The very first requirement in a hospital is that it should do the sick no harm. Florence Nightingale
Hello after a few busy weeks of finding and starting a new job, playing through The Last of Us for the PS 4, also Way of the Samurai 4 for the ps3, as well as helping set up a new TV trope page for a fic that is written by a good friend of mine. Finally as well as just me being the lazy git I can be.
The next instalment of this blog has risen, now moving on to the matter at hand.
Now we skip to four months later after the heart attack. Which makes it around July I believe in gametime. Hisao in a depressive tone recounts how he has been stuck in the hospital for four months, all the while as sombre music plays in the background, serving Hisao's depressive thoughts in the process (also I believe it is his Letimoff).
We have a condition that caused his heart attack now, Arrhythmia (though technical term for it is Long QT Syndrome, KS trope page has a link to the details on it on Wikipedia). I mentioned it a bit on the first page, but thought I give a link here so if you were interested in some more detailed details, then Wikipedia might provide some. But overall it gets explained well enough in the game to serve its purpose.
From what I have read about it, along with looking at the K Sforums, the staff did their research when it came to the medical details of the disabled conditions in the game, consulting I believe with some medical experts who gave the writers advice on them in many different areas. Kudos to the Team for this attention to details, showing again how much effort they put into this game.
As we continue on, Hisao angsts about how the condition has affected him recently, how the fact it's a miracle he hasn't been affected before has brought him no comfort.
He also angsts on how his parents have taken to it, with Hisao using the term hemorrhage to describe their reaction I believe (knowing Hisao he probably meant the Cerebral version, so basically having a stroke). Though I like how in some ways it's Hisao lamenting how his condition is affecting his parents in a witty way.
So the writers god use of words again comes into play, which I enjoy a lot about Katawa Shoujo at times.
Which leads on to him narrating how he got loads of gifts, cards etc. in the first week from loads of people, then it stopped and the visitors he got dwindled, until Iwanako stopped visiting six weeks later.
Now, this bit is very open to Alternative Character Interpretation. I can understand why Hisao is quite bitter, cynical and depressed in this scene. I mean how many people would take learning about having a heart condition that he never knew he had, that might lead to an early death well.
I also would point out that it would have been very hard for Iwanako to keep visiting him after what happened between the two of them. What would you say to the person you accidently gave a heart attack to? Especially if they are as depressed and bitter as Hisao seems to imply he was during that time.
To which would be referenced later on in each of the girls routes when Iwanako sends him a letter detailing her feelings and thoughts since the last time she saw him. Which I will over in each of the girls roués, as Hisao reaction differs in each one a bit.
But of course, you have to wonder if Iwanako made the effort to get Hisao to open up, which going from how she was in the prologue and Hisao's thoughts she didn't. Though of course how much of Hisao's thoughts and feelings on this are reliable is again subject to whether you think there is some Unreliable Narrator elements going on with him, bitter people can cloud themselves to what really happened at times due to their negative feelings.
I don't think he's lying, just that his perspective at the moment is clouded by negative bitterness and him being depressed as well.
The fact they never seemed to talk about what happened either probably didn't help, along with hardly talking about anything beyond small talk stuff as she kept visiting for six weeks most likely helped in her stop visiting Hisao as well.
Overall I say the whole breakdown between Hisao and Iwanako it comes down to how both of them acted, overall neither were in a good position to deal with what happened, in all fairness it probably was for the best Iwanako stopped visiting Hisao when she did.
Though I wonder about Hisao's friends as well, since Hisao never makes it clear on when exactly they stopped visiting him as well. Yes it was before Iwanako stopped, but was it like a week, a few weeks or even before that. Hisao does mention the names of these friends once or twice in some of the routes later on, but never elaborates much on them or his feelings on them either.
Their names were Mai, Takumi, and Shin, with Mai as I remember being the best of them at arcade games they used to play, along with football (yes the real sport of football that has a world cup, not soccer as some nations like to call it, and not the sport that stops every twenty seconds, rant over excuse this stubborn English git).
Some fanfic's like one of my favourite Katawa Shoujo Fic Weekend at Hisao's features them a bit in expanding on Hisao's past, so those call be a great source of learning a bit more on them. Weekend at Hisao's had Takumi I believe saying how they felt Hisao was an asshole during his hospital stay.
That they felt unable to help him because of that, which may be a fair assessment of Hisao at the time form what I have mentioned above, though that probably ties into the fact that Shizune route is the one route where Hisao admits he had somewhat pushed Iwanako and his friends away, which I imagine Themocaw the writer of the above fic was keeping to when he wrote their scenes in his great fic.
I like how it's mostly left up to the readers overall in what exactly went down, it allows them to make up their own minds. As well as sets up nicely how Hisao acts for the first act of the game, as well as the routes seeing him develop out of his current state.
