Katawa Shoujo Forums

All read up on Panda now...

I've been away for a while now and love the book club idea! Sadly circumstances prevent me from joining in on the discussions at the moment.

I will say that Panda's work is very well written and the characterisation is wonderful. The consistency of their writing style and well spaced hooks give the story an addictive flow which has me waiting with baited breath for the next installment. An intervention for Lilly! Let the feels commence!

Alright then, tis the 5th and any and all people sad that panda has vacated the area can join the queue. Aside from that, you may begin.
Link is up and all that.

It's a sensitive Lilly -> Hanako x Hisao pandaverse. Story is elegantly done (minus some editing glitches), and now I remember what really made me sad… the lack of a conclusion. I enjoyed going through it; the slices of life are very well-described, full of little details for added veracity (some of which I googled and found to be accurate).

It may be my own personal bias, but in panda's works (or at least the ones in question), the characters seem just a tad out of character. Just in small ways, pushing the agenda of cuteness for the sake of cuteness. Not that there is anything wrong with that, because indeed, I did find it cute.

To be honest, I am not really sure what to say beyond that.

I'll echo Mahorfeus' thoughts on this. As I was reading, a paraphrase of the witch's words from "Last Midnight" from Into the Woods came to mind: it's not good, it's not bad, it's just nice. It's unremarkable fluffy filler, but there's very much a place for that type of thing when one is in a certain frame of mind.

There is a marked lack fo Emi I am realizing. I shall do something about it.

Ascent: An Emilogue – Epilogue by Mountaineer (completed, ca. 13.000 words)
PoV: Hisao; Pairings: Hisao x Emi; Begins: after Emi good end
Remarks: sex

Hmmm, 12th? Yes.

dewelar wrote:I'll echo Mahorfeus' thoughts on this. As I was reading, a paraphrase of the witch's words from "Last Midnight" from Into the Woods came to mind: it's not good, it's not bad, it's just nice. It's unremarkable fluffy filler, but there's very much a place for that type of thing when one is in a certain frame of mind.

I suppose since I edited the majority of Panda's stuff I should chime in with something. You're right that it's nice, fluffy writing. Per my understanding it was never meant to be anything but. I believe Panda himself oft described it as, "Cuddle Porn". I suppose I find that highly descriptive of the finished product, at the very least (each chapter, at least the ones that I edited, went through quite the gauntlet before it was published).

Shame he never got around to writing the last chapter, as I was quite looking forward to reading it. From what I surmised, Real Life™ simply got in the way.

Sea wrote: Ascent: An Emilogue – Epilogue by Mountaineer (completed, ca. 13.000 words)
PoV: Hisao; Pairings: Hisao x Emi; Begins: after Emi good end
Remarks: sex

Oh, nice. I liked this one.

More to come on the 12th, I suppose.

Mahorfeus wrote:More to come on the 12th, I suppose.

For the first time in a while, I can't wait! Figuratively, at least. That was bloody amazing.

Alright, its kidna late, but it's the 12th nonetheless, BEGIN!

I think this piece works well as manga, perhaps less well as traditional text. It's a nice heartwarming plot, how Hisao sements (oops, typo) his relationship with Emi with the climax of their relationship gaining Meiko's approval. It's metaphorically as well as literally ascent and descent, and Emi surviving without her 'legs' likewise. Some of the longer H parts could have been shortened...

Oh, right, it's that time already. I guess I can rant now.

The "humanity versus nature" theme seems to be overplayed in fiction, but I have never seen it worked into KS' setting outside of this story. The choice of theme works quite well, in my opinion. Stories that are more or less direct sequels to their respective routes tend to fail to provide any realistic or significant conflict. I feel like pitting Hisao and Emi against nature was a good way to make them reexamine their relationship, and ultimately strengthen it. They are both forced to face their own limitations, more specifically the ones related to their disabilities. Emi's legs are destroyed, so she is forced to rely on someone else, something she has never been good at. Having to be the one to take on that burden pushes Hisao's physical limits, while letting him fully express his dedication to their relationship. Solidarity in a life or death situation is one sure way of erasing doubts.

The premise seems solid enough, though I admit I do wonder just how much money Emi's father could have possibly left her and Meiko. What the heck did the guy do for a living? That aside, a camping trip seems like a reasonable way to kick things off. That they got lost to begin with did rely a little heavily on the idiot ball, but frankly, that kind of shit happens all the time in real life. The way that Mountaineer wrote some of the scenes does make it seem like it'd lend itself better to an action manga, like brythain said; one part that sticks out in my mind is when Emi nearly falls off the cliff, and Hisao does his slo-mo save.

Of course, it's hard not to mention the H-scenes. I personally thought that the first and third were pretty appropriate, if not a little too long. The second on the other hand, was just downright gratuitous. Not to mention pointless, seeing as Emi's stated reason for having sex in the middle of a damn thunderstorm didn't even work. It could be taken out completely, and nothing in the story would change. I suppose the same could be said of the first, but at least then the setting seemed appropriate.

The ending is just a tad too sappy, but I liked the interaction between Hisao and Meiko.

All in all, probably my favorite emilo- er, epilogue for Emi's route. (Though admittedly, I have not read many of those...)

Somehow I think nobody's surprised that I loved "Ascent". It had a number of wonderfully emotional moments, the overall sentiment (Hisao would die to protect Emi) was well-played, the plot seemed fairly well thought-out, the writing was brilliant (if a little typo-heavy ), and I personally enjoyed the h-scenes but that's just me.
Issues I had: honestly, besides the typos, the only thing that irked me was h-scene word choice. If you want to use every creative euphemism under the sun (e.g. "her most erogenous area"), feel free. If you want to stick to more common/accurate but slightly more vulgar language, go right ahead. But please don't mix them. Each one provides its own sense of immersion, which breaks as soon as you try to switch between them. But what do I know?

Also I think this storyline would make a great movie, just saying.

Craftyatom wrote:Also I think this storyline would make a great movie, just saying.

I agree! It's very cinematic. Could even make it 'Fifty Words For Snow And Other Fluids' in a tribute to other themes and tropes.

I liked it. I mean, it kinda did delve into gratuitous porn, but...I can live with that. As I said in another thread: it's a nice, but particularly white-knighty fic. Hisao pulls off a miraculous save by grabbing Emi, then takes her all the way down the mountain? Ehhhhhh...again, nice, but the armor's a bit shiny. Still like it, though, don't get me wrong!