Hello, hello, every-freakin’-body!
Today’s a special day: a day where I tell you guys a story about romance, broken hearts, and cripple girls. Let those words sink in –let it marinate inside you for a minute or two- for I tell no lies in that description. Fasten your seatbelts or sharpen those pitchforks, and tune in as I tell you the tale of Katawa Shoujo.
I hate summaries. I loathe it. However, I suppose it’s my job to provide a bit of info to get the ball rolling.
Katawa Shoujo began as an idea from a doujin artist. It was a sketch of five special girls –five crippled high school girls- and that’s about it. It was an idea for a visual novel, a dating sim. Soon enough some clever people from the internet decided that the idea was good, and went ahead to make a game about it.
And thus, our story begins. Meet Hisao Nakai. He’s you, the main character. Now, how does he fit into the plot of Katawa Shoujo? Easy: he gets very katawa’d! Pardon the lame puns, people. I can be a little blind when it comes to odd comments.
(a disclaimer: I mean no malice here. Let’s just say that I’m a bit katawa’d myself, and I find stuff like this amusing.)
A girl confessing her love to you can be a very emotional thing. Too emotional for Hisao, it seems. Before he could enjoy the beginning of his non-single life, he gets a heart attack, collapses and almost dies. As it turns out, our main character has arrhythmia… so it seems that Cupid’s arrow was a ballista this time. Nevertheless, this is just a prologue, and it would be a different kind of game if Hisao died from the start.
Recap. Hisao has heart problems. He’ll be plagued by it for the rest of his life, and it will be a short life if he’s not careful. Oh, and let’s see… the girl who confessed to him? She ended the relationship between the two of them before it could even begin. Ouch. Life goes on, and now Hisao is out of the hospital, and back to school.
A new school, as a matter of fact. Hisao is transferring to Yamaku high school, where the environment would be more accustomed to his condition, a place where students like him could enjoy a normal environment… a school for the disabled.
Now we’re getting a bit more warmed up! We’re introduced to a new teacher, and new characters – the girls. In fact, let’s take a moment to get to know them better!
Shizune Hakamichi: Deaf and mute; a strong-willed personality which aids her role as the student council president. Her best friend and fellow student council member Misha interprets Emi’s sign language so you can communicate with her.
Lilly Satou: Blind since birth. Lady-like. A friend of Hanako, she’s has a kind personality but doesn’t get along with Shizune. She can’t see the sign language, and Shizune can’t hear her talk – though most of the animosity is probably due to a clash in personality.
Rin Tezuka: Arms amputated due to a birth defect. She has an odd personality… unique, eccentric, something like that. An artist; she’s quite skilled at using her feet, and she wears a male uniform in order to avoid… awkward moments with her skirt.
Emi Ibarazaki: Lost her legs in an accident. Despite that, she has a bright and cheerful personality. With her prosthetic legs, she becomes the best in her track and field team.
Hanako Ikezawa: Burns all over her body. Shy, has a lot of trouble communicating with others due to her partial deformities. She’s friends with Lilly.
Shiina Mikado, aka Misha: filed under miscellaneous. Best friend and interpreter of Shizune, and a member of the student council. So far the demo has not divulged her disability, if she has one. People are speculating. I’m no PHD, but pink hair is ruled out since it’s probably not a disability.
There are other characters, but I’m focusing on the main ones. The ones you interact with, and depending on who you interact with, will determine the events of the story. Act 1, the demo, is mostly Hisao trying to adjust to his new life.
The choices are yours and yours alone. During certain events you have to choose between two choices. No right or wrong answers, most of the time. More or less, you pick certain “right” choices to end up getting closer to one of the five girls (No Misha) which leads to the end of Act 1. Pick the “wrong” choices, and… well, let’s say that the game will end for Hisao before Act 2 could even begin.
On top of all this, the complete game would have adult scenes. I don’t think I have to draw a picture for you guys. It’s an optional thing that you can skip if you want to. All ideas, even awkward ones like Katawa Shoujo, have potential. So far the developers of the game are doing a good job at churning out the good stuff.
The story is pretty good. More or less, it’s about Hisao’s new life in Yamaku, which involves coping with his heart condition and interacting with the crowd. Despite their own disabilities, everyone else does their best to live their lives.
Great characters and good music. Without those a visual novel, which involves a lot of reading, would be very boring. The demo is short, and you’ll probably get to the end of the demo in an hour or so. The demo, and the complete version when it’s done, is available in http://katawa-shoujo.com/ where you can download it for free.