Katawa Shoujo Forums

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?
Emi's, she strongly resembles a woman I have a crush on (in our case I think I got Neutral End at some point in Act 2).

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?
Rin, using a guide (I got other good ends later without guides).

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?
Emi=Lilly>Rin>Hanako>Shizune

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?
Lilly: Truth
Emi: Trust
Hanako: Grow
Rin: Release
Shizune: Faith

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread?
~5 hours

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.
I'm going to treat the "direction" as part of writing and say Under a Bright Sky, when Hisao recognizes what melody he's hearing

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.
Hisao translating for Shizune and Lilly, and trying his best to tone down the rhetoric.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not?
Not really, it didn't change the fact that I'm socially awkward and love-shy.

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?

Emi's. Hers was the first route I read (Emi, Shizune, Lilly, Hanako. Still not read Rin's edit: Now read Rin's, and it doesn't change my opinion), so that may ahve also been a factor. Halfway through act 1, Emi's positivity, passion and drive gripped me, as being aspects which I wish my own personality had in larger amounts, and despite not liking her character biography that I read before downloading the game, I really felt drawn to her and still do.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?

I have successfully managed to complete all the girl's good endings so far first time without guides. The only times where I felt the need to use guides was to navigate Act 1 (second time I played through, I intended to either go with Hanako or Shizune, whichever felt more natural, and I ended up with Rin (see the flowchart for how that happened), and because I rejected Rin I ended up dropping out with Kenji (lol). After that I used the flowchart to start the Act 2 of the girl I wanted to play next, but didn't use them while in the girl's act themselves. IMHO the stories are all very obviously done, and it's hard to reach a bad ending accidently if you're sensible.
Edit: Rin's was the first and only one where I got the bad ending accidently. I got the bad ending in chapter 3 first, followed by the good ending (without checking the charts). All the other girls I felt were very obvious in terms of where you needed to go to get the good endings (Emi and Shizune's felt massively obvious. Lilly's was more subtle, but still pretty obvious. Hanako's I can't currently recall (it's kinda late here). Rin's I didn't think was obvious at all, and even with the benefit of hindsight (what little I have) I don't think there's an obvious way to get the good ending.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?

Personal preference: Emi -> Lilly = Hanako -> Rin -> SHizune
Quality: Hanako = Rin -> Shizune -> Lilly -> Emi

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?

Emi: Perseverence
Shizune: Morality
Lilly: Honesty
Hanako: Independence
Rin: Understanding
Overall: Openness

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)

Rats, I didn't make a note.
Hanako: 6:45 hours (just finished).
Emi: 6 hours?
Lilly: It felt quite short compared to the other two routes, I'd guess at 5:30 - 6 hrs, but that's a complete guess.
Shizune: Impossible to put anything more than a shot in the dark guess on it.
Rin: I forgot to look at the time, but I was on 6:30 a few sections from the end of chapter 3, so I'd guess probably 8.

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.

FOR ME, this was very effective and compelling, but it may be that it hits closer to home on me.
Emi's arc, I believe act 1 though. The second time Hisao is out running with Emi, and he feels like his legs are going to collapse, Emi will. not. let him give up on himself. "As long as you're still alive, you can keep going." I really feel like it is a wonderful creed to live by, and important to persevere. Too many times in my life (including the last few months), I've found the going really hard and have found the outside world too difficult to live in, too scary a place, and have retreated into myself, similarly to Hanako, and I wish I had had the determination and drive to keep giong through these times.

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.

