Katawa Shoujo Forums

As vague as it may sound, or not sound, with all this talk about the heroines, we never get the chance to admire how Hisao is in respect with the heroines. What are your views on Hisao's behaviour in respect to particular heroines, and overall, which arc do you feel most connected to Hisao, or in other words, which arc has got you admiring/ liking Hisao the most?
To make this explanation a little less confusing, I'll input my opinion in.
Overall I figured that Hisao in Shizune's arc makes up for what some may call, a terrible arc due to it's vagueness in what we may call a proper relationship. No matter how vague the arc is to some, I say some because I myself feel it's just all right, not terrible or mediocre at all, one thing is pretty enthralling in Hisao's way of thought throughout the arc. That one thing is how Hisao adjusts himself in learning Sign Language to communicate to Shizune in a more personal way then asking Misha whatever she's saying. True, all arcs are different but this arc kinda makes communication it's selling point (or how I'd see it) and that is what enthralls me, much less annoys me as some may call it long. Imo, Hisao is most open to other things other than himself in this arc, since overall it is clear that he doesn't like English whatsoever. It is implied that in Lily's arc, he wants to read in Braille, but i suppose that never is given its spotlight due to limitations and how it has pretty much nothing to do with getting along with Lily in the end. In Shizune's case however, it's pretty dominant.

With that said, In which arc do you enjoy Hisao the most in terms of personality, habits, or basically anything personal about him?

Shizune's. He sees the most personal growth out of all the paths, imo.

guest2 wrote:Shizune's. He sees the most personal growth out of all the paths, imo.

On the flip side, Shizune's bad end is where Hisao is the absolute worst.

Banging your girlfriend's best friend behind her back, ruining both of their relationships and isolating Shizune from the two people she cares about most. Shizune is completely and utterly alone because of him. Holy shit, Hisao. Go fuck yourself.

guest2 wrote:Shizune's. He sees the most personal growth out of all the paths, imo.

Agreed. I'd go so far as to say that Hisao's development is just as important as Shizune's/Misha's in that particular route.

I think I like him the best in Emi's route. He really takes care of himself and makes it seem like he'll live a long life despite his condition.

Emi's route has a more active Hisao, who is healthier and not afraid of a sudden random death. But at Shizune he does have some awesome moments of growing, there is a feeling of completion at the end of it.

Hanako route: Hisao was almost 100% shadowing me and my reactions to things until that scene.

Emi route: Played with walkthrough support all the way. I'm not even a really active person I'd say that Hisao was quite a step away from what I would have done. But I think this arc is where Hisao is the most mature in terms of decision-making and talking to people, if you chose to talk to Emi's mum, but not really on the bright side though. All that working out physically and lack of library time seems to have taken a toll.

Rin route: This is where it get's interesting. I played Rin's arc with the flowchart open as well, but I took note of when I didn't agree with the choices. And I have to say, I saw through Hisao's misplaced support from the start. I knew pushing Rin for the exhibition was probably not a good idea but I still chose the "right" options for the sake of completing the story. Overally on Rin's route Hisao acted like any normal dude would, except that normal guys would've given up on Rin ages ago.

Lilly's route: I have to say that Hisao outdid himself here. This arc felt way more normal and thus much sweeter than other arcs. It felt almost like a normal relationship with a perfectly normal person. Hisao obviously did everything "according to the book", textbook lover style. He has a habit of letting his condition get the better of him quite often here though.

Hisao was at his nicest in Lilly's route. Like Lilly herself, her route in general was the nicest and with the least romance-related drama.

However, the Hisao I admire the most is Shizune's Hisao. All three characters - Shizune, Hisao and Misha - go through a lot of growth in that route, and although it knocks about egos and arguments are had, they all come out for it stronger. I also like that Hisao at the end is no longer dependent on anybody, and that the relationship being on the backburner* is a small price to pay for Hisao learning to communicate in an entirely different language, learning the values of friendship and working to get what you want.


* - I personally think a lot of it wasn't shown especially as Hisao's sign language skills grow especially fast and between certain scenes - that can only really happen with practise, there's only so much you can do in the classroom. It would probably be just normal "high-school boyfriend/girlfriend" things like holding hands and going to the Shanghai for mini-dates, etc. As it wasn't the overall focus of Shizune's route though, I can understand why it wasn't put in.

I'll have to agree with others that Hisao was probably the most interesting in Shizune's route, though I honestly really liked him in Act 1, before a route was chosen.

I've said it before on a couple occasions, but I believe that Hisao -- once you've played through all six routes and pieced together his personality from the little bits you discover in each one -- is the most interesting character in the story. He has a very well developed personality, and each of the different routes plays on a different aspect of it, so you really only get to know the real Hisao after completing the novel in it's entirety.

UncleJellyfish wrote: I've said it before on a couple occasions, but I believe that Hisao -- once you've played through all six routes and pieced together his personality from the little bits you discover in each one -- is the most interesting character in the story. He has a very well developed personality, and each of the different routes plays on a different aspect of it, so you really only get to know the real Hisao after completing the novel in it's entirety.

Well said. Completely agree with you, no matter how obvious it

When you said you liked the Hisao in act 1, so basically I can safely assume that you like the Hisao in such a way a Preview is to an anime series (or some other awkward simile).

I like him in all routes, because every route brings out another facet of his personality ( which has to stay a bit vague, of course, to allow the choices to feel natural and to make it easier for the reader to identify with him ), but I was annoyed at times in Hanakos route. He just ssems to be "in it" for the wrong reasons far too long.

Well it's not a surprise for Hisao to be the most complex. Or rather should I say, its wrong to combine the different Hisaos from different arcs because obvious the players choices make up who he is. The different Hisaos are personas of the player behind.

Kirkner wrote:

UncleJellyfish wrote: I've said it before on a couple occasions, but I believe that Hisao -- once you've played through all six routes and pieced together his personality from the little bits you discover in each one -- is the most interesting character in the story. He has a very well developed personality, and each of the different routes plays on a different aspect of it, so you really only get to know the real Hisao after completing the novel in it's entirety.

Well said. Completely agree with you, no matter how obvious it

When you said you liked the Hisao in act 1, so basically I can safely assume that you like the Hisao in such a way a Preview is to an anime series (or some other awkward simile).

In Act 1, Hisao was just out of the hospital and into a new school. He was depressed and lacked direction. I rather liked that sort of air to him. When I first started reading Katawa Shoujo, it was the very first Act that made me go, "Hmm, I think I like this guy."

newnar wrote:Well it's not a surprise for Hisao to be the most complex. Or rather should I say, its wrong to combine the different Hisaos from different arcs because obvious the players choices make up who he is. The different Hisaos are personas of the player behind.

I would agree with you if this were any other VN or dating sim, but it's not. I don't feel that the Hisao of each arc is any different from any other Hisao. They are all him, but each arc brings out a different side of him, as in, they each play off of a specific aspect of his personality, which you can only fully experience by playing all the routes. The choices you make for Hisao in Katawa Shoujo are all choices that he himself would make based on his personality; all the reader does is decide which of his own choices would suit the situation best.