I changed my plan. I was going to do the routes in the order that I remember liking them in, starting with my least favorite. However, I realized that doing two routes as similar as my top two one after the other was probably a bad idea, so instead of doing Rin's route here I did Hanako's. That gives away what the order of the remaining two routes is, but I'm still going to try to be mysterious because it amuses me.
Hanako's route is one that I remember really loving. In some respects, it's the archetypal
Katawa Shoujo route. It's certainly the one that's most similar to what I thought the game would be, after I got over my initial assumption that it was an absolutely awful and degenerate pile of filth. It's by far the one that's most focused on giving you the feels, and Hanako is probably the first character a lot of people think of when they think
KS, myself included.
Before I begin the review proper, I've got to have complete disclosure, since I feel that a number of outside factors may have negatively impacted my enjoyment of the route: My switch to Hanako's route came after a session where I'd spent a decent amount of time reading all of the pre-lock-in Rin material in
Life Expectancy. I then had to go back and skip through Act 1, reading all the Hanako-relevant bits. Not only this, but shortly into Act 2, my computer shut down for no apparent reason, with me not having saved, causing me to have to fast-forward through Act 1 and bits of Act 2, leaving me annoyed for the rest of the session. Most of the route was read in the second session, conducted in one night whilst feeling quite sick (which certainly didn't deepen my appreciation for the good bits), and going on way too long. I decided to end this second session at a really stupid point, making my third session take up only the last two scenes, which didn't allow me to immerse myself properly before the very emotional scene right at the end. This may have lessened my appreciation for it, though, seeing how much it affected me, I don't think it did.
To add to this, I've broken my self-imposed "don't read the next route before writing the review" rule, meaning Rin's route is fresher in my mind right now, and that might color certain opinions. As if that wasn't enough, my attachment to Lilly, so widely present in Hanako's route, may make me unfairly interested in a secondary character, making my opinions more negative than they should be. A final point to bring up is this: I only review the good ending of each route. Whilst Hanako's route has a pretty great good ending, it's got by far the strongest bad ending in the game, which I think outshines its good one. This isn't something I'd recommend for most routes, but believe me, give the two bad endings a read if you haven't: they will tear a hole in your chest to make it easier to stab right at your heartstrings.
What I'm saying is this review is going to be pretty damn unfair, full of factors that might tank my opinion. Still, I can only give the review of the experience I had, and that's what I intend to do, to the best of my ability. On with the actual review!
Hanako's route begins in Act 1 pretty much the exact same way Lilly's route does: The choices you have to make to reach either route are identical, with the exception of one really obvious binary choice in the scene
Sip (Part 2) which puts you on either of the two paths. This Act 1 feels slightly forced: Hisao seems to end up hanging out with Hanako and Lilly over Misha and Shizune for no readily apparent reason. The annoying thing is that the choices that impact whether you get on their routes are often made when they're not present. Racking up enough points with the two allows you to choose to leave the classroom with them instead of the Student Council in the rather pivotal scene
Lunch Evolution Theory, which puts you on their Act 1 path (though you still get the chance to end up with Emi ). It doesn't seem feel very smooth, though this might be a side-effect of just how natural reaching the Shizune path feels.
Still, Act 1 is by no means bad. Hisao ends up drinking tea with Lilly and Hanako a bunch of times, in scenes which are appropriately relaxed. It's interesting how much interaction Hisao has with Lilly: It's not unexpected, considering Hanako is at this point practically unable to speak, but it seems like a lot of the scenes where all three are present mainly consist of Lilly and Hisao chatting, and Hanako doesn't do much. It feels more like a prelude to the Lilly route than one shared with the Hanako route. That said, the precious few scenes where Hisao and Hanako end up talking one-on-one are often great: Hanako feels very much like a small, nervous animal, someone Hisao might scare off with a brisk movement. These scenes are great at building up tension, and help you fit more snugly into Hisao's shoes.
Something that's important for plot purposes is the scene
Watch Your Step, where Lilly and Hisao end up bumping into each other on the way to town. There's a rather bizarre decision point late in it ,where, when walking back from town with Hisao and, bizarrely, Rin (who doesn't seem to be in the scene for any real reason), Lilly realizes Hisao is struggling. She asks about this, prompting a decision point. Choosing to shrug it off leads you to the death route, which seems like a really bizarrely extreme change in how Hisao's fate. The consequence of this is that in all of the Lilly and Hanako paths where Hisao is not dead, Lilly knows about his condition.
Eventually, in the aforementioned
Sip (Part 2) Hisao ends up having a free evening, and you're prompted with the choice of going to the library (Where Hanako tends to spend her time) or to town (where Lilly mentioned she had to go). It's a pretty transparent choice, but it does get the job done. From that point on, the material is exclusive to either route, aside from a few shared scenes later down the line.
Going to the library ends up with Hisao bumping into Hanako, as expected. They have a short conversation, and, for the first time, Hanako doesn't feel ridiculously fragile. The two end up having a relaxing scene in the tea room, where Hanako's fondness for chess is revealed, and the two play a game. Hisao just barely wins, though it's later implied that Hanako throws the game on purpose. It's a fairly nice scene, but largely forgettable, almost a bit of the old fluff.
