Rin's Path discussion *spoilers*

[Notguest]

I think the Art club thing is a pretty obvious choice.
If you pick "I just sort of stuck with her", it shows that you aren't actually interested in Rin.

[Lunar Archivist]

I'm late to the party, but still...

I would love for someone to clarify the masturbation scene, though. I feel like I'm missing the point of it. I understand that Rin was prepared to destroy herself for her art but I'm sure it goes beyond that, especially when Hisao interacts with her.

Heh heh...you said interact.

My understanding of the masturbation scene is that Rin was running on empty emotionally. Her painting isn't fueled by ideas or creativity but by her feelings. Producing art at her own pace meant that she could express whatever was on her mind at the time. But being forced to paint meant that she had to constantly find new sources of emotional stimulation to inspire her paintings. That's why she experimented with smoking. That's why her nighttime tour of the city recharged her. That's why she was trying to masturbate. She was desperately trying to find new emotions to paint about.

Neutral end: So Hisao can be that easily forgotten by Rin? Pfft, everything meant nothing after all. She goes in Tokyo to be the student her teacher dreamed of and not be herself and Hisao is heartbroken. How exactly is this neutral?

It's neutral because it gives us a tiny glimmer of hope for her. By agreeing to the art exhibition, Rin was trying to make herself understood. She fails miserably in the neutral ending, as it's clear that her attempt at communication failed with Hisao, the one she was hoping to reach out and touch the most. By going to art school, Rin might be able to either refine her paintings into something more conventional and easily understandable or reach out to the widest audience possible and find that one person on the vast sea of humanity who sees her art and "gets it" and, by extension, her.

Anyone else feel like they need a recap of what exactly happened? A day later I feel like I don't quite understand what I just went through?

The problem with Rin is that she has problems when it comes to expressing emotions with words: she can neither understand others when they attempt to do so, nor is she capable of doing so herself. Since she was good at art, she attempted to use her paintings to communicate her feelings. Unfortunately, instead of using classical imagery to do so - painting a picture of herself and Hisao desperately reaching out to each other across a chasm with a look of longing in their eyes, for example, which would immediately register with anyone - she uses distorted, abstract imagery which makes sense to her and her alone, so it's no wonder that her attempt to get her feelings across with them fails. As someone else here already explained, Hisao and Rin finally manage to begin building a bridge between themselves when they use raw physical acts to express their feelings for one another, because they've found a way to work around their communication problems.

Believe it or not, if you watch the Act 2 introduction movie for her, the key to understanding her is explained in the first 21 seconds. We see Rin painting something not immediately visible to us, but when we finally do catch a glimpse of it, we see that she's painting a mirror: a window to her soul.

[Ryto]

Okay guys, I had to post this....reading this just about broke my heart....T-T

[Wahahahaha]

[quote="Rubytyr"]She was the last choice - very interesting character, but the boyish look from the dialouge poses just didn't sit with me at first impression, but as I delved into it - the "unique" scenes (like walking in the rain, the kiss, etc) made her much more feminine and appealing for me.[/quote]
EXACTLY how i felt about her.

[Atticon]

I just finished Rin's route as my first one. And...wow. I'm really, really impressed. I've played some VN's before but I haven't really seen any character like her in those. Her disability doesn't define her, and she doesn't really correspond to any of the classic archetypes, unlike some of the other girls (I still have to do the other route though).

Just think about it, does she remind any of you of a character from another VN?

[urishima]

@ Ryto
Dammit, that is just depressing... I hate you now, Ryto
This isn't official stuff, right?

Just think about it, does she remind any of you of a character from another VN?

She doesn't remind me of any character from another anything.

[Benkei]

Third route completed, completed it a couple hours of ago. It wasn't for me, but I can appreciate how for those for whom it is for it must have been one hell of a powerful route. It's hard to put into words, but I guess I would say that of the three routes I've completed so far (Emi, Hanako, Rin), Rin's path felt the most like a Cannes Film Festival entry while the others felt more like traditional stories. I think that that's pretty fitting, considering that Rin is meant to be the art girl: it's fitting that her path is the artsy one of the five. (Or at least of the three I've done.) So I guess I would say that if you're a fan of Woody Allen or Cannes Film Festival kinds of stories moreso than you are a fan of more traditional narrative fare like Dr. Zhivago or The Godfather, then you'll probably love Rin's path to pieces. Whereas if you think Cannes tends to be too froufrou-ey, then ... ^_^;

Just like Hisao in the game, I desperately wanted, needed, to be able to understand Rin. Because I couldn't understand her, I don't think I was able to appreciate this path to its fullest. The real-life takeaway for me is that if Katawa Shoujo were real life, Rin is probably the least likely girl of the cast that I would wind up with. I don't think she and I would have gotten past our first chance encounter in the art room, much less the 6 hours of sedentary hanging out on the day of the festival. She's a nice girl, don't get me wrong. It's just that she's too ... she's too frustrating to communicate with. Too strange. To make the pun, I guess you could say that she's a kawatta shoujo.

