Concerning their disabilities...

[UnKreativ]

Hello everyone!


I know some don't like it if the Threadstarter feels the need to justify himself before writing anything. I'm going to do just that right now...

First: I've searched the Katawa Shoujo Forums here and did not find a satisfying answer.
Second: I'm German, so I think you'll notice some problems I still have in expressing myself in english.


While searching for pictures of the girls, I came to think that Rin is always (in all the pics I've seen...) depicted with her missing arms as stumps. Her description however tells me, that she's got "thalidomide" arms. I know that I lack the medical knowledge to explain the difference, but I think there is one.
Next thing is about Hanako. Why does she have to stay at Yamaku (24-hours nursing staff, etc.)? I happen to go to a school where there is also a girl with burning scars in her face... and my school is as normal as schools can possibly be here in Germany.
I'd also want to know if there is any information about Misha's reasons for being at Yamaku? There is nothing said about this in the game, is it? I'm sorry if I should have missed something that important.
So, is there anyone here to enlighten me?

Thanks for reading.

[vermithrx]

Rin was born with deformed arms and/or hands, but they were amputated while she was an infant so all she has now are the stumps.

Hanako could be there because of her psychological problems in dealing with social situations or because her burns went so deep as to cause internal injuries that she may need medical attention for. We won't find out until the full game comes out.

Misha's reasons for being at Yamaku are unknown and there are entire threads many pages long devoted to speculation about it. The developers of the game are being very tight-lipped about the subject, so once again we won't know until they release the full game.

Edit: Thanks for the correction, DuaneMoody.

[DuaneMoody]

Thalidomide was an antinausea drug sometimes prescribed to pregnant women -- it had the unfortunate side effect of producing incomplete or shortened limbs on offspring.

I don't believe the writers are specifically mentioning it as the cause of Rin's disability inasmuch as it was discontinued for this use in 1961 (before Rin's mother was likely born herself). Nevertheless, in early materials for KS predating the names for the characters Rin was referred to as "Thalidomide-tan."

Devs, feel free to correct me here.

[U.T. Raptor]

Thalidomide was an antinausea drug sometimes prescribed to pregnant women -- it had the unfortunate side effect of producing incomplete or shortened limbs on offspring.

I don't believe the writers are specifically mentioning it as the cause of Rin's disability inasmuch as it was discontinued for this use in 1961 (before Rin's mother was likely born herself). Nevertheless, in early materials for KS predating the names for the characters Rin was referred to as "Thalidomide-tan."

Devs, feel free to correct me here.

Thalidomide was referenced in Raita's original page too, iirc...

[UnKreativ]

Thalidomide was an antinausea drug sometimes prescribed to pregnant women -- it had the unfortunate side effect of producing incomplete or shortened limbs on offspring.

I don't believe the writers are specifically mentioning it as the cause of Rin's disability inasmuch as it was discontinued for this use in 1961 (before Rin's mother was likely born herself). Nevertheless, in early materials for KS predating the names for the characters Rin was referred to as "Thalidomide-tan."

Devs, feel free to correct me here.

Thalidomide was referenced in Raita's original page too, iirc...

I knew about it... It was used in a medication called "Contergan" in Germany. And the original page was why I was wondering about it in the first place. I don't think it is/was common to remove body parts that are at least in some way "functional"...

[Bara]

I knew about it... It was used in a medication called "Contergan" in Germany. And the original page was why I was wondering about it in the first place. I don't think it is/was common to remove body parts that are at least in some way "functional"...

In the original translation Rin's is described as "A thalidomide girl". I believe this is simply a description by the artist of the condition of her arms since birth, not a medical diagnosis.
As far as how her arms are drawn; if I'm not misremembering, I have read in posts by members of the dev team that basicly for artistic ease they decided to consider the deformed/undeveloped portion of her arms arms to have been surgicaly amputated while she was still an infant. This is just an artistic /storytelling convienience. As far as I know it has nothing concrete to link it to actual current medical practice. Maybe someone with more knowlege and experience with medical procedures and or history can answer. A medical doctor I certainly am not!

[Aura]

I made Rin an amputee (as opposed to possessing something she can manipulate) because I wanted her to be that way. That's pretty much all there is to it. As for canon, while RAITA's sketch indeed mentions thalidomide, and the girl in sketch was called thalidomide-tan, Rin's disability was not caused by thalidomide because as mentioned before, it'd be inanely anachronistic.

[UnKreativ]

I made Rin an amputee [...] because I wanted her to be that way. That's pretty much all there is to it. [...]

How rude of you...

Well, thank you for clearing this up.

[Envy]

And it was universally agreed that no one enjoyed the idea of little shriveled hands popping out while banging Rin.

[bitpeg]

I'd enjoy that.

[delta]

And it was universally agreed that no one enjoyed the idea of little shriveled hands popping out while banging Rin.

But then K-On came out and changed that.

[ROFLWAFFLE!]

I have a stumpy right ring finger
My mother is an alchoholic.

[Strider]

I have a stumpy right ring finger
My mother is an alchoholic.

ASSASSIN!
...'Cept it should be your left.

Also, there's a local teacher 'round my area missing half of his left arm due to a birth defect. Thought I'd throw that in there.

[ROFLWAFFLE!]

I have a stumpy right ring finger
My mother is an alchoholic.

ASSASSIN!
...'Cept it should be your left.

Also, there's a local teacher 'round my area missing half of his left arm due to a birth defect. Thought I'd throw that in there.

Yeh, I'm so glad my left ring finger is intact.
'Else wedding day is gonna be awkward.

[DuaneMoody]

But then K-On came out and changed that.

DON'T SAY CRIPPLE
YOU WON'T SEE ANY NIPPLE