The next day sees Hisao going to the festival, and running into Lilly's booth. Lilly is concerned about Hanako, and Hisao volunteers to find her. He heads to the library, where, unsurprisingly, Hanako is reading. The pair end up quietly reading, in a surprisingly comfortable scene. This type of quiet sitting together and doing something is what a lot of the fluff in Hanako's route consists of, which creates a much less energetic atmosphere than in say, Emi or Shizune's routes. This is by no means a complaint: I feel that this tone suits the route better. Eventually, the two meet up with Lilly, who takes them to the Shanghai, where the three enjoy a few refreshments and Hisao, Hanako and Yuuko watch the fireworks display.
This is actually a scene strangely dominated by Lilly and Yuuko. It's normal for Hanako to sink into the background at this point in her relationship with Hisao, but it seems odd to include a scene this focused on Lilly when your reader has just sealed themselves into Hanako's route. I do like Yuuko's participation: This is by far the route where she plays the biggest role, and she's a pleasant, somewhat comedic, addition to this scene. Still, her personality seems to already be painted in finer strokes than most routes, since this is pretty much the only time we see her outside the wise-but-clumsy librarian or plain-clumsy waitress personae.
This scene is the end of Act 1 in Hanako's route, so I guess it's time for the customary start of Act 2 stuff. Hanako's route is
Painful History, and her scene is
Jitter, and, oh, boy, it's time for me to gush. Painful History isn't only a brilliant choice for Hanako's theme, almost perfectly capturing the feeling that you most associate with the character, nor is its only virtue being ingeniously used, held only for use within the route (being the only theme that does this) at all the perfect moments. Apart from all this, Painful History is a goddamn amazing piece of music of its own right, ranking very high in the already absolutely stellar
KS soundtrack. I'd argue it's easily the best best chosen theme for any of the characters.
Jitter is also absolutely fantastic. The video's very nicely constructed, and carries a completely different meaning when you re-watch it after completing the route: The music appears to fit perfectly, but is actually a clever way of emotionally manipulating you into making the same mistake Hisao makes during the route. When you see it for a second time, you realize that what Hisao's doing during the pleasant, calm music that indicates he's helping out is actually hurting Hanako as much if not more than the stuff happening to the dramatic, loud music. I'm tempted to say it's the best cutscene, even if it's ridiculously hard to make that call.
Here are the secondary characters for the route:
-Lilly Satou
-Akira Satou
-Yuuko Shirakawa
Hanako's Act 2 is named
Hide and Seek. Usually, Act 2 serves as the part where the relationship between the two main characters grows, and it's pretty common for them to be an official couple by the end, leaving the drama and resolution for Acts 3 and 4. It also tends to contain most of the fluff.
Hide and Seek instead focuses on Hisao's introduction into what I like to call the tea club, the little group formed by Hanako and Lilly.
It starts off with a decent amount of fluff: Hanako and Hisao head into town shopping, as Lilly is unable to accompany her friend this time. There's a few scenes that consist of the trio drinking tea in the tea room, and one where Hisao chats with Misha. However, the stuff in this Act differs from most fluff in that it isn't nearly as relaxing as it usually is. Hanako is still a visibly emotionally unstable person, and even when she starts accepting Hisao scenes between the two are still tense. Perhaps for this reason a lot of the fluff here is quite Lilly-focused. Hisao seems to converse more with Lilly, much as in
Life Expectancy. However, it's less strange here, as his internal monologue, mostly concerned with Hanako, takes a more prominent role. It's a clever work-around a non-obvious problem, and I must applaud CplCrud for it. The amount of time spent in the tea room during these scenes also helps establish it as a safe-place, and is by far the main location of this route (More on locations in a secondary post).
The scene
Mad Hatter marks the beginning of an important series of events, in the sense that it's the first of many tea parties in Lilly's room. These serve a bigger purpose in Lilly's own route, but are by no means unimportant here. They're an extension of the scenes in the tea-room, but feeling even more private and calm. It's interesting that in this scene Hisao internally comments on how attractive Lilly looks in her pyjamas before turning his attention to Hanako. This is actually a common occurrence in the route, which feels oddly believable: It's obvious that Lilly is by far the more physically attractive of the two, and it actually lends a heartwarming quality to the whole thing when Hisao falls for Hanako instead.
Over a few scenes prior and after that, discussion of Hanako's character starts happening between Lilly and Hisao. Skimming back through it, it's actually surprising how trite this stuff is. There's nothing of any real relevance or depth there: At least nothing that anyone familiar with the archetypal shy girl character doesn't already know intuitively. These scenes really only serve the purpose of allowing Hisao to catch up. This, to me, is perhaps one of the biggest examples of Hisao being a huge barrier to enjoyment. He's given just enough of a personality that it'd be strange if he'd deduce these things the way a genre-savy reader would, or if it was just assumed he knew, yet he's got too little personality to not make me annoyed that he's taking so much time to catch up. He comes across as ridiculously thick, even if these are conversations mildly intelligent real people might have. I'm really not a fan of these scenes: They bring the story to a halt for no real reason, make me hostile toward Hisao, and have to contrive ways for Hisao and Lilly to talk without Hanako being present. More often than not, these ways are "Hanako doesn't come to class because shy", which would be an OK excuse if it weren't used as a major plot device later. The fact that it's used so much right now reduces its effectiveness when it actually becomes important.
