Katawa Shoujo

Shadow Dragon · Feb 5, 2012

Katawa Shoujo is a relatively new visual novel making the rounds on the internet. It's a pretty good game. The basic plot is that Hisao (your character) is a seemingly regular high school student. One day, when a girl asks him out on a date, he has a heart attack. It turns out he has a heart condition, that no one knew about. Due to this, he's more or less forced into going to a school for disabled. It's a romance story where, depending on your actions, he'll end up with one of the girls there.

The art work in it is superb, the music is top notch and the writing is pretty solid. One of the best parts of the game is that they handle the disabilities extremely well. They don't get ignored but they aren't the defining characteristic of any of the characters.

The absolute best part: it's free. If you like romance stories, I'd highly suggest Katawa Shoujo.

Official site with the download link:
http://www.katawa-shoujo.com/

As a final note, this does have a couple sex scenes near the end of each route. Though you can turn those off in the main menu.

kuwisdelu · Feb 13, 2012

Anyone else playing this?

I'm doing Emi's route right now.

Zoombie · Feb 13, 2012

I cried SO hard and SO many times in this game.

kuwisdelu · Feb 13, 2012

I downloaded it as soon as the final version came out, but I haven't had time to finish any of the routes yet. I'm going to try to solve that this week.

Zoombie said:
I cried SO hard and SO many times in this game.

I think it should be required playing material for everyone who thinks the people who hang out on 4chan are just a bunch of immature prepubescent boys.

Shadow Dragon · Feb 13, 2012

So far I've gotten both the good and bad endings for Shizune (that sex scene with Misha is do damn depressing), the good and neutral endings for Hanako and the Kenji ending. The Kenji ending was actually the first one I got.

Out of all the girls in the game, Shizune is my favorite. She seems like the one I'd want to date the most in real life.

kuwisdelu · Feb 13, 2012

Shadow Dragon said:
The Kenji ending was actually the first one I got.

The bad Kenji end was the first one I got, too.

Out of all the girls in the game, Shizune is my favorite. She seems like the one I'd want to date the most in real life.

Haven't finished any of the routes yet, but so far I like Shizune and Emi the most. I wasn't sure which way I wanted to go, but I guess I ended up falling into Emi's route first.

LOG · Feb 13, 2012

kuwisdelu said:
I think it should be required playing material for everyone who thinks the people who hang out on 4chan are just a bunch of immature prepubescent boys.

What does the game have to do with 4chan?

Does the school only cover students with physical disabilities requiring special attention, or does it extend to mental disabilities as well?

Anjasa · Feb 13, 2012

LOG said:
What does the game have to do with 4chan?

Does the school only cover students with physical disabilities requiring special attention, or does it extend to mental disabilities as well?

The game spawned from people on 4chan. They made it.

From January 2007, the sketch was discussed extensively on the 4chan image board, and a development group was assembled from users of 4chan and other internet communities. The group took the name Four Leaf Studios (based on 4chan's logo).

I'm still really needing to play this. I have it downloaded, just haven't had the time.

I wrote a blog about the media reaction to the disabilities in the game, though, if anyone was interested.

kuwisdelu · Feb 13, 2012

LOG said:
What does the game have to do with 4chan?

Its genesis was in the posts of a self-proclaimed nurse and — as told by his (anonymous) posts, which may or may not have been true — his experiences with a patient who was "a half-Japanese seven-year-old girl missing an eye and all her limbs save one arm, [which were] injuries from a car crash that had also left her orphaned," and his struggles to adopt her.

Of course, this being 4chan, many of the responses consisted of insensitive and offensive humor, often sexual. But simultaneous with the (maybe expected) reaction, was an outpouring of sadness, sentimentality, and empathy, (perhaps) revealing the coping-mechanism nature of the more usual (expected) responses. The makers of the game, inspired by the story and the reaction it received on the image board, organized via 4chan and set out to create the game.

They have since tried to distinguish themselves as a distinct entity from 4chan, but even their name (Four-Leaf Studios) alludes to their history with the board.

Does the school only cover students with physical disabilities requiring special attention, or does it extend to mental disabilities as well?

It's focused on physical disabilities.

Anjasa said:
I wrote a blog about the media reaction to the disabilities in the game, though, if anyone was interested.

~~For some reason, I can't read your blog post. I see a few images and links, but no text.~~ ETA: Nevermind. Must have been a problem on my end.

In any case, here's another insightful blog post into its making and the (perhaps) unexpectedly mature and nuanced handling of its sensitive subject matter.

Shadow Dragon · Feb 13, 2012

LOG said:
Does the school only cover students with physical disabilities requiring special attention, or does it extend to mental disabilities as well?

It's mainly for physical disabilities, but they do also handle any emotional issues that come from the any disability or deformity. For example, one of the main girls, Hanako, has bad scarring over a lot of her body because of a fire incident when she was a kid. She now has severe social anxiety because of looking different and they try to help her with that.

