What arc should i try next?

[Xanatos]

If I wanted to get the scenes and the soundtrack, yes.

If I didn't want to, no.

I tried both Emi and Rin's paths. It just made me cry to see them both go away and never have to go back to them unless I want to.

Well, my answer to this post is, no.

...So you're unwilling to do the endings if you want all the scenes? Wat.

[Moeta]

I've just recently played through both Hanako and Lilly's storylines, and I'm undecisive if I should bother playing the others stories.
I immediately fell in love with those two characters, and I've never gotten such feels out of a game before.
But the other girls don't really appeal to me at first glance, Shizune is too strict and controlling(Also Lilly's enemy:(),
and Emi looks so young it feels kinda weird. I find Rin's deadpan humour really funny, but she feels more like the friend type.

Are these characters worth reading more about, or do they stay pretty much the same the whole story?

[Fiandra]

They're totally worth the read. Especially Rin and Emi's.

[metalangel]

But the other girls don't really appeal to me at first glance, Shizune is too strict and controlling

At first glance.

Play her route and find out.

Try to resist falling a little bit for Emi.

[Xanatos]

:\ No. Not worth it at all. Even though Hanako and Lilly are great characters with great stories and depth, the team just half-assed everyone and everything that wasn't about them. Totally. Fuck Emi, Rin, and Shizune. Fucking stock characters, no depth at all, no change. Even though Hanako and Lilly establish a precedent for those things. The rest of the writing just totally ignores that for no apparent reason. Like cardboard cutouts. They just stay the same and ruin this game. Nobody has ever gotten any enjoyment out of these characters because Hanako and Lilly were just so great, then the other three were shit. And everyone who's ever found worth in those three is totally lying. Ignore the many polls and threads where their fans may post. Because they're lying. None of those three are worth anything. Three-fifths of the game just fail entirely because of them. It really sucks.

I'm rolling my eyes at you. You liked two of the stories. What possessed you to think the rest wouldn't be of equal quality? That's just nonsense.

[pandaphil]

Can't tell you about Shizune, and I've just started Rin's myself. But I can definitely recommend doing Emi's. There's a little more humor in her story, but the feels at the end are just as strong. There's more to that young lady than meets the eye.

[Xanatos]

There's more to that young lady than meets the eye.

So she secretly does have legs?

[Moeta]

I'm not saying they're not worth reading in that sense, it kinda went out wrong.
I've been sitting the past day reading almost non-stop, and I'm wondering if i should read it right now or later.
I will eventually read all the stories anyway.

[pandaphil]

I'm not saying they're not worth reading in that sense, it kinda went out wrong.
I've been sitting the past day reading almost non-stop, and I'm wondering if i should read it right now or later.
I will eventually read all the stories anyway.

That's a tough question. Personally I took a week off after playing Hanako, just to let the feels subside a bit.

And since there probably will never be another KS VN, it might be a good idea to pace yourself and make the experience last awhile.

[Xanatos]

I'm not saying they're not worth reading in that sense, it kinda went out wrong.
I've been sitting the past day reading almost non-stop, and I'm wondering if i should read it right now or later.
I will eventually read all the stories anyway.

Well, you worded it entirely wrong in that case. No worries. Rin does that too sometimes. Anyway, that's a matter of preference. I limited myself to roughly 45 minutes of KS a day and still enjoyed the whole thing plenty. [Obligatory recommendation to experience bad/neutral ends after the good (or before, or mix 'em up) here.]

Some will have enjoyment dulled by time away. Others wouldn't like it as much all in one sitting. Nobody can really suggest your preference here.

[Moeta]

Personally I took a week off after playing Hanako, just to let the feels subside a bit.

Yeah, i was kind of worried about how Hanako would fare when playing Lilly storyline.
I'm a bit "scared" of what will happen to her in the other routes. Poor Hanako

[Xanatos]

Personally I took a week off after playing Hanako, just to let the feels subside a bit.

Yeah, i was kind of worried about how Hanako would fare when playing Lilly storyline.
I'm a bit "scared" of what will happen to her in the other routes. Poor Hanako

In other routes, she'll keep hanging around Lilly most of the time. At least, that's the reasonable assumption. In both her own and Lilly's, it's Hisao's presence that gets her to grow out of that shell so minus him, she's probably the same old recluse (Incidentally, check out the neutral end. It's pretty good.). When/if Lilly leaves for Scotland in other routes, who knows...Probably hits a depression and eventually gets help ala Mutou or Nurse.

[Dr. Casey]

Yeah, i was kind of worried about how Hanako would fare when playing Lilly storyline.
I'm a bit "scared" of what will happen to her in the other routes. Poor Hanako

Nothing bad happens to her in the other routes, though she's out of the story's focus and doesn't progress nearly as fast without Hisao's help. Katawa Shoujo takes place in 2007, though, so you can easily imagine that she's changed quite a bit since she's had six years to improve herself, Hisao or no Hisao.

As to whether the other routes are worth playing, absolutely; Katawa Shoujo is a wonderful experience all-around. I think Emi's route has the best and most tightly-written story (and she's also quite similar to Hanako deep down in certain ways, despite their being opposites on a superficial level), Rin's story is by far the darkest and most discomforting, and Shizune is much more cute and charming than you might expect before you truly get to know her in her route. I think they're all equally great stories.

[YZQ]

Personally I took a week off after playing Hanako, just to let the feels subside a bit.

Yeah, i was kind of worried about how Hanako would fare when playing Lilly storyline.
I'm a bit "scared" of what will happen to her in the other routes. Poor Hanako

In other routes, she'll keep hanging around Lilly most of the time. At least, that's the reasonable assumption. In both her own and Lilly's, it's Hisao's presence that gets her to grow out of that shell so minus him, she's probably the same old recluse (Incidentally, check out the neutral end. It's pretty good.). When/if Lilly leaves for Scotland in other routes, who knows...Probably hits a depression and eventually gets help ala Mutou or Nurse.

This is one weakness of the overarching story: It is very hard to get everyone involved. The closest I can think of is Lily's route, when Emi and Rin got pushed out of focus. Hanako developed pretty well during the story, and Shizune... got better.

[Praygon]

I feel i have to let out how this made me feel but I don't think my friends would understand so i just want to get this out to somebody.

I haven't had any work of fiction be it from games,books or films touch me like that in a long time. The writing while not the greatest ever was extremely well done I entered the game very pessimistic but and I have no shame in admitting this I cried at the end of hanako's arc. While i know these people are fictional there story's are not real i feel like iv had some sort of epiphany while playing there was so much to the story i could relate. I was bulled allot at a young age,my parents divorced young as well and recently the pain of the past had driven me into a well of self pity.

But after going through the game I feel happier almost at peace fictional or not seeing how these characters dealed with and grew out of there own pain to truly grow as a person snapped me out of my own self loathing. As stupid as it sounds katawa shoujo has changed my outlook on life it helped me move on.