Shizune's path

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

I like found humor.

[lhfan04]

I found this route to be pretty interesting... It's hard to say if I really enjoyed this route though. It was not bad but just compared to most of the other routes this one simply doesn't live up to the other ones, it just did not seem like they really liked each other that much. Sure they kissed like once or twice and they had a few sex scenes but they all felt forced. Shizune almost seems like she does not really care that much about Hisao. In fact for the better part of a act your trying to help Shizune make Misha feel better. It just felt like she only really came on to Hisao because he simply asked her to be his girlfriend and she simply said okay back. It makes me feel bad for Hisao, through the whole act he is trying to bend over backwards for Shizune, by joining the Student Council, even if he did not have much interest, also just taking of sign language lessons so he would be able to talk to her properly...

I am not trying to say this route is really "bad" I just think that there was almost too much going on in this route and it was hard for it to be in focus, I would probably give this route overall a 6/10.

[Snicket]

Just finished Shizune's route nad got the good ending. Though i did feel kinda like a jerk fornot comforting Misha. However, i didn't know that 'comfort' meant an awkward sex scene. I thought it would be a hug or something.

Any who, in the end it was alright, it wasn't bad, but it felt like something more could have been done with it. I'm not going to cast stones on this. Though i will say this; the last of chemistry between Hisao and Shizune. (At least i didn't notice much, if any.) made it seem like they were just friends...and nothing else. I dunnno, maybe i missed something.

However, this marks the final route and the end of KS for me. Not saying i'm not going to pick this up again down hte roud, but i'm going to wait till some of the bugs are worked out. The damn thing kept crashing on me. Plus for some reason a bunch of the 'extra' things went missing. All the CG's went away, all the cinematics, so only a handful of scenes and music remain. WTF?

[Lunar Archivist]

I can imagine Shizune being embarrassed about her voice. My aunt is deaf. Her voice isn't pleasant, it's extremely loud and sounds like her tongue is numb and she's drunk.

That would mean that Shizune's voice is just as unpleasant as the rest of her.

Of all the girls, she's the one that's most normal and has the fewest issues.

Uh...she's a bitchy control freak who's insanely competitive and doesn't let up until she gets her way. I would hardly call those enviable personality traits.

[TheGrimAngel]

I'm sure someone else felt this but I was very surprised that in all of Shizune's path you only ever had to make one choice, I felt all the other character paths had a lot deeper decisions to make in relation to the girl, especially Rin's or Lilly's

[Prospektor]

I'm sure someone else felt this but I was very surprised that in all of Shizune's path you only ever had to make one choice, I felt all the other character paths had a lot deeper decisions to make in relation to the girl, especially Rin's or Lilly's

True, although I remember that I felt trolled at one point in Rin's arc when all the choices I could make resulted in the same reaction and situation; later, some choices actually led to different scenes/ends, but some seem to be utterly pointless. I made save points and tried every possible answer, until I found the flowchart. Oh well.

Apart from that, don't forget it's Shizune's path. I wasn't surprised when she didn't leave me much of a choice.

[Meatbag]

I found Shizune's path to be more enjoyable on my second read through. The main problem in this path is that there are misdirections as to the source of conflict. At first I thought it would be the difficulty of communication between Hisao and Shizune but this iteration of Hisao is incredibly calm and intelligent compared to other path's Hisao and was able to solve this problem decisively. When Shizune's family was introduced I thought that they would be the source of conflict, but nope, although they are interesting characters they were just used to add a layer to Shizune's character. After they returned from vacation and Shizune began soloing(practically) the student council so I thought the conflict would come from Shizune distancing herself but Hisao was generally pretty chill with that. Near the end, finally Misha revealed herself to be the final boss of the path.

In your second read through, because you already know what will happen you begin to focus more on the actual conflict of the path: Misha and Shizune's misconstructed friendship. It was there all along, even in the first act, but written and drawn so subtly that you really need read and watch the sprites and CG's carefully or you'll definitely miss it.

[Zall]

Shizune's was the second path I unlocked (just playing things through and making choices that felt right; I'm still not actively looking to unlock particular ones), and I happen to be among the crowd who found it to be rather underwhelming. Especially since the first one I got was Emi's and it struck a deep chord at a personal level. Caught me off guard there.

Anyway, while I have to admit that I liked very much how it comes together in the end, I do have several qualms about it.
The path feels more like it is about Hisao becoming a monkey wrench in Misha and Shizune's friendship than Misha in his and Shizune's. It is a creative and refreshing change of pace, but one that mostly feels wierd and confusing, even if it does deserve props at the end. I know it is easy to criticize and say "it could have been better" but by the end I really did think that.

The first is that I simply never got a sense of intimacy (and I don't mean just physical) between Hisao and Shizune. Hisao's affection for her feels more or less right, but Shizune is simply not there, the language barrier notwithstanding. In fact, Hisao makes an admirable job at trying to get over it, while Shizune essentially treats him more as "the third member of the Student Council" than "her boyfriend". For most of the story I feel like they are a couple in name only, especially during their trip to Shizune's home, where she spends more time hanging out with Misha than Hisao. Them having their first time there almost felt out of place, even more since the ever-distant Shizune is the one who takes the initiative. More often than not it seemed to me that their "relationship" had simply died somewhere along the way, and that Hisao hadn't quite noticed it while Shizune had shrugged it off and moved on.

