Katawa Shoujo Forums

That feeling of longing when I finish a route; that feeling of just wanting... wanting more, just wanting to go right back in there, to see her again, to feel it again... it's unparalleled and unmatched in volume by anything that any piece of work had ever managed to awaken within me. It's been a few years since my first time here, but it still feels so powerful. No movie, book, visual novel or song, regardless of how much it touched my heart, had never managed to make me feel as strongly as this one.
It makes me smile and it makes me cry and then it hurts a lot, it hurts more than one would believe such a thing could hurt, but it still feels so precious. That feeling of longing is there through it all, never loosening its grip over my pounding heart or my repeatedly contracting throat.

It makes me hope with all my heart that I may experience this feeling someday in "real life". I hope with all my heart that I can some day experience it with someone I can truly hug, and truly talk to. I want to feel this kind of feeling without it being tied to this painful feeling of longing that leaves me wanting to cry. Let the longing be there, but let it be a positive thing, let it be a derivative of love, let it be a derivative of hope and expectation. If that ever comes to happen, I will be happy.

Katawa Shoujo is... special. It just is. A while in the forums with all the people who've been touched by it is all that's needed to understand this, not to mention going through it yourself.
I kind of assumed that the heavy feels mostly belong to the relative newcomers, but here I am over two years after finishing Lilly's route for the first time (and having just finished it for the second time), and... I don't even know who I was kidding. I feel so emotional right now it's absurd even to my (incredibly moist) eyes.

This girl works so damn hard, I'm still scared for her even after her ending.
The feeling of wanting to go everything alone is so real, and I can't get over how amazing she is at taking care of other people while neglecting herself. Please Emi, sit your (perfect, somewhat.. lemony...) butt down for a second and let people do things for you!

Man I want to play all her endings now, but I don't want to end up breaking my own heart into a million pieces.

Just rewatching the animations for the Arc 2 intros gets me teary eyed

Its just so.... beautiful....

Especially the part in Emi's where she grabs the apple while sitting on Hisao's shoulders...

Misha's sweet laugh when seeing Hisao's sign language...

Hanako looking confused as the world spins around her

OMG, Lilly and Hisao in the field as she touches his face....

Rin's was probably the dandelions...

Oh man, the feelz train hurts so hard but feels so good....

So, I live in Hawaii, and, with an obviously high Japanese population and culture here, I had someone talking to me about visual novels. I'd never even heard of them, but they sounded fascinating. After quick research, I found Katawa Shoujo was highly rated and free to download, so I thought I'd give it a try.

Well, 50 hours later over the course of four days and I'm devastated that it's over. Technically it's not for me, anyway. Somehow through a seeming miracle the only bad ending I got was Shizune, and then I went and replayed it to get the good as well. But I don't really want to go back and play through each character's bad ending. I'm already heart broken enough. Heck, it was hard for me to play Rin's story after playing Emi's story, being that close to Emi still in the story, KNOWING what's she's going through now, but knowing she wouldn't get the closure that she needs because it's not her arc. I certainly can't fathom going back just to knowingly get the bad endings.

What did you all do to help sooth that pain in your heart you had after it was over (unless I'm the only one that feels that way, and in that case......awkward......)?

Don't you worry, you're by no means the only person who felt that way!

Unfortunately, the only real way of getting over it, is exactly the same method as gettinging over a breakup with a loved one. All you can do is grit your teeth and wait for it to pass. Anything but cold turkey will just result in the process taking much longer.

That is if course, if you want to get over it. Why not just chill out with us cool kids and discuss cripples, read fanfics and draw pictures?

I'm currently going through this. It always sucks when good things have to come to an end. Most will say 'don't be sad it's over, be happy it happened', and I think you should also believe that, but don't forget what the game has done for you, if it has changed in your life in some way, stick to how it has changed your life. I currently go running now because of how Emi's route inspired me, and I'll never forget this game and how it impacted my life. I suppose the best advice I can give is that if the game has changed your life in a positive way, don't forget about it, and just remember the good times it has gave you.

Munchenhausen wrote:Don't you worry, you're by no means the only person who felt that way!

Unfortunately, the only real way of getting over it, is exactly the same method as gettinging over a breakup with a loved one. All you can do is grit your teeth and wait for it to pass. Anything but cold turkey will just result in the process taking much longer.

That is if course, if you want to get over it. Why not just chill out with us cool kids and discuss cripples, read fanfics and draw pictures?

I'm afraid I've always been the dumper and never the dumpee, so I'm not quite sure how to pull that one off. Maybe I'll just have to stalk her Facebook page (IE-Keep looking at the KS gallery to remember the good times) and occasionally send her the random middle of the night text message (IE post here at 12:43 am) to slowly try to ween myself away?

