My Thoughts and Feelings about Katawa Shoujo

[ArazelEternal]

I love the game. I absolutely love it. Ive played a few other VNs, and this utterly trumps every one of them.

Characters in order: Lilly, Hanako, Emi, Shizune, Rin.
Story + Character: Lilly, Hanako, Emi, Rin, Shizune.

A fiend of mine and I enjoyed the game so much that we are continuing it in our own way. We cannot thank everyone involved enough for creating the game. We discuss it and how it made us re-evaluate ourselves, how we live our lives and how we see everyone around us. First time I played through the game, I ended up with Emi's bad ending. The choices I made in the game that brought that ending on are the choices I would have made in real life if faced with the same situations with someone like her. So, in that sense it told me something about myself.

We are currently in an roleplay between ourselves based on the game. We have our original characters that we made up, and included Lilly, Hanako, Shizune, Misha, Emi and Rin from the game. We have roleplayed quite a bit before we even knew of the game, and I have taken the female roles in every one even though I am a guy. The same thing with this one.

My characters name is Hoshino. She is 5'8" with lower back length brown hair, brown eyes. I don't know if there is a term for her condition or what it would be. She has severe muscle deficiency that effects her whole body, including her heart, like her muscles didn't develop with the rest of her body. Looking at her, she looks very frail. On good days she can walk from the dorms to the school and around, then back without support, but is always dead tired when she gets back to her room. On bad days, she needs her wheelchair the whole time. Her personality is sort of a combination of Lilly's and Hanako's. She is very sweet and genuine like Lilly, but shares some of Hanako's shyness.

Ive only gotten one bad ending. That was Emi's. I got it the first play through. I finished it one night just before going to bed for work the next day. I was already up later than I should have been, and I didn't have time to try again. I didn't get any sleep that night. Maybe an hour if even that. It bothered me that much. I was depressed as hell the next day and had to do what I could to keep from chewing out others around me. From then, I told myself I would to what I had to make sure that I only got the good endings from then on. I used that flowchart that was posted to help me along. Call it cheating or whatever you want, but I don't think I could have handled another bad ending. The characters, especially Lilly and Hanako became real to me. I will not go through to get their bad endings like some do, I can't bring myself to intentionally hurt them like that. So my completion will stay at 95%, but I am just fine with that. The reviews that follow next are from the viewpoints after the good endings.

Lilly's arc was so emotional and deep. It broke my heart and also made my smile and tear up a number of times. When they meet in the field in Hokkaido and she confesses to him then breaks down, then when she meets him in the hospital after his second heart attack and breaks down. Ive played through her good ending 4 times now and am still not tired of it. Its like a good book, it never gets old and each time you read you find things you've missed before. Lilly is so genuine and pure. She is not only beautiful on the outside, but on the inside as well. She isn't just a beautiful woman, but a beautiful person in every way. The way she tells him to stop apologizing for himself shows this very well. Maybe thats what I need to stop doing. If I could find someone like her in real life, I would be the happiest man in the world. Wouldn't matter one single bit to me if she was blind or not.

Hanako's story was a close second. She is so innocent and sweet and shy as well. I have a soft spot in my heart for shy girls. She starts out so timid and unsure, then she slowly begins to open up to him and show more of herself. She is a beautiful person as well, outside and in. Her scars do not deter me in the least. They have a beauty of their own, showing how much she has been through and how strong she really is, even if she doesnt realize it herself. The burned half of her body is just as much her as her unburned half. Her scars are her, they are Hanako just as much as any other part of her.

Emis story was emotional as well. Even through she has been through so much, losing her legs and her father in the wreck, she comes through so strong and confident. She turns her disability into a positive thing, even referring to herself as the fastest thing on no legs. Her bright and bubbly personality is what makes me like her. She reminds me a lot of myself in the way that she only opens up to people on her own terms. If she doesn't want you to know something, you will not know it until she is good and ready to tell you. She keeps everything inside and is convinced that she has to do everything on her own, which is the way I am.

Rin's had its emotional points, but it didnt hit me like the others did. Physically, she is cute enough. I could get over her having no arms. However, she is a bit weird for me. While she would be interesting to talk to, I don't think I could handle being around her all the time. She can be nice and sweet at times, but her sense of logic and ramblings I think would get to me after time. When she is put through the pressure of her art being displayed and what she goes through leading up to it made me feel bad for her, seeing how broken she becomes. Then the argument she gets into with Noyima towards the end. I felt bad for her, but was glad that she made the choice to do what she wanted.

Shizune's story I felt was almost devoid of emotion, at least in comparison to Lilly's and Hanako's. Physically she is cute enough. However, I think with the way that she has to turn everything into a competition would drive me nuts. What I like about her though is how strong and determined she is. She gets an idea in her head and she sees it through to the best of her ability. Gotta admire that.

These are my thoughts and feelings on the game. Anyone share them?

[YeOldGrog]

Good to hear that you and your friend are analyzing the story so much and developing new aspects to it as well.
As for thoughts and feelings I can totally relate to you. I recently finished Lilly's path and it was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. All the paths I have done so far (Lilly, Rin, and Emi) are so touching and great, it has made me think more critically of my life as well.
It is always nice to read about what people thought about the different paths and I wish the best for you and any of your future endevours.

