So, this is my first time doing this kind of review. I'm nervous, and don't know how it will turn out.
I'm also currently massively annoyed because I just accidentally deleted the first 3450 or so words of this post, Blogger autosaved, and now it's gone forever and ever. Fuck you, Blogger. I'll try to recreate my points as best I can, but I'm just angry and upset that 3 and a half hours of work just vanished into the fucking ether. Now I have to write the damn review of Act 2 and 3 all over again.
Emi's route starts in Life Expectancy when you accept to race with her on the track. I mentioned several times in the review of Life Expectancy just how jarring this seems to me. Upon further thought, I ended up considering the possibility that this was a purposeful thematic choice, to reflect upon the player mechanically what Hisao must feel emotionally. However, upon even more reflection I realized that this was bollocks. In the late parts of the route, Hisao feels that him hanging out with Emi is almost a miracle, and marvels at how lucky he is. Considering that the choice that led him here is extremely inconspicuous and practically railroads you into this path, this doesn't really come across very well mechanically.
So, Hisao and Emi race, and Hisao collapses because of his heart condition. The Nurse (Whose title I feel I must capitalize) tells him and Emi off, and Emi begins hanging out with Hisao as a sort of apology. She eventually ropes him into becoming her running partner in the mornings. This hanging out is extremely pleasant to read about, and shows off TheHivemind's (this being the writer behind the route) uncanny ability for writing banter: it really does feel like this is how Emi and Hisao would interact. They eventually go to the festival together, in a particularly enjoyable version of the event. Hisao and Emi have a little battle of wills and rules-lawyering over whether Hisao gets to eat fried food, as his training regimen forbids it. It's funny, entertaining and endearing. This kind of stuff represents some of the best writing in the route, and is its greatest strength.
After the festival, Act 2 proper starts. Every girl has 3 separate acts from 2 to 4 that are exclusive to that route. Emi's Act 2 is named Form. Between Act 1 and Act 2, each path has a little animated cutscene that tries to capture the spirit of the route in some way or another, over which a unique track of music plays. I refer to both of these as that girl's scene, and will sometimes refer to it by the name of the song. As such, I consider both the video and the track playing in Emi's transition to be called "2*400 Metre relay", and call both of these "Emi's scene". Each girl also has a main musical theme, which I will call either by its name or "(that girl)'s theme".
I'll try to review these as best I can, and include links to them but I'm neither a music guy nor a film guy, so I can't provide much useful judgement beyond my uneducated feelings. So, Emi's theme is Standing Tall and her scene is 2*400 Metre Relay. First off, I love both these names. Standing Tall is a reference to the thematics behind the route, to Emi's shortness, and, obviously, to her standing with no legs, a great metaphor for this route's main emotional problem. 2*400 Metre Relay is obviously a reference to working together with Hisao to overcome said problems, and I think is just a really nice mental image.
I do have a problem with Standing Tall, the track, though; both musically and as Emi's theme. It's one of the few tracks in the game I'm not fond off. It's a boring, repetitious loop of a few notes that aren't that interesting to begin with. It's mellow, and relaxed. These are two words that do not fit Emi at all. It's an absolutely awful choice for her theme, and slows down scenes that would do better at conveying Emi's energy if backed by something like Hokabi or Parity.
Luckily 2*400 Metre Relay fairs considerably better. The music is phenomenal in encapsulating Emi's spirit. It carries the same energy and cheer that Emi does, and the ending reminds you of the genuinely great relationship developed throughout the route. The video is also great. It's a fantastic visual metaphor for the events that have transpired thus far in the story: Hisao stumbles, and Emi picks him up. The apple section at the end baffled me in my first draft, but I realize now it's a good representation for what Hisao is expecting out of the relationship from now on. The fact that Emi sits on Hisao's shoulders is also a good thing to note, being a nice metaphor for what Hisao wants Emi to do through the later part of the route.
Now, I'll just list the secondary characters important in the route. I'll talk about how effective or not they are through the review.
-Meiko Ibarazaki
-The Nurse
-Rin Tezuka
-Akio Mutou
-Yuuko Shirakawa
And so, to the review of Emi's route proper. I'd be excited if I hadn't done this before. Don't look at me like that, Blogger, you know it's your fault. I'm still upset at you.
Act 2, Form is mostly there to start the romantic relationship. It's when the two participants fall in love, and they're officially together by the end of the act.
Form starts off with Hisao heading to his first morning run as Emi's official running partner. At the track, they banter for a little bit, and Hisao starts inwardly expressing physical attraction toward Emi. This happens much more quickly in this route than any other. There's nothing wrong with it per say, but it just comes across rather strangely if you're used to the slower development of other routes. It certainly makes sense: Emi's route is by far the most sexually charged one.
They banter a little, run, and Emi takes Hisao to The Nurse, where they'll subsequently go after every run for a health check-up: Hisao for his heart and Emi for her legs. These checkups are where you get to see The Nurse and Emi interact. These interactions are pretty entertaining stuff, and I find them to be some of the more endearing moments in the route. They also serve an important role: You become a little more attached to Emi, but also learn that The Nurse is a pretty cool and trustworthy guy, which becomes important later in the plot.
A little bit of plotless filler (more on this concept later) happens, during which Emi extracts a promise from Hisao to attend her track meet. The next day, Hisao heads for another morning run with Emi. However, this time he has more trouble, and exclaims mid-run that he can't do it. Emi becomes angry, and yells at him to continue. She later explains that she hates seeing people giving up. This seems like a set up for something, or at least a subtle hint at an aspect of her personality that becomes important later. It never comes up again in any important form, and is a pretty bizarre, pointless, yet very effective moment of character development.
Through both of the runs, Hisao observes Emi's face when running. Each time, he looks closely at one particular feature. These sections are actually surprisingly full of extremely subtle foreshadowing and really clever use of metaphor. I didn't catch it until this 4th read-through, and is a very impressive little thing that first-time readers won't notice.
The next important event is Hisao going to Emi's track meet. This serves as an introduction to Meiko Ibarazaki, Emi's mother. It's a rather bizarre-feeling scene: The description Hisao gives of Meiko makes it seem like he's attracted to her, and seems like set-up for an out-of-place romantic triangle around Hisao, especially since Meiko might be interpreted to be flirting with Hisao, but this, once again, never comes up. He also chats with Rin, and gains some insight into how she sees Emi: She's "at her Emiest" when she runs. This scene also begins a sub-plot involving Emi being injured: She stumbles on her prosthetic in one of the races, worrying both Rin and Hisao, but waves it off when they ask.
Great part of the rest of Form is the aforementioned filler. I think I might prefer calling it fluff, rather than filler. The reason for this is that I believe that this "filler" material is absolutely crucial to the success of KS. It's pleasant filler. You have a good time reading it. Everything that happens feels relevant, even if there's no possible way that it could be. This is the time you're spending with who is supposed to be the object of your affections. The reason the emotionally resonant sections later on are so emotionally resonant is because this stuff is taken away. The fluff is what you want back. It's the stuff that makes the relationship worth it to both Hisao and the player. It's only filler in the sense that it's not directly relevant to the overarching plot.
