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Shizune's Route: Analasis [UNMARKED SPOILERS]
**Warning: I totally wrote too much. This is a MASSIVE WALL OF TEXT. Sorry if I bore you- feel free to downvote and click that back button!** So, I'm back with my pointless rambling! *avoids thrown rotten tomato* Okay, okay, bear with me here. I know it's been weeks, but I kinda burnt out on this game after doing Emi's route. I now plan to do a single playthrough of each route, then leave it at that. **Let's get started then.** *"Can you tell me what you think?"* So, Shizune's route! I know it's considered the runt of the litter, and I can see why. It has its strengths, but its failures are very clear and unfortunately affect the route as a whole. Hisao enters Yamaku a melancholy and depressed mess. He feels like he's been sent here to die, and is still hurt by the loss of his old life. Then he gets swept up by Shizune, a deaf mute with an incredibly strong personality, and Misha, her happy-go-lucky translator with no inside voice. Hisao is quickly roped in by these two to join the student council. Slowly, over the course of the week leading up to the festival, he goes from resenting the duo to enjoying their company, and, by the end of the first act, he's become friends with them. **THE OTHER CHARACTERS** This arc has a lot of Kenji. Seriously, he's all over this shit. His feminist conspiracy theories are turned up to 11 here (lol Iran is a feminist stronghold). He also gets some depth- when you see him without his glasses, it DOES make you wonder if he's not pushing himself. He obviously needs sleep, and who knows how long he can maintain such an unhealthy way of life. Other characters do appear, most notably Hanako and Lilly, which is nice. They're not explored very deeply, though. Wondering why I'm not talking about Shizune's family? I'm getting there, don't worry. But first- **HISAO** Hisao changes a LOT during this route. He starts out passive and melancholic, but Shizune and Misha have a very positive affect on him. Especially Shizune, whose competitiveness rubs off on him He becomes more and more active in the council, taking pride in his work and what he's achieved. When the trio almost breaks up during the third act, it's Hisao who's there to pull them back together. By the end of the story, he's grown immensely. Though never addressed explicitly, Hisao does come to terms with his illness. Though he's still secretive about it, he's learned to accept it for himself, which is a huge step forward. He hopes to give his life purpose by helping others- a very noble cause. He hopes to come back and teach at the school, something which I loved. It just felt *right*. **SHIZUNE** Shizune is a strong and determined girl, a lovely subversion of the classic Cute Mute trope. She wishes to help others, bring them into her life and help them, but her muteness and competitive personality inhibit that. She can only communicate through Misha, and this presents a huge barrier. She instead tries to rile people up, to get them to become proactive. This works on Hisao, but fails on anyone else. She gets so caught up in her attempts that she forgets why she originally set out to rile people up- and starts overdoing things. This hurts Misha the most. She comes to realize that she should tone down her competitiveness, and be wary of other peoples' feelings. Shizune also loves playing games. She enjoys the fun they add to everyday activities, and this also satiates her competitive edge. **MISHA** Misha appears to be a fun and bubbly girl with absoultely zero volume control, but we learn later on that this is in fact a facade. She is kind of a Stepford Smiler, hiding her pain behind her laughter. The truth is, she's always loved Shizune, who rejected her. Of course, this being Shizune, she still wanted to stay friends, which only hurt Misha even more. Recently Shizune has come to neglect Misha's needs as a friend, not letting her in, getting too caught up in her responsibilities as council president. It takes Hisao to remind her that giving up on their friendship would be stupid, because of all the good times they've shared. It's also worth mentioning her Meaningful Haircuts- when she was rejected by Shizune, she died her hair. She cut her hair short when Hisao and Shizune started getting closer. Just food for thought. So, all seems well and good. We've got 3 strong leads and plenty of humor from Kenji. Why is this route considered so bad? **WHAT THIS ROUTE GETS WRONG** Shizune's family. My god, that whole arc went nowhere. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of promise. We could learn about Shizune's childhood, the troubles she had, her relationship with her father... but WE GET NOTHING. The characters appear, do their thing, and then drop out. Nothing is ever DONE with them, which is a shame. Another peeve of mine is Hisao and Shizune's relationship- they seem rather distant at times, not as close as the couples of the other routes. This is a stark contrast to the very believable, very touching friendship that we see between the trio. **WHAT THIS ROUTE GETS RIGHT** * The relationship between the main trio. Seeing melancholy and lonely Hisao become part of such a close friendship with the other two is very heartwarming. * Act 1 and Act 2 hold together very well, structure wise. More so than in some of the other routes. * The ending for act 1. So beautiful. * Kenji has a pretty large part, and is almost another friend to Hisao. Almost. All in all? It was pretty good, despite its shortcomings. There wasn't much hidden depth either, not as many motifes as in some of the other routes I played. Not a lot of feels, but heartwarming. Especially the ending. Also, Misha's shirt. You know the one. WHAT. And that's Shizune's route. Holy crap did I write a lot... I tried to trim it, but totally failed, heh. Apologies if I bored you, this just helps me figure the route out for myself. more