Katawa Shoujo Forums

It's not that people dislike the idea of Hanako in a swimsuit. It's just not in character for her to wear one.

I don't see why she wouldn't eventually, as part of her personal growth. Sure she isn't ever going to run around on a public beach, but I can imagine in private, maybe with only Hisao, Lilly, or Akira around, she might be willing to losen up enough to wear a modest suit.

This was amazing. I shall now and forever (I think I just make an unintentional reference to a game... +5 points in something or other to whoever know what game I'm talking about) think of this as canon.
Well, except for the mention of Misha cutting her hair. (Warning, Shizune Route spoilers) I don't think she would cut her hair if you go down Hanako's route, only if you go down Shizune's route, since (if what I read this from was indeed correct) in Japanese culture it's customary to cut your hair if you're rejected by the one you love. So in other words, the reason Misha cut her hair was due to feeling that her chances of ever being accepted by Shizune were destroyed by the Hisao-Shizune relationship. So if said relation never happened, she wouldn't've (yes that's a word) cut her hair. But that's beside the point.

I'm just sad we didn't get to see the discussion and explanation with Hisao's parents that would've followed Hisao's introduction of Hanako to them. That would've been interesting.

Lianam wrote:This was amazing. I shall now and forever (I think I just make an unintentional reference to a game... +5 points in something or other to whoever know what game I'm talking about) think of this as canon.
Well, except for the mention of Misha cutting her hair. (Warning, Shizune Route spoilers) I don't think she would cut her hair if you go down Hanako's route, only if you go down Shizune's route, since (if what I read this from was indeed correct) in Japanese culture it's customary to cut your hair if you're rejected by the one you love. So in other words, the reason Misha cut her hair was due to feeling that her chances of ever being accepted by Shizune were destroyed by the Hisao-Shizune relationship. So if said relation never happened, she wouldn't've (yes that's a word) cut her hair. But that's beside the point.

I'm just sad we didn't get to see the discussion and explanation with Hisao's parents that would've followed Hisao's introduction of Hanako to them. That would've been interesting.

using a [spoil3r][/spoil3r] tag would probably be easier than straight up using barely readable small fonts

This was amazing. I shall now and forever (I think I just make an unintentional reference to a game... +5 points in something or other to whoever know what game I'm talking about) think of this as canon.
Well, except for the mention of Misha cutting her hair.

I'm just sad we didn't get to see the discussion and explanation with Hisao's parents that would've followed Hisao's introduction of Hanako to them. That would've been interesting.

Actually, the reference to Misha's hair was about her original change of hair style from long brown hair to pink drills. Misha still has her drills throughout this particular story.

As for the discussion with Hisao's parents...it wasn't really anything big. Hanako just came in with him, was introduced and Hisao spent some time telling his parents about Hanako being in his class and them becoming friends due to their mutual liking to reading. All the sensitive subjects (Hanako's scars, the emotional roller coaster that resulted in their relationship and the emotional roller coaster that resulted in the rekindling of their relationship) were left out. Hanako stuck around for a few minutes and then went back to school so Hisao could catch up with his folks. Hanako's lines at the end of that chapter comprised about 50% of her verbal input in that meeting.

I think a lot of us are just curious about how they took the news. Except for one brief scene in the antique shop, how people react to her outside the school is something we never saw much of in the VN.

TacticalBacon wrote:using a [spoil3r][/spoil3r] tag would probably be easier than straight up using barely readable small fonts

Well yes, but that's not why I used small text- the text was small because I was going on a tangent.

pandaphil wrote:I think a lot of us are just curious about how they took the news.

^
Speaking of which, ever notice how Hisao never speaks to his parents (other than implying they make small talk over the phone) at all throughout KS?
I could just imagine how shocked they'd be when they found out about Hisao and any of the girls...

"Hey Mom, this is Emi!"
"Hel-oh."
"What?"
"Son, she has no legs..."
"So? She really nice, and she is my girlfriend after all..."
"GIRLFRIEND!? Why didn't you tell us about her?"
"Didn't seem important I guess..."
"Didn't seem- how is that not important? *Sigh* I'm sorry, this is a bit of a shock to me. Though it's not like you two had anal sex in a shed..."
"Umm... yeah, about that..."
" "

I think a lot of us are just curious about how they took the news.