Which is why it's disappointing that this is almost all the fluff there is in the route. It's all concentrated in a block here, and after this, most content is plot-relevant. This lets you forget what you're fighting for, metaphorically speaking. By the end the story has spent so much time absorbed in the pain that the relationship causes that you forget why the relationship is worth it, and that makes a huge impact on the route, I feel. There's also just barely enough here. Other routes lead off with larger amounts of fluff, which allows you to become fond of the character. You do become fond of Emi, but not nearly as much as you should, especially considering Hisao expresses more affection for her than his partners in almost every other route.
Anyway, the fluff here is actually of high quality. Hisao forgets to take his medicine, Emi and The Nurse tell him off for it. Emi, Rin and Hisao have lunch together on the roof and have fun goofing around. The three go for a picnic that gets interrupted by a storm. It's fun and relaxing to read, and moves at a pace that's both slow enough to be pleasantly unhurried, and quick enough to maintain the energy that Emi transmits. The interactions with Rin here are actually extremely funny, and it's a shame we don't really get more of them in the route.
Once the semi-filler is done, Emi becomes ill, and Hisao comes to visit in a scene named Dropping By. They banter their way into a pillowfight, and the UST (unresolved sexual tension) reaches a peak. Emi falls asleep, with Hisao still in the bed (no shenanigans have happened yet, though). Hisao realizes his feelings for Emi, but the tender moment is interrupted by Emi starting to cry in her sleep. She mentions something about her father, and Hisao wakes her up from her nightmare.
Dropping By is kind of divided into a good and bad part. The way the conversation leads into the pillow fight and the banter between the two is actually some of the best stuff in the route: Supremely believable, lively and funny. Once Emi falls asleep, though, it becomes cliche-ridden. Hisao's quiet realization of love is carried by the positive writing from before, but is moving, if slightly cheesy. Emi's crying in her sleep seems straight out of a seen-it-a-million-times-before romantic movie, and comes across quite badly. It doesn't hit nearly as hard emotionally as it should, and just seems forced.
The next day, Hisao worries about the last night, but the issue just kind of fizzles out of his mind, something that he does frustratingly often throughout the route. In the scene The (Real) Beginning he eventually has lunch with Emi alone on the rooftop, due to Rin having caught Emi's cold and having a bad case of funny-reference-to-her-routeitis. Emi confesses, they kiss, and the Act ends.
It doesn't feel nearly as sudden as I make it sound. It does come out of the blue, but in a way that feels very much like such an experience with Emi would. It's slightly funny, to be honest, yet still very touching. The (Real) Beginning is to me one of the highlights of the route. It feels pretty much perfect in executing exactly what it needs to.
And, with The (Real) Beginning ends Form. Form is, in my opinion, a fantastic part of the route. It feels very well paced, very polished, and just seems to flow perfectly naturally. It's funny, it's moving where it needs to be, and it has very few scenes I'd remove or change.
A quick mention is that during Form, Iwanako's letter arrives. This is a constant through all routes: Hisao receives a letter from Iwanako, the girl that asked him out immediately before his heart attack in the prologue. The text of the letter itself is always the same, but it's a really interesting plot device, in that it's more about how Hisao's reaction changes between routes than anything else. It typically doesn't affect the overarching story, but is there to show how Hisao's relationships shape him as a person. During Form, Hisao just throws the letter away, telling us how he's moved on and doesn't need this, though it will make a comeback later.
Act 3, titled Perspective, begins a few minutes after the end of Form, something relatively rare for KS. Hisao daydreams in class about the events of The (Real) Beginning, but is brought out of his reverie by Mutou. Later, Mutou keeps him behind to have a conversation about his future - an event that's actually common through most of the routes. However, here it goes a bit further, with Mutou inviting Hisao to found a science club with him, which mostly involves Mutou giving Hisao books to read and then discuss.
This is a strange subplot. It's the only route in which Mutou plays a role larger than "the quirky teacher", but the subplot he's involved in doesn't really go anywhere. It's used as an excuse for Mutou to give Hisao advice later on, but an excuse isn't really necessary. The timing for the start of this subplot is also poor. If you play without taking a break at the act turn over, then this is a pretty irrelevant scene that pales in comparison to the huge event that just finished off Form. If you're starting your session at the start of Perspective, you're allowed to forget just how well The (Real) Beginning worked in favor of random Mutou nonsense. The subplot in general is disappointing because Mutou is a loveable character, and the only route that tries to develop him just kind of forgets about him halfway through. I can't help but wish we'd gotten to know him as well as someone like Yuuko.
In between the last three semi-filler scenes in the route, Hisao keeps running with Emi and finally tells The Nurse about her leg wound. The Nurse asks Hisao to convince Emi to come in for a check-up, as it turns she's been avoiding him. This feels like it's a long time coming. The "Emi stumbles a bit, Hisao and Rin worry" thing has been going on since the track meet at regular intervals, and has gotten old. It feels like it really should have been introduced slightly later: Only a stumble or two less would've made it feel less repetitious. That said, this culmination does feel real. The Nurse is visibly worried, but tries to keep his cool demeanor, and Hisao's inner dialogue feels like the exact same thing I'd be thinking in this situation. I especially love the scene when Hisao convinces Emi to visit The Nurse: It's funny, feels like real banter, and is actually surprisingly moving in its own way.
This results in a scene where Hisao is called to his room by a frantic Emi. Upon arriving, he finds her in a wheelchair. This is a scene that makes me feel like a horrible human being. The idea of an Emi with no legs should be very saddening, and everything about the scene seems to be written in such a way that it should work well, but I just don't feel as horrified or saddened as seems appropriate. I don't know if this is me being an emotionless monster or some failure of the writing I can't pinpoint, but the scene simply doesn't work on me quite as well as I feel it really should.
Through a bunch of small steps, Emi ends up sitting on top of Hisao, which results in the first H-scene of the act. It's not particularly good or bad. It ends up just being there. It does feel believable, but the art is just not very sexy, and it doesn't have any real meaning in the long run. Unlike other routes, the H-scenes in Emi's route are just kind of there to be there, rather than genuine moments of character evolution.
The next day, Emi and Hisao go on their morning run, but, being in a wheelchair, Emi can't really run, can she? So she ends up luring Hisao into the supplies shed, where shenanigans ensue. This is, of course, another H-scene. I find this one a lot better than the previous one, despite having just as little a overarching meaning. What this one does is something no other H-scene in the game does: It's genuinely funny. It's simply hilarious. It feels real, too, as this is the kind of stuff that teenagers experimenting with this stuff they don't fully understand go through. It's actually one of my favorite, if not my favorite H-scenes, since it doesn't feel as uncomfortable to read simply because of its focus on comedy rather than sexuality.
Smells like lemon to me.
