Rin Tezuka. 
 
Interesting post by a user on NeoGAF about her storyline concerning analogs between Hisao & Iwanako and Hisao & Rin:   

-Hisao's hospital room = Rin's atelier
-Iwanako would visit Hisao at the hospital just to sit in silence, Hisao visits Rin at the atelier just to sit in silence
-Doctor = art teacher. Remember in the beginning when Hisao thinks to himself "It's not an opportunity, don't call it an opportunity. Don't call it a goddamn opportunity"? That's probably how Rin feels about the art teacher gushing over the exhibit.
-One of Hisao's last moments with Iwanako involved her peeling an apple for him, just like Hisao peels oranges for Rin
-Iwanako expresses in her letter that if she could do it all over again, she'd try to support him, and that's exactly how he should approach Rin: as support. If I remember right, one of the choices near the conclusion that steer you toward the Good End is actually something like "I want to support Rin."

Considering It's been out for a while now, and it seems to have been very well accepted, I thought I'd throw up a poll just to see who people tended to go with.

I've only played through 2 of them as of now "I've done nothing but play this game for like 10hs...". But I really think Rin will be hard to beat, I've never related so much to a crazy person.

Saving my vote as for now though.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Rin Tezuka.

Interesting post by a user on NeoGAF about her storyline concerning analogs between Hisao & Iwanako and Hisao & Rin:

-Hisao's hospital room = Rin's atelier
-Iwanako would visit Hisao at the hospital just to sit in silence, Hisao visits Rin at the atelier just to sit in silence
-Doctor = art teacher. Remember in the beginning when Hisao thinks to himself "It's not an opportunity, don't call it an opportunity. Don't call it a goddamn opportunity"? That's probably how Rin feels about the art teacher gushing over the exhibit.
-One of Hisao's last moments with Iwanako involved her peeling an apple for him, just like Hisao peels oranges for Rin
-Iwanako expresses in her letter that if she could do it all over again, she'd try tosupport him, and that's exactly how he should approach Rin: as support. If I remember right, one of the choices near the conclusion that steer you toward the Good End is actually something like "I want to support Rin."

Prob double posting, but whatever. I hadn't really thought about any of that, quite interesting. It could explain his reactions a bit better...

Have you gotten any of her bad endings? I'm afraid, because it could go wrong in so many ways. I don't want to try it out.

@TobbRobb said:

Have you gotten any of her bad endings? I'm afraid, because it could go wrong in so many ways. I don't want to try it out.

Remember the conversation they have in his bedroom? That's pretty much the bad ending, only it ends earlier. Oh, and Rin's my favorite, too. There's just something about her character development that resonated with me more than any of the other girl's (or Kenji's).

Definitely Shizune. I found her attitude and approach towards every day life most agreeable.

I tried to go for Shizune as my first choice, but ended with Emi. Just finished Emi's route, and I found her absolutely adorable, and somewhat predictable. I would have to say Emi at the moment. Err... Part of me wants to call her Eri cause she kinda reminds me of Eri from School Rumble.

All those feels.

I've only played one route, and I loved it. Emi's story was wonderful.

@MattyFTM said:

I've only played one route, and I loved it. Emi's story was wonderful.

Wait until you get to Rin's route. Actually, all the other girls kick Emi's ass.

@MattyFTM said:

I've only played one route, and I loved it. Emi's story was wonderful.

Wait until you get to Rin's route. Actually, all the other girls kick Emi's ass.

@LordXavierBritish said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@MattyFTM said:

I've only played one route, and I loved it. Emi's story was wonderful.

Wait until you get to Rin's route. Actually, all the other girls kick Emi's ass.

Well of course they do, how is she supposed to fight back.

......Good one.

@LordXavierBritish:

Emi's got arms...and robot legs. Hanako, on the other hand, would probably have trouble in a fight.

Hanako. It really hit home with me, because I've been in a relationship with a girl with similar social issues (though not caused by illness or injury) and I fucked it up the same way Hisao does in her bad ending. Rin is almost ex aequo, though, it's probably the best written (the sex scenes, the smoking scene).

Emi for sure. Lilly's story is a close second, but something about Emi's just hit home for me. Getting more interaction with the nurse and Mitsuo is also nice. Shizune's route could've been great but was a huge letdown after act 2, although that was almost all worth it since Shizune-route Kenji has some of the best lines. I didn't find myself able to relate to either Rin or Hanako, which is probably why they're my least favorite. Favorite storyline is hugely subjective though.

I've been writing up a lengthy blog about the game and just haven't gotten around to proofing it, but it's nice to see that other people here on GB have been enjoying it as well. I feel like it's been kind of underrated/written off in the eyes of a lot mainstream sites.

You fucked up by not including Kenji in the poll, but that's understandable since he'd win hands-down.

Lilly's story for some reason, I never got around to playing through Rin's route which sounds like it was the best but whatever.

I found the Hanako one to be disappointing and could have been done a lot better.

@benjaebe: I didn't include him because he is basically the trashcan if you fucked up all your other possibilties. He's got one ending, it's considered a "bad" one. Though I found it funny.

@TobbRobb said:

@benjaebe: I didn't include him because he is basically the trashcan if you fucked up all your other possibilties. He's got one ending, it's considered a "bad" one. Though I found it funny.

An ending with Kenji cannot be a bad ending.

@Video_Game_King: Don't see how that picture relates at all, but I'd consider an ending where you fucking die a bad one. Even though it was failry well written and funny.