Shizune's bad ending. There wasn't a particular line which struck home in a similar way, but from reading the rest of the act and knowing everything I did, knowing that Shizune was resigning herself to self-imposed exile, not believeing she was good enough for her only friends, blaming herself for her life effectively falling apart, helped in rather a large way by the accompanying picture... it damn near tore me up inside. Despite Shizune being my least favourite, I rank this as the most effective worst ending.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

To this question... no. I'm currently single, and have been for a while, but as I mentioned before, I had no problems navigating the girl's arcs to reach their good endings without resorting to cheating. I believe that I understand girls moderately well, and to a reasonable extent either know how to behave in a relationship, or am so unobservant that KS didn't give me any guidance or assistance to open my eyes to more ways that will improve a relationship IRL.
However, on reading the forums, it seems that many people weren't able to get the good endings of their girls first time without cheating, leading me to presume that my way of thinking is the exception rather than the norm, and they may have benefitted more from the game than I did in terms of assistance or experience with relationships.

However, the question 9 which I feel should have been added was the more open-ended "Do you think that experiences you have gained from this game will help you in life", and to that I would add a 100% yes.
I am a firm believer that before people should enter relationships, they should basically sort their shit out first. If they have mental hangups or issues, or co-dependancy issues or things like that, I personally feel that they should resolve them before seeking out a relationship. It is contraversial, and it is my personal opinion. And it is the main reason why I have been single for a while.
But this game ahs really inspired me with my own personal development. When I am having trouble keeping going, I think of Emi, and think of how disappointed she would be in me, and I try and push myself a little further. When I find myself caving or giving in to someone, I think of Shizune and how she wouldn't stand for someone to give in, and try a little harder.
I also struggle with minor depression, and on the whole, the game has done an excellent job of making me feel more positive again, brightening me up and making me feel better again on a longer term (improving me in general over a matter of weeks, rather than a matter of hours as a particularly good film might do).
Not only do the characters do a wonderful job of being realistic, making you love them, care for them and not want to let you down, they also do pretty good jobs of being paragons of good personalities. The vast majority of their character traits are good, or neutral. Most of their bad character traits stem from their psychological problems, mostly related to their disabilities rather than bad points of a personality (ie. bad tempered, unkind, rude etc). This may stem from the fact that the writers obviously wanted to make them as loveable as possible (it's kinda the point), but it doesn't alter the fact. The only bad personality point I can think about off my head is Lilly/Shizune's rivalry.

Edit: I had honestly kinda forgotten that KS was about disabled people, and that a large part of it is about the fact that the girls are disabled. I see it more as each of the girl's personalities, and also they sometimes have their own little foibles which need to be worked around. Shizune needs to communicate through an interpreter, and needs her hands free to talk. Lilly needs to be guided at times etc. I try to judge people by what is on the outside as little as possible, and after the initial prejudice, the fact that they are disabled kinda is incidental.

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?
Rin's thread affected me the most. I felt like of all the girls, Rin was the one I could relate to. After completing her thread, I spent quite a bit of time just thinking about things that were brought up in the story.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?
I completed Hanako's thread first, just following my own instincts.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?
As far as quality, Lilly=Rin>Hanako>>Emi>>Shizune.

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?
Lilly: Honesty
Rin: Understanding
Hanako: Equality
Emi: Patience
Shizune: Dedication (only one choice, so I'm not sure about this one)

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)
About 5 hours on average. The time required for each story was shorter every time due to being able to skip scenes. Only one I know of that took a while is Rin's. Also, I'm talking about the time to get 100% on each route.

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.
The last line from Rin's thread. "What's the word for when it feels inside your heart that everything in the world is all right?"

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.
There was not a single thing in Shizune's thread that I found to be of quality. The entire story lacked emotion to me.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?
Katawa Shoujo has 5 different relationships, each with their own problems. For some people who haven't experienced many relationships, the stories may aid in showing good qualites to keep in mind. For someone more experienced, you may have known most of these things, but KS will remind you of them. Like any lesson however, its up to you to integrate the things you learn into your life.

In my case, I'm 29 years old and married to a woman I've known for more than 10 years. The most important lessons that I found in KS were things that will come as you spend time with someone you love.

Project Update:

I am now at 87 responses. I will record 13 more, then close this information-gathering stage.

Again, I won't erase the thread, just stop tracking info. Feel free to continue to post your feelings here, if it helps.