The final scene of the Act is
Equivalent Exchange, where Hisao and Hanako read in the library together, as they are wont to do. However, Hanako seems nervous, and, upon being asked why, tells Hisao part of her life story: She was in a fire, almost didn't survive, and strongly implies her parents died in said fire. It's a backstory as cliché as they come, but the interesting part of the story is to come later. I find this scene quite moving, but it's not got that much to do with the writing: the story being told is quite tired, but more with the art and music. This is the first time we get to hear Hanako's theme in the game, and it gives
Equivalent Exchange a fantastic bit of punch. The art, childish drawings illustrating the event being described, is simple and without flair, but very effective in giving the scene some extra sting. The two combined make the scene more effective than it really deserves to be.
This is also the scene where the major themes of the story start coming in. Hisao interrupts Hanako's story, asking why she's telling him this. It turns out, Lilly mentioned Hisao's condition to her, and Hanako feels that it's only fair that he knows her story in return. Hisao tells her she doesn't need to do this, and tells her about the circumstances his heart attack happened under. This part of the scene is indeed brilliantly written: Hisao feels like an adult consoling a child. The air of "this is an exciting little secret" he puts on when telling Hanako about getting his heart attack when being confessed to will be ridiculously familiar to anyone who was as much of a crybaby as I was. Anyone who's read through the route knows that this kind of behaviour from others is precisely what Hanako is most hurt by.
I really like this: Hanako's route actually foreshadows and sets up its main conflict considerably earlier than any other route. It's subtle, and comes across as Hisao doing the right thing upon the first reading, sometimes even on subsequent readings if you become sufficiently engrossed in the story. On your first read, it only makes it harder to swing your perception of the whole story around when you figure out what was actually going on inside Hanako's head. On subsequent read-throughs, it makes you sympathize even more with just how much shit Hanako is going through, and how great a person she is for just smiling through this.
This same scene also contains a rather out-of-place, but still effective, internal monologue by Hisao. He remembers his stay at the hospital, and his visit to the burn ward there. It's bound to send shivers down your spine, even if it does come a little bit out of the blue. Still, it deepens how sorry you feel for Hanako, which is good: That's one of the routes strengths.
And so ends
Hide and Seek. As you can see, I had unexpectedly little to say about most of it, and a lot to say about one particular scene. That's the strange thing about this whole route: All of the important things seem to happen in short, concentrated bursts, with seas of relatively unimportant bits between them. Don't get me wrong, the unimportant bits are still pleasant to read through, there's just nothing to really say about them. Most of them can't even be called fluff: A lot are actually plot relevant, but just seem to be very light on actual content. It's a strange feeling, and one I don't remember having. It might be because of the rather unusual states of mind I was in whilst reading most of the route: Either my annoyance at being interrupted led me to put less importance on fluff that I'd be tricked into believing were relevant, or my drowsy, feverish state impeded me really understanding what was happening, but even looking back I can't see much of importance during these parts. I really don't know.
Still,
Hide and Seek is a pretty good act. It does such a good job of cleverly solving issues arising from both the first person perspective and Hanako's character that you don't even realize these things could be issues.
Hide and Seek also walks a very thin tonal line, and I think it pulls it off quite well: For the rest of the story to work, it must make the fluff still as fluffy and enjoyable as it would be in other routes, but also somehow manage to maintain the ever-present feeling of Hanako's frailty. It's a balance that seems impossible to strike, which makes the fact that
Hide and Seek manages to pull it off decently very impressive. Don't get me wrong, this Act isn't perfect, far from it in fact. You spend a bit too much time with Lilly, and it occasionally slips on the tight-rope of tonal balance it's trying to maintain, but overall, it's an impressive and very effective Act 2.
The third act,
Castling, begins an unspecified amount of time later: Lilly meets Hisao in the tea room, and proposes a shopping trip with him. She asks him to keep this secret from Hanako: She wants to buy her birthday presents, and keep it as a surprise.
There's a brief scene where Hisao meets an exclusive character for this route; Miki Miura, the runner girl without a left hand visible in both the classroom CG at the start of
Life Expectancy and the CGs at Emi's track meet. She asks him a few questions about his relationship with Hanako, and explains that Hanako kind of isolated herself. Still, she cheers him on if he admits he's interested in Hanako, and seems visibly happy that the two are getting close.
The next scene,
Antiques and Pie is perhaps the most bizarre in the route: It's a scene that anyone who's played Lilly's route will remember quite well, since it's a bit of a signature event of that route. It makes sense that it'd be here, since it leads to an event that's quite obviously Hanako-centric, but it's left at almost its full length from Lilly's route, which I find very strange. The two stop at a cafe to eat pie, an event that leads to some character development in Lilly's route, but just seems to be there to waste time here. They then wander around the city, with dialogue that, whilst believable, could have been cut from the route with practically no loss. It consists of chatter that isn't really relevant to the route, and would (and does) fit much better in Lilly's own route, without the higher amount of attachment you'd have to the character if you were playing her route specifically. It seems to be just there for the purpose of the scene. This isn't uncommon, that's what fluff mostly consists of, but the fact that you're with Lilly makes this incredibly obvious.
