I’m back with my impressions of another route in Katawa Shoujo. This time I tried Shizune’s route, which is probably one of the least liked routes. I can see where others are coming from, but I do think the route did a lot of interesting things as well. Shizune was my favourite girl, design-wise; I liked the glasses and short hair immediately and I thought her in-game personality was charming enough. So even amid the negativity, I decided to do her route on my second playthrough. While not as good as Emi’s by any means, I still found the route a rather interesting specimen. Like last time, I shall be discussing the entire route, so major spoilers beyond this point.
Confident and nerdy. What’s not to like about her design?
I guess I should start with the problems I had with Shizune’s route. My biggest problem with probably the introduction of her dad. Not only was his character annoying beyond belief, he didn’t really add anything to the story. I can see what the writer was trying to do with her dad, but they exaggerated him to such incredible proportions that he become unbelievable. I kept wondering if he was part of the yakuza/mafia because I found it so hard to believe that such a man could find employment, let alone employment that paid him so well, if he insulted every single person he came across. Furthermore, I kept wondering where Shizune’s mom was. I bet she left them because Jigoro is an irredeemable jerk, but the mystery remains of how this women was able to cope long enough to have two children with such a man. What was worse though, was that Shizune didn’t seem to be at all affected by her father. He annoyed her, but she showed no signs of resenting him or feeling embarrassed or abused, which makes his introduction pretty much pointless. Perhaps the writer wanted to do something with him, but eventually though it would be too heavy a topic and left the implications only skin deep. I’m guessing they wanted to somehow create a distant lonely misunderstood childhood for her, but they never really did so in the end. There are hints of that vision here and there (hello bad end), but ultimately they didn’t go through with it, and as such, the whole character of her dad is pretty unnecessary. Although even if he did serve a purpose I do think they exaggerated him too much. He comes off as either insane or incredibly narcissistic, neither of which are a good thing if one is trying to do serious characterization. Even her brother, Hideaki, isn’t of much importance. I would dismiss him as well, but he is so odd and his interactions with Akira were quite entertaining that I can’t quite find it in my heart to call him pointless.
My other major problem was actually the characterization of Shizune herself. It feels sort of contradictory at times; as if the writer didn’t quite know what s/he was trying to do with her character. It’s never quite explained why Shizune takes everything as a game/challenge, she just does. It’s just suppose to be her personality and I don’t quite buy that. It also feels like such a missed opportunity. Her drive to win could have easily played into some sort of inferiority complex about being worse or weak, or some need to prove herself because no one liked her….but neither of that happens. Instead we get a little speech from Shizune in the good end about how she doesn’t have a goal and runs the Student Council and recruits people to manipulate them as a substitute for a goal, and then, moments later, she decides her goal is to make people happy (something she stated she wanted to do by organizing festivals and recruiting people into her circle before in Chapter 3). It was really odd. I mean, first she’s all depressed that she doesn’t have a goal all her life and then she suddenly decides she’s going to go into business, get rich, and then become a philanthropist? People do not just suddenly realize what they want to do with their lives! What’s even more odd is the fact that she has already stated that her goal is to make people happy before the good end, so it comes off as sloppy when she admits to having no goal and then deciding she wants to make people happy…again. Did the writer forget s/he already had her say that before? These inconsistencies and the fact that her characterization is rather shallow, force me to conclude, even if pains me to say this, that Shizune was badly written. I didn’t really understand her at her core and her characterization was everywhere. And it’s painfully apparent next to Emi, who was simple to understand and had a very consistent characterization.
One of the prettiest pictures in the route
Those were definitely the major problems of Shisune’s route but there were also two lesser problems as well. First, Hisao came off a bit more, how do I put this, inconsistent, in Shizune’s route. He says one minute that he likes hanging out with Shizune and Misha in the Student Council, and then the next day he’s back to trying to worm his way out of his duties. The other thing that bothered me was that he was less sympathetic in this route. On Emi’s route, I really felt bad for him when he was trying so hard to become close to Emi, while she kept pushing him away. In Shizune’s route, he has more moments of bitterness and immaturity and I don’t quite see the love between him and Shizune. It’s there a few times, but other times, it doesn’t seem like they actually love each other.
