4w ago

Katawa Shoujo: My Experience and Thoughts

As some of you may remember, I asked what to expect before playing it blind. Every commenter told me to go for it, so I did. I wanted to write about my experience for the folks who wondered what I did (literally no one lol).

First, I want to say it really is a good game. I was surprised how a bunch of anons from 4chan made a game involving high school girls with disabilities this realistic. They really did a good job of handling the harsh reality of the characters, and they didn't overly sexualize the erotic parts—yes, I enabled it to see how they handled it. The art shows its age but still looks good; the blurred photos as backgrounds were a bit disappointing but understandable. The music was nice and calming, I can suggest it to people who like piano music.

Now, let's come to the real deal: the story. I talk about it briefly because I don't want to spoil much. The game takes place in Yamaku Academy, a fictional school for disabled children and healthy kids who want to help disabled people in the future. We play as Hisao Nakai, who suffered a heart attack and was diagnosed with arrhythmia, then transferred to Yamaku. Hisao is a good MC; he has a personality and his own thoughts and behaves like a young lad whose life was recently turned upside down. This can cause some players to feel disassociated from the game, but I'm perfectly fine following the MC's journey instead of creating my own story.

After a brief introduction to the game setting, we get introduced to the major characters: Shizune, the ambitious class rep who is deaf, and her friend Misha, an air-head who wants to be a sign-language teacher; Lilly, a calm and collected girl who is blind, and her friend Hanako, who became rather withdrawn after a fire accident; Rin, an artist who was born without arms (and neurodivergent, I believe), and Emi, the very energetic and friendly track-team ace who lost her legs after a traffic accident. We also have Yuuko, the timid librarian and waitress, and Kenji, who is most likely modeled after forechinners.

**I will talk about how I played in the next section; slight spoilers up ahead:**

In my first run, I ended up getting drunk with Kenji and dying as the incel I am—a vision of my future but swap drinking with fren with drinking alone. I think this was rather stupid; why should I die because I didn't get a disabled “waifu”?

In my second run, I ended up with Emi's good ending. I think this route is what @WokePalpatine@hexbear.net was talking about; I entered her route because I wanted Hisao to get his arrhythmic ass up and exercise. Emi ended up being my favorite; her personality reminded me of an ex, and I generally prefer women who are optimistic and own their mistakes. Also, what the fuck was that storage shed scene?

My third run was Rin's bad ending; I guess I don't get along well with neurodivergent people. Her route was the least interesting one for me because I really didn't get what she was talking about most of the time.

My fourth run was Hanako's good ending. As someone who worked as a search-and-rescue personnel in disaster zones in the past, I can say she is a great representation of someone who survived a disaster. Her route was shorter than I expected; I believe this was caused by budget and time issues. My dormmate said he was disappointed that she didn't become more open, but I strongly disagree. Heavy traumas don't go away easily, and they follow the victim for the rest of their lives. Also, Hanako might have been an introvert before the accident.

My fifth run was Lilly's neutral route. I felt very bad for Hisao in this run; I was like the bad friend our parents constantly warned us about being a bad influence. To fix my mistake, I replayed the route again, this time to get the good ending for Hisao. This reminded me of the time when I played The Witcher 3. I strongly preferred Triss, but to complete Geralt and Yennefer's story, I played it one more time. Also, Hanako was more fleshed out in this route for some reason.

My last route was Shizune's good ending. @mendiCAN@hexbear.net spoiled the most important choice of the route (may you drop your ice cream), but even if they didn't, I would still choose that. Shizune's route was rather laid back, and I imagine the dev team intended it that way. Also, I hated Misha's loud ass.

Overall, it was a great experience and reminded me of what I didn't experience during my high school years—I was way worse off than Kenji's and Hisao's shortcomings. I definitely suggest it to anyone who likes this kind of story.