I also just created an account to offer up my thoughts as well. It may be embarrassing for me, but atleast I don;t have to read it to a rapt audience. Hopefully my view would help someone else.

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?

Hanako
I relate a lot to Hanako. For one I was always shy as a child and for two being of a mixed background(Asian and White) I experienced a lot of isolation, shunning, and some bullying going though school. Having grown up in the rather racist south, I wasn't white enough nor asian enough for inclusion for most. Also like Rin, I tend to think differently and have a hard time defining emotions. As such I ended up developing real fear for social places around middle school, and it only got worse over time. Even today at the age of 30 I still have a hard time even going shopping and even had panic attacks answering phones as tech support.

For me, her fear was like my fear. Even if I wasn't disfigured, people acted similar because of race. Compounding that is that I generally think differently than the average person. I had a hard time dealing with people in general. The few people I could talk to, I had a hard time connecting with.

So yeah, because I saw about 60% of myself in Hanako, I was instantly understanding, even if Hisao wasn't. It actually caused a disconnect between what I would do and what Hisao did, and angered me. Like the sex scene. I instantly knew it was a bad idea, but he did it anyway. It took me a few days to get over feeling sorry for myself after playing Hanako's route to play the other ones.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?

Hanako's:
I played blind and chose according to what I would have done.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?

I actually loved all the routes so it's hard to choose. I got something different from each route.
But I gotta go with something so I go with quality of originality:

Rin>Hanako>Shizune>Lily>Emi

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?

I felt all the character routes were based on understanding through lenses of:
Hanako: respect
Lily: Trust
Rin: Acceptance
Emi: Perseverance
Shizune: Subtlety

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)

6 to 7 hours each. I tend to prefer to read slow, thinking, and understand the meaning behind the words.

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.

Talking to Lily on the phone in Hanako's route.

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.

Since I don't really like Shizune's bossiness.
I would say the subtly of Shizune not responding to Hisao's "I love you" at the end when he expected a negative response. Considering how she tip toes around Misha, it speaks volumes on how she also loves him. I suppose if one skimmed though the route, and didn't think too much they may not pick that up.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

I would say yes. Before one can really start a relationship one must come to terms with one's self. This game hit a lot of chords in me. Being an INTP I dwelt on why I felt particular ways on each route. It put a lens to things I couldn't give definition to. like corrective lenses. I've realized alot of things. Alot of Whys and self denial realizations came up though playing the game. I was kind of sad to realize aspects of my self that prevented me from connection with people. I'd say I'm about 60% Hanako, 30% Rin, 10% Shizune. It created a firestorm of isolation. Fear, both socially, relationship-wise. Being unable to understand others very well, because people just can't understand what I'm saying half the time, and I have a hard time defining concepts in my head to others, and even to myself. Having a bit of a domineering bent didn't help either, the desire to be understood by friends kind of caused me to try and force a way of thinking on others that they just can't understand, atleast I think so. For messed up people like me, this game was like a ray of sunlight in a thunderstorm while wandering though a maze. It's not going to solve my problems, but I can see the maze.

Am I the last one?

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?

Lill'ys affected me the most because in my life affection shown towards me is uncommon. Much of the words spoken to me are casual or sarcastic. All compliments I receive are simply and matter-of-factly as opposed to seeming genuine. Lilly's honest expression of emotion is something I've always longed to be the subject of.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?

I completed Shizune's route first and got the good ending. I did not use a guide, but after playing the first act demo I was intensely curious about what Shizune would have to say should she be able to speak for herself. Being able to hear her (in a manner of speaking) own words throughout her story path settled a lot of questions I had leftover from when I played the demo. I didn't use a guide at any point until after I completed 1 story path of each character in order to identify where plot changes occur, but not which answers corresponded to which endings/scenes.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?