The other smaller problem in Shizune’s route was Kenji. When I first witnessed Kenji’s conspiracy theory, I wasn’t sure what to make of it, but I ultimately took it as a parody of those internet users, who like to throw around the femi-nazis insult every time they feel someone is trying to call them out on their BS towards women. The original team probably didn’t mean it in such a sense, but it works remarkably well as a parody, especially since Hisao thinks Kenji is crazy. So I really liked Kenji in chapter 1. The problem with him in Shizune’s route is that he pops up way too often and the joke starts to lose its lustre. It’s funny the first 10 times, but after that, it’s just not funny anymore, instead it’s just really repetitive. Less Kenji would have been better.
So those are my main problems with Shizune’s route and while I may have made it look pretty terrible right now, it wasn’t all bad. There were definitely some high points. It was interesting seeing how Misha’s translation of Shizune was different from what Shizune herself said. I also liked the interaction between Lilly and Shizune and how poor Hisao had to be the translator between them one time. Other than Shizune’s dad, it was interesting and fun seeing how different characters interacted. The interaction between Shizune, Misha, and Hisao was usually very entertaining and sometimes even downright funny. I honestly enjoyed reading about their hijinks and squabbles. It was definitely one of the best parts of Shizune’s route.
The other great thing about Shizune’s route was Misha. She’s likeable and her characterization is great. I really liked how the game made you think she would be falling for Hisao (Shizune’s route opening movie), and yet that exact scene had a different meaning than the game first let on. It was a great use of foreshadowing and taking the reader by surprise. I really really liked that about Shizune’s route. Some people may find Misha annoying, but I really liked how energetic she was and that there was more to her character than just being Shizune’s friend. I’m going to just say it, I was not expecting Misha to be homosexual/bisexual (it’s never made clear which, but the bad end hints at her being bisexual). This was probably the best part of Shizune’s route as the opening movie shows that Misha isn’t exactly happy about Hisao and Shizune getting close. I had assumed that the writer was going to go the true and tired route of her being also in love with him. So I was surprised when it turned out that Misha was in fact in love with Shizune and for quite a while. Bravo, Shizune’s writer, that was one unexpected and great twist! Especially in a dating sim. I don’t recall any dating sim pulling a similar twist (but then I’m only familiar with a handful of them so it may just be my unfamiliarity). Misha was a bit over dramatic at times, but she came off quite believably too, which only makes me wonder what went wrong with Shizune. Misha’s characterization was mostly tight, so the writer can write believable and human characters. It’s really a curious matter. Anyways, I do think Misha’s secret does make up for some of the short-comings of the route and hence why I think of this route more as a mixed bag than all bad.
Misha’s secret is one of the better aspects of Shizune’s route
The other thing that makes Shizune’s route interesting and even perhaps worth a playthrough is the Good Ending. I really liked how the gang went their separate ways to fulfill their own goals/dreams and promised to reunite again. It was a more realistic take on high school love. Shizune and Hisao may not even hook up in the end. It’s up to our interpretation or fancy, which is another plus for the ending. It’s great to leave some room for the reader to decide how it really ends. Do Hisao and Shizune make their love work long distance or do they find different loves and remain close friends in the end? It’s great to be able to do that, and I’m honestly leaning on the latter given that their romance didn’t quite feel on the level of lovers.