FeroxAnima wrote:That feeling of longing when I finish a route; that feeling of just wanting... wanting more, just wanting to go right back in there, to see her again, to feel it again... it's unparalleled and unmatched in volume by anything that any piece of work had ever managed to awaken within me. It's been a few years since my first time here, but it still feels so powerful. No movie, book, visual novel or song, regardless of how much it touched my heart, had never managed to make me feel as strongly as this one.
It makes me smile and it makes me cry and then it hurts a lot, it hurts more than one would believe such a thing could hurt, but it still feels so precious. That feeling of longing is there through it all, never loosening its grip over my pounding heart or my repeatedly contracting throat.

It makes me hope with all my heart that I may experience this feeling someday in "real life". I hope with all my heart that I can some day experience it with someone I can truly hug, and truly talk to. I want to feel this kind of feeling without it being tied to this painful feeling of longing that leaves me wanting to cry. Let the longing be there, but let it be a positive thing, let it be a derivative of love, let it be a derivative of hope and expectation. If that ever comes to happen, I will be happy.

Katawa Shoujo is... special. It just is. A while in the forums with all the people who've been touched by it is all that's needed to understand this, not to mention going through it yourself.
I kind of assumed that the heavy feels mostly belong to the relative newcomers, but here I am over two years after finishing Lilly's route for the first time (and having just finished it for the second time), and... I don't even know who I was kidding. I feel so emotional right now it's absurd even to my (incredibly moist) eyes.

DUDE I JUST BEGIN THIS GAME and the first route I finish was the Lily's rute... days after I broke up with the most special girl I ever know, that day I was just killing my time, just like any other day, waiting for something, scaping from depression, and just by coincidence I decide to download KS; the first thing I though was "well at least I'm gonna forget about love a little with this game" how wrong I was. While I keep pleaying I decide to go for lily, because she was the opposite of this girl, and the more a play, the more fascinate I was with the charecter, the time pass and before I knew it I was living the history, the feels was so real that when I end her route I couldn't stop the teers and thoughs about her; so I truly share your thoughs and hopes that someday I can find the right one and maybe with a lot of luck it could reseemble lily.

Is there something I'm missing when it comes to Hanako? I've just finished her route with the good ending and... well... I'm actually left a bit disappointed. I was really hoping that it would put me on the same level as Lilly's, but I'm actually left far from that.

DapperDeer wrote:Is there something I'm missing when it comes to Hanako? I've just finished her route with the good ending and... well... I'm actually left a bit disappointed. I was really hoping that it would put me on the same level as Lilly's, but I'm actually left far from that.

What was it that made you feel so attached to Lilly's route?

Eurobeatjester wrote:

DapperDeer wrote:Is there something I'm missing when it comes to Hanako? I've just finished her route with the good ending and... well... I'm actually left a bit disappointed. I was really hoping that it would put me on the same level as Lilly's, but I'm actually left far from that.

What was it that made you feel so attached to Lilly's route?

I had cancer; a tumor in my right leg that left me with a prosthetic bone similar to a knee replacement. For a long time I've apologized for it. For being in pain, not being able to run, or even sit in a chair properly. Lilly's words in Hokkaido really got to me. "You can't help the way you're born. There's no point in apologizing for who you are."

Obviously Lilly touched on a very deep part of me, one that I thought Emi would absolutely touch on, if not crush, considering our similarities. Surprisingly though, she didn't. Even more surprising, Rin's route is my second favorite so far, though I'm not too sure as to why that is.

I think that I'm going to re-run through all the girls' routes once I finish Shizune's and see if my mind changes after that.

I think that favorite girls in KS is a 100% subjective matter. While routes can be evaluated based on writing, choices, length and so on, which girl you feel a stronger connection to depends on the personality of the player and the character. Their defining traits are story and attitude; the cripple part adds a bit of flavor for the character, with varying degrees of importance.
While Emi might look like a more obvious connection, she's pretty adamant in ignoring/denying her disability. I even forgot it a few times throughout her route.
Lilly, on the other hand, is all about acceptance and adaptation, not making things a bigger deal than they should, but giving them proper concern. She's not afraid to ask for help, but won't be patronized.

On Hanako's route, I think it's a rather short one, and it does feel somewhat lacking content, specially towards the end, so most of the connection has to be with what you can take from subtext, or directly from the character, the latter kinda requires understanding a pretty depressed/desperate worldview.

oddly, I cried after every route that wasn't Hanako's. I guess in a sense she just feels more like a little sister to me.

