Katawa Shoujo Forums

Hi guys,

This is my first ever visual novel that I've played, and also a first post on this site, so I guess I'll start off with some obligatory compliments to the dev. staff; honestly, I'm really liking the way this whole thing is shaping up, and even though I've no frame of reference having never played a game like this before, its been very positive so far, so I'm delighted to have discovered this game.

Anyway... back to the topic; did any of you find that, after playing the game once or twice, you started changing your mind as to exactly which girl you preferred? I dunno, but when I first played it, I tried to keep a really open mind about who to go for, and initially, after I'd finally met all of the girls... it seemed like Emi was my favourite. I dunno, its just that she seemed the least "disabled" out of any of them; don't get me wrong, though, since I do think that all of the girls are impressively self-reliant given their circumstances, its just that Emi seems to have absolutely no issues whatsoever without having legs, whereas Lilly obviously needs some help from other people to get around being blind, as shown when she goes shopping with you later, Rin needs a fuckload of help doing all sorts of stuff without arms (though her feet are able to do a fair bit, right enough), Shizune needs Misha or anyone else who speaks sign language to communicate with the majority of people and Hanako has serious self-esteem issues with her scarring, Emi is still going about and running fucking MARATHONS. WITHOUT LEGS. I dunno, but that shit really impressed me at first and made her stand out as the path I would prefer to go down in the full version... Not sure exactly why that was the case, but thats an issue for another thread, perhaps. Not to mention OMG THOSE SWEET PUPPY DAWG EYES I MUST HAVE YOU

However, after I played through it again, and tried out the different paths... I really, really wasn't so sure that Emi was my "favourite", if you like. Lilly's path made me wonder what Akira's role in the game will be, not to mention giving me a deeper appreciation of her cool, calm nature, which I liked. Rin was... interesting, to say the least, although I'm not sure I could get over her lack of arms... hypocritical, perhaps, given that Emi was my initial preference, but I'll see if I change my mind again. Shizune grew on me despite initially seeming too bossy, and Hanako was so D'AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW worthy at times it made that path appeal for the full game.

So... anyone else out there wholly undecided on which girl you prefer even after playing each path, or changed your mind at all? Thoughts please. (p.s For what its worth, I think I'm going to have to play every single path on this fully when its out, which is, I guess, another testament to the developers. Deciding what order to do it in, though... now *THAT*'s gonna be tricky.)

Thought Lilly was hot when I first found out about the game last year; didn't really care for any of the other girls, except maybe Shizune. Then I played the game, determined that Lilly was very meh, and proceeded to fall in :wub: with Shizune.

Shizune is mai waifu =*^_^*=

Caesius wrote:Thought Lilly was hot when I first found out about the game last year; didn't really care for any of the other girls, except maybe Shizune. Then I played the game, determined that Lilly was very meh, and proceeded to fall in :wub: with Shizune.

Shizune is mai waifu =*^_^*=

Interesting you say that.

I only found out about the game about 3 weeks ago; maybe it just takes a bit of time for people to really decide which girl they like the most?

And yeah, good choice with Shizune mate; I'm assuming the game will let you learn sign language at some point, so it'd be very interesting to be able to communicate directly with Shizune without having to go through Misha... and also interesting to see exactly how that would affect the relationship between you and Misha, you and Shizune and Misha and Shizune if poor Misha wasn't needed anymore. Would Shizune then go about, relying more and more on you as a translator and start gradually forgetting about Misha? Would Hisao be better able to split exactly which thoughts are Misha's and which are Shizune's, since its sometimes not 100% clear which thoughts are Shizune's during translation and which are Misha's own opinions/spin on things? And what would that reveal?

See, thats why I cant decide which girl I prefer yet

Shizune from beginning to end <33333


and no, shes mai waifu

Rin's been my favorite since I played through her first scene. Rin is OLEV.

I started out liking Shizune and Rin the best, but nowadays I like Lilly a lot more! But I don't really have a favorite...

I actually was completely uninterested in Hanako at first, like she was my least fave... but now I've really grown to love her too!

Well I really liked Rin's end because she came off as DEEP and mellow. Then I finished Shizune's route and I'm like, "Fuck yeah aggressive personality."

Rin is really cool but Shizune... I just clicked better with her.

Not really. It doesn't really make that big of a difference to me anyway, I like all of them and I really think the whole thing is done really well. I guess I could say that my least favorite is Hanako, considering she's got pretty much the opposite personality as me. I would probably scare her off almost immediately.

I went in with an unhealthy bias for Hanako, and came out wanting to play Rin's route more than anything. Those profound statements of hers are like ear sex. And I want to see her many moods beyond stoic. I want to find out what her path's conflicts look like, and how she and Hisao will brave them out.

Shizune also went from 5th to 2nd place for me. Was obnoxious at first, but the fireworks scene sold me. Misha is a plus, but can't really mix not-gonna-happen-faggotry with the real game to come. F&@k year glasses banchou!