Unfortunately, this is the last scene in the route not relating directly to the overarching plot. It's plot central from now on, and I described the problems with this at the end of my discussion of Form. If by the end of Form most further content was plot-relevant, every single scene from now on is important to the main plot. Bye-bye, sweet fluff, we barely knew ye.
The next scene has Emi tell Hisao that she needs to not talk to him for a while, during the exam period, so that she can concentrate on studying. This sets up an absence scene: Something KS is quite fond of doing. The girl will be away or not talking to Hisao for some reason, so you can remember how bleak life looks for him alone, returning to the tone of Act 1 for a brief while. It's an effective technique, and some of the most joyful moments come after absence scenes for this very reason.
This absence scene is called Detached, and is fairly well pulled-off. Though it feels a bit short and Hisao spends too much time thinking about Emi for the emotional void to really set in, that is not quite the point of this scene. Detached is much more focused on Hisao's exploration of his feelings about Emi. However, by this point we've heard his thoughts on this a few times, and he doesn't really provide anything new.
You see, throughout the route Hisao feels rejected by Emi, or at least not quite accepted. He always worries about how she doesn't seem to want his help. It comes up various times, and what's slightly disturbing initially becomes annoying by this point, especially since Hisao doesn't seem to have too much of a reason to feel this way until later in the route, by which point we're tired of hearing about it.
Around this point in the plot, Hisao seeks advice from various sources. He subtly extracts help from The Nurse, and Mutou gives him applicable advice through an unrelated conversation. He ends up half-accidentally asking Yuuko, and at one point even Misha and Shizune end up giving a bit of a tip. What's great here is how much this advice varies. The Nurse speaks from a position of knowing Emi, but obviously has her interests over Hisao's at mind, even if he does genuinely try to help. Yuuko is giving the best advice she can, but doesn't know Emi quite as well as she might need to. Mutou imparts a philosophy, which is a bit too non-specific to really help. All of these people give advice that doesn't quite mesh together, and leave Hisao more confused than he was before.
It just feels magnificently real: A situation everyone's been in in one form or another. This is something TheHivemind also does brilliantly. Whilst all the other routes feel a bit idealized, Emi's route feels by far the most grounded in reality.
In the end, he decides to confront Emi in her room and offer his help. This, and the aforementioned Mutou conversation, happen in a scene titled Phantom Pain, which I absolutely adore. Emi winds up angry at Hisao, and refuses his help, after very obviously trying to shake him off non-aggressively. What makes this scene is Emi's long speech of rejection, which combines with the music near-perfectly. I don't know if it was painstakingly engineered this way, or a complete coincidence, but the track playing, Moment of Decision seems to fit perfectly with my reading speed to carry me exactly through the emotional roller coaster. No matter how many times I read this scene, I seem to hit the crescendo precisely as Emi says the most hurtful things at you, and it never fails to give me the shivers. It really is a devastating scene, and creates an appropriate feeling of powerlessness and frustration.
It's notable that the first decision point that impacts your ending happens in this scene, during the conversation of Mutou. I'll discuss the decision point structure at the end of the review, after the synopsis, but just know this much: I review all routes picking the fastest way to the good ending. If there's a way to see an extra scene on your way to the good ending (as is the case in his route) by picking wrong, but then using a safety net, I avoid it. Everything I mention assumes you're picking the fastest choices toward the good ending.
The next morning, Emi pretends everything is normal, and even thanks Hisao, because their "little talk" helped her sleep better. Hisao is understandably confused and, mostly, upset. Nonetheless, they end up falling into acting normally around each other again, though Hisao keeps wondering how much of this is a front Emi is putting up. Still, this doesn't stop Emi from inviting Hisao to dinner at her house, catching him off guard.
He accepts, and the story skips to said trip. Meiko is re-introduced, and everything seems to be fine, until Meiko tells Hisao a little too much about Emi's father. This causes Emi to leave, upset. If Hisao chooses to stay with Meiko, she ends up revealing the truth about Emi: Emi sees herself as strong, and refuses to lean on anyone. It's more of a pride thing than an "afraid of loosing people" thing. But how did Emi loose her father? I guess Hisao doesn't get to know yet, because Emi barges into the room, furious, and kicks Hisao out of the house. When he decides to leave without much confrontation, she seems regretful, but he decides it's better to give her some time to cool down.
This scene suffers from Hisao not knowing information that is obvious and blinding to the reader. Emi's father is said to "not be around anymore". Emi lost her legs in a car accident, where she also lost something else important. Emi is said to have been extremely close to her father. To the reader, it's blindingly obvious where Emi's father is, and what else she lost during the accident. Logically, it makes sense that Hisao wouldn't make this connection: He perceives his world as real, and in the real world things don't always work out in such nicely-cut, symbolic, plot-convenient ways. Emotionally, it's incredibly frustrating. You just wish Hisao would fucking get it already, and we could talk about things in a non-roundabout way anymore. The whole scene suffers because Meiko is forced to talk around a twist that the player will have figured out a good two or three hours ago.
Hisao returns home, looks around for the letter from Iwanako, and realizes that the reason he ended up pushing her away was because of how absorbed in his pain he was at the time. He also sees that this is similar to how Emi is acting now, and realizes he should treat her as he was treated to bring him out of his apathy during Life Expectancy. This is actually one of my favorite Iwanako letters in the game: you can see how Hisao becomes more like Emi, thinking only about the now, and then Hisao gains understanding of Emi through his own past behavior.
This is how Perspective ends. Perspective is a strange act: It feels like it's moving a bit too fast, yet it has plenty of subplots that go nowhere. It feels like it's a bit too light in content, yet it goes over the same content a few too many times. It's not like the story is spread thin, but it also doesn't feel as elegant as pretty much any other route. That said, it's got more spikes of brilliance per than most acts in the game: that H-scene in the shed is absolutely hilarious, Phantom Pain is simply phenomenal, and Detached does a great job at doing what it sets out to do.
This sets off Act 4, Motion. This is by far the shortest act in any route in the game, being only 5 scenes long. These scenes are of above-average length, but it still goes by surprisingly fast. I actually kind of like this: pretty much all of Motion is a climax in some way or another, and it's extremely well paced.
Hisao and Emi fall back into pretending nothing's wrong again, and Hisao keeps worrying about their relationship and what to do. This takes up the first scene, and is actually surprisingly effective. Even though this has happened more than once before, and felt stale, it now actually works really well, after how unexpected being thrown out of Emi's house was. Finally, Rin realizes what's going on and unceremoniously leaves them both alone, telling Hisao to sort it out in a scene under the name of Saving Throw.
This is another of those emotional high points like Phantom Pain, though it perhaps doesn't have quite as much gut-punch potential. Hisao explains to Emi that he'll be there to help her not because he thinks she needs help, but because he wants to. "I don't want to be a knight helping the damsel in distress, but sometimes even knights helped each other out, you know", he says, in one of my favorite lines in the game. It's a potent speech, and seeing Emi finally realize that there's no harm in this is extremely moving. It's actually kind of nice to have Hisao take the initiative in one of these scenes, too, since in every other route he always seems to be in a reactive role (ironically, considering the above quote). It's nice to see how the advice from Meiko, The Nurse, Yuuko and Mutou all come together into something, but with Hisao still filling in a large part of the puzzle by himself.