Lilly's story arc was amazing and of the highest quality alongside Rin's. After which I would place Shizune's despite it being more lighthearted than Hanako's I enjoyed how her disability was handed. Emi's playfulness was endearing and I would rate her on par with Shizune's writing. Hanako's path I felt was oversaturated with themes of protection and saving, but it was well written. If asked to rate them out of 10 I would place Lilly as 10, Rin as 9, Shizune as 7, Emi as 6, Hanako as 5. Where 1 is just barely entertaining enough to read while bored and 10 being unable to tear myself away from reading regardless of circumstance.

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?

Lilly- Honesty (I made that association in less than a second, all the others I had to think about more carefully)
Shizune- Decisiveness
Hanako- Consideration
Emi- Effort
Rin- Patience

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)

Unfortunately due to how I saved my progress I do not have the numbers for each individual girl any longer so these will be my best guesses. Act 1 I spent maybe 3-4 hours on depending on the playthrough and the numbers below are just for act 2 and onward with each girl.

Shizune was 8:46
Lilly took about 11 hours
Hanako was around 9
Emi was roughly 6
Rin was around 8

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.

All the writing in the story I felt conveyed each respective scene very well. After reviewing the story again Misha's confession in the Shizune (my favorite girl though not favorite story arc) path I felt did an amazing job of portraying the feelings of a character who was shown to have a marked happiness associated with her. I feel it did a good job of breaking that down and bringing a lot of depth to a character I felt was figured out.

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.

Hanako was my least favorite path (not disliked by any means just least favorite) and in her story arc the scene with her panic attack was extremely well written. I suffer from a panic disorder and it was unsettling how correct everything in it was handled from how Hanako's behavior degraded to how other people reacted to it.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

After playing KS two scenes in the game powerfully affected me. In Rin's path during the scene" Raison d'être" (which I understand means something along the lines of "reason to exist" there was a thought by Hisao which had a profound impact on me, "I remember myself, thinking of the purpose of friendship. To put up with anything and everything, to be there for your friend.". This was read during a time where I questioned why many of my friends did not speak to me and why I was always upset with everyone. It was because some of my better friends had problems and I couldn't help them, felt bad for being unable to help or contribute in any way, so instead I ceased talking to them. My best friend I had completely quit responding to without explanation. She had never turned me away even on my worst of days, but here I had completely abandoned her during a troubled time when she expressly said to me, "Chad, don't stop being my friend." though I did exactly that. When I read that line from Hisao in it's context I was overwhelmed with sadness, called my friend and apologized.

Hanako's panic attack in the scene "Falling" showed me very clearly and very precisely what my own panic and anxiety problems have put other people through. Having only seen and experienced it from the miserable point of view of the person having the attack made me appreciate the few friends I still have. I'd often wondered where many of mine went and why I'd fallen out of touch with many, why so many were distant or seemed to actively avoid me. Each of them had at once time been present during one of my attacks. I suppose it's too much for some people to handle, always wondering if or when it will happen again and what if anything will trigger it. It made me realize the very few I am close with are truly precious for having stuck it out through multiple panic attacks over the years. It's not a simple thing to endure for anyone involved.

It's because of these two things that I feel I am better equipped to have relationships of any kind with people. After the events in Rin's path and Lilly's path I see the value of honesty and friendship in a way so blatant I feel as if it finally makes sense. The events in Hanako's path made me more aware of my personal issues and how they affect other people and are not contained to me alone. I feel this applies to all relationships and not only romantic ones.



there may have been a bit of rambling in there, but I am sleepy and apologize for any difficult i cause due to my word choice or sentence structure.

You're not too late to enter a response to this questionnaire. I currently have 89 responses. I'll record 11 more, then end my information-gathering.

Again, the thread won't be deleted: I'll keep it here on the board in case others would like to share their feelings.

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?

Even though it wasn't my favorite route, Lilly's affected me the most. Mostly during the final few scenes. Very well written and had me sobbing for a few minutes

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?

Hanako. As much as I hate to admit it, I used a flowchart to get her good ending. I didn't want to hurt her.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?