Other Aspects of the Route:
H-Scenes:
Like the route, a mixed bag. The first h-scene between Shizune and Hisao has them depicted fully clothed. The second h-scene, accessible only on the good end, is more erotic. No genitalia are visible, but unlike Emi’s h-scenes, the depiction focuses more on the act of penetration, making them more erotic in nature. The third h-scene, accessible only from the bad end (between Misha and Hisao) is in between the first and second. It “hides” more of the act, but the composition is drawn in a very sensual manner. Another thing about the second and third h-scenes, Hisao is less visual in them, the focus in on the girls, which is one of the biggest signs that the artist was aiming to make them more erotic/sensual rather than just a depiction of love making between two lovers. There’s nothing wrong with that, of course, but I do like to point this stuff out to those who are curious about what to expect from the scenes. That said, compared to some of the stuff I have seen in other eroges, the drawings are still pretty mild. The writing for the h-scenes also focused more on the physical aspect of what was happening than on the emotional level. I guess Emi’s route really spoiled me because I was somewhat disappointed by the lack of more inner thoughts from Hisao during these scenes. But Misha’s scene was surprisingly good in the sense that it really conveyed her uncertainty and just how merely physical the encounter was. I had hoped the final encounter between Shizune and Hisao was more emotional, but it was kept physcial as well, which was somewhat disappointing given that their relationship felt very shallow already and again Emi’s route proved how amazing a more emotional approach could be.
The Other Characters:
Misha: Probably the most interesting character in the route, especially since her secret is pretty much unexpected. Her hyperness contrasts very well with Shizune’s coolness and the two of them have some great interactions. I also really grew to like Misha. Her excessive energy was really addictive.
Kenji: Like I already mentioned, I really liked Kenji through Act1-2. It’s in Act 3 that he starts to wear thin due to overexposure. He’s great comic relief but since his whole funny act is basically the same thing over and over again, after a couple of times, it is just not so funny anymore and it becomes more annoying than anything else. I really think if he was used more sparsely, I wouldn’t have found him as annoying as I did in this route.
Jigoro: Since he already had a whole paragraph above, I’ll just repeat why I didn’t like him: he’s annoying, extreme to the point of being no longer a real character but a caricature, and by far the worse is that he’s pointless in the grand scheme of things.
Hideaki: He’s a really interesting character, but he is sort of a missed opportunity because his relationship with his sister is not explored at all. It’s given a shallow dismissive wave with him trying to learn sign language, but we know practically nothing about him and how he and Shizune feel about each other. He’s presented as this stoic oddball who likes cross dressing, and as neat as that combination was, we never learn anything about why he is the way he is. It’s Shizune’s route, but I wouldn’t have minded a bit of a backstory for him that also incorporated her somehow.
Lilly: I liked how she and Shizune had a rivalry and I found it kind of quirky that they basically can’t communicate with each other; as Lilly is blind and Shizune’s sign language relies on sight and thus they need an third person to relay their messages. When Hisao was that relay, the scene was very amusing. I liked how much he toned down Shizune’s words. Also, I find it interesting that they are actually cousins and now I wonder what Lilly was doing at Shizune’s house with Akira. Guess I know whose route I’m going for next! xD
Akira: is Lilly’s older sister and comes off as quite a joker. She has a really fun personality and her replies to Hideaki amused me. I was disappointed with how little we see of her in this route, but I bet there will be more Akira to go around in Lilly’s, so I can’t wait!
Yuuko: There is quite a bit of Yuuko in this route as she is also the waitress of the cafe Misha and Shizune frequent, so you run into her a lot in this route. She doesn’t really stand out as a character in this route (or in Act 1). If anything, she comes off too exaggerated and I found her constant fear of offending someone kind of annoying. She’s pretty much just there to fill in the waitress role and make an appearance here and there. Not really interesting and I don’t particularly like her.
The Endings:
There are strictly two endings in Shizune’s route as there is only one choice in Act 3. I think the choice is pretty straight forward and it’s pretty easy to know which choice leads to which end.
Bad Ending: This is the ending you get if you choose to comfort Misha. It’s shorter than the good ending as it cuts out a fair few key scenes. What sort of boggled my mind about this ending was that Hisao having sex with Misha never really comes back to bite him in the ass. Shizune basically decides she wants to separate herself from everyone, including Hisao, not because he had sex with her best friend, but because she felt really guilty about hurting those close to her (Misha). This ending could have been brilliant if the Misha sex was the thing that caused Shizune to lock herself away from others. I mean that sex scene basically encapsulated everything that went wrong with Misha, so it would be the perfect trigger for Shizune feeling not only betrayed by her boyfriend and best friend, but also feeling like she failed those closest to her if they needed to seek solace with mutual sex. So that was definitely another missed opportunity in the route, especially since it would tie in directly with the choice the player made previously. I feel if that choice was tied into Shizune’s choice to lock herself away from others, the emotional impact of this ending would have been much more significant. As it stands now, the ending felt sad, but ultimately a detached sort of sad since it comes off as something inevitable (i.e. Shizune never confronts you about having sex with her best friend, so it feels as if your screw up had nothing to do with her decision and she would have still chosen to lock herself away even if you didn’t do that).
