The Hanako Thread - Spoilers, obviously

[scoopnokes]

Sorry... I forgot to insert the spoiler code before posting. Can a mod delete or modify my post above so the Lilly spoiler isn't spoiled? Thanks...

it's called edit button in the post, but the title also says spoilers anyways. I thin it is a fair warning to those coming in the thread.

[sporkaganza]

Sorry... I forgot to insert the spoiler code before posting. Can a mod delete or modify my post above so the Lilly spoiler isn't spoiled? Thanks...

it's called edit button in the post, but the title also says spoilers anyways. I thin it is a fair warning to those coming in the thread.

They're not a registered user though, I'm not sure unregistered users can edit their posts.

[scoopnokes]

Sorry... I forgot to insert the spoiler code before posting. Can a mod delete or modify my post above so the Lilly spoiler isn't spoiled? Thanks...

it's called edit button in the post, but the title also says spoilers anyways. I thin it is a fair warning to those coming in the thread.

They're not a registered user though, I'm not sure unregistered users can edit their posts.

thought you couldn't post unless you were a registered user.

[Kazuki]

I don't know if any other characters beside Hanako, Misha and Shizune have any personal troubles, but does anyone else get a rather odd feeling when doing different paths? After learning about how much certain characters are suffering mentally, it feels weird to take a route where those issues might never see resolve.

[OmegaChosen]

I don't know if any other characters beside Hanako, Misha and Shizune have any personal troubles, but does anyone else get a rather odd feeling when doing different paths? After learning about how much certain characters are suffering mentally, it feels weird to take a route where those issues might never see resolve.

I know what you mean, though it's compounded with my perfectionist streak, causing me quite a dilemma. On one hand I feel weird not having Hisao do Hanako's route but on the other hand I've realized that for each chapter you unlock in each respective route a little picture shows up on the main menu and the completionist in me is crying out to be fulfilled, not to mention it'd probably be a good idea to see the other 4/5ths of the game I've sort of ignored. >_> I've personally taken solace in the fact that these characters are more than just two dimensional stereotypes you see in other VNs that are completely incapable of dealing with their lives without the help of the protagonist. After all, Hisao isn't some magical emotional cure-all, in fact he has problems of his own, so I've become quite certain that with or without him the girls will most likely work out their problems themselves in one way or another(of course I could be wrong since I've yet to see how deep those scars run in the others but Hanako turns out fine without Hisao so there's that). Still, it feels good to have Hisao be a part of that process in some part.

Maybe I'll start it up in a few weeks once I've become less emotionally invested.

[Guest]

It astonishes me how you can say they were "wildly out of character" when before just recently, you had literally ONLY ACT ONE to establish their character. It's been a few years since Act 1, and a lot of the fans have built up these stereotypes of what the characters are "supposed" to be like in their heads; it's practically the JOB of the complete version of the game to say "These characters aren't exactly the way you imagine they are." That's called good character development. I've played three of the routes now and for me, there hasn't been a single one where anybody acted "out of character".

'Character development' isn't characters inexplicably acting completely different from the way they previously have, with no explenation as to why.

Specifically, I'm talking Misha and Shizune, though the others suffer from it to a lesser degree as well. . In act 1, Shizune is shown as always being highly competitive with her school work, and somewhat anal retentive when it comes to following regulations (except for attending class). Act 1 also makes a point of saying Misha always signs everything to Shizune, and translates what Shizune signs, so Shizune doesn't get isolated. In act 2, Misha often doesn't translate everything (which helped to make her a lot more interesting as a character), Shizune and Misha are showen as being slightly incompetent - as shown in the after-festival paperwork sorting scene, and their shown as being lazy, which has also been commented on by Xanderhunter.

Second, at some point in act 2 there seemed to be a small error in one of the class room scenes because it was referenced that Shizune didn't care about getting her work done in class when up to that point it had been said that's pretty much all she ever cared about.

