Hanako's Good/Neutral Endings *spoilers* - What I Thought

[ARksf]

So, I just finished Hanako's route (2nd route finished so far). Other than the fact that I'm feeling a little emotionally frazzled (and obsessing over Hanako), I wanted to talk a little about her Endings from my initial perspective.

The Neutral Ending happened to be the first ending I got and I was a little taken aback at the abruptness of it. I was like, "that's it? huh?". At the time, I felt frustrated and irritated by that. So Hisao just suddenly realizes his relationship with Hanako would never go further than the occasional chess game and tea session? What clued him in to that? Sudden psychic powers?

Of course, the Good Ending made Hanako's feelings and her motivations behind her actions clear, providing context and depth to the Neutral Ending. I should add that I love the Good Ending. I was left feeling uneasy about the direction of the Hanako route after the Neutral Ending and the sudden sex scene jarred me even more. For me, that came out of nowhere. Hanako's been too shy to even look Hisao in the eye most of the time and now they're having sex (for the first time, no less)? Coming from Rin's route, where the sexual stuff seemed to gradually build up, this felt even more jarring. I was left feeling very iffy about the whole thing. Hanako was one of my favourites in Act 1 and after the awesome Rin route, I had high hopes for her route. It seemed like I would be left unsatisfied.

Then came the whole bit in the park and I was blown away. In just a few lines of dialogue, Hanako's character seemed to bloom. Almost everything she'd done (and not done), everything she'd said, all of it just came together. That was...a deft piece of storytelling, I thought and it definitely had an emotional impact on me.

Just to cite one thing, that last picture/photo of Hanako moving in to kiss Hisao and the fact that this was their first kiss unobscured by ulterior motives and confusion and mistrust, was just so...lovely, for a lack of a better word, it moved me immensely. It felt to me that that kiss meant more to both of them than the fact they'd lost to their virginity to each other, mostly because neither of them were acting in good faith or being honest to each other back then. It was just really sweet.

I still feel that the Neutral Ending could have been padded out a bit. I just think it would give it a little more weight. Unless someone got the Good Ending, Hisao coming to that conclusion seems defeatist and almost baseless. Of course, no one playing a VN would get a Neutral Ending and say, "Oh well, Game Over.", so from a VN storytelling perspective, I suppose it makes sense. KS being my first (and so far only) VN though, I'm no expert on VNs, so what do I know?

Repeating myself, that last scene at the park was just so good, I still can't get it out of my head. It really capped off the whole route beautifully. My hat's off to the writer of Hanako. You, sir/madam, are a wonderful storyteller.

Just so, this doesn't end up being me babbling about myself -

What did you think of Hanako's Endings? If you got the Neutral Ending first, did it bother you? How did you like the Good Ending? I haven't (and don't intend to, any time soon) seen the Bad Ending, yet, so whatever it is has made no impact on judgement. Did it do so for you?

[mysterycycle]

I got the Neutral Ending on my first try, which left me terribly unhappy - having been friend-zoned twice in my own life, I found it deeply distressing to find myself in the position of doing it to Hanako. I knew I should have listened to Lilly, but for some reason I felt as though I had been relying on Lilly's opinion for too long, and perhaps it was time I decided something for myself. In a sense, perhaps, I was taking her advice, but taking it entirely the wrong way.

Er...I mean Hisao was, of course.

Having played through her path a couple of times now, I see more plainly where Hisao began to tell himself that he needed to stop thinking of Hanako as a potential love interest and instead just do what he thought would be best for her because of her condition. So the Neutral End made sense to me - it's just him following that same train of logic, and it leaves both of them in a very "safe" position - but of course it was immensely unsatisfying for obvious reasons, and would almost certainly not end well for either of them in the long run.

I absolutely loved the Good Ending; I had a rather similar reaction to it as you did. I confess I've watched that scene by itself from the game Library quite a few times because it never fails to move me and make me feel good.

While I had the desire to see more of Hisao and Hanako's relationship, in both the cases of the Good and Neutral Endings, I think the writers were wise to end where they did. The story that needed to be told was told (and as they say in entertainment, "Always leave them wanting more."). Personally, I don't think that padding out the Neutral End would have improved it, and while I suppose there could have been something of an epilogue added to it to put a happy face on Hisao friend-zoning Hanako, I feel as though doing that would have been counter to the theme of her story. I don't consider it a happy ending in any way.

It took me a long while before I could bring myself to watch the Bad Ending, so I hear where you're coming from. It's interesting, and worth reading because I think it gives you a little bit more insight into Hanako, but I needed time to let the feelings run their course and "detach" myself from the emotional impact of the story so I could go through the Bad Ending without feeling heartbroken by it.