Yes and no. The very first time I played it I went in without knowing much about the characters, just that there was some deaf girl, a blind one and one that dressed like a guy; other than that I didn't know sh1t. I finished the demo with a preference over Shizune and Rin, but I didn't care much about Emi, Lilly seemed distant but somewhat interesting and Hanako, although appealing, the fact that she acts like a scaredy cat most of the time was a little off-putting.

After some time, re-reading some parts and thinking a bit on each character, this are my thoughts:
- Emi doesn't seem like such a bad choice after all (even if it's a little underdeveloped). Emi seems like a fun character that likes physical activity, and I like jogging; she actively seeks the main character, which is a plus; cares about other people close to her (Rin and Hisao) and appears to have that strange quirk where she always tries to squeeze some time to run whenever she can. All of that makes her more interesting than what I originally thought.
- Lilly still feels somewhat distant, but probably because she has to juggle with Hanako, the festival (along with Shizune), her sister and dealing with her every day needs, but even then she still seems welcoming when Hisao is around. It's good to see a capable female character, that's a real big plus with me.
- Hanako.... well, she's still Hanako, the moe-blob. How I think of her hasn't changed all that much, she is interesting because I like tragic characters, so it seems I could get my share of tragedy with her. But other than that, I dunno what else to expect. But that uncertainty has an appeal of its own.

Rin and Shizune are pretty much still the same, on top, so I won't say anything about them..... for now

I was torn between Lilly and Shizune back when Lilly played the cello, since I'm a musician myself. It was either picking an elegant lady with a fine taste in classical music or finding happiness in a warm tsundere. After learning that Lilly no longer played music, I finally switched fully to the Shizune camp, and it only increased when I played Act 1. And for all the other Shizune lovers, well... just see sig. Too bad flurk got banned. He was the only regular here whom I know knew how to read Chinese.

Oh, and Hanako actually won some points from me not because of the moe factor, but because she likes chess I used to play all the time.

Partick_fissal wrote:And yeah, good choice with Shizune mate; I'm assuming the game will let you learn sign language at some point, so it'd be very interesting to be able to communicate directly with Shizune without having to go through Misha... and also interesting to see exactly how that would affect the relationship between you and Misha, you and Shizune and Misha and Shizune if poor Misha wasn't needed anymore. Would Shizune then go about, relying more and more on you as a translator and start gradually forgetting about Misha? Would Hisao be better able to split exactly which thoughts are Misha's and which are Shizune's, since its sometimes not 100% clear which thoughts are Shizune's during translation and which are Misha's own opinions/spin on things? And what would that reveal?

I doubt Hisao will manage to learn sign language with any level of fluency in a single highschool course. I do think he'll be better at determining the difference between Misha and Shizune speaking; and of course pick up on some girl talk that they didn't intend him to understand. Hisao will put a lot of effort into a signed confession speech, but otherwise, I don't think he'll sign much except maybe to "pass notes" in class. He's going to be stuck signing slowly and with a simple vocabulary (which Shizune will have to do as well if she expects Hisao to understand her), or sign things out syllable by syllable. I expect that the first thing Hisao is going to do the morning after the festival is procure a pocket notebook so they can write to each other.

On topic: I figured I'd go for Shizune at first... And then fell for Rin within the first paragraph. And then back to Shizune because, of course, fireworks. It's still close, though... Much is riding on how Rin behaves when she's not sleep deprived and trying to think of nothing. (... Anybody else test how many individual things they could think of? I could only manage 3 things as complex as Rin was talking about, but I could manage 6 individually moving M&Ms. Speaking of, apparently the devs have done their homework. According to that article I'm wired weird.)

Lilly pretty fast after starting the game, still Lilly.


I've grown to like Misha more than I used to though.

The first time I played it, I was gonna go for Shizune, but as soon as the library scene with Hanako started, I fell in love immediately. <3

Hanako: First impression was that she would be the "protect me" moe character. She is, but I like her personality despite this. I ended up liking her more than I thought I would.
Shizune: Had her pegged as the Tsundere, and she is not. She has elements of Tsundere in her, but she is far enough away that I don't peg her as one. I like her about the same as I did when I first started.
Lily: Thought she would be the bitchy rich girl, turned out to be the sweet caring rich girl. Some people think she's bland, but I see lots of potential waiting to jump out in her path. Like her more than at the start.
Rin: Didn't think much would come out of her. Was totally blown away by how great her character/path is. Looking forward to it much more than I initially thought.
Emi: Went in thinking she would be the energetic, immature loli. Turns out she's the energetic, immature loli. What a twist. Not a fan from the beginning, nor am I now.

Initial Planned Path Order: Hanako > Shizune > Lily > Rin > Emi
Current Planned Path Order: Shizune > Rin > Hanako > LIly > Emi