Katawa Shoujo Forums

I don't hate him. Even as a girl, I can connect with him. He's an average boy, with average weight, average look, average clothes, normal brown hair... o_o

I don't see how he is so hated. It seems as though most people expect him to be perfect just because he is the protagonist, but no one is perfect, not by a long shot. So I'm glad they portrayed him this way, the fight with Rin, for example, was due to him bottling up his anger for so long until he hit his boiling point, he was frustrated, and honestly, I probably would have done the same.

rather than 'why Hisao is so disliked', there should be a question 'why Shizune is so disliked'

There's plenty of threads about Shicchan already.

Megumeru wrote:rather than 'why Hisao is so disliked', there should be a question 'why Shizune is so disliked'

Because she's an absolute bitch to Lilly, and considering what a sweetheart Lilly is, it's kind of hard not to side with her, even if you're on Shizune's path.

metalangel wrote:There's plenty of threads about Shicchan already.

There already is. I just find it so unjustifiable.

There already is.

Fretless wrote: Because she's an absolute bitch to Lilly, and considering what a sweetheart Lilly is, it's kind of hard not to side with her, even if you're on Shizune's path.

Then you don't know who she really is.

To add to that, during Shizune's path, all of my sympathy, and other people's sympathy, went towards Misha, so I don't find it surprising when people either don't like/don't care about Shizune.
Literally the only time I actually felt bad for Shizune was the bad ending.

Shizune gets more flack than she deserves too. This is kind of easy to miss, but Shizune is the only main girl who's consistently portrayed as Hisao's friend on all routes. (the fact that she's a classmate and an attention hogger when given the opportunity obviously helps) Seeing that Hisao isn't the kind of guy who assembles a huge social circle wherever he goes and isn't all that close with most of his classmates, it's somewhat telling that no matter what route you go through, Hisao is on friendly terms with Shizune, even if he's not attracted to her. That alone would show Shizune's really not all that bad...it's just that a lot of "ordinary" classroom interaction that would take place between the two isn't worth putting in the game.

Oddball wrote: Hisao is a confused messed up kid that can't quite bring himself to tell people how he really feels dealing with other confused messed up kids tha can't handle telling him how they feel (with the possible exception of Lilly who seems fairly well adjusted compared to just about every other character in the game including some of the adults.)

here is no way those relationships were going to work without some stupid mistakes on both sides.

Dang it, Oddball! Every time I log in, I find that you've already expressed my opinions for me! ;D

I agree with this view here. I think a lot of the bad reaction comes from the fact that Hisao exists in a flux between proxy and an independent character with his own motivations. Most of my "Argh!" for him crops up in situations like Hanako's path where I knew how unhealthy his perspective was, but the real pain came from knowing I was experiencing the story from within a system of limited choice. I keep clicking, painfully wondering when I will get the opportunity to make a choice to get myself off the traintrack to hell, whereas if I'd had no choices to make at all then I would simply coast along to see if the character would learn and grow from his flawed personality traits. Even if he doesn't, it then becomes a question of whether or not he serves the theme of the story as a whole.

I keep clicking, painfully wondering when I will get the opportunity to make a choice to get myself off the traintrack to hell, whereas if I'd had no choices to make at all then I would simply coast along to see if the character would learn and grow from his flawed personality traits.

I think the "coasting along to see if the character would learn and grow or not" is still what was somewhat expected of the player to do in order to enjoy KS.

It's kinda like Hisao's interaction with Hanako in her arc...you can't micromanage Hisao's life; what you have to settle for is a handful of moments where you can say the worst thing at the worst time and send things tumbling off a cliff or say the right thing at the right time and watch as the protagonist steers himself back on track.

KS isn't a VN where you can play a "perfect game" by craftily steering the progatonist around every hurdle on the track. It made the story more realistic though. Let's face it, most players never went through a situation like Hisao's and they don't pick their choices not as a person fresh out of hospital and still smarting from the loss of his previous life would, but as a person sitting behind his computer playing a Visual Novel. Having a protagonist who does stick to that mindset even if it's not one that always reflect's the player's attitude made things more believable.