The confrontation in Saving Throw results in Emi inviting Hisao to her house again, though this time she promises to tell him everything. This happens in the next scene, Whispers of the Past. This is also a brilliant scene, though it is a lot less hard-hitting than either Phantom Pain or Saving Throw. It doesn't mean to be, though. It's a slow, emotional build up, and rather than a gut-punch it leaves you more profoundly sad. You won't spill tears, but you will end up feeling sad for a long time. It's the difference between pin-prick and a bruise: The pin-prick hurts a lot for a moment, but a bruise hurts a decent amount for a long time.
Whispers of the Past consists of the bus trip to Emi's house, where Emi is visibly nervous and, once again, promises to tell Hisao everything, with Hisao telling her to take it slow, and of their arrival at Emi's father's grave, where Emi tells her story starting from the small details, namely insignificant assumptions people make about her, and ending with how she ended up coping with her father's death and how she feels about Hisao, falling into tears by the end of it. It's a powerful monologue, and is one of the most bittersweet moments in the game. It also once again establishes TheHivemind's incredible ability to make dialogue believable: Emi's speech feels truly true.
The only issue with the scene is that this feels like it was supposed to be the revelation that Emi's father died in her crash. This was incredibly obvious, as I previously mentioned, and thus some emotional impact is lost. It does have a fantastic moment wherein it tells you "We're going to see my father" and switches to a graveyard. You can't call it subtle, but the fact no one actually says he's dead is surprisingly touching.
Despite this flaw, Whispers of the Past is really phenomenal. It's the emotional culmination of the route, and it shows.
The last two scenes are Emi and Hisao's post-reconcilliation H-scene and the following morning. The H-scene is once again unremarkable, but the last scene, Clean Teeth is actually really good. The dialogue returns to the dynamic established early in the route, which brings a much needed bit of cheer after the gloom of the past few scenes, and provides a happy, quiet ending to the story. It feels very Emi-like: It doesn't look back or forward, but just revels in the comfort of a good present, yet it feels healthier than before. It's quietly happy, and ends on the dialogue
"So, Hisao."
"Hmm?"
"What do you want to do today?"
Which, somehow, feels just perfect.
As I said before, Motion is a strange act. It moves quick, is well paced, and has some fantastic emotional high-points, yet it's just too short to say too much about. I'd argue it's a stronger act than Form, though much of this is based on the character-building done in Form.
All in all, as I have said before, Emi's route is my least favorite in the game. This doesn't by any means mean it's bad, no, the exact opposite. Emi's route is a fantastic piece of writing. It might feel less polished than the other routes, but it's still really affecting. Heck, it's a romance story that I didn't hate, and as such should probably win every award in existence. The fact that I like it enough to read through 4 times is a real miracle. The fact that I like it the least can probably be attributed that Emi is the one of the characters whose personality I like the least, through no fault of the writer's. Even if KS consisted only of Emi's route, I'd recommend it heartily.
The route is particularly strong in the dialogue department. As I mentioned several times before, TheHivemind's writes banter between Emi and Hisao really, really well. This often makes up for the fact that, as far as storytelling goes, the route isn't that great. There's not enough story, it's not a very interesting one, and there's strange plot threads all over the place that go nowhere. However, this is easy to forget when you read Hisao and Emi's dialogue and it feels like it could be a transcript of real conversation. Real conversation that's way more enjoyable and less creepy to read than any real conversation would actually be.
An issue with the route is its thematics. It just doesn't seem to really have a message: The theme is about helping people who don't need it, but this isn't really what the story is about. It just seems very thinly spread thematically, and goes for a story that just avoids being cliche by a hair. In comparison to the other routes, which have some really strong themes it feels a bit empty.
This is one of the routes that I actually like the side characters in the most, right up there with Lilly's. I complained about how Meiko and Mutou get underused, but The Nurse and Rin are actually put to some real good use. The Nurse is just a joy to be around: Despite being one of the most cartoonish characters in the game, he actually feels very much real. His relationship with Emi is subtly moving, and feels like a nice mixture of a father-daughter and brother-sister relationship. The subtle hints dropped throughout the route that he might be dating Meiko are a nice touch. He feels very human: He tries just a bit too hard to be cool, but still manages it OK. He has trouble caring about Hisao quite as much as he should, and refuses to admit this to himself, but has undying loyalty to Emi. This doesn't mean he doesn't worry about Hisao, but their relationship feels a lot less close than his relationship with Emi.
Rin is actually really subtly well used. After my first couple runs, I thought she was criminally underused, but this time I realized how big her role actually is. She puts large parts of the relationship in motion, and is shown to actually really care for Emi, in her insane, weird ways. It's surprisingly moving when you realize just how much she does, and how subtly she does it.
Yuuko is used very strangely. Her personality seems to morph away from what it is in Life Expectancy and the other routes. She has a small comedic sub-plot that, once again, goes nowhere, but mainly is there to provide advice for Hisao. She's just as non-confidently wise as always, but she now seems to be paranoid and over-imaginative rather than how she's usually comically shy and nervous. It's effective and funny, but feels weird when you're used to her personality in other routes.
The last thing to talk about is the choice structure within the route. The way it works is you get two decision points that you have to pick correctly - one at Mutou's room in Phantom Pain, where you have to choose to agree to talk to him so he can give you advice, and one at your first trip to Emi's house, where you must choose to not follow Emi and instead talk with Meiko. The Mutou choice doesn't seem like it would ultimately be that important in the long run, but it's justified if you make the right choice. The choice at Emi's house is a bit more dickish, in that it's clear this is a big choice, but it's hard to figure out which way is the right way. To its credit, Mutou's advice from before helps, and this is also what Hisao says after you choose said way, so if you choose right you're thinking as Hisao would think, which is more than most decision points in the game. If you fail either of these, you're sent to a "safety net" scene where you're confronted by Misha and a binary choice sends you very obviously to the good or the bad ending.
I like the first two choices, in that they make a lot of sense in-universe. I'm not quite sure about the Misha safety net, however, as it just seems to take out the impact from failing the other two. On the one hand, it's nice to not have hours of your time wasted if you chose wrong and wanted the good end. On the other, it's so obviously a safety net it kind of ruins your immersion, and there's next to no way you'd choose wrong on this one.
There's also a couple meaningless choices in there, as there are in pretty much any route. This is good: They add a bit of interactivity to help you connect to Hisao, and they're good at seeming relevant without being relevant in any way. Overall, I like the way reaching the two endings works in this route.
Ultimately, Emi's route is just like the character - short and bubbly. It moves fast, and doesn't get boring. Some better storytelling would make for a better route, but what we have is very good anyway, very largely thanks to the ludicrously high quality dialogue. My favorite scene would have to be Phantom Pain, closely followed by Whispers of the Past, both being very emotionally powerful scenes.