Still, eventually the two find a little antique shop, where Hisao buys a relatively inexpensive imitation chessboard, and Lilly buys a doll that Hisao picks out for her. It's interesting to note that in Lilly's route, it's Hisao who buys a doll, whilst Lilly opts for something else: The person who buys the doll is always the person who ends up slightly further from Hanako at the end of the route, even if it is as a dear friend. I do like the choice of the chessboard as a present: It nicely acts to symbolize the times in the relationship when Hisao isn't being overbearingly protective.
The next scene,
Falling, is where the route starts administering its gut punches. The next day, Hanako joins Shizune, Misha and Hisao to work on a group assignment in class, something practically unheard off: She always escapes to the library when group assignments are set. The scene starts pleasantly enough, Shizune and Misha joking around with Hisao in their usual way. However, soon they move on to questioning him about yesterday's trip with Lilly, which they somehow know about. Afraid of Hanako thinking that Lilly and him are trying to exclude her, or perhaps that they're even in a romantic relationship, Hisao ends up caving and confesses to the purpose of the trip.
Hanako seems to take it well, and Hisao ends up caught up in the chatter with Misha and Shizune. However, soon, he realizes Hanako's frozen up. She's not moving, not working, and seems to be going into a panic attack. People around the class start noticing, which only worsens her situation. In panic, he asks Mutou for help, and the teacher ends up making up an excuse for Hisao to take Hanako to The Nurse without attracting attention, which he does with the help of Shizune.
It's actually a brilliant scene. It flows very believably, and even if he is completely guilty, Hisao for once doesn't come across as a spineless worm. When the realization dawns upon him, it's a genuinely terrifying scene. You feel lost and powerless, and you don't know how Hisao should be acting, in one of few moments of emotional resonance with him. It helps reinforce Hanako's frailty, which contributes to Hisao's mistakes later on, even if this time it's entirely justified.
The way the other characters act is also quite good: I'd classify this as a Student Council cameo, and it works perfectly well. You get to see the opposite of Hanako's cameo in the Shizune route, and how, despite their differences with Lilly, the Student Council are still good people who seem deeply worried about Hanako's state. Mutou also shines in this scene: His usual wisdom comes through in a completely different way, and the cool, level-headed way in which he plays off the situation to help divert the attention of the class comes across as a very good-teacher thing to do. It's about the only time we really see him in action outside the scatter-brained teacher role, and you can see that he is a genuinely smart person, and the pearls of wisdom he imparts in other routes aren't just random luck.
There's also a brief part with The Nurse in the same scene: Hisao takes Hanako down to the nursery, and The Nurse gives him some brief advice on how to act with her. Hisao proceeds to return to the class, where Mutou takes him outside and has a chat with him about Hanako. He explains the reason he doesn't protest her truancy is that it's one of the special needs they must attend to at Yamaku, the same way he wouldn't keep Hisao in class if he suspected a heart attack was coming on. It's a relatively simple concept to grasp, but here Hisao returns to his usual dense self, asking for clarification for what the reader will have grasped several chapters (if not acts) ago, leading to a really annoying ending to what was a very effective scene up to this point.
In the next scene, after class, Hisao is called by Lilly. He briefly explains Hanako's situation, and Lilly says she's got bad news, saying Hisao should come to her room so she can explain in person. Turns out, she's leaving for Scotland to visit her sick aunt, and won't be able to be here for Hanako's birthday. As opposed to the previous scene that's similar to one from Lilly's route, this works quite well: Lilly's absence is framed in the context of how it'll affect Hanako, and thus still feels relevant.
Besides, the two discuss Hanako's character quite a bit: Lilly explains Hanako always becomes sad and locks herself away when it comes close to her birthday. She thinks that Hanako wishes she'd never been born during this time, since she blames herself for the deaths of her parents. The two decide to have Hanako's birthday party the day before Lilly's departure, to try to at least lighten her mood. The scene is quite plot relevant, if relatively dry. What's odd is the extremely emotional music playing in the background: It's
Moment of Decision, the track that I praised so highly for its timing in Emi's route's scene
Phantom Pain. Whilst the scene is by no means happy, the track seems way too dramatic to play over a slightly depressing but otherwise normal conversation between two friends.
After talking with Lilly, the two go into Hanako's room, to check up on her. They find her still visibly shaken, but seemingly at least a bit recovered. This is actually also a brilliant scene thematically: The way the two talk to Hanako seems very much how two parents would talk to an upset child. It's obvious in retrospect that this is precisely the kind of thing that harms Hanako the most, but it's done with good intentions. Even in his thoughts, Hisao mentions he'll willing bring their relationship to a halt at just friends if it means he can protect her better, pretty much the main source of pain in Act 4. Still, Hanako does seem to be genuinely touched by their attempts to make the best of this situation, which adds a very much needed bit of heartwarming success at the end of the scene.
The next day sees Hisao heading to Hanako's room again, after a bit of light fluff involving Misha and Shizune in class. He realizes he doesn't know why he's down there, though it's clear that it's because of that forsaken protective instinct of his. Hanako seems to have recovered, and though still visibly sad, acts normally (at least by her standards). The two end up playing a game of chess, upon which Hisao realizes Hanako's accepted him into her world. It's a small moment, and is over in the blink of an eye, but is surprisingly touching.