Hanako>Rin>Lilly>Emi>Shizune

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?

Hanako: Respect
Rin: Accept
Lilly: Honesty
Emi: Support
Shizune: Friendship

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)

3-6 hours for each path

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.

The scene wereHanako goes catatonic in class.

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.

Shizune's bad ending.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

Tough question, but I think it has. It's taught to not be such a white-knight and to accept people for who they are, scars and all. Katawa Shoujo is really the only piece of popular fiction that has ever had this kind of effect on me. It has seriously made me want to be a better person and to get back in shape. Not bad for a VN about sleeping with crippled girls.

I hope this is enough info to be of some use. Good luck with the paper and know that you have our full support.

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?

Lilly, I guess it's the fear of losing your loved ones.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?

Lilly, by playing like what I would tell her IRL.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?

Lilly
Hanako
Emi
Shizune
Rin

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?

Lilly: Sincerity
Hanako: Respect
Emi: Cherish
Shizune: Fealty
Rin: Tolerance

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)

About 4-6 hours.

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.

Wheatfield scene. The CG just made it much more beautiful.

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.

When Rin completely breaks down and starts smoking.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

Yes, after being single for a long time, I lost the concept of love. I learned how to have feelings for someone again, even she doesn't exist. Perhaps I'll meet my own Lilly one day.

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?
difficult question, I guess Emi route is the one that got me quite bothered and weak. Cause you can't reach her she both fragile and strong but she need help she totally cherry at first but the deeper you dig you understand less and less which is captivating. and you're on verge of losing her if you get too stuborn it"s really a tight rope like in the real life. But the things is I enjoyed every route as much since it"s all different.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?
Shizune but I used the guide from start to the end

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?
from a romantic point of view : lilly, emi, shizune, rin, hanako
from the quality of the writing : rin, lilly, emi, hanako, shizune

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?
shizune ; patience
lilly : passion
hanako : respect
emi : confidence
rin : self respect

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)
shizune (act1 included) : 13h
hanako : 7h
lilly : 11h
emi : 5h
rin : 6h


6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.
when Emi tells you about her history and her father

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.
I have no least favorite but : shizune bad end quite hurt ( as every bad end )

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?
Kind of yet not really, KS treat some case of personality but not every one and there quite a lot of girl out here. Real life hurts whether you"re prepared or not as soon as you engaged yourself emotionally it hurts that life and it"s show that you care.

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?

Lilly's route by far and away. I felt that this route exhibited true love, two people that were brought together by fate. I admit that I have a soft-spot for classic love-story-esque moments, and the scene with Hisao finally realizing the hitch in the relationship and running to catch Lilly before her flight hit me very hard, as did the the ending in general. This was also the route where I felt I most shared every emotion shared by Hisao; I feel like I connected the most with him on this route.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?

Emi's was my first route, and I was able to get her best ending by simply making the choices that seemed natural to me.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?

Lilly>Hanako>Rin>Emi>Shizune

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?

Lilly: Honesty
Hanako: Independence
Rin: Perseverance
Emi: Understanding
Shizune: Friendship

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)

Approximately five hours each.

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.

Cliche by now, but the wheat-field scene with Lilly.

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.

I can't place my finger quite on why, but the Tanabata scene to me was quite well done.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

I believe so. I am always quite happy when I can take something from any artistic medium and apply it to myself. I'm having a hard time describing why I feel it'll help me, though. One aspect of it I think is the exposure to different characters with very real personalities and in some cases with certain complexes. We get to see Hisao learn how to earn the affection of several different types of people, which shows us all the many different emotions you can feel in a relationship. Another simpler aspect is that it showed me that I can be very emotionally involved in things. I always knew I could, of course, but for a story to make me actually feel these emotional, sometimes even romantic feelings was quite something. I hope this last point makes sense. It's not that I don't feel passion about things, I do, but...damn, I feel a bit like Rin, unable to put my feelings into words here.

