The Hanako Thread - Spoilers, obviously

[Mirage_GSM]

Nothing is canon, except for
a) what's in the VN and
b) what one of the devs expicitly declared to be canon here in the forums or on the blog. Best source for that would probably the "Ask"-Thread.

[Althamus]

My bad. I since heard the Corp_crud second interview, and he is specifically asked whether the epilogue he wrote is canon, and he basically refused to reply, which says it shouldn't be taken as canon, but isn't necessarily just fanfic either.

[Evil_Sephiroth]

Finished right now my first route (Hanako good) and I think i end here..

I live KS and its plot, but but i really think I can't stand hanako bad ending or other girl path..

[themocaw]

Mischa gets her hair cut in Shizune's arc, but has her drills up until the end of all the other arcs.

This is actually deliberate but requires a bit of knowledge of Japanese culture and anime tropes. Cutting your hair, given that it has connotations of becoming a monk/nun and retreating from society, often implies that the person has just undergone a huge change in their lives and is trying to change their world view. Among girls, it's usually meant to symbolize trying to get over a romantic disappointment.

[Mirage_GSM]

Could also be simply because she cuts her hair during summer break and all other paths are finished before that...

[CNB]

Nothing is canon, except for
a) what's in the VN and
b) what one of the devs expicitly declared to be canon here in the forums or on the blog. Best source for that would probably the "Ask"-Thread.

Depending on how you feel about post-structural literary analysis, (b) might not actually constitute canon.

[Mirage_GSM]

Simple: As far as I am concerned, if the author of a work says it's canon, it is; if they say it isn't, it isn't.

[CNB]

Simple: As far as I am concerned, if the author of a work says it's canon, it is; if they say it isn't, it isn't.

I'm not saying that you have to buy into Death of the Author, just that it's a thing and that how you feel about it will affect your stance on whether statements made by the author of a work should be given similar weight to things which are included in the work itself.

Personally, I often find it interesting to know authors' influences and thoughts regarding things they've written; by the same token, I don't think it's very interesting to give authorial intent a privileged position in my understanding or interpretation of those things. I'm rather more concerned with how my own mind interprets fictional characters and events, than I am in knowing exactly what the writer was thinking when they wrote the story down (if for no other reason than that his or her own views on those fictional characters and events aren't static things, and have a good chance of changing even after they answer my question).

[encrypted12345]

Hanako's route was a very good route. The only complaint I could give was that the ending left us hanging a bit. It's the route that needed an epilogue the most.I can understand why they left it as it is though. Oh, leaving a good fan-made image of a Hanako epilogue.

[newnar]

God why did you not put those in links and put a warning beside it?

As Dustin Browder would say,"That dealt terrible, terrible damage."

[Robnonymous]

Hanako's route was a very good route. The only complaint I could give was that the ending left us hanging a bit. It's the route that needed an epilogue the most.

You know, there are a couple of fan-made Hanako epilogues over on the Fan Fiction board. *looks down at sig* This totally ISN'T a shameless self-plug, by the way.


*whistles*

[misterprinny]

Hanako's route was a very good route. The only complaint I could give was that the ending left us hanging a bit. It's the route that needed an epilogue the most.

You know, there are a couple of fan-made Hanako epilogues over on the Fan Fiction board. *looks down at sig* This totally ISN'T a shameless self-plug, by the way.


*whistles*

Sneaky, sneaky bastard.

[Torco]

Just finished Hanako thread. first, some context [all observation needs context, and all appraisal of an emotional piece like KS needs it even more]
this is all spoilers, obviously.

- I finished emi's route first: gut-wrenching, I got mad at the little kid, I got frustrated, and it was so funny and so sweet. Loved it, cathartic and cleansing.
- I then did Lilly's route: I just loved it, I just loved her, fully personal, no reflection on the game, but she's just... huh... just sort of the woman for me: motherly yet uninhibited, girlish in her sense of humour, childlike in her way of getting hooked on things, as the narrator puts it. I had the best time during acts 2 to 3, then the ending was horrible, then the ending was awesome. I think I might have gotten a blind chick fetish just out of that experience.
- then, hanako. surely there will be some emotional interference, I said. Surely there will be some exhaustion at my particular dislike for wangs, I said.

Hanako was not a pleasant experience for me, beggining to end. And yet I couldn't put the laptop down. I suffered, I understood the core conflict of the story; hisao was treating hanako like a useless kid, thus reinforcing her being a useless kid. they were both oblivious to each other's needs: hisao playing the 'don't worry about me' prevents hanako from understanding that he needs the honest, tranquil affection, the sincere interest in his past, the deep feelingh of quiet companioship and the harmless fun that she can give him. he's just "there for her" unilaterally. hanako, OTOH, tries to make it known that she isn't a child anymore and that she wants to be treated as an equal, but she's both too awkward and too weak to make that point come across. so hisao treats her as a stereotype, the 'helpless girl I want to help', thus reinforcing her feelings of unworthiness, while hanako treats him as a 'high school boy', and, since high school boys want sex, she has awful, depersonalizing sex with him, thus isolating him even more. In the end they manage to break free from that vicious dynamic, but...
/impersonal rambling

The entire story I was just shouting, in my mind, WAKE UP YOU FUCKERS! YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG! HOW CAN'T YOU SEE WHAT'S HAPPENING?. yeah, that was my level of involvement with this particular piece: an excellent story, as I know the Emi and Lilly ones are and I'm sure the others are as well. Maybe the pacing was all wrong, and the issue of being harmfully overprotective to a female significant other is, well, it just hits too close to home. I lost my first love, and then my second love, and my third love, and I cheated on my current girlfriend, whom I love, thanks to that exact hisao-hanako dynamic: the whole I love you I want to protect and confort you no matter what, so you don't see me as a person but as a stupid statue, so you can't feel like you comfort me, so you feel abusive and useless, so you apologize with sex, so I feel like I'm taking advantage of you, and then I end up treating you as a stereotype and you treat me as a stereotype and it all comes crashing down in the end kind of thing. It woke, without me realizing it, my own failures in relationships. Dude, I mean, the feeling of the whole thing was just bitter... probably that's due to the permanent angst of hanako, but it's also due to how much it reminds me of, as i've said, my own failures. Worse of all, it doesn't offer any way out of such a horrible, depersonalizing dynamic: in the story, they just weep and find themselves and are done with it... but you know what? real life doesn't work that way.
... or maybe I can never weep when I ought to...
fuck, I'm depressed now. I hate being depressed, I'm the guy who doesn't get depressed.

Anyway, it's an extraordinary story, that of Hanako. It just... hit me a bit too close to home, I guess.

[Chronopolize]

Interesting thing I found: *WARNING KEY DECISION SPOILER*

The critical choice in Hanako's route is succinctly summed up with this pun:
"Go to town with her, then you'll go to town with her."
But, what is the name of the first scene in Hanako's Path?
"To Town, To Town"

PUN-ishing

[Omurice]

Just finished the Hanako arc.

OWFU-