The next scene is
One More Year, in which the much-talked-up birthday party finally takes place. As Hisao himself notes, it's more like a regular tea party in Lilly's room than anything else. Despite the build-up to the event, the party itself is actually relatively unremarkable: There's a touching bit when Hanako is presented with her presents, and another when Lilly and Hanako hug. This seems like their relationship at the most healthy: Lilly treats Hanako as an equal, and the two are obviously as close as close can be.
Akira is present at the party, showing up shortly before the present-giving, despite the fact we'd been told this wouldn't be the case. This is her introduction in Hanako's route, and her behavior is oddly different from the Lilly version of this scene. Honestly, she doesn't seem to be here for any real reason other than Akira has to be here. Her personality comes through decently enough, but she contributes next to nothing to the scene, especially considering that her present had already been written in as being in Lilly's room before Akira's arrival. It's about the only Akira scene in the entire game I'm not particularly fond of.
Said present is two bottles of wine, which is not legal for people of the trio's age in Japan. Said bottles are quickly drunk, with Hanako going over her limit and becoming quite obviously pissed, if you'll excuse my french. This is pretty much the only scene where Hanako serves as comic relief. It's not even meant to be particularly funny, but something about the way Hanako acts seems so genuine and unlike her usual self that the scene can't help but be amusing. Still, Hisao ends up putting Hanako to bed, at Lilly's request. In her room, some UST comes up, and Hisao obviously expresses attraction to Hanako in his internal dialogue, for what's about the first time in the route. And again, that "I won't go further than this, I will protect her" type of line of thinking comes up again. Under these circumstances, it is just Hisao being a decent person and not taking advantage of a drunken vulnerable person, but his sentiment spreads further than this situation.
One More Year is a bit of a strange scene, but I like how much goes on in it. It's a bit of a microcosm of the whole route, minus the gut-punch scenes: It goes through the fluffy tea-drinking, Hisao's emotional issues with Hanako, and a rather touching serene moment near the end. It's also actually immensely real:
Katawa Shoujo has the only drunk people that have felt believably drunk to me, not only in games but in pretty much all of fiction. I can perfectly see this sort of situation developing between the three characters.
However, it also feels odd like Hanako's genuinely happy.
One More Year is the scene that confuses me about most in the route: Surely, this is the height of Hisao and Lilly acting like everything's alright for Hanako's sake, so surely this would be the moment that hurts her the most? However, her happiness seems perfectly genuine, more so than pretty much any other time through the route: Gone are the hints that she's actually not happy with how she's being treated. Perhaps it's just a good enough moment that she overcomes her sadness for a few hours, or maybe Hanako is just that damn good of an actress.
Moving on, the next scene,
One Piece of Paper is the first Iwanako letter scene of the route. Hisao's reaction is a calm one, and I feel his interpretation of the letter here is most accurate. He sees that the details given about new school life at the start are just filler, and that the end is just a way to tie up the loose ends of the relationship. It's a stark contrast with most other routes, and whilst effective, doesn't seem to be as indicative of how his time at Yamaku is affecting Hisao as it is in some other routes. It also comes back in a really weird way later in the route, though I'll cover that when I get to it.
He then has a brief chat with Yuuko, in which he explains his feelings about the letter a bit more in-depth: he feels like he'd fooled himself into thinking he'd put his problems behind him. This is a bit of a contrast with Hanako, but it's way too minor a point, and one that doesn't really come up at any other time, to be effective. It seems bizarrely placed: Just too early to really fit into any sort of Hisao Act 2 character development, but too late to be used as a parallel to Hanako's feelings, or be really present in the reader's mind when shit hits the fan. It's a shame, because the way Yuuko interacts with Hisao here is actually really neat, being an obviously sympathetic authority figure in a completely different way to Mutou.
The next scene is
Stripes and Solids, in which Hisao goes out with Hanako and the Satous, at Akira's invitation. She ends up taking them to a jazz club, in a scene that has an oddly similar vibe to the Lilly route scene where Lilly and Hisao eat in a fancy restaurant. Part of this is due to the track playing, Red Velvet, which I'll happily nominate as my favorite piece of music in the game. Still, the scene has a very slow, relaxed and almost dream-like atmosphere, despite the very emotionally important things going on in the dialogue. Hanako and Hisao end up playing a game of billiards whilst the Satous sit and chat. It's probably the scene with the most open and honest communication between the two up to this point, despite Hisao's frustration at not making more headway.
The two go through a give-and-take of information: Hisao talks about his school, and Hanako explains how her life was after the orphanage. This is perhaps the scene that was the biggest disappointment to me so far, as far as the difference between how I remember it feeling and how it felt when I read it. It may have been the effects of the cold and being very far into the way-overlong second session, but Hanako's story just seemed to lack the emotional punch I remember it having. Don't get me wrong, the scene was still good, but that's about all the praise I can really give it. Hanako's story just comes across as quite cliche, and while it did tug at my heartstrings a bit, I just didn't get the impression that she had that hard a time, even when thinking about it logically she must have.
