The Hanako Thread - Spoilers, obviously

[Koda89]

One thing that stands out about Hanako's path to me is how her H-scene is the most visually explicit of all of them. Most of the other H-scenes were basically on the same level as something you'd see on Cinemax late at night. They were for the most part softcore porn scenes, but Hanako's, well her's takes the leap from softcore to straight up hardcore. It is the only scene where you get a clear view of both participants' genitals. And at the same time this is juxtaposed next to the fact that Hanako's H-scene was the most forced one of them all. Hanako wasn't really ready for it, she only offered herself up to Hisao because she thought it was the only way she could keep Hisao close to her. So, was her scene made more visually explicit to help hammer home the point that her scene was not at all like any of the other H-scenes in KS?

[Theeyebrowsofdoom]

WHEN SPOILERMARKING THINGS, PLEASE NOTE WHICH ROUTE YOUR SPOILER BELONGS TO GODDAMNIT.

Well, this is the Hanako-Path thread, so anything relating to Hanako's path should not even need to be in Spoiler tags - that's already covered in the thread's title...

My point. Somewhat. Sometimes people put Hanako things in spoiler tags as well (just like the post above this one), so when I roll over (scroll over?) to the tags to read things that I've already seen but instead I get Emi spoilers. Not nice.

[Saucium]

The Hanako route gets two thumbs up in my book. It was the most psychologically compelling one for me (especially the bad ending). I'm a psych major, though, so I'm admittedly a bit biased. The endings felt a bit more abrupt than some of the others, yet I think the writer of this route still did a superb job, notwithstanding. Kudos!

[bradpara]

Hanako is in tie with Shizune for my favorite girl in the game, (I guess just like gamer chicks I suppose). Which makes it odd that this is actually the second to last route that I have played.

Man this was a tearjerker, dealing with Hanako as almost like a wave, she would seem to pull in in closer, only to pull back. It was a very emontional ride, no where like Rin's but intense all the same . I would like to say that it was rather suprisingto learn the Hanako was good at pool. Also during the panic attack scene did anyone else want to strangle Misha

The Good Ending was very much the cherry on top herewatching both Hanako and Hisao let out their emotional demons while confessing their feelings made this clearly one of the most emotional parts of the game. Alot is made about the fact the losing the White Knight deal is the key to getting her Good Ending. It is part of it, in Hanako's Route, the thing the Hisao needs to understand is that he is just as damaged as Hanako is, and in a very similar way. He cannot hide from his problems by burying himself in hers. Only by being honestm and showing her his scars, both emotional and physical can she see that she is more that some one she can coddle

Also, I found that her Good Ending CG is already my fav.

4 Down, Only Lilly left.

[Benkei]

Putting forth another vote for "please don't spoiler tag Hanako Route spoilers in a thread that clearly isn't meant to be read until you've completed the Hanako path. Thanks." I'm all for spoiler tagging spoilers for the other routes in this thread, but if it's a Hanako spoiler, people have really only themselves to blame for lack of self-control and/or common sense if they click on this thread and then have the path spoiled for them.

I mean, just look: 90% of the text body in some of these posts are solid black bars and highlighting them reveals that the content is pure Hanako Path stuff. It'd be like if we were to make a thread called "Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back (SPOILERS!)" and then people were to put inside of a spoiler tag the big plot twist from the end of that film. It wouldn't be sensible.

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As for Hanako's sex scene being more explicit than others, I hadn't really noticed it before. While you're right that the other sex scenes are less explicit in their presentation, I'd say that they're no less hardcore in substance than Hanako's. Which is to say, they've all got penile-vaginal intercourse scenes (which is the only kind Hanako's route had) and the others then had quite a number of fetish scenes -- assisted masturbation in Rin's, bondage in Shizune's, or the infamous anal scene in Emi's. I don't think we could call Hanako's sex scene "hardcore" or "more hardcore" just because it was more explicit. Perhaps that's the distinction to be made here: explicitness and hardcoreness are two different things.

