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The X Button - Robot Monsters

Without spoiling much, it's not that she turns out to be all un-shy; spoiler[it's more like if you try to whiteknight/"fix" her she gets pissed at your presumptuousness and you get bad end.] Read this (either after you finish the route, or before if you don't mind a few general spoilers).

:x That was a bad analysis of Hanako. A very bad analysis.

Many of the other girls have personality quirks that involve their disability but don’t rely on it to make them unique. Hanako, on the other hand, enables the typical men’s fantasy traits; by rousing Hisao’s white knight tendencies and being an extreme stereotype of a geek or nerd, she is the most palatable choice for the typical consumer visual novels and dating sims. Having this social anxiety forces the player to invest their own protective tendencies, but in a way that won’t backlash at them. In a way, the player won’t feel their own social ineptitude or inability to read people to be a hindrance because Hanako is such an extreme case.

In fact, I would take great offence to the fact you think it’s a fantasy that I’m sexually attracted to burn scars, and I’d prefer my women submissive, and not “independent” (geez, I thought we were at a point in society where we’re starting to stamp our sexism). [...] Seeing Hanako happy was a perfect ending. It’s what we all wanted; not some social recluse, but seeing a girl being able to spread her own wings

enurtsol wrote:

IMO so far, Katawa Shoujo is average as far as VNs go, but it has a good story and an unique gimmick that differentiates it from other VNs. Though I think some are making a bit too much big deal about the disabilities, whether fetishizing or otherwise. VN isn't about how real the girls act or react; girls in VN aren't anywhere near complex as real girls. VN isn't about realism - it's still about escapism. (If girls in VN act like real girls do, then most otaku wouldn't have so much trouble with them.) So people, don't worry too much how VN portray girls, just follow the stories and characters.

encrypted12345 wrote:

In other words, it's so ordinary, it's extraordinary. Something like that.

The point of KS isn't to write characters and act like real people normally do. The point is (besides being entertaining) to see how truths and lessons are wielded in the writing via the character interaction and to see what you can take away from that. There are tons of "unrealistic" things about the characters in KS, but there are also a whole bunch of things that resonate (sometimes at more of a meta/personal level) true and realistic, and that anchor into reality is one of the things that makes it special, because too often does fiction throw the entire chain overboard.