The game has given me confidence as well. I 'm not overflowing with it, admittedly, and my being (and I'm getting quite personal here) a physically handicapped person hasn't helped that fact much. I know this might seem weird, but seeing handicapped people in relationships was quite something, regardless of the fact that it's a work of fiction. In life you see relatively few young handicapped people during your regular routine, and even fewer in relationships (Let alone handicapable people in film. There aren't many movies I've seen where, even if there is a romantically-involved handicapped character, the plot and disability aren't so overly romanticized). It inspired me, it gave me the drive to attempt to get at least a piece of that love for myself.

1. Lilly. Mostly because she reminded me of my major ex-girlfriend, whom I loved dearly. She wasn’t as refined as Lilly but she respected others and herself.

2. Emi. I got her good ending on my very first try of the game, I played the rest of the game going through all the girls without a walkthrough for the first time, whatever ending I got. Once I finished a route I would look up the walkthrough then see all possible endings. Only ever got one bad ending on a first try.

3. Lilly>Hanako>Emi>Shizune>Rin

4. Shizune: faithful
Emi: reasonable
Rin: unreasonable
Lilly: loving
Hanako: open (as in, the noun)

5. 6-7 hours average.

6. Lilly: Overall, I just love the imagery the writers put out in this game, it’s fantastic. But for Lilly, what I loved was the detail the put into their sex scene when Hisao was blindfolded, and also the descriptive way of showing the dinner scene. Lilly’s path was overall written very well from my opinion.

7. Rin: Considering I wouldn’t have gone after Rin, personally, I don’t like her path. She doesn’t interest me really, as she always seems lost and easily distracted even though some of the ideas she comes up with are phenomenal. I don’t like the way she treated Hisao, and their sex scene seemed almost….forced, kind of like Hanako and Misha’s. By the way should this question be an “ineffective piece of writing”? Just wondering As for the writing itself, its good like all the other paths’ over all, but it felt jumbled and disorganized kinda like Rin herself. Wasn’t a big fan of her path =/ sorry prof.

8. Katawa Shoujo has made me rethink some of the decisions I made in my big relationship 2 years ago, and some of the situations that I wish could have happened between her and I. Honestly, I don’t like reading into things too much, I love stories for their plots, not for what they mean 90% of the time. KS just happened to be in that 90%, I wasn’t hugely affected by it in the manner of “I need to completely change my life because of this”, but like everyone else, I did get the feels. As for future relationships, I see none possible, therefore KS hasn’t given me any helpful advice or what have you. I messed up once, and that was it for me, I knew I was going to be alone afterwards and I was okay with it; thing is: it’s not even my choice.

Well there’s my 2 cents, professor How is your study going along so far?? Im very interested that you, a professor, has taken an academic interest in KS. Please update! Would love to see your paper when it’s finished!

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?

Rin's and Hanako's affected me the most. Simply because of how much I can relate to the experiences presented in the game.
If I have to go with one, I would say Hanako. Her personality reminds me of my past self too much.

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?

I played it blind during my first couple of playthroughs. I reached Emi's good ending first without any guide. Her route is in my opinion the most realistic one.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?

Emi > Hanako > Rin > Lilly > Shizune

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?

Emi > Thoughtful
Hanako > Careful
Rin > Freedom (As in let her be free)
Lilly > Honest
Shizune > Loyalty

5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)

Around 6 hours each? Rin took 8 hours.

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.

When Emi first invited Hisao to her house, it eventually led to her getting mad, but the next day she's on her track with her usual smile back. It reminds me of how in real life when you anger someone close and found out you are not that close to begin with, the next day he/she can still be back to talking with you like nothing happened. Yet every time these sort of things happen you can tell that something is amiss, because you can see the distance clearer than before.

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.

For Shizune's path, the most effective part I find is with Misha. It was when I found out that Misha's cheerfulness was a brave front hiding dark secrets and worries that I got emotionally attached to Shizune's thread. It reminds me of how many people are the same. Trying to keep up a brave front and spread happiness while they themselves are feeling lonely and sad.