What I do love about the scene is the thematics: This is pretty much the height of Hisao fucking up. Whilst Hanako's pouring her heart out, willing to do this now that she's finally being treated as an equal, Hisao insists she doesn't need to do anything, and goes on a long internal monologue about how he wants to protect her. This is brilliantly cringe-worthy on a second read-through, especially when he tells her this verbatim. Hanako's reaction there is brilliantly well-written to work on both a first and second read-through. To cap it off, she visibly picks herself up from the pain this would have brought, and attempts to put herself back as an equal to Hisao, in an action that inspires stupid amounts of admiration.
The final scene of Act 2 comes after this, Equivalent Exchange, which sees Hisao and Hanako seeing Lilly off. This is also the decision point that decides whether you get the Very Bad ending, and it's one of my least favorite decision points in the game. Once Lilly leaves, Hisao has a sudden urge to take a bus to town, and you're presented with the choice of whether to do so, inviting Hanako alone, or if you want to stay at Yamaku. Doing the first guarantees you'll get either the Good or Bad ending. Doing the second guarantees you the Very Bad ending. It's as sudden a railroad as the Emi route choice in Life Expectancy, but where in that one the choice to run with Emi will at least obviously move you more toward Emi's route (if not obviously lock you in with her), this is a choice with practically no in-game way to tell what the right answer is.
Choosing to go to town leads to a rather trite town scene. Hisao and Hanako stumble around the city for a bit, and end up going to the antiques shop where her presents were bought, for no real reason. It feels similar to Lilly's scene in its pointlessness, though at least it's spent with Hanako, the main object of Hisao's affections, and is considerably shorter. There's no visible way that this would change the course of events as dramatically as it does, which makes the decision point feel that much weirder if you're on the good ending path.
And so ends Castling. It's not a bad Act by any means, but once again, it seems devoid of anything really happening. There's a few dramatic scenes that really can't be considered fluff at all, but it doesn't really progress the plot in any real way. It's more enjoyable to read through than Hide and Seek, partly because there's way more interesting stuff, and partly because the relationship between Hisao and Hanako has developed to the point where we can focus on what they're saying rather than than on whether Hanako will run away or not. Still, the dramatic scenes in it really do work, and are structured in a way that's quite unique when compared to other routes, often focusing more on Hisao's reaction than on what Hanako's doing. It makes for an interesting effect, and works well with the "there's walls between us" thing to be introduced in Act 4.
Said Act, unimaginatively named Scars, begins, oddly enough, with a cameo scene. Hanako's birthday approaches, and she's not shown up to class. Seeing him worried, the Student Council invites Hisao to lunch again. This time, he accepts. The lunch feels very much like a scene right out of Shizune's route, if much shorter and focused around conversation about Hanako. Still, the conversation going on is fantastically enjoyable, if not particularly relevant to anything.
After lunch, Hisao goes to his room, where there's a bit with Kenji, and then decides to go check on Hanako. She opens the door, but says nothing, staring at Hisao blankly. It's a pretty effective and even disturbing scene, and one can't help but feel sorry for the obviously distraught girl. It's actually one of the route's most iconic moments for me, even if it's a relatively minor one. For some reason, whenever I think of this route, the image of Hanako peering through a barely open door instantly comes into my mind.
The next day, her birthday proper, Hanako doesn't come to class again, and doesn't open the door for Hisao when he knocks on it. Hisao calls Lilly to ask for help. After giving some advice, Lilly expresses concern for Hisao himself: She believes he may be trying to hard to help Hanako, and hurting her more in the process. As she says, Hanako and Hisao are both feeding the others problems. This presents you with a decision point: Trust Lilly's advice, or follow your own judgement. Doing the former will land you the good ending, the latter lands you the bad ending. I like this decision point considerably more than the one at the end of Castling. It's pretty much a test as to whether you've caught the subtle hints thrown in that what Hisao's doing hurts Hanako. It's one of the decision points that's puts you most in Hisao's shoes: at this point, Hisao realizing the error of his ways or not is directly tied into you realizing it or not. It's not unfairly difficult, since the way it does it is present you with the right answer and ask you whether it's correct or not, but it leaves room for error if you've not been paying attention.
The next day, Hisao is in class, and has a brief chat with Miki Miura. This is the second and last time you get to talk to her, which is a real shame. She's a nice character, and I wish she'd had a role in more routes, or at least an expanded role in this one. Despite how little you talk with her, you get a really strong sense of her personality, and she does enough to endear herself.
After a while, Hanako appears, much to Hisao's relief. The two briefly talk, and though Hanako seems even less talkative than usual, she appears to be doing fine. Hisao invites her to head out to the Shanghai, where they attempt to study for a while. Yuuko appears, and there's a rather fluffy scene where she tries to help Hisao with studying history. It's a pleasant scene, and the first one that isn't tense in some way in ages. It acts as a really good way of releasing a little tension before going into the final stretch of the route, which is packed jam-full of hard-hitting scenes.
In the last half of the scene, however, when Hisao's returned home, there's an oddly placed bit where he attempts to write to Iwanako, but isn't able to. It happens way after One Piece of Paper, and so late in the odd that it feels massively out of place. It's also a rather pointless scene, offering no real insight on everything, and just feeling very much there. I don't really understand why it's here, other than a single line in one of the gut-punch scenes coming up where it's mentioned Hisao can't break through to Hanako, much like he couldn't break through to Iwanako here.