[Brogurt]

yeah it's not like there's already threads on the subject or anything

[ZXRN]

People can say whatever they want in here, so just let it be...




@mystery cycle: Hanako's bad end ain't gonna be that bad so go for it mate (for me anyways). And yes, you'll really get to understand what she wants when you see that (I mean. if you want to go deeper in her storyline that is).


side note: I never realized you were that same mysterycycle on fitocracy wahaha.

[ravenlord]

All three endings of Hanako held promise, even the bad ending. They all contain passion, which can be worked into love with enough effort. The bad endings of the other girls offered no such hope -- they all basically simply cut you off and walked away in a cold and detached way.

I think that's why I love Hanako's path so much. She has so much depth and passion that is hidden, and you don't see it until the very end. Unlike the other girls, her story doesn't really even start until the end credits.

The good ending was solid gold -- best payoff of the game. I saw the neutral ending as Hisao needing a litle more time (and maybe a push from Lilly when she gets back) to man up and get his shit together and then confess to Hanako after that. The bad ending was just a really bad lover's quarrel that will get patched back up when Lilly gets back. In that ending Hanako and Hisao obviously have extremely strong and confused feelings for each other, and they need time (and someone like Lilly to mediate) to help them sort them out and get their stars aligned.

[mysterycycle]

side note: I never realized you were that same mysterycycle on fitocracy wahaha.

Heh - yep, it's me. I'm going to start running again either this week or next depending on my schedule, now that my knee seems healed up.

Hmm...I wonder if Hanako has inspired anyone to start reading more? I've suddenly started seeing Murakami novels all over the place since playing...

[ravenlord]

Hmm...I wonder if Hanako has inspired anyone to start reading more? I've suddenly started seeing Murakami novels all over the place since playing...

Yeah, he is my favorite author now. I finished off the The Rat Trilogy, and then Dance, Dance, Dance. I have "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World" and "Norwegian Wood" on order from Amazon.

I also read "Life of Pi" for the heck of it. It's not a Murakami novel, but one of the other books Hanako was reading. It turned out that it was really cool too!

[Unforgiven]

Hanakos story was my first, I got the good ending. I couldn't stop thinking about it for a long time. I think I will replay Hanakos path sometime soon. Only bad ending I ever got was Hanakos, I don't think it was that bad (though it is the only bad ending I ever played. But I agree that the good ending was beautiful.

[ZXRN]

side note: I never realized you were that same mysterycycle on fitocracy wahaha.

Heh - yep, it's me. I'm going to start running again either this week or next depending on my schedule, now that my knee seems healed up.

Hmm...I wonder if Hanako has inspired anyone to start reading more? I've suddenly started seeing Murakami novels all over the place since playing...

Just take it easy then mate. Hope ya get well completely soon.

I was a little inspired to read a book. None of what she read but at least I did some reading instead of playin' all day.
Though, since it was only a borrowed book, I just found out that I'm a slow reader and the type who just imagines what happens every scene...which adds to the slowness.

[Nyzer]

The good ending was solid gold -- best payoff of the game. I saw the neutral ending as Hisao needing a litle more time (and maybe a push from Lilly when she gets back) to man up and get his shit together and then confess to Hanako after that. The bad ending was just a really bad lover's quarrel that will get patched back up when Lilly gets back. In that ending Hanako and Hisao obviously have extremely strong and confused feelings for each other, and they need time (and someone like Lilly to mediate) to help them sort them out and get their stars aligned.

Yeah, I have to agree with a lot of that. The biggest "flaw" with the neutral/bad endings is that there were months left in the school year, and those two shared not only their class but their other major friend - even Hanako's blowup, as bad as it was, could have been patched over fairly easily, if they worked towards it. And the neutral ending? Between what the two of them felt for each other and Lilly's obvious shipping for them, yeah, the odds of them getting together later were still fairly high. Basically, the story acts like there was some sort of deadline... that if their relationship wasn't established before Lilly's return, then it never would be.

Though it seems there are a lot of people who wanted some more closure to their story in general, no matter the ending. Between being the shortest time span of the arcs, and their relationship itself only just starting by the end (in the good ending), it did leave a lot unsaid. It didn't do that in a terribly bad way, though. Not in my opinion anyway.

[Tomate]

yeah it's not like there's already threads on the subject or anything

Creating or replying honestly to a Hanako's ending thread is somewhat like a rite of passage, there are tons of 'em, the content is always the same, the users are different.