[WorldlyWiseman]

A fiend of mine and I

Dabbling in the demonic, are we?

[quote="ArazelEternal"
We are currently in an roleplay between ourselves based on the game. We have our original characters that we made up, and included Lilly, Hanako, Shizune, Misha, Emi and Rin from the game. We have roleplayed quite a bit before we even knew of the game, and I have taken the female roles in every one even though I am a guy. The same thing with this one. [/quote]

Have you considered going into drama, or maybe writing screenplays? You know, so it's not just you and your guyfriend. Not that I'm judging or shouting 'no homo!' or anything.

Glad to hear you enjoyed it. I played it honestly, too, and I managed to only get one of Rin' bad endings (both choices during the argument in the atalier sounded about the same to me, no idea why one of them has Hisao loose it). The ideal paths for Hanako and Lilly left me feeling kind of uncomfortable, honestly. It feels like Hisao is putting WAY too much responsibility for his own happiness on other people. Then again I'm kind of solitary the way Rin is.

So yeah, enjoy your stay.

[Breaker deGodot]

(both choices during the argument in the atalier sounded about the same to me, no idea why one of them has Hisao loose it).

They may sound the same, but they have completely different meanings. The bad choice is passing the ball into Rin's court, demanding that she explain herself, even though she's clearly unable to do so. The good choice is Hisao asking for Rin to help him, essentially expressing his own need for understanding, and not implicitly blaming Rin in the process. It's a subtle difference, but a very important one.

[Mirrormn]

(both choices during the argument in the atalier sounded about the same to me, no idea why one of them has Hisao loose it).

They may sound the same, but they have completely different meanings. The bad choice is passing the ball into Rin's court, demanding that she explain herself, even though she's clearly unable to do so. The good choice is Hisao asking for Rin to help him, essentially expressing his own need for understanding, and not implicitly blaming Rin in the process. It's a subtle difference, but a very important one.

It's important to remember, too, that regardless of what choice you make in the atelier, Hisao is angry at Rin. The poorly worded choice ("Then explain") just happens to lead to a situation that is conducive to him venting that anger immediately, while the other choice(s) do(es) not. Hisao eventually expresses that anger towards Rin no matter what choice you make. The only difference is the timing; if you make a good choice, the argument happens after Rin is done painting and voluntarily comes to Hisao and shows romantic interest in him (the attempted kiss that he blocks), which prevents the relationship from falling apart totally.

[ArazelEternal]

Dabbling in the demonic, are we?

What do you mean?

Have you considered going into drama, or maybe writing screenplays? You know, so it's not just you and your guyfriend. Not that I'm judging or shouting 'no homo!' or anything.

I have no interest in screenplays or something like that. Im not that creative. Im glad your not judging, but it would not make a difference to me. Both of us very much enjoy our roleplays, so we will keep doing them. And thats why we do them alone, so we can do them the way we want.

I find it enjoyable to play the female roles as well as male roles. We like to roleplay and include romance. One has to take the female roles, we just decided that I am a lot better at it than he is.

[WorldlyWiseman]

Dabbling in the demonic, are we?

What do you mean?

You skipped the R in 'friend' and it came out 'fiend', a word that refers to a creature of hell. it was a friendly jab on my part, nothing important.

(both choices during the argument in the atalier sounded about the same to me, no idea why one of them has Hisao loose it).

They may sound the same, but they have completely different meanings. The bad choice is passing the ball into Rin's court, demanding that she explain herself, even though she's clearly unable to do so. The good choice is Hisao asking for Rin to help him, essentially expressing his own need for understanding, and not implicitly blaming Rin in the process. It's a subtle difference, but a very important one.

It's important to remember, too, that regardless of what choice you make in the atelier, Hisao is angry at Rin. The poorly worded choice ("Then explain") just happens to lead to a situation that is conducive to him venting that anger immediately, while the other choice(s) do(es) not. Hisao eventually expresses that anger towards Rin no matter what choice you make. The only difference is the timing; if you make a good choice, the argument happens after Rin is done painting and voluntarily comes to Hisao and shows romantic interest in him (the attempted kiss that he blocks), which prevents the relationship from falling apart totally.

I figured out most of this after the fact, it was just at that point in time they looked identical to me and I made the wrong guess. Maybe I'm just a jerk at heart

Have you considered going into drama, or maybe writing screenplays? You know, so it's not just you and your guyfriend. Not that I'm judging or shouting 'no homo!' or anything.

I have no interest in screenplays or something like that. Im not that creative. Im glad your not judging, but it would not make a difference to me. Both of us very much enjoy our roleplays, so we will keep doing them. And thats why we do them alone, so we can do them the way we want.

I find it enjoyable to play the female roles as well as male roles. We like to roleplay and include romance. One has to take the female roles, we just decided that I am a lot better at it than he is.[/quote]

You're creative enough to mentally inhabit a character who is unlike yourself, but you can't try out a similar project on a larger scale? C'mon, don't give me that
You might have the confidence eventually.