Okay prodded on long enough, Hisao's father, who we never see in a sprite and a doctor come in to see Hisao, with Hisao's snarky narration overlaying with bitterness again, feeling that the doctor is putting on a Stepford Smiler act which has some elements of truth with some doctors, though considering how many patients they deal with and also how hard some patients can be. It isn't surprising that some do act that way, I can see both viewpoints here.
Then we get the nice background scene with what is apparently all of the medical terms for the pills that Hisao will have to take, this will reminisce with anyone who has to, or has had to take a load of drugs for their own reasons, I find it overwhelming just having to read up on hay fever pills when I take them during the bloody hay fever season.
Then Hisao gets the news that he will be going to a new school. Yamaku Academy that is for disabled people, which further gets him into a bitter mood, feeling as the doctor puts it, a place where he can be monitored and get education to help him integrate into society when older.
Plus it's a boarding school and away from where Hisao currently is annoys him further, which in that he feels it's basically a prison, along with the condition now defining his life in a way. Which I think is an interesting point that is brought up in the Hanako route later on, which I will elaborate on then.
Both the doctor and Hisao's dad explain how it’s actually a good place and could be quite helpful for Hisao, though Hisao being in his bitter state doubts that.
In this bit of the scene, I felt all sides had a point. Hisao is understandably upset that he is now going to a new school without any real choice for himself, a place where he feels he will be defined by his heart condition. Most teens have a hard time with change, so this on Hisao's end is believable for me. Plus it can look like that Hisao's parents are basically dumping him there so they don't have to deal with his heart problem.
As well as the doctor being patronizing and insensitive as well from some people's point of view.
Though from personal experience of having technically a disability (which like Hisao I dispute somewhat how much of one it is, Asperger Syndrome just to it be known). I can see the points of Hisao's dad and the doctor, as Japan is an expensive place to live, so obviously Hisao's parents home-schooling him would be quite expensive for them, along with the fact Hisao would be around or near the place where he had the attack. Also getting out of your comfort zone sometimes turn out great as I can attest to.
Which from his hospital stay has left him in a bad state, so sending him to a new place is probably the best thing for Hisao in their minds, plus it's also a chance for Hisao to gain some more independence in his life, plus it might just be cheaper for them to send him to the school as well and avoid what could be real ugliness if he went back to his old school. No doubt this wasn't an easy decision for them to do, but I have no doubt that they had Hisao's best interest in mind when sending him to Yamaku.
From the games routes, it was overall the right decision to send him there. Though I wonder if it would have been nice for a scene in each of the routes where Hisao talks with either of his parents to talk about how things are going for him. Not a big thing I feel, but just a nice little touch to Hisao's character and issues a bit.
Anyways overall I liked the scene, written well with a few of Hisao's smartass remarks making me chuckle, even if they were pretty bitter remarks. Sets up nicely how Hisao responds to people in the first act of the game.
Also quite a bit of Alternative Character Interpretation for this scene as well. Which I always like in any works of fiction.
Know it seems weird to do one chapter to a small scene, but I felt this scene is interesting to look at and also in how it shapes things for the rest of the game, since Hisao's experience in the hospital will be revisited a few times in the game, and his response to it in each route is a little different. As well as the letter he gets from Iwanako later on in each routes.
Personally overall I feel for Hisao for what he goes through during the hospital period, it's a life changing experience and one no doubt is hard to recover from, but one can wonder if he impeded his recovery by giving in to his despair during that period. Though as I said before, it's a very tough experience for anyone to go through, even more so a teenager who never expected to have this condition.
Once the scene is done, the First Act opens with the first of the act titles appearing, picture below showing it.
Next chapter will be when Hisao arrives at Yamaku, it will be shorter than this one, can't say when I will get to writing it, as I have a busy few weeks ahead in moving home and my job being 9 hours a day 5 days a week.
What was good about the Hospital scene?
- Music was good again.
- Felt the writing was good again, with Hisao's bitter views coming off nicely after his experience of being in a hospital for four months.
- Some Alternative Character Interpretation at work here in regards to Hisao and Iwanako and others as well.
- Liked the medicine word background scene, nice way of making Hisao even more depressed about his condition.
- Some understandable words and points made by all sides in this scene. Grey-and-Gray Morality is always a plus for me.
- Some relatable feelings and views that resonated with me, so getting me invested in Hisao's character.
- Some good medical research done by the writers, always like it when they do their research and Shown Their Work trope.
What wasn't so good about this Scene?
- Depending on your view, Hisao's bitterness can come off as being annoying and self-pitying.
- The art isn't the greatest again, though that isn't a negative for me.
- The doctor and Hisao's dad depending on your view could come off being a bit patronizing and insensitive, Vice Versa for Hisao.
Thanks again for reading my views on this novel, which as always are only my views on it at the end of the day.
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