Next route, I travel all the way to Infinity.
I'm also currently massively annoyed because I just accidentally deleted the first 3450 or so words of this post, Blogger autosaved, and now it's gone forever and ever. Fuck you, Blogger. I'll try to recreate my points as best I can, but I'm just angry and upset that 3 and a half hours of work just vanished into the fucking ether. Now I have to write the damn review of Act 2 and 3 all over again.
Emi's route starts in Life Expectancy when you accept to race with her on the track. I mentioned several times in the review of Life Expectancy just how jarring this seems to me. Upon further thought, I ended up considering the possibility that this was a purposeful thematic choice, to reflect upon the player mechanically what Hisao must feel emotionally. However, upon even more reflection I realized that this was bollocks. In the late parts of the route, Hisao feels that him hanging out with Emi is almost a miracle, and marvels at how lucky he is. Considering that the choice that led him here is extremely inconspicuous and practically railroads you into this path, this doesn't really come across very well mechanically.
So, Hisao and Emi race, and Hisao collapses because of his heart condition. The Nurse (Whose title I feel I must capitalize) tells him and Emi off, and Emi begins hanging out with Hisao as a sort of apology. She eventually ropes him into becoming her running partner in the mornings. This hanging out is extremely pleasant to read about, and shows off TheHivemind's (this being the writer behind the route) uncanny ability for writing banter: it really does feel like this is how Emi and Hisao would interact. They eventually go to the festival together, in a particularly enjoyable version of the event. Hisao and Emi have a little battle of wills and rules-lawyering over whether Hisao gets to eat fried food, as his training regimen forbids it. It's funny, entertaining and endearing. This kind of stuff represents some of the best writing in the route, and is its greatest strength.
After the festival, Act 2 proper starts. Every girl has 3 separate acts from 2 to 4 that are exclusive to that route. Emi's Act 2 is named Form. Between Act 1 and Act 2, each path has a little animated cutscene that tries to capture the spirit of the route in some way or another, over which a unique track of music plays. I refer to both of these as that girl's scene, and will sometimes refer to it by the name of the song. As such, I consider both the video and the track playing in Emi's transition to be called "2*400 Metre relay", and call both of these "Emi's scene". Each girl also has a main musical theme, which I will call either by its name or "(that girl)'s theme".
I'll try to review these as best I can, and include links to them but I'm neither a music guy nor a film guy, so I can't provide much useful judgement beyond my uneducated feelings. So, Emi's theme is Standing Tall and her scene is 2*400 Metre Relay. First off, I love both these names. Standing Tall is a reference to the thematics behind the route, to Emi's shortness, and, obviously, to her standing with no legs, a great metaphor for this route's main emotional problem. 2*400 Metre Relay is obviously a reference to working together with Hisao to overcome said problems, and I think is just a really nice mental image.
I do have a problem with Standing Tall, the track, though; both musically and as Emi's theme. It's one of the few tracks in the game I'm not fond off. It's a boring, repetitious loop of a few notes that aren't that interesting to begin with. It's mellow, and relaxed. These are two words that do not fit Emi at all. It's an absolutely awful choice for her theme, and slows down scenes that would do better at conveying Emi's energy if backed by something like Hokabi or Parity.
Luckily 2*400 Metre Relay fairs considerably better. The music is phenomenal in encapsulating Emi's spirit. It carries the same energy and cheer that Emi does, and the ending reminds you of the genuinely great relationship developed throughout the route. The video is also great. It's a fantastic visual metaphor for the events that have transpired thus far in the story: Hisao stumbles, and Emi picks him up. The apple section at the end baffled me in my first draft, but I realize now it's a good representation for what Hisao is expecting out of the relationship from now on. The fact that Emi sits on Hisao's shoulders is also a good thing to note, being a nice metaphor for what Hisao wants Emi to do through the later part of the route.
Now, I'll just list the secondary characters important in the route. I'll talk about how effective or not they are through the review.
-Meiko Ibarazaki
-The Nurse
-Rin Tezuka
-Akio Mutou
-Yuuko Shirakawa
And so, to the review of Emi's route proper. I'd be excited if I hadn't done this before. Don't look at me like that, Blogger, you know it's your fault. I'm still upset at you.
Act 2, Form is mostly there to start the romantic relationship. It's when the two participants fall in love, and they're officially together by the end of the act.
Form starts off with Hisao heading to his first morning run as Emi's official running partner. At the track, they banter for a little bit, and Hisao starts inwardly expressing physical attraction toward Emi. This happens much more quickly in this route than any other. There's nothing wrong with it per say, but it just comes across rather strangely if you're used to the slower development of other routes. It certainly makes sense: Emi's route is by far the most sexually charged one.
They banter a little, run, and Emi takes Hisao to The Nurse, where they'll subsequently go after every run for a health check-up: Hisao for his heart and Emi for her legs. These checkups are where you get to see The Nurse and Emi interact. These interactions are pretty entertaining stuff, and I find them to be some of the more endearing moments in the route. They also serve an important role: You become a little more attached to Emi, but also learn that The Nurse is a pretty cool and trustworthy guy, which becomes important later in the plot.
A little bit of plotless filler (more on this concept later) happens, during which Emi extracts a promise from Hisao to attend her track meet. The next day, Hisao heads for another morning run with Emi. However, this time he has more trouble, and exclaims mid-run that he can't do it. Emi becomes angry, and yells at him to continue. She later explains that she hates seeing people giving up. This seems like a set up for something, or at least a subtle hint at an aspect of her personality that becomes important later. It never comes up again in any important form, and is a pretty bizarre, pointless, yet very effective moment of character development.
Through both of the runs, Hisao observes Emi's face when running. Each time, he looks closely at one particular feature. These sections are actually surprisingly full of extremely subtle foreshadowing and really clever use of metaphor. I didn't catch it until this 4th read-through, and is a very impressive little thing that first-time readers won't notice.
The next important event is Hisao going to Emi's track meet. This serves as an introduction to Meiko Ibarazaki, Emi's mother. It's a rather bizarre-feeling scene: The description Hisao gives of Meiko makes it seem like he's attracted to her, and seems like set-up for an out-of-place romantic triangle around Hisao, especially since Meiko might be interpreted to be flirting with Hisao, but this, once again, never comes up. He also chats with Rin, and gains some insight into how she sees Emi: She's "at her Emiest" when she runs. This scene also begins a sub-plot involving Emi being injured: She stumbles on her prosthetic in one of the races, worrying both Rin and Hisao, but waves it off when they ask.
Great part of the rest of Form is the aforementioned filler. I think I might prefer calling it fluff, rather than filler. The reason for this is that I believe that this "filler" material is absolutely crucial to the success of KS. It's pleasant filler. You have a good time reading it. Everything that happens feels relevant, even if there's no possible way that it could be. This is the time you're spending with who is supposed to be the object of your affections. The reason the emotionally resonant sections later on are so emotionally resonant is because this stuff is taken away. The fluff is what you want back. It's the stuff that makes the relationship worth it to both Hisao and the player. It's only filler in the sense that it's not directly relevant to the overarching plot.