Good Ending: The good ending is triggered when you make Hisao refuse to “comfort” Misha. This ending still has Misha cutting herself off from Shizune, but there are a few more scenes in Act 3 and Shizune doesn’t come to the conclusion that she can only hurt people. Act 4 basically has you listening to her speech about not having a goal and then deciding she wants to make people happy, and afterwards, when the time comes to graduate, the three of them (Shizune, Misha, and Hisao) all agree to met up again and promising to do it soon. The ending finishes with a happy picture of the three of them posing that Yuuko snaps. It was a cute, bitter sweet ending and I really liked it. I think this ending was probably the most realistic conclusion to a school romance since most people tend to go their separate ways after highschool. As people tend to have different dreams and different goals. So far it’s my favourite ending in the game. I really liked both of the endings in Emi’s route too, but Emi’s good ending was far more ambiguous about their future and a lot more idealistic. In Emi’s good ending, Hisao decides to study science and Emi will probably continue running (perhaps become a special Olympics star). So unless they both find a university that has a good science program and a track team and is close to a hospital (or has an extensive hospital on campus -usually medical schools do), I can’t see them sticking together. Perhaps they could meet up on weekends, but I digress. Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that I really liked how this good ending acknowledged that people have their own goals and desires (outside of love and romance) and sometimes that means you can’t be by your lover’s side 24/7 and that’s ok and not necessarily a bad thing. Perhaps the love will slowly die out and then just friendship will remain as each of them find someone else and that too is ok as people don’t always marry their highschool sweetheart. I really liked that about this ending. I’ve always been more of a realistic love story kind of girl and this ending really hit that note with me. If only the rest of the route was a lot more tighter (writing-wise), this could have easily been my favourite route.
So again, many missed opportunities in Shizune’s route and a few things that bog it down, but there are still aspects of it that are good and show potential. The writer had some interesting ideas; Misha’s secret, the good ending, but they needed to focus their ideas more and really cut out the unnecessary parts. Shizune’s family and most of Kenji could (and in my opinion should) have been removed. Also, while Misha’s secret was a great twist, there was hardly any foreshadowing in the actual writing. The biggest foreshadowing of this twist happened in the opening cinematic for Shizune’s route, which I think was really well done, so that was definitely something that should have happened as the twist was something you don’t see a lot in a dating sim. That said, the writing isn’t terrible (and if the writer is reading this please don’t be discouraged because you do have some great ideas). I believe the writing would have really benefited from editing and advice; some direction in other words. Like I said, it feels a bit unfocused so another person, adding some direction to the writing, pointing out problems and weak points, would have probably made the route a lot tighter. The art was lovely and unlike the rest of the internet, I liked Misha haircut. A ha, I said it! >:) Next route will probably be Lilly, so till next time!
-SW
06/03/2012 at 3:21 am
This game sounds interesting, but I doubt I can get a copy of it here. If I do, it’ll be in Japanese and I really wish I could understand Japanese. :(
I wanted to let you know that I have nominated you for the Liebster Blog Award. Details are here: http://simpleek.wordpress.com/2012/03/05/liebster-blog-award-revisited/. Your blog is one of the best ones I’ve read so far and I will continue reading it as always. ;)
06/03/2012 at 6:11 pm
This game is actually made by an English indie group (so it’s available in English) and it’s free too. So if you like, you can give it a try here: http://katawa-shoujo.com/download.php
I don’t understand Japanese so I will never talk about Japan-only stuff (unless there is a translation patch available). :) It would be really neat to understand it though, but alas languages are not my forte so I don’t think I would ever grasp any “second” language well enough to read and understand it.
