Feminine girls more popular than "strong grrrrls"
Posted: Tue Aug 26, 2014 1:45 am
Hey,
It’s been a while since I completed every route, and a few days ago something became very obvious to me.
It is a fact of life that men prefer feminine girls.
Now, Katawa Shoujo doesn’t capitalize on that directly, in fact it even includes some pro-feminist commentary. This mostly happens in a form of Kenji, clearly a parody to what a MRA (man’s rights activist) supposed to look like: an angry, bitter and slightly insane man, afraid of the world and himself. He does have some positive qualities and is generally well written, so I didn’t mind him.
What bothered me more was that Hisao himself is rather passive and depressed. Now, considering his situation that’s understandable to a degree, but he could often benefit from taking charge instead of just going with whatever’s happening around him. As players we have some amount of control over that, but sometimes all I could do was spam the space key and facepalm.
This was especially common in Shizune’s path, and it’s not wonder Shizune is the least popular of all girls. As KS players we are a colorful bunch, but a large majority of us are men. And, as stated before, men like feminine girls. Girls that don’t bitch, want to follow instead of lead, and are capable of supporting us as women.
It shows in popularity of the girls. Let’s see how.
Emi
Of all characters, Emi and Hisao function together best. She does have issues with her father’s death, but has a good chance to make peace with it. Emi is mentally healthy and even her physical disability - a lack of legs - hardly disfigures her or affects her ability to perform any task. She’s the most normal and the most functional of all girls.
As a person she’s happy, easy going and girly. Really what you’d call “low maintenance girlfriend”, great to be around, but easily capable of functioning alone if needed. She has her own ideas which she’s not shy to present, but at the same time doesn’t try to force anything on Hisao. At her core, she’s a girl that wants a boyfriend she can trust and feel safe with.
Her cutscene sums it up well. These two are perfect for each other.
Lilly
Lilly is a very viable choice. She’s emotionally stable, responsible, and functions well in a role of a leader, but at the same time she’s very feminine in a standard ladylike fashion. A lot like Emi she’s active in pursuing her own ideas, but won’t try to force them on Hisao. The fact that she’s blind makes her more dependant on others, and unable to ever life a trully normal life.
Nevertheless she is highly intelligent and driven, and even though she has a vulnerable side, it really isn’t anything special or to be worried about. There’s no reason to think her and Hisao couldn’t live happily together.
Hanako
Ah, Hanako. A popular choice by many, she’s so shy, even scared. What could be more motivating to a man than to saving the girl from whatever threat there is and win her heart in the process?
Hanako and Hisao could work. She clearly has some heavy issues because of what happened in her childhood, but during the game she opens up to the world a bit, so there is hope for further improvement. Once we get to know her she turns out to be a reasonably intelligent and caring girl that wants to live the life to its fullest, even though she’s not always sure how.
The problem with Hanako is that, well, she has mental problems. Her experience with Hisao helped her, but too much is left unknown to expect a happy ending with full certainty. Alpha endings didn’t make it to the final game for a good reason, but they still give ideas.
Rin
The “deep” girl. Rin is popular because of her complex and supposedly inspiring story, and it does have a certain appeal. A troubled artist girl, what’s going on in her mind?
Well, it turns out nothing too exciting. She has some deep seeded mental issues and, unlike Hanako, is not getting any professional help. Unable to relate to most people, cought up in circles of thought that rarely produce anything useful, irrational, moody. She’s not very feminine at all, in fact she often acts kinda boyish. Generally she cares mostly for herself and what love she holds for Hisao she has trouble expressing.
With a lot of patience from Hisao’s side, the two are capable of forming a kind of relationship. But really, with Rin being the way she is, who knows what can happen in the future? Rin is the only girl I intentionally got the bad ending with, simply because I grew tired of her.
Shizune
Bossy, has trust issues, nearly unable to form meaningful emotional bonds. The whole Shizune story reads more like being friends with benefits, combined with come childish teasing and a lot of thinly veiled manipulation.
She constantly presents Hisao with “shit tests”, which he must pass, but there’s no reward at the end. Just another shit test. They do have sex twice, Hisao being tied to a chair on the first time it happens. But what’s really bizzare is the ending - they don’t seem to even be in any kind of relationship, Hisao just concludes that he’ll “keep chasing Shizune”. Good luck with that.
I have to say that I liked Shizune as a person a lot, since she reminds me of a girl I loved. But the way she and Hisao interract doesn’t look promising at all, she should have toned down her shit tests, and he should’ve been more decisive when facing them. That in turn would make her respect him more and perhaps actually become his girlfriend.
Alpha version of Shizune’s path is somewhat crude, but shows us exactly that - that’s why, in a way, Shizune is my favorite girl, even though I have to place her at the end of this list.
Conclusion
As we saw, there are good reasons why certain girls are more popular than others. Of course there'll always be deviations, but in general the picture is clear. What is there to learn from all that? Well, probably that there are many different types of girls, and that KS does a fair job at displaying that, but also that we all want a waifu that follows and supports us, instead of bossing us around and choking with a never ending stream of mental problems.
If you read this entire thing, you are awesome. I'd also like to hear your thoughts on this post, surely you agree completely? Or do you perhaps think I'm not entirely right? Maybe I'm a backwards caveman virgin idiot? Do tell!