Which is why it's disappointing that this is almost all the fluff there is in the route. It's all concentrated in a block here, and after this, most content is plot-relevant. This lets you forget what you're fighting for, metaphorically speaking. By the end the story has spent so much time absorbed in the pain that the relationship causes that you forget why the relationship is worth it, and that makes a huge impact on the route, I feel. There's also just barely enough here. Other routes lead off with larger amounts of fluff, which allows you to become fond of the character. You do become fond of Emi, but not nearly as much as you should, especially considering Hisao expresses more affection for her than his partners in almost every other route.
Anyway, the fluff here is actually of high quality. Hisao forgets to take his medicine, Emi and The Nurse tell him off for it. Emi, Rin and Hisao have lunch together on the roof and have fun goofing around. The three go for a picnic that gets interrupted by a storm. It's fun and relaxing to read, and moves at a pace that's both slow enough to be pleasantly unhurried, and quick enough to maintain the energy that Emi transmits. The interactions with Rin here are actually extremely funny, and it's a shame we don't really get more of them in the route.
Once the semi-filler is done, Emi becomes ill, and Hisao comes to visit in a scene named Dropping By. They banter their way into a pillowfight, and the UST (unresolved sexual tension) reaches a peak. Emi falls asleep, with Hisao still in the bed (no shenanigans have happened yet, though). Hisao realizes his feelings for Emi, but the tender moment is interrupted by Emi starting to cry in her sleep. She mentions something about her father, and Hisao wakes her up from her nightmare.
Dropping By is kind of divided into a good and bad part. The way the conversation leads into the pillow fight and the banter between the two is actually some of the best stuff in the route: Supremely believable, lively and funny. Once Emi falls asleep, though, it becomes cliche-ridden. Hisao's quiet realization of love is carried by the positive writing from before, but is moving, if slightly cheesy. Emi's crying in her sleep seems straight out of a seen-it-a-million-times-before romantic movie, and comes across quite badly. It doesn't hit nearly as hard emotionally as it should, and just seems forced.
The next day, Hisao worries about the last night, but the issue just kind of fizzles out of his mind, something that he does frustratingly often throughout the route. In the scene The (Real) Beginning he eventually has lunch with Emi alone on the rooftop, due to Rin having caught Emi's cold and having a bad case of funny-reference-to-her-routeitis. Emi confesses, they kiss, and the Act ends.
It doesn't feel nearly as sudden as I make it sound. It does come out of the blue, but in a way that feels very much like such an experience with Emi would. It's slightly funny, to be honest, yet still very touching. The (Real) Beginning is to me one of the highlights of the route. It feels pretty much perfect in executing exactly what it needs to.
And, with The (Real) Beginning ends Form. Form is, in my opinion, a fantastic part of the route. It feels very well paced, very polished, and just seems to flow perfectly naturally. It's funny, it's moving where it needs to be, and it has very few scenes I'd remove or change.
A quick mention is that during Form, Iwanako's letter arrives. This is a constant through all routes: Hisao receives a letter from Iwanako, the girl that asked him out immediately before his heart attack in the prologue. The text of the letter itself is always the same, but it's a really interesting plot device, in that it's more about how Hisao's reaction changes between routes than anything else. It typically doesn't affect the overarching story, but is there to show how Hisao's relationships shape him as a person. During Form, Hisao just throws the letter away, telling us how he's moved on and doesn't need this, though it will make a comeback later.
Act 3, titled Perspective, begins a few minutes after the end of Form, something relatively rare for KS. Hisao daydreams in class about the events of The (Real) Beginning, but is brought out of his reverie by Mutou. Later, Mutou keeps him behind to have a conversation about his future - an event that's actually common through most of the routes. However, here it goes a bit further, with Mutou inviting Hisao to found a science club with him, which mostly involves Mutou giving Hisao books to read and then discuss.
This is a strange subplot. It's the only route in which Mutou plays a role larger than "the quirky teacher", but the subplot he's involved in doesn't really go anywhere. It's used as an excuse for Mutou to give Hisao advice later on, but an excuse isn't really necessary. The timing for the start of this subplot is also poor. If you play without taking a break at the act turn over, then this is a pretty irrelevant scene that pales in comparison to the huge event that just finished off Form. If you're starting your session at the start of Perspective, you're allowed to forget just how well The (Real) Beginning worked in favor of random Mutou nonsense. The subplot in general is disappointing because Mutou is a loveable character, and the only route that tries to develop him just kind of forgets about him halfway through. I can't help but wish we'd gotten to know him as well as someone like Yuuko.
In between the last three semi-filler scenes in the route, Hisao keeps running with Emi and finally tells The Nurse about her leg wound. The Nurse asks Hisao to convince Emi to come in for a check-up, as it turns she's been avoiding him. This feels like it's a long time coming. The "Emi stumbles a bit, Hisao and Rin worry" thing has been going on since the track meet at regular intervals, and has gotten old. It feels like it really should have been introduced slightly later: Only a stumble or two less would've made it feel less repetitious. That said, this culmination does feel real. The Nurse is visibly worried, but tries to keep his cool demeanor, and Hisao's inner dialogue feels like the exact same thing I'd be thinking in this situation. I especially love the scene when Hisao convinces Emi to visit The Nurse: It's funny, feels like real banter, and is actually surprisingly moving in its own way.
This results in a scene where Hisao is called to his room by a frantic Emi. Upon arriving, he finds her in a wheelchair. This is a scene that makes me feel like a horrible human being. The idea of an Emi with no legs should be very saddening, and everything about the scene seems to be written in such a way that it should work well, but I just don't feel as horrified or saddened as seems appropriate. I don't know if this is me being an emotionless monster or some failure of the writing I can't pinpoint, but the scene simply doesn't work on me quite as well as I feel it really should.
Through a bunch of small steps, Emi ends up sitting on top of Hisao, which results in the first H-scene of the act. It's not particularly good or bad. It ends up just being there. It does feel believable, but the art is just not very sexy, and it doesn't have any real meaning in the long run. Unlike other routes, the H-scenes in Emi's route are just kind of there to be there, rather than genuine moments of character evolution.
The next day, Emi and Hisao go on their morning run, but, being in a wheelchair, Emi can't really run, can she? So she ends up luring Hisao into the supplies shed, where shenanigans ensue. This is, of course, another H-scene. I find this one a lot better than the previous one, despite having just as little a overarching meaning. What this one does is something no other H-scene in the game does: It's genuinely funny. It's simply hilarious. It feels real, too, as this is the kind of stuff that teenagers experimenting with this stuff they don't fully understand go through. It's actually one of my favorite, if not my favorite H-scenes, since it doesn't feel as uncomfortable to read simply because of its focus on comedy rather than sexuality.
Smells like lemon to me.
Unfortunately, this is the last scene in the route not relating directly to the overarching plot. It's plot central from now on, and I described the problems with this at the end of my discussion of Form. If by the end of Form most further content was plot-relevant, every single scene from now on is important to the main plot. Bye-bye, sweet fluff, we barely knew ye.