Thank you. I really like your blog as well and will continue reading too. :)
04/07/2012 at 3:34 am
Ease yourself, i’m no Shizune fanboy here to rustle your jimmies, just bringing another veiwpoint.
The way I justify Shizune’s general coldness and in that she simply isn’t an emotional person. She has her emotions on a tight leash, and never allows her feelings to really express themselves, or affect her decisions. I know, I live with such a person.
In this light, she’s a Straw Vulcan, expecting everyone to be as rational and unemotional as she is, which came to a head in the 3rd Act.
The main issue is that she never expresses her feelings to ANYBODY, not even Hisao. I kept waiting for the point in which she would break down, her composure slip for a moment, much like Rin did in her route, and it never came, and that disapointed me.
Shizune’s family coming in was to garner sympathy for her, humanize her, which it did, but only so much. Sure, Hisao did extrapolate how lonely her home life must have been, but I wanted to hear it (figurativley) from Shizune’s own mouth.
Though I, unlike many people, didn’t care much for Misha. She was sweet, sure, but she came across as pretty dim when Hisao and her talked in the Tea House. Someone I would be freinds with, but nobody i could respect, especially compared to Shizune. It took her coming out for me to gain some respect for her, so either way, i wouldn’t have gone for Misha, especially as i was playing Hisao as a smartass geek guy. (one of the best parts of the route was seeing Hisao man up, especially seeing how he was kinda wimpy in Rin’s route.)
It’s not so much a mixed bag, as much as the core of the story, Hisao and Shizune’s relationship, is lacking in deep intimacy. As far as my impressions where, Hisao and Shizune are good freinds who are attracted to each other, only the start of a real Relationship. I’d say this Route is the only one that really needs a sequel, as i can see Shizune and Hisao opening up living together in college.
tl;dr Shizune’s an unemotional person, justifying her behavior but this really gets in the way of intimacy between Hisao and Shizune, something I wanted to see, and this lack of intimacy is really the only issue with the route. Really needs a sequel to show that kind of intimacy being developed.
04/07/2012 at 4:56 pm
Wait. Did you read my post? All of it? I actually did like Shizune’s route, I just felt it was poorly paced and written. Never once did I complained that she is emotionless. In fact, my complaints were that the route never really went into her character. I wasn’t asking for a break down, I was asking for more backstory. I wanted to understand her better: why did she like to compete so much? Also my other problem was how she comes to her goal in the good end and finally how shallow her relationship is with her family. Never once did I say she’s a bad character because she is emotionless (actually I tend to like kuuderes).
And I disagree that her family made her more sympathetic. Perhaps that is what the author had intended, but the effect it had was only to make the writing look a lot less well thought out. The dad was too over the top to be taken seriously and there is nothing to suggest her family has had any effect on Shizune, which is unrealistic and just bad writing. Maybe if she had created a wall around herself, I could see it, but there is nothing to suggest her family life left any ill effects on her psychology. She makes friends easily enough, is confident, etc.
I thought Misha added a much need energy to the route.
As for a sequel, I can’t see that happening given that they all go their separate ways and I liked that. Maybe way down the line after uni/collage.
So you didn’t find Shizune’s dad to be a problem? I thought he was the biggest issue in her route.
24/07/2012 at 6:47 pm
My biggest beef with the characters so far is with Yuuko. How could she moonlight at the Shanghai tea house on school time at midday? As a librarian, I found this to be unforgivably tacky. I know that holding down a second job may be necessary, I could believe that the book and magazine budget could outdistance her salary, but I couldn’t bring myself to believe that she’d be running around filling multiple roles like someone in a bad Jerry Lewis movie from the 1960s. They should have either invented a separate character to work at the Shanghai or else given more thought to Yuuko’s role in the game and at Yamaku Academy in general.
