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See, I usually don't play games like this, but somehow I did.



Katawa Shoujo (english title: Disability Girls) is a visual novel made by Four Leaf Studios. The idea started back in 2000, when artist RAITA made a sketch about a VN with disabled girls and put it in the end of one of his books. This sketch was found by 4chan in January 2007. The idea was made real, and on 4th January 2012 the game was finally released.

The story is about a Nakai Hisao, and starts off with a girl confessing her love to him. However, this moment ends quickly, as Hisao gets an heart attack. After a number of months in the hospital, where he is diagnosed with Arrhytmia (to describe it as simple as possible, his heart is suicidal), he is sent to an academy made specifically for physically disabled students, where he meets a pile of new friends, the main characters being (left to right) Shizune, the mute and deaf student council leader; Misha, her hyperactive sign language interpreter who seems to have Ménière's disease; Lilly, a girl blind since birth who usually is very calm and collected; Hanako, a burn victim with traumatized from the incident which caused it, and as a result extremly shy; Emi, the star of the track team who lost her legs (calling herself the "fastest thing on no legs"); and Rin, who has no arms, and is very interested in art and usually has a very "unique" thought process. Last but not least, not pictured, the "legally blind" guy living next door to Hisao - Kenji - who thinks the academy is the central of a feminist conspiracy trying to take over the world.
The rest is up to the player, who can take one of six routes - ending in either a good ending, neutral ending, bad ending or you just die.

At first I didn't want to play it because I usually don't play this stuff (I'd rather read a regular book), and because I was slightly disgusted a lot at the idea of H-scenes with disabled girls. After the hype on /v/ and reddit kept up and I found out you can disable them, I thought it wouldn't hurt to try it. Right now I'm on my third playthough, finished both the Kenji* route and Emi route (with both endings). The writing is great, the art is awesome, and the disabilities are not handled like "lol cripple pron", but the stories are handled with a lot of respect, each girl having a interesting backstory, and holy ♥♥♥♥ the scene where Emi goes to the graveyard with Hisao. There are people claiming the broke out in tears at some of the dialogue, some say the game motivated them to learn sign language/go out running more/other stuff. But that might just be the internet overstating stuff.


Download: http://katawa-shoujo.com/download.php
ATTENTION/WARNING: The full version of Katawa Shoujo is 18+ - it contains H-scenes. You can switch them off in the options** - there is no big plot advancement in them, there will be some topless pictures though (so the rating drops to 16+ or 17+ depending on your country).**** The Act 1 demo of KS has none of these and can easily be rated around 12+ - but you will only get Act 1, as it says on the tin. You can finish one route, but the other five can be only started.

* No, it's not what you think. No romance here.
** But that doesn't matter, the H-scenes are disabled, anyways***
*** I should be shot for that joke. :<
**** But then again, hardly anyone cares about age ratings these days... *coughCoDcough*

I heard this a bunch around /a/ and was going to try it, but VNs in general are usually time consuming. I'm not sure if I have enough motivation right now to try it. It grabbed Suyo's interest, though, and I've done VN's in the past, so it's not like I'm rejecting it completely. I may play it if I have the time.

I've actually been playing this one for the last month, and like Azhun said, yes, it is very time consuming. It was a bit discouraging that I played for about a dozen hours and made only the smallest amount of progress, but the premise of the game is very interesting, and I did like more than one of the girls, so I'm still playing it.

Throughout this week, I've spent time playing this, and I really like it. I've cleared everything in the Emi route, bad and good ending, and I have 28% completion.

Everything about it attracts me. The stories are great and have depth, the pictures are nice, the animations don't look spectacular, but are a nice touch, nonetheless, the characters are interesting. I can't say that I've cried, though my heart does feel heavy after some of these scenes. The sound really helps. Shadow of Truth really chokes me up...

The H-scenes are actually really light. The most I've seen is a bare body with a bare chest. No crotches, to put it bluntly. One is especially amusing. The few of you that play with explicit content on(if any), you know what I'm talking about. The text during these scenes are very subtle, too.

I was very surprised when I finished the Emi route. I felt many emotions during my first playthrough, and I'm looking forward to playing through for all the others, since I can't imagine them being stupid. I can't really say anything was a turn off. I didn't keep track of my time, though that doesn't mean anything to me, this is great.

nin10mode wrote:One is especially amusing.

I know which one you are talking about. :3

I finished the Emi, Kenji, Hanako and Shizune routes now, and just started Rins Act 2. Hanakos story is ♥♥♥♥ amazing. I didn't break out in tears, but I admit I shed a manly tear.

In other news, some of the KS fans at 4chan played some TF2 yesterday. I joined while they were discussing the girls, when suddenly I got a hat drop.
> Exquisite Rack
The entire server broke down in laughter for 3 minutes

I got this after you first said anything about it. But I haven't played it yet as I have two other VN's I want to complete and it's hard to balance anime, school, etc. when you have a game that you can play for hours and make almost no progress.

But I suppose Clannad can wait since I've seen the anime. Katawa: Challenge accepted.

Well, quite a few people have started playing, it seems. Over the course of a day, Usu, MK, Lr, and Pyro have started playing and seem to enjoy it. Ven got it a few days ago. I hope you all continue to, because this is really something.

As for myself, after completing it 100% a few weeks ago, I find myself playing through again. At this point, I think I know what does what by memory. Not sure which route I'll go with, just playing to immerse myself in a touching story again. This isn't a generic, shallow visual novel which I see a lot of OPs to when playing osu!, it's a carefully written and created piece that's well worth a few hours per playthrough.

I filnally cleared all routes yesterday, and can clearly say that Hanako'S route is the best and if you think otherwise you suck have a different opinion.

Also here's something to throw your money at: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/105 ... o-art-book

Too bad I live too far away to go by foot and my parents probably won't get me a plane ride and admission tickets.

nin10mode wrote:Too bad I live too far away to go by foot and my parents probably won't get me a plane ride and admission tickets.

If you pay 20$+ you get the book and some other stuff shipped to you.