It’s been a while since I completed every route, and a few days ago something became very obvious to me.
It is a fact of life that men prefer feminine girls.
Now, Katawa Shoujo doesn’t capitalize on that directly, in fact it even includes some pro-feminist commentary. This mostly happens in a form of Kenji, clearly a parody to what a MRA (man’s rights activist) supposed to look like: an angry, bitter and slightly insane man, afraid of the world and himself. He does have some positive qualities and is generally well written, so I didn’t mind him.
What bothered me more was that Hisao himself is rather passive and depressed. Now, considering his situation that’s understandable to a degree, but he could often benefit from taking charge instead of just going with whatever’s happening around him. As players we have some amount of control over that, but sometimes all I could do was spam the space key and facepalm.
This was especially common in Shizune’s path, and it’s not wonder Shizune is the least popular of all girls. As KS players we are a colorful bunch, but a large majority of us are men. And, as stated before, men like feminine girls. Girls that don’t bitch, want to follow instead of lead, and are capable of supporting us as women.
It shows in popularity of the girls. Let’s see how.
Emi
Of all characters, Emi and Hisao function together best. She does have issues with her father’s death, but has a good chance to make peace with it. Emi is mentally healthy and even her physical disability - a lack of legs - hardly disfigures her or affects her ability to perform any task. She’s the most normal and the most functional of all girls.
As a person she’s happy, easy going and girly. Really what you’d call “low maintenance girlfriend”, great to be around, but easily capable of functioning alone if needed. She has her own ideas which she’s not shy to present, but at the same time doesn’t try to force anything on Hisao. At her core, she’s a girl that wants a boyfriend she can trust and feel safe with.
Her cutscene sums it up well. These two are perfect for each other.
Lilly
Lilly is a very viable choice. She’s emotionally stable, responsible, and functions well in a role of a leader, but at the same time she’s very feminine in a standard ladylike fashion. A lot like Emi she’s active in pursuing her own ideas, but won’t try to force them on Hisao. The fact that she’s blind makes her more dependant on others, and unable to ever life a trully normal life.
Nevertheless she is highly intelligent and driven, and even though she has a vulnerable side, it really isn’t anything special or to be worried about. There’s no reason to think her and Hisao couldn’t live happily together.
Hanako
Ah, Hanako. A popular choice by many, she’s so shy, even scared. What could be more motivating to a man than to saving the girl from whatever threat there is and win her heart in the process?
Hanako and Hisao could work. She clearly has some heavy issues because of what happened in her childhood, but during the game she opens up to the world a bit, so there is hope for further improvement. Once we get to know her she turns out to be a reasonably intelligent and caring girl that wants to live the life to its fullest, even though she’s not always sure how.
The problem with Hanako is that, well, she has mental problems. Her experience with Hisao helped her, but too much is left unknown to expect a happy ending with full certainty. Alpha endings didn’t make it to the final game for a good reason, but they still give ideas.
Rin
The “deep” girl. Rin is popular because of her complex and supposedly inspiring story, and it does have a certain appeal. A troubled artist girl, what’s going on in her mind?
Well, it turns out nothing too exciting. She has some deep seeded mental issues and, unlike Hanako, is not getting any professional help. Unable to relate to most people, cought up in circles of thought that rarely produce anything useful, irrational, moody. She’s not very feminine at all, in fact she often acts kinda boyish. Generally she cares mostly for herself and what love she holds for Hisao she has trouble expressing.
With a lot of patience from Hisao’s side, the two are capable of forming a kind of relationship. But really, with Rin being the way she is, who knows what can happen in the future? Rin is the only girl I intentionally got the bad ending with, simply because I grew tired of her.
Shizune
Bossy, has trust issues, nearly unable to form meaningful emotional bonds. The whole Shizune story reads more like being friends with benefits, combined with come childish teasing and a lot of thinly veiled manipulation.
She constantly presents Hisao with “shit tests”, which he must pass, but there’s no reward at the end. Just another shit test. They do have sex twice, Hisao being tied to a chair on the first time it happens. But what’s really bizzare is the ending - they don’t seem to even be in any kind of relationship, Hisao just concludes that he’ll “keep chasing Shizune”. Good luck with that.
I have to say that I liked Shizune as a person a lot, since she reminds me of a girl I loved. But the way she and Hisao interract doesn’t look promising at all, she should have toned down her shit tests, and he should’ve been more decisive when facing them. That in turn would make her respect him more and perhaps actually become his girlfriend.
Alpha version of Shizune’s path is somewhat crude, but shows us exactly that - that’s why, in a way, Shizune is my favorite girl, even though I have to place her at the end of this list.
Conclusion
As we saw, there are good reasons why certain girls are more popular than others. Of course there'll always be deviations, but in general the picture is clear. What is there to learn from all that? Well, probably that there are many different types of girls, and that KS does a fair job at displaying that, but also that we all want a waifu that follows and supports us, instead of bossing us around and choking with a never ending stream of mental problems.
If you read this entire thing, you are awesome. I'd also like to hear your thoughts on this post, surely you agree completely? Or do you perhaps think I'm not entirely right? Maybe I'm a backwards caveman virgin idiot? Do tell!