The next scene, His Past, is a pretty effective one, but has a really bizarre bit where the Hisao and Hanako stare into each others eyes for a long time. It's really out of the blue, and once again, just seems to be there for no apparent reason. Hisao comes to Hanako's room, and, after the aforementioned bizarre stare-down, proceeds to say he needs to show her something. It turns out to be the scar from his surgery. It's a moving scene, though it seems to overestimate just how much effect it'll have. Perhaps the most intriguing part is how calm Hanako seems: I just now realize it's because she hopes this is finally Hisao treating her as an equal. Hisao also makes a major step towards this, putting some of his emotional burden on Hanako: not just pretending everything's fine and dandy.
The next day, Hisao finds himself wandering around the city. He gets a call from Hanako: It turns out she's in the city too, and directs him to a cafe for a meet-up. This is the last pleasant, relaxed scene in the route, but still manages to feel surprisingly sweet. The two chat for a while, and Hisao notices Hanako's phone, the same model as his, bought for her by Lilly. On a whim, he buys her a phone strap. When she's confused, he explains this is just what friends do. It's one of those simple heartwarming moments that seem to gain more significance in fiction, but are surprisingly effective.
The next scene is Whispered Touch. After class, Hanako meets up with Hisao in the library. Deciding to follow Lilly's advice and be more straightforward with Hanako, he asks her about her past. She agrees, on the condition that he does the same. This is exactly what happens: The two wander around the school grounds, exchanging information. First, about Hisao at some stage in life, then about Hanako in the same stage of life. It's by far the most effective scene of this type, since it's the only one Hisao doesn't interrupt with his overprotective instincts. Hisao realizes Hanako's life was next to the complete opposite of his, with one exception: Both of their lives are defined by one single moment in time.
Suddenly, Hisao comes to the realization that Hanako's been leading him to her room. The two come in, and they lock the door and close the curtains, with the realization of what's about to happen growing within Hisao. Hanako strips, revealing the full extent of her scarring. She explains that she wanted Hisao to see "me. All of me." It's a magnificent moment, which, coming on from the really nicely done bit of character development in the rest of the scene, results in a pretty significant character moment.
Then, what was obviously going to happen under these circumstances, happens. It's not a what I'd call a pleasant H-scene to read: It's obviously not really fun for either of the parties involved, and they're both doing it more for the sake of the other person than for their own enjoyment. It's intentionally this way, and is a strong contestant for best H-scene in the game. The H-scene in Whispered Touch is a really heavy piece of character development, and feels like one of the most significant moments of the route, where a lot of H-scenes feel tacked on for the sake of being an H-scene. It's a perfect culmination of the trajectory the relationship has followed so far.
Full disclosure: This is where I stopped my second session. There's really not much left in the route, and as such it was an awful stopping point, but Whispered Touch drained me so much I didn't feel like I could continue.
The next scene sees Hisao waking up after Hanako, in her bed. She's already out, but soon returns with two trays of breakfast. The two are visibly uncomfortable around each other, and don't talk much, either here or in class. When Hisao attempts to approach her, Hanako runs off, with her old "I'vegottogodosomething". It's a saddening callback to earlier stages of the relationship, and feels like a lot of progress has just been lost. Hisao's full of regret, insisting that he still isn't able to reach out to Hanako and to talk to her properly. It's a bleak scene, but doesn't really go on very long. Soon, Hisao realizes that the only real way to be able to communicate with Hanako is to have her be the one to open communication, which leads into the final scene of the route: Adulthood.
Hisao is in the park in the village, having told Hanako this by text. He doesn't expect her to appear, but she does. When asked, she explains that the reason she came on to him in Whispered Touch is because she wanted to be seen as an equal, not someone to be protected. It's a rather horrifying thought, and makes Whispered Touch even more uncomfortable when re-read through. Still, she goes on explaining how, despite not wanting to be someone to be protected, she allowed herself to grow into this role, which made her despise herself more. Turns out, she was bullied by people she believed were her friends after her accident, which is what really made her the way she is. She fell into a state where she pretended to not exist, to not have to put her burden on others, and she was afraid that the only reason Hisao was around her was because of this.
There's a brilliant moment where Hisao realizes she's right. It's absolutely heartbreaking, seeing how much he hurt her with his best intentions. The conversation goes on in this vein: I won't go through every little point, but it's a brilliant deconstruction of the relationship until that point. Hisao keeps commenting on how he can feel the walls between the two falling, and this couldn't be more true: all of the emotional issues that have been masterfully built up and intertwined throughout the route are disentangled and put on their way to being solved here.
Eventually, Hanako breaks down crying, and Hisao gets on his knees to hug her. The two still blame themselves for the problems in their relationship, but it feels like both of them know that they're equally at fault. It's an absolutely phenomenal bittersweet moment, the culmination of a whole route's worth of build up released in the span of a few lines. The fact that the absolutely heart-destroying Innocence is playing doesn't help, either. The two also realize that they complement each other just as much as they were causing each other pain, and it really feels like, now that the issues are resolved, the two will work on that aspect of their relationship.
