Katawa Shoujo Forums

Rin is, by a wide margin, my favorite girl in the game, but I feel we never really got much indication about her background. We never even hear about her family, or if she even has one, and not much is revealed about her past in the game. This is probably intentional (seeing as how Rin is a creature of the moment), but I still can't help but wonder where exactly she came from. Now, if memory serves, what we know about Rin's past is this:

-She was born with a birth defect, and the subsequent surgery left her with her trademark nubs.
-She used painting as a method of self-expression (and still does).

...And that's it. Unless I have forgotten something major, that is the sum total of what we know about Rin's past.

Any theories/ideas/guesses about Rin's past that might help fill the gap here?

I'm gonna try and get us started...
-Rin has a severe handicap, and has trouble taking care of herself (problems communicating, forgets to eat, takes too much cough syrup, etc.). It is very odd that despite all of this, we never see her parents stepping in to take care of her and protect her. One could argue that her parents felt shipping her off to Yamaku was protection enough, but if Rin was my daughter, I would worry about her constantly, no matter who was taking care of her. This leads me to believe that something has taken her parents out of the picture.
-Possibility A: Her mother was a single parent who didn't want the strain of trying to raise a girl with no arms, and tossed her into an orphanage. Might help to explain why Rin is so marvelously screwed up.
-Possibility B: Her mother died giving birth. Would explain why Rin doesn't usually connect to anyone: she never had a parent to bond to.
-Possibility C: Her parents kept her until she was eighteen, got sick of putting up with her and tossed her to Yamaku to get her out of their hair.
-Possibility D: Rin is actually a genetically-enhanced super-weapon designed by the Feminist Empire, and was grown in a test-tube. When she tried to grow arms, they got smushed up against the side of the glass because they left her in her first tube for too long. She was built to look more like a boy than most girls so she could more easily infiltrate male counter-feminist organizations (remember how easily she fooled Kenji into thinking she was a guy?), and to compensate for her lack of arms, received muscle-implants to her legs, granting her uncanny kicking ability. Feminist scientists were unable to properly replicate human intelligence, and after Rin's speech and reasoning abilities proved far too bizarre and disjointed to be anything close to human, they wiped her memory and covered up the entire project by hiding her in Yamaku as a 'disabled student'.

Wuddaya think?

None of the above. Rin's parents are never shown, but Nomiya mentions them once, so they're still alive and together.

-Rin has a severe handicap, and has trouble taking care of herself (problems communicating, forgets to eat, takes too much cough syrup, etc.). It is very odd that despite all of this, we never see her parents stepping in to take care of her and protect her. One could argue that her parents felt shipping her off to Yamaku was protection enough, but if Rin was my daughter, I would worry about her constantly, no matter who was taking care of her.

And what would the worrying achieve? Hisao does that in Rin's route and it drives him nuts. I suspect Rin's parents already hit that wall around Rin quite a few times and have pretty much left it up to the school to look after her.

someguy1294 wrote:Now, if memory serves, what we know about Rin's past is this:

-She was born with a birth defect, and the subsequent surgery left her with her trademark nubs.
-She used painting as a method of self-expression (and still does).

...And that's it. Unless I have forgotten something major, that is the sum total of what we know about Rin's past.

Depends on whether you believe Nomiya when he says that Rin's parents have always been supportive (or words to that effect), which would eliminate a couple of your theories. Nomiya may be a lot of things, but I don't get the impression he'd outright lie about something like that.

Guest Poster wrote:None of the above. Rin's parents are never shown, but Nomiya mentions them once, so they're still alive and together.

Alive, at least. They don't necessarily have to be together.

The people who understand the significance of Rin's only being able to think of four things at the same time already know what her past is like. You have to wonder how many people she's removed and forgotten that she's removed.

dewelar wrote:

someguy1294 wrote:Now, if memory serves, what we know about Rin's past is this:

-She was born with a birth defect, and the subsequent surgery left her with her trademark nubs.
-She used painting as a method of self-expression (and still does).

...And that's it. Unless I have forgotten something major, that is the sum total of what we know about Rin's past.

Depends on whether you believe Nomiya when he says that Rin's parents have always been supportive (or words to that effect), which would eliminate a couple of your theories. Nomiya may be a lot of things, but I don't get the impression he'd outright lie about something like that.

Guest Poster wrote:None of the above. Rin's parents are never shown, but Nomiya mentions them once, so they're still alive and together.

Alive, at least. They don't necessarily have to be together.

I completely forgot Nomiya mentioning Rin's parents, in all honesty. Strange that they didn't have much of an impact at all in Rin's route...

someguy1294 wrote:I completely forgot Nomiya mentioning Rin's parents, in all honesty. Strange that they didn't have much of an impact at all in Rin's route...

I always presumed this was because they lived somewhere prohibitively far away, maybe even Okinawa. KS pretty much ignores regional dialects, so anything's possible from that perspective.

brythain wrote:The people who understand the significance of Rin's only being able to think of four things at the same time already know what her past is like. You have to wonder how many people she's removed and forgotten that she's removed.

Rin forgot how to use tackle, and learned to use sketch!

What do you guys think about the lack of arms having an affect on her personality?

I know there's a lot of speculation as to whether or not she has Autism (and has caused quite a few aruements on KS/b/) and although I'm part of the demographic that agrees, I can't help but imagine how much having no arms affected her.

How many emotional traits do we take for granted with our arms?
Hugging your family? Shaking hands with friends? Holding your mother's hand?
Is that why she seems so aloof and passive, maybe?

SpunkySix wrote: Rin forgot how to use tackle, and learned to use sketch!

Holy crap... Rin is actually a pokemon.

I do suspect that she was held back from entering school for a year under SEL Article 23, as she may well have appeared developmentally disabled.

(It's either that or she's 17 during the events of the VN, take your pick.)

dewelar wrote:

someguy1294 wrote:I completely forgot Nomiya mentioning Rin's parents, in all honesty. Strange that they didn't have much of an impact at all in Rin's route...

I always presumed this was because they lived somewhere prohibitively far away, maybe even Okinawa. KS pretty much ignores regional dialects, so anything's possible from that perspective.

A lot of anime and manga do that.
Take The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya for example. It's set in the heart of the Kansai region (Osaka) and NO ONE in the series, has a Kansai-Region accent.

bhtooefr wrote:I do suspect that she was held back from entering school for a year under SEL Article 23, as she may well have appeared developmentally disabled.

(It's either that or she's 17 during the events of the VN, take your pick.)

Her birthday is March 13. So she likely turned 18 after meeting Hisao.

And she met Hisao in June 2007, and graduation is near the end of March 2008 (well after both of her H-scenes).

Munchenhausen wrote: I know there's a lot of speculation as to whether or not she has Autism (and has caused quite a few aruements on KS/b/) and although I'm part of the demographic that agrees, I can't help but imagine how much having no arms affected her.

I'm fairly convinced she does have HFA or something - it would explain her difficulties in communicating her thoughts and her ideas, and thus feels that showing visibly, through painting, is the easiest way of doing so. Xaredian made a fairly similar point about themselves, so hopefully they might crop up

brythain wrote:The people who understand the significance of Rin's only being able to think of four things at the same time...

I never took this alleged limited ability to be entirely literal. The human animal is so very fond of exaggeration...

@Munchen: You just learned Rin is a Pokemon? Keep up!

And that explains why changing would make her a different Rin - evolution!

bhtooefr wrote:And that explains why changing would make her a different Rin - evolution!

She evolves with friendship at the end.