I understand that characters are going to change as a story progresses, and will always change slightly as a new writer takes over, but I felt they changed way too quickly. I've also followed 3 routes so far (Hanako's, Emi's and Lilly's), and would say this is the only one where the characters act out of character. Not to say I havn't some criticisms about those routes as well, but that's besides the point...

I might add that I havn't just had 1 act to see how the characters act - I've also had the other routes as well. As Misha and Shizune only play minor roles in them however, this is something of a moot point anyway.

Re: Kazuki's post above me:
Emi's route was the first one I got to, and it's the one that feels most 'real' to me. So far though, Hanako is the only girl who really her life desperatly improved. Lilly's route was more about fixing Hisao than fixing Lilly, and Emi's philosophy to life - while perhaps not healthy - isn't going to end in her life nosediving into the ground anytime soon.

It's one of the things of a game like this that the protagonist is always going to be the one helping the girl with her problems. In real life, people will always have a network of friends and family to help them. Those who are isolated and are friendless always have a reason for it - such as being unpleasant to be around, or being so good at holding others off that others dont realise they have a problem or just give up and go away.

All these girls are decent people, and in real life (and I imagine, in the game world), with the absence of Hisao, someone else will sooner or later come along and provide the same role.

[GossCannon]

While I love all the music that was in the game, this song for some reason reminds me of Hanako's happy ending.

http://grooveshark.com/s/Pastel+Pure+Vocal/2FRlC8?src=5

For those who do not know, this song is from Maria Sama Ga Miteru.

[Nekken]

I didn’t notice that so much, but I thought (and have always thought, since act 1), that her scars were too stylized. In the story, her scars are supposed to be enough to shock and horrify. In the drawings, they just make her look cute. That’s the way they’d be portrayed in most media, but I somehow expected more from Katawa Shoujo. I expected a girl who genuinely looked hideously burned, but who Hisao (and readers) could grow to love through her personality.

I think that what you're saying is true as far as it goes, but I'm not sure I can blame the artists for choosing this path. Scars like that can be very, very hard to depict with any accuracy in this particular art style and drawing size, especially as concerns the in-game sprites, where they would most likely be almost impossible to see. The nature of that style/size combination forces you into a tradeoff between obviousness and accuracy, and going too far in either direction becomes offensive in its own way. They chose to err on the side of obviousness for most sketches, since Hanako's problems are deeply rooted in how obvious the scars are. They then switched to going for accuracy in the scenes where she isn't actively hiding her scars ("Whispered Touch" and "Misstep" being the most prominent examples here) to magnify the effect without making the drawings over the top. These are also scenes with a much bigger drawing canvas to work with, which mitigates the problem of the obvious-versus-accurate tradeoff.

I don't know if that particular artistic decision is one I would have made, but it does seem like a reasonable one. Not perfect, but reasonable. The RAITA sketch frankly didn't do as good a job of it -the scars looked more like scabs- so the game came quite far given its original source material.

[ardiel]

I just finished Hanako's path... her being only the third one I've finished.

I suppose it was ok. Not really what I expected. Not only does it seem too short, but also seems as if it's trying to hurry along just to get done. It had some good scenes here and there, though, and I find Hanako rather endearing.

But really though, does Hisao get in over his head in every path? I don't think this is a trend that I want to see continue in every single path. If every story ends up with a crisis in it I think I'll have to stop - it's making him seem like a walking disaster for females.

[Jintor]

I wasn't overly impressed with the Hanako path, especially compared to Emi and Rin :<

[GossCannon]

I wasn't overly impressed with the Hanako path, especially compared to Emi and Rin :<

Different strokes for different folks. Some things just resonate strongly with different people. I think in Hanako's case, and maybe for some of the other girls, what we see in her is a reflection (in some part) of our selves, and the struggles we have gone through trying to cope with other people.