Overall, pretty well. You have to remember that at the beginning of Act 1, Hisao's folks are a lot more open-minded about Yamaku than Hisao himself, so I figured they wouldn't be too shocked that their son's new girlfriend is disabled. Heck, they probably realize that any girl who's willing to stick by the side of a boy who could die on a moment's notice is worth at least a look-in.

That said, I don't really have any plans for Hisao's parents. So if I'd ever end up continuing this story and Hanako would accompany Hisao to his home, it's unlikely his folks would have a very large role.

Speaking of which, ever notice how Hisao never speaks to his parents (other than implying they make small talk over the phone) at all throughout KS?

Yup. After his first heart attack, Hisao shuts out pretty much everyone around him and that includes his parents. Early in the VN, Hisao is still bitter and kind of feels like his parents ditched him at Yamaku to be forgotten. In certain paths he notes that he barely keeps in contact with his parents and Jigoro even manages to shame him about that in Shizune's route. Hisao's parents making an appearance near the end of this story was both because:

1) The guy just had a heart attack that left him hospitalized, so it's kinda logical they'd drop by.

and

2) To show Hisao's continuing character development. During his pep-talk to Hanako in the penultimate chapter, Hisao states he wants to pick back up where he left off and not fall back into a rut, just because he was hospitalized again. He cannot accompany his parents back home, but he at least wants to show his gratitude towards them and decides to spend some time with them and catch up on things, rather than shutting them out again like he did during his last hospital stay. Obviously, having an orphan as a girlfriend probably caused Hisao to appreciate his family just a little bit more, so doing a bit of reconnecting with his family seemed natural to add as part of his growth.

Lianam wrote:Speaking of which, ever notice how Hisao never speaks to his parents (other than implying they make small talk over the phone) at all throughout KS?
I could just imagine how shocked they'd be when they found out about Hisao and any of the girls...

You have to keep in mind, alienation is a major theme of Katawa Shoujo, and Yamaku Academy is (at least initially) characterized as sort of its own little world, on a slower track than the rest of reality. That's one of the reasons why you never see Iwanako's eyes, and very little of Hisao's previous life is ever really alluded to. A lot of shows, like Revolutionary Girl Utena and Strawberry Panic, use the same technique (the latter is especially notable for not having a single male character appear anywhere in the show.) It's also a popular VN trope, since making the world of your VN too broad can add a lot of unnecessary complexity.

On the fanfic side of things, different authors make different calls regarding how consistent they want to be with this, because it's hard and often counterintuitive and, frankly, fanfic runs on different rules. Helbereth often makes a lot of references to real-world media (notably Portal, off the top of my head,) and forgetmenot uses Hisao's mother in a chapter. In my case, I never really had a chance in hell of making Mean Time to Breakdown look indistinguishable from the game's writing without plagiarizing the text wholesale, but I felt like spinning off too far in the opposite direction would result in my own personality and idiosyncrasies overpowering the story I wanted to tell. So Iwanako has a complicated family situation that ultimately does invade her life at Yamaku, but I try to keep that plotline as a tertiary focus.

Also, let's not forget that this is a whole trope: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... bleParents

Actually the only girl I think Hisao's parents might have a negative reaction to is Lily. They might be a little upset about the whole heart attack thing in her ending.

Also what you see on the surface for some of the girls is missleading. I thought Rin's route was going to humorous. I haven't played it yet, but it doesn't sound humourus.

Maybe, but it might be offset by the fact that Lilly's probably the girl who's best at playing the ideal daughter-in-law role. And it's not like it was Lilly's fault that Hisao forgot his medication and rammed straight into someone at the airport. Well, not entirely her fault.

And you probably should play Rin's route. It's rather heavy-handed, but worth the time. But what you heard is pretty much true in that Rin's goofiness stops being funny and starts being disturbing right about the time her intro movie plays.

Guest Poster wrote:And you probably should play Rin's route. It's rather heavy-handed, but worth the time. But what you heard is pretty much true in that Rin's goofiness stops being funny and starts being disturbing right about the time her intro movie plays.

I disagree. This one too, but couldn't manage to upload it together

Hum... hi. Second post ever but I've been a lurker for the last months. Read a ton of the fanfics here, plus a lot in some pastebin pages.

Guest Poster wrote:And you probably should play Rin's route. It's rather heavy-handed, but worth the time.

Heavy-handed?
I'm not sure if that's really what you meant. If you did, I disagree empathically*

Yes, I know.

I can see why someone would think that, though.

It is the definition of awkward, although that's not exactly the usage I'd use for it. But, if I were trying to make a pun about Rin's disability...