The next scene has Emi tell Hisao that she needs to not talk to him for a while, during the exam period, so that she can concentrate on studying. This sets up an absence scene: Something KS is quite fond of doing. The girl will be away or not talking to Hisao for some reason, so you can remember how bleak life looks for him alone, returning to the tone of Act 1 for a brief while. It's an effective technique, and some of the most joyful moments come after absence scenes for this very reason.
This absence scene is called Detached, and is fairly well pulled-off. Though it feels a bit short and Hisao spends too much time thinking about Emi for the emotional void to really set in, that is not quite the point of this scene. Detached is much more focused on Hisao's exploration of his feelings about Emi. However, by this point we've heard his thoughts on this a few times, and he doesn't really provide anything new.
You see, throughout the route Hisao feels rejected by Emi, or at least not quite accepted. He always worries about how she doesn't seem to want his help. It comes up various times, and what's slightly disturbing initially becomes annoying by this point, especially since Hisao doesn't seem to have too much of a reason to feel this way until later in the route, by which point we're tired of hearing about it.
Around this point in the plot, Hisao seeks advice from various sources. He subtly extracts help from The Nurse, and Mutou gives him applicable advice through an unrelated conversation. He ends up half-accidentally asking Yuuko, and at one point even Misha and Shizune end up giving a bit of a tip. What's great here is how much this advice varies. The Nurse speaks from a position of knowing Emi, but obviously has her interests over Hisao's at mind, even if he does genuinely try to help. Yuuko is giving the best advice she can, but doesn't know Emi quite as well as she might need to. Mutou imparts a philosophy, which is a bit too non-specific to really help. All of these people give advice that doesn't quite mesh together, and leave Hisao more confused than he was before.
It just feels magnificently real: A situation everyone's been in in one form or another. This is something TheHivemind also does brilliantly. Whilst all the other routes feel a bit idealized, Emi's route feels by far the most grounded in reality.
In the end, he decides to confront Emi in her room and offer his help. This, and the aforementioned Mutou conversation, happen in a scene titled Phantom Pain, which I absolutely adore. Emi winds up angry at Hisao, and refuses his help, after very obviously trying to shake him off non-aggressively. What makes this scene is Emi's long speech of rejection, which combines with the music near-perfectly. I don't know if it was painstakingly engineered this way, or a complete coincidence, but the track playing, Moment of Decision seems to fit perfectly with my reading speed to carry me exactly through the emotional roller coaster. No matter how many times I read this scene, I seem to hit the crescendo precisely as Emi says the most hurtful things at you, and it never fails to give me the shivers. It really is a devastating scene, and creates an appropriate feeling of powerlessness and frustration.
It's notable that the first decision point that impacts your ending happens in this scene, during the conversation of Mutou. I'll discuss the decision point structure at the end of the review, after the synopsis, but just know this much: I review all routes picking the fastest way to the good ending. If there's a way to see an extra scene on your way to the good ending (as is the case in his route) by picking wrong, but then using a safety net, I avoid it. Everything I mention assumes you're picking the fastest choices toward the good ending.
The next morning, Emi pretends everything is normal, and even thanks Hisao, because their "little talk" helped her sleep better. Hisao is understandably confused and, mostly, upset. Nonetheless, they end up falling into acting normally around each other again, though Hisao keeps wondering how much of this is a front Emi is putting up. Still, this doesn't stop Emi from inviting Hisao to dinner at her house, catching him off guard.
He accepts, and the story skips to said trip. Meiko is re-introduced, and everything seems to be fine, until Meiko tells Hisao a little too much about Emi's father. This causes Emi to leave, upset. If Hisao chooses to stay with Meiko, she ends up revealing the truth about Emi: Emi sees herself as strong, and refuses to lean on anyone. It's more of a pride thing than an "afraid of loosing people" thing. But how did Emi loose her father? I guess Hisao doesn't get to know yet, because Emi barges into the room, furious, and kicks Hisao out of the house. When he decides to leave without much confrontation, she seems regretful, but he decides it's better to give her some time to cool down.
This scene suffers from Hisao not knowing information that is obvious and blinding to the reader. Emi's father is said to "not be around anymore". Emi lost her legs in a car accident, where she also lost something else important. Emi is said to have been extremely close to her father. To the reader, it's blindingly obvious where Emi's father is, and what else she lost during the accident. Logically, it makes sense that Hisao wouldn't make this connection: He perceives his world as real, and in the real world things don't always work out in such nicely-cut, symbolic, plot-convenient ways. Emotionally, it's incredibly frustrating. You just wish Hisao would fucking get it already, and we could talk about things in a non-roundabout way anymore. The whole scene suffers because Meiko is forced to talk around a twist that the player will have figured out a good two or three hours ago.
Hisao returns home, looks around for the letter from Iwanako, and realizes that the reason he ended up pushing her away was because of how absorbed in his pain he was at the time. He also sees that this is similar to how Emi is acting now, and realizes he should treat her as he was treated to bring him out of his apathy during Life Expectancy. This is actually one of my favorite Iwanako letters in the game: you can see how Hisao becomes more like Emi, thinking only about the now, and then Hisao gains understanding of Emi through his own past behavior.
This is how Perspective ends. Perspective is a strange act: It feels like it's moving a bit too fast, yet it has plenty of subplots that go nowhere. It feels like it's a bit too light in content, yet it goes over the same content a few too many times. It's not like the story is spread thin, but it also doesn't feel as elegant as pretty much any other route. That said, it's got more spikes of brilliance per than most acts in the game: that H-scene in the shed is absolutely hilarious, Phantom Pain is simply phenomenal, and Detached does a great job at doing what it sets out to do.
This sets off Act 4, Motion. This is by far the shortest act in any route in the game, being only 5 scenes long. These scenes are of above-average length, but it still goes by surprisingly fast. I actually kind of like this: pretty much all of Motion is a climax in some way or another, and it's extremely well paced.
Hisao and Emi fall back into pretending nothing's wrong again, and Hisao keeps worrying about their relationship and what to do. This takes up the first scene, and is actually surprisingly effective. Even though this has happened more than once before, and felt stale, it now actually works really well, after how unexpected being thrown out of Emi's house was. Finally, Rin realizes what's going on and unceremoniously leaves them both alone, telling Hisao to sort it out in a scene under the name of Saving Throw.
This is another of those emotional high points like Phantom Pain, though it perhaps doesn't have quite as much gut-punch potential. Hisao explains to Emi that he'll be there to help her not because he thinks she needs help, but because he wants to. "I don't want to be a knight helping the damsel in distress, but sometimes even knights helped each other out, you know", he says, in one of my favorite lines in the game. It's a potent speech, and seeing Emi finally realize that there's no harm in this is extremely moving. It's actually kind of nice to have Hisao take the initiative in one of these scenes, too, since in every other route he always seems to be in a reactive role (ironically, considering the above quote). It's nice to see how the advice from Meiko, The Nurse, Yuuko and Mutou all come together into something, but with Hisao still filling in a large part of the puzzle by himself.