[Uliana]

I don't know if that particular artistic decision is one I would have made, but it does seem like a reasonable one. Not perfect, but reasonable. The RAITA sketch frankly didn't do as good a job of it -the scars looked more like scabs- so the game came quite far given its original source material.

It should be noted that given the nature of Hanako's scars, making them incredibly horrid would actually be inaccurate to the nature of burn scars (they are scars afterall, not wounds). The fire happened when Hanako was quite young, and given that she's grown during that time her scars shouldn't be all-that-blood-and-burned-crispy-pussy-tissue, but instead have healed over.

That said, I actually agree on the sentiment that the scars look... too pretty? Almost like they were tattoos at some points. It's one of those times when I wish they were uglier to look at at least, just to further legitimize Hanako's condition. Just improving on how the rough texture of the scars look like would be an improvement.

I'd still like her no matter how her scars look of course

[Misfile17]

So far my favourite ending has been Lilly's to, I thought hanako's ending was brilliant though, didn't need much more explaining than what happened I think, Still, I love Katawa Shoujo so much xD

oh i agree it was brilliant and i liked how they got the character constructing through the story, but Lily is a personal favorite in personality and design. Only flaw is that she reminds me of an ex which I regrettably, nerdy as may be, got the bad ending with as some players do in the route. Almost the same way to as the story did it lol.

moooorrreeeeeee. I want to know more of what happens with hanako and lily.

Being nerdy isn't anything to be worried about, I felt really nerdy getting so emotional over these stories but then I thought to myself, Who cares? I like it that shouldnt matter to anyone else but me, I agree with you on the Lilly bit, She's probably my favourite design as well and it is a bit of a shame we didn't see more about her return from Scotland and more of Hisao and Hanako's future but we can just use the ending that happened as a starter for our imaginations, Personally I keep thinking about it and I picture them both living out the rest of their lives at Yamaku and then travelling together, I think that would have been a nice ending although kind of similar to the Lilly good ending..... Sorry for rambling, xD

[Jintor]

I wasn't overly impressed with the Hanako path, especially compared to Emi and Rin :<

Different strokes for different folks. Some things just resonate strongly with different people. I think in Hanako's case, and maybe for some of the other girls, what we see in her is a reflection (in some part) of our selves, and the struggles we have gone through trying to cope with other people.

It had some good moments for me, but it seemed to move so very slowly. I know part of this is simply because of the type of character Hanako is, but... just the little victories didn't feel victorious enough for me, and the conclusion felt... off.

I'm going to finish the other routes and then come back to this to look over it again to try and figure out why I felt so dissatisfied with it. I'm not, of course, saying that this invalidates any of your opinions about this, Rin's was intensely personal to me because a) I'm an artist and b) I had just gotten out of a relationship recently and was meditating on a lot of the concepts that Rin's arc covers - so, you know, I'm not out for blood or anything! I just think it could have been better.

[GossCannon]

I wasn't overly impressed with the Hanako path, especially compared to Emi and Rin :<

Different strokes for different folks. Some things just resonate strongly with different people. I think in Hanako's case, and maybe for some of the other girls, what we see in her is a reflection (in some part) of our selves, and the struggles we have gone through trying to cope with other people.

It had some good moments for me, but it seemed to move so very slowly. I know part of this is simply because of the type of character Hanako is, but... just the little victories didn't feel victorious enough for me, and the conclusion felt... off.

I'm going to finish the other routes and then come back to this to look over it again to try and figure out why I felt so dissatisfied with it. I'm not, of course, saying that this invalidates any of your opinions about this, Rin's was intensely personal to me because a) I'm an artist and b) I had just gotten out of a relationship recently and was meditating on a lot of the concepts that Rin's arc covers - so, you know, I'm not out for blood or anything! I just think it could have been better.

Hehe I'm not our for blood either. Group hug? : p I still have only completed Hanako's story, but I think I will need some time before I try others. Rin certainly fascinates me though.