A bit of an aside: to be perfectly honest, the sex scenes in the game, even Hanako's, have been far less carnal than those in other faux-eroges like Fate/stay night and have been exceedingly less carnal than those in eroges proper. In a typical eroge produced by, say, Bishop or Selen or some other R18 studio, the primary goal is sexual pleasure and the secondary goal is cerebral pleasure (i.e. telling a good story). But in faux-eroges like Key's Kanon, Type-Moon's FSN, or 4LS's Katawa Shoujo, the primary focus is clearly on the narrative. The sex scenes are now relegated to a supporting role and are in many cases, as in Katawa Shoujo, not so much present with the intent to titillate players and have them masturbate while gaming than they are to drive the story. I think this is especially true of KS because most of the sex scenes in KS are much too short and not nearly explicit enough, as you have already pointed out, while the few that are somewhat longer, like Hanako's solitary sex scene or like the infamous shed scene of you-know-who's, are intentionally awkward for one narrative reason or another and thus kill players' sex drives fairly quickly. Katawa Shoujo is one of very few successes I have come across in the grand project of trying to incorporate sex into a narrative without it feeling forced or smutty, of using an explicitly-depicted sex scene as a plot device that (1) would have left the story worse off without it than with it and (2) isn't there for people to jerk off to but instead is there as a genuine part of the story, no different than all the other events in the story. This is very hard to pull off as a writer and I think that the KS path writers, especially the Hanako path writers, did a fantastic job with this.

[themocaw]

Minor Emi Spoiler: They use protection as well, but it's glossed over: the first scene is nonpenetrative, and Emi suggests anal for the second because they don't have a condom. The third scene implies they've stocked up since then.

[Koda89]

Putting forth another vote for "please don't spoiler tag Hanako Route spoilers in a thread that clearly isn't meant to be read until you've completed the Hanako path. Thanks." I'm all for spoiler tagging spoilers for the other routes in this thread, but if it's a Hanako spoiler, people have really only themselves to blame for lack of self-control and/or common sense if they click on this thread and then have the path spoiled for them.

I mean, just look: 90% of the text body in some of these posts are solid black bars and highlighting them reveals that the content is pure Hanako Path stuff. It'd be like if we were to make a thread called "Star Wars: Episode 5 - The Empire Strikes Back (SPOILERS!)" and then people were to put inside of a spoiler tag the big plot twist from the end of that film. It wouldn't be sensible.

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As for Hanako's sex scene being more explicit than others, I hadn't really noticed it before. While you're right that the other sex scenes are less explicit in their presentation, I'd say that they're no less hardcore in substance than Hanako's. Which is to say, they've all got penile-vaginal intercourse scenes (which is the only kind Hanako's route had) and the others then had quite a number of fetish scenes -- assisted masturbation in Rin's, bondage in Shizune's, or the infamous anal scene in Emi's. I don't think we could call Hanako's sex scene "hardcore" or "more hardcore" just because it was more explicit. Perhaps that's the distinction to be made here: explicitness and hardcoreness are two different things.

A bit of an aside: to be perfectly honest, the sex scenes in the game, even Hanako's, have been far less carnal than those in other faux-eroges like Fate/stay night and have been exceedingly less carnal than those in eroges proper. In a typical eroge produced by, say, Bishop or Selen or some other R18 studio, the primary goal is sexual pleasure and the secondary goal is cerebral pleasure (i.e. telling a good story). But in faux-eroges like Key's Kanon, Type-Moon's FSN, or 4LS's Katawa Shoujo, the primary focus is clearly on the narrative. The sex scenes are now relegated to a supporting role and are in many cases, as in Katawa Shoujo, not so much present with the intent to titillate players and have them masturbate while gaming than they are to drive the story. I think this is especially true of KS because most of the sex scenes in KS are much too short and not nearly explicit enough, as you have already pointed out, while the few that are somewhat longer, like Hanako's solitary sex scene or like the infamous shed scene of you-know-who's, are intentionally awkward for one narrative reason or another and thus kill players' sex drives fairly quickly. Katawa Shoujo is one of very few successes I have come across in the grand project of trying to incorporate sex into a narrative without it feeling forced or smutty, of using an explicitly-depicted sex scene as a plot device that (1) would have left the story worse off without it than with it and (2) isn't there for people to jerk off to but instead is there as a genuine part of the story, no different than all the other events in the story. This is very hard to pull off as a writer and I think that the KS path writers, especially the Hanako path writers, did a fantastic job with this.

Well I was just using the distinction between hardcore porn and softcore porn. In softcore porn you don't actually see the penis entering the vagina(or other orifices) and only barely catch a glimpse, if at that, of genitalia at all. All of the other H-scenes would technically be softcore porn. Much more hardcore subjects, yes, but Hanako's is the only one that you flat out see the penial-vaginal intercourse. So it is hardcore porn, but not really a hardcore subject.

[Bagheera]

Hanako's was my first route, and I really enjoyed it. I think my only complaint with it is the rather abrupt ending -- I really wanted to see what Lilly thought about how things turned out, and how the relationship between Hisao and Hanako affected her friendships with both (I wanted this in the Lilly route as well, actually; maybe we can just imagine a third route, or an epilogue to Hanako's route, where she and Lilly agree to share Hisao so a relationship with him won't needlessly complicate matters! ). But apart from that I thought it was a lot of fun (especially the pool scene -- I love the notion that Hanako's actually a pool shark! Very cool.).

