he could.

As no two people, no matter how close, can truly understand each other completely, Rin, having wanted just that more than anything, at first, because of her utter loneliness, finding peace being together with Hisao despite them being unable to understand each other, is what they call “true love.”

It’s also what tinges the (good) end with bittersweet realism.

God, I love Rin’s path.

As an aside, someone should go through this thread, or any thread involving Rin, for that matter, and ctrl+f the words "understand," and "understood."

I would love to see the results of that query

[Dop]

Well... On my first play through, I'd fallen quite easily into Emi's route and breezed through to the 'good end' with no problems.
Then I went back and did the Shizune route, where getting the good end is even easier...

But my god, the Rin path.... It was like trying to navigate your way through a maze blindfolded and handcuffed while being read instructions over a radio given by someone who has difficulty telling left from right. I got the bad end, then I got the other bad end (or is that the neutral end) and even when I was on the route to the good end I wasn't too sure.

I seriously hoped someone would give that bastard Nomiya his comeuppance.

Rin all alone in the atelier attempting to masturbate was so incredibly sad.

[Althamus]

At long last, I finally finished Rin's arc, and with that Katawa Shoujo in it's entirety.

I had alwyas liked Rin the least of the characters, from the first time I saw the concept art, to playing through the other girls arcs and act 1. I just couldn't quite gel with her abstractness. I tend to lean towards that a little I think, but the abstractness of her seemed too much, too far. Perhaps reminded me of that aspect of me, which I guess I don't like as much as I thought I might, I dunno.

I now understand why people say the story is the deepest out of all the arcs though. Emi's and Lilly's were very shallow (although that is what makes me like them the most - I tend to look (especially in this kind of media) for something simple and happy that makes me feel good, and their routes do that to perfection), Hanako's was more interesting, delving more into the deeper aspects of her psyche. Shizune's was a mess at first, but really cleared up towards the end to show the triangle really well. Rin's... I guess I don't analyse things as much as I could, I prefer to let them wash over me. Which is often nice, but means that really deep stories tend to not be appreciated as much as they should be I think.

Interestingly though, I still had teh feels, and really started to warm up to Rin towards the end, when she basically started to fall apart. Although her abstractness seemed to be more relatable chapter 2 onwards as well. But I think one of the things that makes KS so great is that the aspects of the story are always so relatable to the readers. Or maybe they are like horoscopes, and strike the right balance between being informative enough to tell you things, but still vague enough to apply to everyone. But I really felt for Rin when she started destroying herself, and when she was broken... It was really heart wrenching.

Also, there were so many parts that made me feel so sorry for her... the scene where she's sitting on the floor in the attic studio for one. When she broke down in the gallery. I just wnated to curl up into a ball and cry for her.

Also, this story felt the closest to real life. Emi's and Lilly's felt like a storybook romance, which is why I like them. Shizune's just felt like it broke the fourth wall a bit too much (WHY DOES HE TAKE A SWORD TO SCHOOL???), plus it felt a bit too often like it didn't make much sense. Hanakos again I could obviously see where it was going, as well as being very aware of whiteknighting before the story started, and could see Hisao whiteknighting her, and knew he needed to stop. Rin's story felt much more like real life, in that it was subtle, and also the choices you made always seemed reasonably equally weighted, in that there was no obvious right or wrong bar the final choice between right and the second wrong ending, where it was obvious that encouraging her about a romance would lead to a good ending, and encouraging her about her work would lead to her becoming an artist, but probably not a girlfriend.

From a personal point of view, I didn't really like the way that they... engaged in both adult scenes without really defining their relationship. Although I can understand from Rin's personality, that was how she was.

Also, I liked little things like when i got the bad ennding, I reloaded from a little way back, and had the question again where you asked the art teacher why he hadn't become an artist? I picked the other route compared to my previous time, and was impressed that each route you basically talked to the teacher or the gallery owner and got their perspective on the event, but knowing both sides allowed you to get a better understanding than either one alone would give. An example of it being well written.

I think I'll appreciate it more on the second runthrough.

[Nobody in Particular]

Just finished reading through this topic and there are some very interesting ideas that have popped up that I never would have considered (such as the role reversal in the last scene and the symbolism behind the FMV). Anyway since Rin was my favourite path I figured I may as well give a post.

I finished Rin's path for the second time about a week ago today, and I must say that I understood it a lot more and gave me a lot more "feels", as you guys call it. I mean I still enjoyed it on my first playthrough (it was my favourite then, but only just) but it really went up in my estimation when I realised the subtle messages in what Rin says and does. Like a lot of the other fans I managed to relate to Rin in quite a lot of aspects, and that is probably partly why it hit me so hard. I came into it expecting it to be hilarious and so the whole dark and depressing theme really caught me off guard, with the scenes 'Delirium' and 'The World Only You Can See' really depressing the fuck out of me. That being said there were some really good scenes in this route such as 'Signal Interference' (as many people pointed out beforehand), 'Dandelions', 'Self-Destruction', 'Delirium', 'Raison d'etre' and 'Without Breathing, Without a Sound' to name a few.

I don't understand the hate for Hisao and Nominya in this route however, especially Hisao. Nominya wanted Rin to do well, possibly for selfish reasons as well but he certainly wanted her to have a good career in art, so I can see why he pushed her to do the exhibition because it was what he though was best for her. He clearly didn't understand why Rin didn't want to go through with it and pushed her despite the knowledge of Sae's husband, but still I don't think he deserves all the hate as he was just ignorant and misunderstood Rin. Hisao is a lot less blame free than Nominya as he was a lot more ignorant. He didn't realise what would happen to Rin if she decided to go through with the art exhibition, and (IIRC) he said that he thought that the exhibition could bring Rin and himself closer in Demused (I think) when it did in fact have the opposite effect. Obviously he wanted to understand Rin and he thought the art exhibition would do that. I don't condone either of the two shouting at Rin, but I really don't think you can blame them (well perhaps Nominya was a little too much of an ass in that scene) since being around Rin could be frustrating.

So yeah, it was most definitely my favourite route of the game with my favourite character from the game. Top quality, I really enjoyed it and it was certainly much better than the other routes.