Huh, where should I start. First of all I want to thank the devs for this amazing experience.
And for the feels part.
I dont know if like anyone visits the forum or this topic anymore but i felt like sharing what happened to me is worth the effort. The game itself bumped into me on 9gag like 3-4 days ago. At first look and by the comments under the post i thought it will be like an other of those meet and f*ck type of games, and i gave it a run. Seeing its even for free i was very happy. Game installed, open it up, press start, and I caught off guard by the first sceene. First felt kind of funny Hisuo gets a heart attack by a girls confession. after thats where sh*t started hitting the fan multiple times. I have to be honest I'm kinda like a stone when its comes to feels and stuff, some would I kinda have no soul or something. So playing the game first run I ended up with Emi's good ending as many people I think. Emi route was fun and annoying on a low level at the same time (bitch just let me help already), but her way of acting was understandable. But in the end I was satisfied. Finishing the Emi's route took me like two nights. After it was done I was like this isnt what I expected to be this is something else. Then the 3rd night I started Lilly's route, I kinda have a thing to blue eyed girls. She has an intresting personality. But it was a mistake. Lilly's life story and the way Hisuo's and Lilly's relationship moves forward, it grabbed me balls and sucked me right in the feels train. I have never ever felt so bad after reading or playing any game ever. I thought I will get a fucking heart attack aswell when Hisuo collapses at the airport going after Lilly to get her back. But after seeing the final ending i was kind of satisfied (I was like: God thank for the devs for not being d*cks). I have to honest tho: When I closed the game I was like "Fuck you game". But I literally wasnt able to think straight for like 2 days. I was kinda like a zombie. Haha. But I cant keep myself not going back and rewatching the feels parts, either Emi's final breakdown on the roof, or the Hospital sceene with Lilly. So on final thoughts I have no words to express trully the experience the game gave me, I think its broke my soul and my stone heart at the same time. Heh, I wish it would be this easy to get in a relationship these days.
Anyway if you read what I just wrote here thanks for your time.
Edit: Yes I played this game for fap, insted I cried.

Hi and a good new year 2017 everyone
I hope my post fits here well.
I just want to express my feelings and thoughts here. At least to put them on paper.
I finished KS couple of days ago, that makes me properly one of the last persons on earth
Ok, when I write finished I mean I have completed hanako and lilly and at the moment I am in no condition to go any further.
I started with Hanako after a post on 9gag made me downloaded that game on Sunday. It was around midnight and I finished her story at 5.30 in the morning. After this I had some feelings but no FEELS. Maybe I was to sleepy or I don’t know. It was a good story and interesting, that’s why I was eager to finish. But nothing to the FEELS I got later.
After sleep and everything I started with Shizune. Stopped midway, was not very interested and also the sign stuff and Misha, I don’t know.
Then I started Lilly and OMG. That feelings and everything. It has a good ending so normally you should feel happy, but NO. I was not feeling happy. After finishing her story I was crying. Yes. And it felt like I am hollow inside.

I am turning 31 in a couple of days, I am married since 5 ½ years and I have a little daughter.
I have a nice good job, live in a safe country and everything.
SO WTF
I was thinking this over and over and at the moment I feel better, but not as good as before KS.
I come to 2 Points I think KS makes me aware of. Maybe this will help others too?

1. I am old. Ok, 31 is not like I am 70 and will die soon. But neither I am 18 years old anymore and will live this carefree (more or less) live like in KS. Also, I am married and have a daughter. I love both, but this means, no dating, flirting, etc. with new girls/woman .
Well this is funny, because some time back I thought about this whole dating stuff and found I rather be nice to not have to do it anymore. Because while it was sometimes fun, it could also be a pain in the ass thing. Also, if you have a crush on somebody but they not. So it is a little weird. Also like I mentioned I love my wife. But also I will not get this fresh feeling of dating her anymore. Yesterday on the radio a very fitting song played: The First cut is the deepest.
I think that is what KS remembered me of: Certain things are over. I will not enjoy them like on the first time and maybe will never been able to "do them".
But for hope: There are a lot of things that I can enjoy

2. Lilly got me right in the feels, because she is perfect. Too perfect for sure. I know. It’s a game. Nobody can be that perfects. Maybe she gets fat after 2 Years with Hisao or she farts ridiculous.
Nobody knows. In KS she is “the one”. While I love my wife, she has flaws. Like EVERYBODY. Like me or any other random girl. To be honest, I personally think my wife is “better” then me So I should not have the feeling that there would be a much better person to fit me. The flaws of my wife are also small (She has a good figure while no over done model like some girls can be, is kind of smart, a good mother, have some interests like me), so why the heck?
I think the problem is here, that our relationship is a little “at sleep” since our daughter was born. Between jobs, Household, daughter there is not so much freedom.
I think the positive thing that I can take from KS is to take more time for love between us 

So that is all, I feel better since I wrote this down.
I think in a couple of days the feels should be gone and at least maybe I have taken also some positive points to put into my live.

@ DudeCalledNemet
Hey, also somebody who seen it on 9gag.
I did not come for the faps, but just for a more or less soft story with some nudes, but man we were both wrong.
Also Lilly affect me very hard. I had to stop playing after knowing she will get back to scotland, because I could not see a farewell! I googled then because I could not stand that this should be the good ending!
Since nowhere on the internet I saw some hints that the good ending was like this I go further with the story and finished it. Sure I was at least happy that it was not the end, but damn the feels!