It cuts, to the two having calmed down a bit. They discuss their relationship a bit more, with Hisao reiterrating his old sentiment that Hanako can depend on him if she needs anything. She's initially horrified, but he explains he expects the same out of her: "It's called love". It's a cheesy moment on paper, but when you've been through the huge series of gut-punches that is the rest of the scene, it works really well.
Hisao realizes they don't understand each other, but he's fine with that: He feels now that the walls are down, that will soon change. It's yet another cheesy moment that works surprisingly well on one softened by the knock-out blow that is the crying scene. Hanako shiftily says she needs to give something to Hisao, and, surprisingly confidently and happily, kisses him in front of the students walking up and down the street, in one of the best CGs in the game, accompanied by no text. Technically, the last text of the route is "Then, please accept my first gift to you, Hisao...", but the scene lingers on the CG for a long time before cutting to credits. It's a great ending, and, as per usual for the game, feels just perfect. The description for the scene in the extras menu reads "The end of two children, the beginning of two adults", which I feel is a really apt description. It's amazing the sense of growth conveyed by the few lines the two share after the crying scene, and I think that Adulthood is one of the absolute best scenes in the whole game.
So, there you have it. Hanako's route is a route that didn't go the way I remembered it. It seems I put unwarranted attention on some details, and forgot about others: I seemed to remember the scenes where Hanako hides in her room because of her birthday to be considerably longer. I also remembered the route focusing considerably more on the emotional side of things, and expected there to be more scenes that give you the proverbial feels. Still, I can't say I'm disappointed by what I got. The route is very strong thematically, probably the strongest one so far. This allows it to have a really fantastic finale, and much of its strength lies in that.
Still, as a whole, it has probably fallen in my estimations. It's hard to put the routes in order, but it's definitely fallen below Rin's route, at the very least. It's got a lot of really strange loose ends, similarly to Emi's route, but said loose ends get in the way a lot more. It feels like it's shoving events from Lilly's route in for no really good reason in there, and the pacing suffers hugely as a result. Whilst Lilly does end up considerably more developed than any other side character in any route (with the possible exception of Hanako in Lilly's route and definite exception of Misha in Shizune's, if you consider her a side character, which I don't), the plot struggles to find a real reason to have her around after Act 1.
The inclusion of Yuuko is overall a lot more effective. It's by far the route that makes the most likeable and wise, and she actually serves a purpose in the overall plot: Hanako states in Adulthood she was afraid Yuuko was getting Hisao's affection. She helps to give the route some more light-heartedness from time to time.
This is also a problem with the route.Whilst most other routes have fluff that is pleasant and light-hearted, the fluff here more often than not is tense. Hanako being how she is, this makes sense, and I can't see a work-around, but this makes the route run into a similar issue to Emi's, where by the end of the route you don't really remember the good times that make this whole thing worth it, because the good times weren't even that good. The tea-drinking and chess-playing helps alleviate this, but these scenes all but disappear halfway through Castling.
The third side character in the route, Akira, is also something I remember having a much greater presence. Here, Akira often struggles to have something to really do, and her appearances often feel shoehorned in. Still, she's as much fun to have around as usual when she does get a line in, and at least she plays an important role in Stripes and Solids.
Still, overall, Hanako's route is a fantastic read. It's by far the most competent route at building up the ending, and the million subtle things that are resolved during Adulthood are really awe-inspiring. Also, the character of Hanako herself is pretty well done, managing to subvert the "Shrinking Violet" archetype in a way I don't think I've really seen it done before. Whilst the route perhaps didn't have me in tears the way it did when I first read through the game a year ago, it still tugged at my heartstrings more than its fair due. It's a route more concentrated on being constantly moving than huge gut-punch moments, but it pulls both off well.
Despite the heaps of praise I've put on Adulthood, I'd have to nominate it a close second to my favorite scene of the route: Whispered Touch. As someone who doesn't like the vast majority of pornographic content in pretty much anything, Whispered Touch's H-scene managed to completely capture my attention in just how much stuff was going on between the characters at that point. Still, we must not forget Whispered Touch also had an absolutely fantastic exchange between the characters before the famous "This is me. All of me." moment. Despite this, Adulthood is also an absolutely amazing work of art, untangling all the wires set up by the author one by one in a short amount of time to give one of the most amazing gut-punch moments I've ever experienced.
So, next review, join me as I swing by the cloudlands.
Yes, TellTale did indeed manage to pull its fantastic trick twice. The Walking Dead was my favourite game I played in 2013, and, for a brief time, my favourite game ever, so it's no surprise that I'd loveanother game by the same people. Whilst Wolf Among Us suffers from many flaws in execution that pulled its score down when I reviewed it, it's still a fantastic story told fantastically. Add to that the fact that it's a story than, when given the choice of premise and premise alone, I'd choose above The Walking Dead in a blink, and you've got yourself a real winner. Wolf Among Us maybe shows me an issue with the name of these awards: They're not quite "The Xth Best Thing", but more like "My Xth Favourite Thing". Wolf Among Us may be flawed in many ways, and is likely not the 2nd Best Thing I Played In 2014, but it certainly is my 2nd Favourite Thing I Played in 2014, and that's more than good enough to secure this spot. Don't mess with the Big Bad Wolf.