I learned as quickly as my second decision, when I chose to ask Shizune about her deafness and Hisao flat out refused to follow my choice, that Katawa Shoujo would not be a game in which it would be possible to force the main character to always act in the way I thought was best. Holding that mindset, it didn't really frustrate me at all when I was unable to make later choices go my way.

Guest Poster wrote:
I think the "coasting along to see if the character would learn and grow or not" is still what was somewhat expected of the player to do in order to enjoy KS.

It's kinda like Hisao's interaction with Hanako in her arc...you can't micromanage Hisao's life; what you have to settle for is a handful of moments where you can say the worst thing at the worst time and send things tumbling off a cliff or say the right thing at the right time and watch as the protagonist steers himself back on track.

KS isn't a VN where you can play a "perfect game" by craftily steering the progatonist around every hurdle on the track. It made the story more realistic though. Let's face it, most players never went through a situation like Hisao's and they don't pick their choices not as a person fresh out of hospital and still smarting from the loss of his previous life would, but as a person sitting behind his computer playing a Visual Novel. Having a protagonist who does stick to that mindset even if it's not one that always reflect's the player's attitude made things more believable.

You seem to have misinterpreted my statement, but I agree so it works out.

Megumeru wrote:

Fretless wrote: Because she's an absolute bitch to Lilly, and considering what a sweetheart Lilly is, it's kind of hard not to side with her, even if you're on Shizune's path.

Then you don't know who she really is.

Yes, without a doubt, Lilly is secretly the feminist Nazi overlord that Kenji suspects her to be. He's the only one perceptive enough to see through her devious "sweetheart" facade - besides Megumeru, of course. She probably has an altar to Satan somewhere underneath all of those Braille books in her room, too, where she sacrifices crippled infants and bathes in their blood in order to remain youthful.

I'm so sorry, Lilly, please forgive me, it was all for the sake of biting sarcasm, I didn't mean any of it, really, I was just trying to detract from those who slander you so unjustly by straw-manning them - I'm so sorry, Lilly.

Also, I would agree that while playing through Shizune's route, the vast majority of my sympathies went out exclusively to Misha instead. If you ask me, Shicchan is somewhat of a sociopath who doesn't know how to interact with people normally, and this glaring flaw of hers is only partially resolved by the end of her arc, depending on how much you read into it. Although her bad ending is still pretty sad, regardless. So go Team Mikado!

When you are complaining about him being a douchein Emi's or Rin's route you have to think that he is a simple teenager and he hasn't faced many situations like these. He has a lack of experience than most of us don't.

But i think Hisao's main problem is that he is not a very deep character and he is outshined comparing him with the girls or even minor characters like Kenji or Akira. For example, if he was like Okazaki (Clannad's protagonist, to name a VN) he would be more popular.

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

Megumeru wrote:

Fretless wrote: Because she's an absolute bitch to Lilly, and considering what a sweetheart Lilly is, it's kind of hard not to side with her, even if you're on Shizune's path.

Then you don't know who she really is.

Yes, without a doubt, Lilly is secretly the feminist Nazi overlord that Kenji suspects her to be. He's the only one perceptive enough to see through her devious "sweetheart" facade - besides Megumeru, of course. She probably has an altar to Satan somewhere underneath all of those Braille books in her room, too, where she sacrifices crippled infants and bathes in their blood in order to remain youthful.

I'm so sorry, Lilly, please forgive me, it was all for the sake of biting sarcasm, I didn't mean any of it, really, I was just trying to detract from those who slander you so unjustly by straw-manning them - I'm so sorry, Lilly.

...I don't know if I should laugh, or punch you in the gut.
I think I'll laugh. Yeah, I'll laugh...
...stupid rewording on my part

although you did gave me that idea of putting a Lilly sprite in an SS uniform for some reason...*Kenji will be proud*