[newnar]

I got to Hanako's good ending on my first natural playthrough, meaning no walkthrough.

TBH, I was really disgusted at Hisao's sex scene with her. It wasn't the scene being overly explicit or anything. I was so disappointed in myself(actually Hisao but at the time I already couldn't tell one from another). I was literally slapping myself across the face after the whole thing. I don't understand why Hisao had went ahead after seeing all that scarring. It's not that the scars are disgusting, but how can you do this to her? I dunno what other ppl think, but I don't think Hanako enjoyed it one bit. It was traumatic for me to be forced to force myself on someone who just needs to be loved.

[A Humbled Fan]

I got to Hanako's good ending on my first natural playthrough, meaning no walkthrough.

TBH, I was really disgusted at Hisao's sex scene with her. It wasn't the scene being overly explicit or anything. I was so disappointed in myself(actually Hisao but at the time I already couldn't tell one from another). I was literally slapping myself across the face after the whole thing. I don't understand why Hisao had went ahead after seeing all that scarring. It's not that the scars are disgusting, but how can you do this to her? I dunno what other ppl think, but I don't think Hanako enjoyed it one bit. It was traumatic for me to be forced to force myself on someone who just needs to be loved.

I agree. Hanako's arc was flawless, in my opinion, except for that part. It just didn't seem like the right thing for Hisao to do. It would have felt right if he had just held her (full clothed).

[Bagheera]

I got to Hanako's good ending on my first natural playthrough, meaning no walkthrough.

TBH, I was really disgusted at Hisao's sex scene with her. It wasn't the scene being overly explicit or anything. I was so disappointed in myself(actually Hisao but at the time I already couldn't tell one from another). I was literally slapping myself across the face after the whole thing. I don't understand why Hisao had went ahead after seeing all that scarring. It's not that the scars are disgusting, but how can you do this to her? I dunno what other ppl think, but I don't think Hanako enjoyed it one bit. It was traumatic for me to be forced to force myself on someone who just needs to be loved.

I agree. Hanako's arc was flawless, in my opinion, except for that part. It just didn't seem like the right thing for Hisao to do. It would have felt right if he had just held her (full clothed).

I tend to agree. The sex there was . . . abrupt, IMO. I felt that way about most of the sex in the game, actually, but it's particularly noticeable in Hanako's arc.

[Brogurt]

Keep in mind that the game has been touted as an eroge since the beginning, and technically Hisao hadn't fucked anything yet and the path was about to end.
Not sure if much else needs saying.

[A Humbled Fan]

Keep in mind that the game has been touted as an eroge since the beginning, and technically Hisao hadn't fucked anything yet and the path was about to end.
Not sure if much else needs saying.

The point is, despite it being an eroge, you wouldn't be missing anything important if you decided to turn the H-content off.

At least in my opinion.

[Koda89]

I got to Hanako's good ending on my first natural playthrough, meaning no walkthrough.

TBH, I was really disgusted at Hisao's sex scene with her. It wasn't the scene being overly explicit or anything. I was so disappointed in myself(actually Hisao but at the time I already couldn't tell one from another). I was literally slapping myself across the face after the whole thing. I don't understand why Hisao had went ahead after seeing all that scarring. It's not that the scars are disgusting, but how can you do this to her? I dunno what other ppl think, but I don't think Hanako enjoyed it one bit. It was traumatic for me to be forced to force myself on someone who just needs to be loved.

The fact that both of them were virgins and he went all the way in with one thrust alone ensured that Hanako wasn't going to enjoy it.

Stupid Hisao, and this is one of those times I can definitely say Hisao is stupid and not me, the player, is stupid via Hisao. I didn't even want to have sex with Hanako at that time. Not because I didn't find her attractive, hell no, I honestly find Hanako to be the most beautiful of the girls, just it wasn't the right time or mood for "sexy time". Hell I was still in shock at seeing the beauty of her whole body when Hisao started fondling her.

So yes, I can safely say Hisao's actions in that scene were not in my approval.

[newnar]

Keep in mind that the game has been touted as an eroge since the beginning, and technically Hisao hadn't fucked anything yet and the path was about to end.
Not sure if much else needs saying.

If you don't mind me saying, but this isn't really a good reason to just fuck someone.

*sees hot chick on the road*
"Hey there, I'm just reaching the end of my 20s and I haven't had any sex yet. I'm supposed to be a pretty horny guy, so can we fuck?"



Anyway, correct me if I'm wrong(haven't gone through every route yet), but is Hanako's route the only route where Hisao tells the girl that his heart condition was previously sparked off by his previous lover's confession?


EDIT: Brofist to Koda89. Screw Hisao.