As a side note to the game in general, I wish there was a route for Misha (assuming that she does actually like guys) and Miki as well. They both could have made for interesting storylines.

Zoombie · Feb 13, 2012

kuwisdelu said:
It's focused on physical disabilities.

I dunno, Rin has something atypical in her brain. Not that it's a bad thing, mind you. I think her personality is beautiful. Hell, I think the whole game is a great work of art.

kuwisdelu · Feb 17, 2012

Finished both Emi's and Shizune's routes.

HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNG.

Anyone know any way to get a translation of any of Key's games running on a Mac?

LOG · Feb 17, 2012

I love the way Shizune looks when she gets a bit angry, you know, when she turns to face directly at the player and her hair kind of puffs out a bit.
I love that expression.

Shadow Dragon · Feb 18, 2012

LOG said:
I love the way Shizune looks when she gets a bit angry, you know, when she turns to face directly at the player and her hair kind of puffs out a bit.
I love that expression.

Yeah, I love that expressions also. She's really cute when she gets angry.

FoamyRules · Feb 18, 2012

I'm not really into these types of games but I definitely enjoyed this one. I mentioned it in my video game review blog and gave

LOG · Feb 18, 2012

Shadow Dragon said:
Yeah, I love that expressions also. She's really cute when she gets angry.

I'm trying to decide between Shizune, Shiina, and Lilly for my first playthrough . . . I think Shizune, just because I got her approval for the Risk game.

kuwisdelu · Feb 18, 2012

LOG said:
I'm trying to decide between Shizune, Shiina, and Lilly for my first playthrough . . . I think Shizune, just because I got her approval for the Risk game.

Misha doesn't have her own route. She has an H scene though.

LOG · Feb 18, 2012

kuwisdelu said:
Misha doesn't have her own route.

WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!

Huh . . . does she not have a disability and is just at the school as Shizune's personal interpreter then? I wasn't sure on that point (but I'm not very far yet either).

Also, because I was bored, I found out that Shizune actually has the most . . . I dunno, hourglass or curvaceous figure. That is, the ratio between her bust/hips to her waist is the largest among all the girls(whose measurements we're given at least), by quite a bit.
Lilly has a larger bust and hip size, but the ratio is smaller, although she's still the third most curvaceous.
Hanak has the second-largest ratio, Rin and Shiina tie for fourth, and Emi has the lowest ratio.

kuwisdelu · Feb 18, 2012

LOG said:
WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH?!

Huh . . . does she not have a disability and is just at the school as Shizune's personal interpreter then? I wasn't sure on that point (but I'm not very far yet either).

You find out in Shizune's route.

*spoilers*

She doesn't have a disability. She wanted to be a sign language teacher and met Shizune after enrolling.

But that's not the (in-story) reason she doesn't have a route.

Shadow Dragon · Feb 18, 2012

I kinda wish that Miki (the one with the missing hand) had her own route. You get the chance to talk to her a bit during Hanako's route and she seems cool.

Also, Shizune is definitely my favorite girl so far.

Edit: Crap, I forgot that I posted that about Miki before.

FoamyRules · Feb 18, 2012

Shadow Dragon said:
I kinda wish that Miki (the one with the missing hand) had her own route. You get the chance to talk to her a bit during Hanako's route and she seems cool.

Also, Shizune is definitely my favorite girl so far.

Edit: Crap, I forgot that I posted that about Miki before.

I like Shizune but my favorite has got to be Hanako. She's sweet and cute as pie (I know lame) I think the game overall is beautiful. Thanks for recommending it.

kuwisdelu · Feb 19, 2012

Shadow Dragon said:
I kinda wish that Miki (the one with the missing hand) had her own route. You get the chance to talk to her a bit during Hanako's route and she seems cool.

I want an Akira route.

...and I wouldn't mind a Hideaki route, either. /shotacon

Shadow Dragon · Feb 21, 2012

kuwisdelu said:
I want an Akira route.

...and I wouldn't mind a Hideaki route, either. /shotacon

The only issue with an Akira or Hideaki route is that it'll deviate from the main point of the game, which is dating someone with a disability of some sort. Though they were pretty cool characters.

LOG · Feb 21, 2012

Rin. Is. Amazing.

I want to shake the hand(s) of whoever wrote her character/dialog.

Dawnstorm · Feb 22, 2012

Well, finally gave in and downloaded the game. My first game got me the Hanako route with the good ending (and three scenes missing. I suppose that's because I'm the library type?

They did very well. I was a bit worried about the sex scenes, as I imagine this type of game to have them as a sort-of reward. Luckily, at least for the Hanako route, that's not the case. It's as plot-relevant as anything.

I'd like to do the Rin route next, but I have no idea how to get there. Be the ultimate recluse? (I sort of worry that that would get me to join Kenji in his anti-feminism campaign...) [No spoilers. Yet.]

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