27/07/2012 at 2:24 pm
It’s true, Yuuko did seem to run around too much and it would have been better if they introduced a new character for Shanghai. I was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt and suppose that she schedules her jobs and when she isn’t around, someone else is filling in for her (but you just always manage to catch her). But agreed, it would have been better if there was another character at the Shanghai. I guess this didn’t bother me as much because I was too busy watching in disbelief at what they did to Shizune’s dad. I can’t believe whoever did Shizune’s route thought he was a good idea. He really annoyed me and I honestly considered putting the game down at one point because of him. Thankfully, after the week at Shizune’s he doesn’t come up a lot again.
05/01/2013 at 12:30 am
I agree with everything you pinted out, except that problem you have with understand why shizune wants so much to compete. She actually explains it just a little before the “comfort misha” scene. Maybe i understand it becouse i somehow can relate to her.
Is not the fact that he likes to win or something, is more that she doens’t like to see people that have talent or interest in something but they don’t really put much effort into it (more like they waste it). She is a person that when she does something, she takes it as a personal goal and puts everything into it. The competitive part is becouse she try to give that same emotion in other people, and is more enthusiastic if is someone with some talent.
I agree that her dad was the worst thing ever…i was even fighting him along with Hisao during his scenes. I guess the writer wanted this story to be more anime-like but seeing how other stories were going or even getting some opinions really affected him, and that in his way to try to fix the story it ended in a gigant mess.
But something that really annoyed me was Hisao and Shizune were just friends during all the story. The story never shows or imply that they even kiss or something, and the sex escene during at her house was more like some like casual sex with no more emotion, except for the protagonist.
Their relationship was to shallow and i even thought they broke up or something.
In my opinion, Shizune route was a fail at every point KS was trying to make. It failed at trying to make a good love-highschool story, failed at using “disabled” people and most importanly, failed at character development (with a few exceptions, mostly already exposed at the inicial post). It was a very generic VN with no much value and emotions that the other routes had.
05/01/2013 at 4:59 pm
I guess you are right, but even then I’m having a hard time understanding why she places so much value in giving it your all. She mentions she did the whole student council thing and games because she was bored and had nothing to do, but I just don’t quite get it. To me, someone like that would lack drive, not have an overabundance of it (and try to get others to have as much as she does). If you think everything you are doing is pointless/meaningless, would that not make you less motivated? That’s my problem, I just don’t understand how her actions and psychology are suppose to mesh. If she is fighting feelings of pointlessness and lack of aim in life, the route doesn’t do a very good job of showing it. If that were the case, I could definitely see it, but that’s not something the route ever tells you (or even hints at). Her motivations and inner workings are at best vague to me and at worst, nonsensical. Which I think is a real shame because I really like her personality.
Anime-like. Yeah, I could see that. Anime has a reputation of being over the top. Still I think most half-decent anime actually has loads better characterization than Jigoro had.
Yeah that’s true. I had problems with that as well, but it’s not because I think friends as lovers is bad, but that it wasn’t executed right here. You didn’t get a sense that the characters cared for one another beyond a superficial “we’re friends”. What didn’t help was this route’s Hisao being all over the place. One moment he’s all happy about helping Shizune and Misha and the next he’s desperately trying to get away from them. So which is it? That definitely didn’t help with believing he actually wanted to be with Shizune.