The confrontation in Saving Throw results in Emi inviting Hisao to her house again, though this time she promises to tell him everything. This happens in the next scene, Whispers of the Past. This is also a brilliant scene, though it is a lot less hard-hitting than either Phantom Pain or Saving Throw. It doesn't mean to be, though. It's a slow, emotional build up, and rather than a gut-punch it leaves you more profoundly sad. You won't spill tears, but you will end up feeling sad for a long time. It's the difference between pin-prick and a bruise: The pin-prick hurts a lot for a moment, but a bruise hurts a decent amount for a long time.
Whispers of the Past consists of the bus trip to Emi's house, where Emi is visibly nervous and, once again, promises to tell Hisao everything, with Hisao telling her to take it slow, and of their arrival at Emi's father's grave, where Emi tells her story starting from the small details, namely insignificant assumptions people make about her, and ending with how she ended up coping with her father's death and how she feels about Hisao, falling into tears by the end of it. It's a powerful monologue, and is one of the most bittersweet moments in the game. It also once again establishes TheHivemind's incredible ability to make dialogue believable: Emi's speech feels truly true.
The only issue with the scene is that this feels like it was supposed to be the revelation that Emi's father died in her crash. This was incredibly obvious, as I previously mentioned, and thus some emotional impact is lost. It does have a fantastic moment wherein it tells you "We're going to see my father" and switches to a graveyard. You can't call it subtle, but the fact no one actually says he's dead is surprisingly touching.
Despite this flaw, Whispers of the Past is really phenomenal. It's the emotional culmination of the route, and it shows.
The last two scenes are Emi and Hisao's post-reconcilliation H-scene and the following morning. The H-scene is once again unremarkable, but the last scene, Clean Teeth is actually really good. The dialogue returns to the dynamic established early in the route, which brings a much needed bit of cheer after the gloom of the past few scenes, and provides a happy, quiet ending to the story. It feels very Emi-like: It doesn't look back or forward, but just revels in the comfort of a good present, yet it feels healthier than before. It's quietly happy, and ends on the dialogue
"So, Hisao."
"Hmm?"
"What do you want to do today?"
Which, somehow, feels just perfect.
As I said before, Motion is a strange act. It moves quick, is well paced, and has some fantastic emotional high-points, yet it's just too short to say too much about. I'd argue it's a stronger act than Form, though much of this is based on the character-building done in Form.
All in all, as I have said before, Emi's route is my least favorite in the game. This doesn't by any means mean it's bad, no, the exact opposite. Emi's route is a fantastic piece of writing. It might feel less polished than the other routes, but it's still really affecting. Heck, it's a romance story that I didn't hate, and as such should probably win every award in existence. The fact that I like it enough to read through 4 times is a real miracle. The fact that I like it the least can probably be attributed that Emi is the one of the characters whose personality I like the least, through no fault of the writer's. Even if KS consisted only of Emi's route, I'd recommend it heartily.
The route is particularly strong in the dialogue department. As I mentioned several times before, TheHivemind's writes banter between Emi and Hisao really, really well. This often makes up for the fact that, as far as storytelling goes, the route isn't that great. There's not enough story, it's not a very interesting one, and there's strange plot threads all over the place that go nowhere. However, this is easy to forget when you read Hisao and Emi's dialogue and it feels like it could be a transcript of real conversation. Real conversation that's way more enjoyable and less creepy to read than any real conversation would actually be.
An issue with the route is its thematics. It just doesn't seem to really have a message: The theme is about helping people who don't need it, but this isn't really what the story is about. It just seems very thinly spread thematically, and goes for a story that just avoids being cliche by a hair. In comparison to the other routes, which have some really strong themes it feels a bit empty.
This is one of the routes that I actually like the side characters in the most, right up there with Lilly's. I complained about how Meiko and Mutou get underused, but The Nurse and Rin are actually put to some real good use. The Nurse is just a joy to be around: Despite being one of the most cartoonish characters in the game, he actually feels very much real. His relationship with Emi is subtly moving, and feels like a nice mixture of a father-daughter and brother-sister relationship. The subtle hints dropped throughout the route that he might be dating Meiko are a nice touch. He feels very human: He tries just a bit too hard to be cool, but still manages it OK. He has trouble caring about Hisao quite as much as he should, and refuses to admit this to himself, but has undying loyalty to Emi. This doesn't mean he doesn't worry about Hisao, but their relationship feels a lot less close than his relationship with Emi.
Rin is actually really subtly well used. After my first couple runs, I thought she was criminally underused, but this time I realized how big her role actually is. She puts large parts of the relationship in motion, and is shown to actually really care for Emi, in her insane, weird ways. It's surprisingly moving when you realize just how much she does, and how subtly she does it.
Yuuko is used very strangely. Her personality seems to morph away from what it is in Life Expectancy and the other routes. She has a small comedic sub-plot that, once again, goes nowhere, but mainly is there to provide advice for Hisao. She's just as non-confidently wise as always, but she now seems to be paranoid and over-imaginative rather than how she's usually comically shy and nervous. It's effective and funny, but feels weird when you're used to her personality in other routes.
The last thing to talk about is the choice structure within the route. The way it works is you get two decision points that you have to pick correctly - one at Mutou's room in Phantom Pain, where you have to choose to agree to talk to him so he can give you advice, and one at your first trip to Emi's house, where you must choose to not follow Emi and instead talk with Meiko. The Mutou choice doesn't seem like it would ultimately be that important in the long run, but it's justified if you make the right choice. The choice at Emi's house is a bit more dickish, in that it's clear this is a big choice, but it's hard to figure out which way is the right way. To its credit, Mutou's advice from before helps, and this is also what Hisao says after you choose said way, so if you choose right you're thinking as Hisao would think, which is more than most decision points in the game. If you fail either of these, you're sent to a "safety net" scene where you're confronted by Misha and a binary choice sends you very obviously to the good or the bad ending.
I like the first two choices, in that they make a lot of sense in-universe. I'm not quite sure about the Misha safety net, however, as it just seems to take out the impact from failing the other two. On the one hand, it's nice to not have hours of your time wasted if you chose wrong and wanted the good end. On the other, it's so obviously a safety net it kind of ruins your immersion, and there's next to no way you'd choose wrong on this one.
There's also a couple meaningless choices in there, as there are in pretty much any route. This is good: They add a bit of interactivity to help you connect to Hisao, and they're good at seeming relevant without being relevant in any way. Overall, I like the way reaching the two endings works in this route.
Ultimately, Emi's route is just like the character - short and bubbly. It moves fast, and doesn't get boring. Some better storytelling would make for a better route, but what we have is very good anyway, very largely thanks to the ludicrously high quality dialogue. My favorite scene would have to be Phantom Pain, closely followed by Whispers of the Past, both being very emotionally powerful scenes.
Next route, I travel all the way to Infinity.
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