8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

I'm currently in a relationship. KS did not allow me to strengthen it, because my relationship is now falling apart. What KS taught me is that a relationship can only be maintained if 2 parties continually put in effort and try to make it work. (Shizune constantly sticking to Hisao, Emi and Hanako opening up, Rin trying hard to explain herself to Hisao, Lilly making an effort to make Hisao happy and Hisao himself doing different things for each girls on different paths.) Yet when trying, we must also know when to keep our distance.

Btw Professor, do you mind sending me the paper for a readthrough when you're done with it please? =)

1. Which girl's thread affected you the most emotionally? Why did it do this?
Rin, because it was more complex and because I never could decide if I wanted to root for the girl or for her art. She's tearing herself down emotionally, and I know why, and I should cheer her dedication, but I also selfishly want to keep her and I dont' know if the destruction will be total, and if it is total, well wasn't the art worth it, but is the art worth losing Rin?

2. Which girl's thread did you successfully complete first (good ending)? How did you reach the good end of this thread? Did you use a guide, or did you answer the questions according to your own thoughts, as I did?
My first ending was the Kenji bad ending in Act 1, because I tried to be all things to all people. Then I tried again, and concentrated on Shizune. That was my first good ending in Act 1, and when the whole game came out that was the one I played first. The other Act 1 threads used a guide.

3. In what order would you rate the quality of the girls' threads?
This is really hard to do, because they are each of a roughly equivalent level of quality, just in different dimensions. I'll have to decide if this apple is more apple-y than that squid is fish-y. The following is a rough order:

Rin has the most complex and emotionally exhausting thread
Hanako is the most deceptive, doing what you think is supportive, isn't
The other three are more straightforward, each stumbling a bit on a narrative flaw
Emi is a somewhat traditional romance, but the father issues are an obvious plot device, not as well hidden as Hanako's issues. On the other hand, it is the only thread with true humor in it (slapstick Kenji doesn't count).
Lilly is a really traditional romance, with a Dr Zhivago style ending
Shizune is straightforward, but the brother and father are jarring and not well justified, and the motivations are not as well developed

So there you are...no, wait...I think Lilly and Emi...

4. If there was a single word which describes the key a player must remember to complete each girl's thread, what would that word be for each girl?
Shizune - committed
Lilly - openess
Hanako - strength
Rin - driven
Emi - friendship


5. How much time did it take you to complete each girl's thread? (Play time, not total IRL time)
I'm a fast reader, so I put these on Auto, with a fairly high text speed and short transitons
These are rough estimates, based on the timings shown on the Load screen:
Shizune: 6:06
Lilly - 5:05
Hanako - 4:23
Rin - 4:25
Emi - 4:55

6. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your favorite girl's thread.
Sae's "Blue Period" discussion in Rin's Neutral Ending --I didn't know the background, and the way she laid out the story, and then sprang the ending (who and what it was about), was very well done

7. Give an example of a particularly effective piece of writing from your least favorite girl's thread.
Shizune's discussion with Hisao of her competitiveness in "The Summit" in Shizune's Good Ending, and of how that led her to neglect asking for help in communicating.


8. Do you feel that, after playing Katawa Shoujo, that you are better equipped emotionally for a real-life relationship? Why or why not? If you are currently in a relationship, do you feel that playing KS will allow you to strengthen it? Why or why not?

Not better equipped. I am some decades older than the average KS player (I'm probably not your target demographic), and have learned most of these lessons the hard way.

Will not particularly strengthen the existing relationship, because it is equally old and gnarled, and not susceptible to single-point intervention. On the other hand, it does remind me that everyone is the hero of their own story, and howevermuch my story is about a hero, I am simply a supporting actor in hers.

Thanks to everyone who has posted here.

I only need three more replies, and I can get started on this thing!