I’m going to have to disagree here. I think it did some things right. Like the good end was actually a really nice idea. If only the actual relationship between Shizune and Hisao was strengthened, the highschool romance would have worked remarkably well. I think it humanized “disabled” people just fine. While I do think Shizune characterization was really vague, I do think it was a positive one in general. It didn’t focus on her deafness as central to her character, so it passes. I also liked Misha and her story actually made me feel something. I thought she was a good call and I really liked that they made her in love with Shizune rather than giving us the typical anime trope of having her pining after her best friend’s man. God, that is the most annoying trope ever. It’s like the author is trying to get as much drama out of the situation as possible and often makes the situation as dramatic and overly soap-y as possible. I guess seeing it so much just makes me really dislike the set up. ;__;
05/01/2013 at 9:01 pm
I had a problem with the whole Shizune story because to me they kept piling on the weird stuff. Shizune is a Type A deaf-mute; I’m OK with that. Her dad is this guy who carries around a sword; my brother explained to me that he probably lost his job in the recession and is hanging onto something, literally, for the sake of his self-esteem. That’s a stretch IMO but I’ll go along with it. But then you have the cross-dressing little sister and Shizune’s boffing Hisao while he’s handcuffed to a chair, and I’m sorry but no. Maybe I’ve seen too many “Law & Order: SVU” episodes NOT to think that this is a family of kinks. My brother thinks that everybody’s character can be explained without resorting to psychopathology; I have a hard time seeing that. Once Hisao was cuffed to the chair, the sex between Hisao and Shizune crossed the line into rape territory. That would actually be consistent with the portrayal of Shizune since rape is about power and control rather than sex. It’s my least favorite “chapter” of the RPG; by contrast, I thought Rin was far more human despite her episodes and eccentricities. Maybe that’s just me, I don’t know.
06/01/2013 at 4:29 pm
Hmm, you have a point about her dad and brother (yes not sister, Hideaki is a boy). It does feel like instead of proper characterizations, you just have these “quirks” to mask the lack of proper characterization. This is actually a common way some writers try to mask lack of character depth.
I am wary about calling people who role play weirdos and other not very nice names. If it is all consensual, then it’s hard for me to go and tell them what they are doing is wrong. Which brings us to the first sex scene on Shizune’s route. It’s been a while since I played it, but I do not recall it being non-consensual. From Hisao’s inner dialogue, he was willing to play with Shizune. Rape is non-consensual penetration (well technically the definition varies based on country, but it’s nature as non-consensual stays the same). I simply took it as the writer trying something new with this route by introducing some S & M role play and having Shizune play the “aggressor” role. The other big reason I’m willing to give the route the benefit of the doubt was that the actual scene for this was the least erotic h-scene in the whole game. Both Shizune and Hisao are fully clothed and there isn’t anything erotic about the picture at all. You could have had a point if the image depicted Hisao in a way that makes a fetish out of his helplessness and pain, but that’s not what the picture shows, so I am very much inclined to believe the people behind Shizune’s route were just experimenting with a different sort of sex scene. Given that other routes do experiment with sex scenes too (anal on Emi’s, blindfolded sex and masturbation on Lily’s), just further reinforces this.
I am looking forward to Rin’s route though. I saved her for last because she made the best impression on me in chapter 1. :)
18/03/2013 at 12:32 pm
I think that Shizune’s aggressive personality pushes away most who get to know her, but they are misunderstanding her. Shizune is trying to inspire others in the only way she knows how, through competition. Her personality was influenced by her father, who is similarly abrasive or outright offensive which often causes others to miss their motives entirely. They are trying to motivate others by chastising them into becoming better people. An awkward (perhaps negative) approach to a noble (but positive) goal. Combined with Shizune’s deafness she has pushed away nearly everyone she seems to have met, except Hisao. He learns to understand her because she pulls him out of his melancholy after his heart attack and subsequent diagnosis of arrhythmia; which shattered his psyche. As a result of their relationship Hisao falls in love with Shizune, but still struggles to communicate with her due to her personality and deafness. The situation grows even more complicated when Misha confesses that she too is in love with Shizune.
I think that this was a great story, having characters that were believable and grew with the story. The reader has to deal with not only the struggles of the Hisao and Shizune, but also the unfairness that Misha faces due to her unrequited love. I also thought that the good ending was very well done, because i don’t think there can be a simple happy ending to this story. The end was instead bitter-sweat, just as this complex love triangle of troubled characters was.
A beautifully realistic story I think.
04/04/2013 at 7:16 pm
That’s a pretty good interpretation of Shizune’s route. Although I do stick with my criticism that Shizune’s dad is too over the top and he should have had a deeper effect on her emotionally than the story showed.
Yeah, I really liked the good end (my favourite ending to date) and I also liked the twist with Misha precisely because it did make things more realistic in that it touched on the fact that not all love can be requited. Agreed. :)