@TobbRobb:

You only get it in Kenji's route. Oh, and yea, there's the death, but if you've seen all the shit Hisao did to the girls before, you'll feel apathetic, at best.

@TobbRobb: Hisao is an asshole, a route ending in his death can only be a good one.

Manly picnic is best picnic.

@Video_Game_King:

@Cloudenvy said:

@TobbRobb: Hisao is an asshole, a route ending in his death can only be a good one.

Anyone making Rin look like this is worthy some hate, ;(.

He is supposed to be "you" however, and I will still consider that a bad ending.

@Ravenlight said:

Manly picnic is best picnic.

@TobbRobb:

You only get it in Kenji's route. Oh, and yea, there's the death, but if you've seen all the shit Hisao did to the girls before, you'll feel apathetic, at best.

Still, it's not really his fault most of the time. He just goes the most obvious routes. It's hard to blame him for fucking up during Rin's, Emi's and Hanako's paths, because the girls don't really give him many hints that he should approach the subject differently.

Apart from Shizune's bad ending. That shit is all him.

@Ghostiet:

Huh? He wasn't getting any hints? He didn't need any hints with Rin (the best advice I could give him is "don't be an aggressive asshole"), the hints Emi's route dropped were obvious (I was amazed at how he didn't figure it out at the race or when they slept together), and Hanako...

@Ghostiet: I got really frustrated with how he was handling Rin, sure she is a little hard to read, but not THAT hard. He comes off as seriously dumb at several points in that route.

@TobbRobb said:

@Ghostiet: I got really frustrated with how he was handling Rin, sure she is a little hard to read, but not THAT hard. He comes off as seriously dumb at several points in pretty much every route.

Fixed it.

@Video_Game_King: I was thinking that may be the case, :P. Didn't want to say stuff I didn't actually know though.

@TobbRobb:

I'll just leave it at "Hanako's bad ending".

@Video_Game_King said:

@TobbRobb said:

@Ghostiet: I got really frustrated with how he was handling Rin, sure she is a little hard to read, but not THAT hard. He comes off as seriously dumb at several points in pretty much every route.

Fixed it.

Nailed it.

@Cloudenvy said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@TobbRobb said:

@Ghostiet: I got really frustrated with how he was handling Rin, sure she is a little hard to read, but not THAT hard. He comes off as seriously dumb at several points in pretty much every route.

Fixed it.

Nailed it.

Shoved lube and your dick in it.

@Video_Game_King said:

@Cloudenvy said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@TobbRobb said:

@Ghostiet: I got really frustrated with how he was handling Rin, sure she is a little hard to read, but not THAT hard. He comes off as seriously dumb at several points in pretty much every route.

Fixed it.

Nailed it.

Shoved lube and your dick in it.

You have such a way with words.

@Cloudenvy:

I probably have a picture from the game that encapsulates that, but I'm not digging through near 300 of the damn things.

@Video_Game_King said:

@TobbRobb said:

@Ghostiet: I got really frustrated with how he was handling Rin, sure she is a little hard to read, but not THAT hard. He comes off as seriously dumb at several points in pretty much every route.

Fixed it.

Hisao, Master of Romance.

@benjaebe said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@TobbRobb said:

@Ghostiet: I got really frustrated with how he was handling Rin, sure she is a little hard to read, but not THAT hard. He comes off as seriously dumb at several points in pretty much every route.

Fixed it.

Hisao, Master of Romance.

I was not expecting to but I like Lillys path the most.

Going to have to go with Lily and Hanako's. I voted for Lily though, her ending just felt the most complete to me, and I liked that it had an epilogue.

Hmm, seems Lilly is gonna win this.

Oh well, Rin is second at least.

Lilly all the way, It's the only route I played but it felt RIGHT damnit.

In order:

Lilly

Emi/Shizune (It's been like 4 days and I still can't place these for number 2)

Rin

Hanako

I was incredibly surprised by Shizune's story, and INCREDIBLY dissapointed in Hanako's. I mean, she makes more emotional progress in Lilly's than in her own!

@Centimani said:

In order:

Lilly

Emi/Shizune (It's been like 4 days and I still can't place these for number 2)

Rin

Hanako

I was incredibly surprised by Shizune's story, and INCREDIBLY dissapointed in Hanako's. I mean, she makes more emotional progress in Lilly's than in her own!

But only because of how much of an asshole Hisao is. Oh, and here's my ranking, with playthrough order on the right:

@Video_Game_King: Lilly second to last? Fuck you!

@Swoxx:

Explain to me how she can compete with this:

@Video_Game_King: You put her so low just to fuck with me, Didn't you?

@Swoxx:

No, there's logic behind it. I'll explain Rin in my Katawa Shoujo blog, but on with the show:

• Without getting too personal (that seems to be a thing with this game), I can really relate to Hanako's character. I had to push her down because Hisao....ugh.....just....just Hisao.
• Then comes Shizune. Yea, her story has absolutely no problems whatsoever, but there are enough cool characters throughout to make up for it.
• Lilly's pretty good, but she can't compete with Jigoro or Akira (even if Akira is in her route).
• Finally, Emi. She's OK, I guess, but Hisao being a butthole and a predictable plot twist (that Hisao doesn't predict AT ALL) ranks her at the bottom.

@Video_Game_King: Yeah, as I said earlier I think it has mostly to do with how you resonate with each character. People are gonna have different favorites / preferences.

The one that's not fucked up.