[Merlyn_LeRoy]

Because I couldn't understand her, I don't think I was able to appreciate this path to its fullest.

I'm the same way with Shizune. The two characters I least understand are Rin and Shizune, and Rin is my favorite while Shizune is my least fave (same reaction for their paths). But I've been following the Shizune thread to better appreciate her characterization, and I'm sure I'll like her path more on a later replay.

[Ryto]

@ Ryto
Dammit, that is just depressing... I hate you now, Ryto
This isn't official stuff, right?

No, I'm pretty sure it's just a super-depressing bit of semi-fanfiction that somebody posted somewhere on 4chan. But it's so sad, and likely to happen, what with Hisao's heart condition.

[Fronzel]

For me, "explain" was the non-committal one, the one was letting Rin free to do what she could, and the onus to understand was on Hisao, while "I need to understand" sounded more like an ultimatum, putting pressure on Rin I didn't want to. Chalk it up to English not being my mother tongue maybe, so I didn't realize the strength of "explain", but I would have appreciated a clearer choice!

I don't think your level of English proficiency has anything to do with it. Usually asking for explanation would be a pretty "open" stance, but it won't work with Rin. She says she finds it impossible to explain her feelings in words so asking her to do so will just frustrate her.

[bradpara]

Okay, here on my thoughts about the armless one.

The first path I played was the subdued, slice of life story of romance and freindship that was Shizune.

After that I played through to more conventional Love Story of Emi's route.

Than, for no other reason than because of the way I had Act 1 set up, I decided to play Rin.

OH MY GOD

Going in, Rin was my least favorite, which is not to say that I didn't like her. Merely that it was hard for me to think of her as a love intrest. Just playing though Emi's Route, I thought of her as little more that Emi's crazy sidekick freind.

Now, Like I did with Emi after her route, I am having second thoughts.

I was warned going in that this was a very Dark tale and they were right. It is very much meditation on the nature of genius and the ability of people to understand one another. To the point where Rin's disability almost beacomes a metaphor for her inability to "touch" others the way she would like. It is not a conventional love story by any means though by the end it is clear the Hisao and Rin do care very deeply for one another. I really liked the scene in her Good Ending where she is embarcng that world. It also reminded of the scene in Shizune's Act 1 ending where she more or less does the same thing Act three however was very hard to watch, seeing just how much Rin had isolated herself to the point where she was neglectng even baisic needs. This is especially poignent when one thinks of Sae's husband.

I loved this route they way I have loved the others so far, (Even Shizune's, sue me.)

3 down 2 to go. Now I finally get go after Hanako.

[alabaster]

It is very much meditation on the nature of genius and the ability of people to understand one another. To the point where Rin's disability almost beacomes a metaphor for her inability to "touch" others the way she would like.

I think you just blew my mind.

[Kino]

Just finish Rin's story and there's one thing that I don't quite understand, it mostly has to do with the H-scene, or the part before that, actually it's the whole ending.

When Hisao and Rin are in the art room, Hisao tells Rin that they can never be friends and that people will never truly understand one another. How did this translate into the H-scene and later into Rin telling Hisao that she loves him?

Maybe I'm a bit dense but this made me so confused.

[Ryto]

Just finish Rin's story and there's one thing that I don't quite understand, it mostly has to do with the H-scene, or the part before that, actually it's the whole ending.

When Hisao and Rin are in the art room, Hisao tells Rin that they can never be friends and that people will never truly understand one another. How did this translate into the H-scene and later into Rin telling Hisao that she loves him?

Maybe I'm a bit dense but this made me so confused.

I think what was meant by "we can never be friends" and "friends don't do this" is that they can't turn back to just being friends from where they've gone. They have to be more than friends now, as in lovers. Which then leads up to Rin saying she loves Hisao.

At least that's what I assumed.

[PharaohSauron]

Rin's path was the most thought-provoking for me. I won't get into the details too much, but this was the hardest to watch, and the most rewarding to get through, in that respect. I felt the color drain from my face when I read the masturbation scene, and then I got that cold-sweat feeling, without the actual sweat, when I started to think about that scene and how close she could have been to suicide. By the end of the exhibit, I felt about as drained as Rin was, and was really wanting to deck that art teacher for driving her to that point. I was brought to near tears after Rin got chewed out by the teacher and was afraid of getting yelled at by Hisao again. The hug didn't help my fragile emotional state. All this because she was trying to find and define herself, and others kept pushing their image of her onto her. The fact she doesn't understand why she thinks in that "Rin" way didn't help her sort herself out, not until Hisao apologises for forcing her down that path and essentially teller her "You are you; nothing more, and nothing less." The moment on the hill where she says she is at peace, in her own way, got me teary again.

Also, when playing through Emi's route I had an epiphany when Emi said that Rin saw "friend" and "girlfriend" as an interchangable term helped explain her vagueness on that particular issue. So basically, Rin being Rin, albieit annoyingly so. And screw my earlier sentence as to not get into details; have I mentioned I think a bit like Rin?

My notes for Rin's path included the phrase EARN YOUR HAPPY ENDING, DAMMIT, and rightfully so