It is an important reason why the whole triangle thing doesn't really come together in my opinion. I never really got the feeling that poor Misha should have been too jealous of him in the first place. I have a hard time recalling at what point she found out they were together or how, because they simply never make it obvious. That point alone probably warrants a rerun of the scenario, and maybe take the chance to see the bad end through. Anyway, while I see that Misha would feel hurt about Shizune getting a boyfriend and treating her like usual, the fact that Shizune doesn't treat Hisao much more differently than she treats Misha fails to build up tension in my opinion. In hindsight, it does help explain Misha's stress, but it could have been more intense.

My guess is that the lack of closeness between Hisao and Shizune is also a bit of a lure to encourage him to have pity sex with Misha, since things more or less suck for him too, but it doesn't really work. I wonder how many people chose to "confort" Misha for reasons other than the obvious scene that would follow. It is also too bad that it is the only choice throughout the entire route... I wonder what could have happened if a couple of more ambiguous chances to screw things up or build some more tension had been thrown in for good measure.

I also can't say I was that fond of the scenes with Jigoro in them, since he's such and unlikable asshole that does little other than add some color to the story but precious little to Shizune herself. He almost felt out of place, mainly inserted to aggravate Hisao and give him someone to talk to when Misha and Shizune are away... which happens a lot. Maybe having him waste time with Hideaki and learn more about Shizune through him would have worked just as well, including explanations about her strained relationship with her idiotic/overbearing father without actually seeing all that much of him. Or at least give us an Talk to Hideaki/Talk to Jigoro option somewhere around there.

The good end of the route was pretty OK, though, ending at a rather positive and nicely hopeful note for all three despite being so depressing througout most of its development, and with Shizune finally showing that there's more to her than her competitive/manipulative side. I liked the last bit of Act 4 a lot and helped me appreciate what had come before... but also realize that some aspects where indeed left wanting.

Doubtlessy a good route on the whole, it's just that I wish it didn't feel like I was putting myself through most of it. It doesn't bother me too much that it takes almost until the end for it to actually come together and feel rewarding; what bothers me is that I mostly continued reading because I just kept asking myself "Will the next one actually be interesting?" instead of "OMG I have to know what comes next!". Yeah, the change came, but it did pretty much only in the last few chapters of acts 3 and 4. I guess it would make more sense on a second read through... but I wish it'd feel better on the first.

BTW, Misha looks very cute with long hair in that flashback scene. It's a pity she ends up with that short, poorly fitting haircut even if it does bear on the story that she does so. And loved her silly shirt.

Though i did feel kinda like a jerk for , not comforting Misha. However, i didn't know that 'comfort' meant an awkward sex scene.. I thought it would be a hug or something.

I sort of wish I had that kind of innocence back.

[Mirage_GSM]

Though i did feel kinda like a jerk for not comforting Misha. However, i didn't know that 'comfort' meant an awkward sex scene... I thought it would be a hug or something.

I sort of wish I had that kind of innocence back.

While "comfort" has a slightly different meaning in my dictionary as well, I'd read enough VNs to guess the meaning in that kind of situation...

[Pl4t0]

While "comfort" has a slightly different meaning in my dictionary as well, I'd read enough VNs to guess the meaning in that kind of situation...

I mean, she did kiss you before asking that, you're alone in your room, she's obviously torn up, and the Act 1->Act 2 cutscene hinted a lot at exactly the sort of situation that was rapidly developing at that point. While I suffered from the same confusion as most, looking back the evidence was all there.

In terms of Shizune's route as a whole, it was the first I played and I'm still very satisfied with it. On a subjective basis I really like Shizune, and Misha is funny as hell. Their story appealed to me. But moreover, Shizune's route is not about Shizune overcoming some massive character hump and learning to be a new person, it was mostly about Hisao and his massive character arc. Shizune certainly discovered a lot about herself in the course of events, but it was mostly about coming to terms with her nature (on a relatively minor level, too - she is a fully formed character, there isn't much change that needs to occur, and she is not particularly messed up to begin with).

[Fronzel]

...it was mostly about Hisao and his massive character arc.

...Hisao...massive character arc.

What?

[Not-an-alt-account]

and the Act 1->Act 2 cutscene hinted a lot at exactly the sort of situation that was rapidly developing at that point.

Yeah I found that something was going to happen like it did because of that scene.

I would also like to know if Misha actually has feelings for Hisao or was she just confused, also if she's bi? I ask this because I don't think I'm going to be going after the bad endings and would like to put my thoughts to rest so I can do Rin's then Lilly's paths next.

[Pl4t0]

...it was mostly about Hisao and his massive character arc.

...Hisao...massive character arc.

What?

Perhaps "massive" is a bit strong, but I'm talking about the change he undergoes between being in the hospital, abandoned and aimless, and realizing that life is still out there waiting for him beyond the gates of Yamaku. Unlike other mediums, where characters can (and often do) undergo change in the space of only a single event, we see with Hisao a sort of gradual curve, because we're in his head following the change and introspection as it occurs, not just seeing its byproducts.

I suppose the same could be said for the other routes, some of which I have yet to complete - but for me, it felt the most complete in Shizune's route. Just an opinion.

[Fronzel]

Have we discussed why the picture for the Act 4 title card seems to be Shizune with a younger version of herself? Her childhood doesn't seem to figure that large in the story.

[Notguest]

and the Act 1->Act 2 cutscene hinted a lot at exactly the sort of situation that was rapidly developing at that point.

Yeah I found that something was going to happen like it did because of that scene.

I would also like to know if Misha actually has feelings for Hisao or was she just confused, also if she's bi? I ask this because I don't think I'm going to be going after the bad endings and would like to put my thoughts to rest so I can do Rin's then Lilly's paths next.

I think it was just because she was confused.