Katawa Shoujo Forums

Hey guys, posting for the first time here, hopefully this is the right place for this.

After playing through 4 routes so far (Lilly, Rin, Emi, Hanako) over the course of two months, the game is definitely not what I expected when I first heard about it. It's been enjoyable so far and I like how the stories have played out. Thank you for making such a great game 4leaf .

After finishing Rin's route today (which probably is my favorite now next to Hanako's), I have been scrambling to figure out what each girl's route encompasses. I'm a little slow on the uptake, so even after playing through their routes, I had to read up more about others' playthrough and their point of view to better understand what really is happening. Granted, I probably haven't read up on each of them as much as I'd like, so I'm making this thread in hopes that people who are more articulate than me could explain each of the route's themes.

Am I right to say that it goes basically something like

Rin - Understanding
Hanako - Equality
Lilly - Acceptance
Emi - Commitment
Shizune - ?

I realize that there are better discussions about each girl in their own individual threads here on the forum, but there are a lot of pages for each of them to go through, so I hope this thread can consolidate most of that.

Shizune - Communication

To finish off your list.

If we are going by the tagline for each lass that the website had:

Lilly - Can you see what I see?
Shizune - Can you tell me what you're thinking?
Hanako - Can you face your fears?
Emi - Can you stand up for yourself?
Rin - Can you seize the day?

Misha - Wahahahaha~!

Emi - To live for the present is a bearable thing, and perhaps fun.
Hanako - To live in the past is foolishness. All you will do is hurt those around you.
Lilly - To live solely for another might pay off, but you will die many times to do so.
Rin - To try and completely understand someone else is folly. All you can do is reach across and hope your fingers touch.
Shizune - Accepting these things, all we can live for is the future, and the culmination of something that will outlast us.

Shizune's story arc was best described here: http://ks.renai.us/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=5877

Tomate wrote:Shizune: A tale about How Hisao Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the boobies.

I recently tried to match the 5 stories with the 5 "mental poisons" , that is, unskillfull attitudes that cause us to suffer. In each of the five routes, the main cause of suffering is then one of those 5 poisons. This is what I came up with, some minor spoilers ahead:

Hanako: Pride. Hisao's white knighting and looking down on Hanako is what causes most problems.
Lilly: Attachment. Hisao's clinging to Lilly, without thinking of her needs is what causes most problems here.
Emi: Ignorance. Hisao's ignorance of Emi's real situation causes most problems.
Rin: Anger. Hisao's anger at his own inability to understand Rin is what causes most problems.
Shizune: Jealousy. The jealousy between the three causes most problems.