Katawa Shoujo Forums

Greetings everyone!

I Open this topic to discuss what your thoughts are now that you reached every ending of every arch.
Its meant for discussion altho i hope this can be kept civil and friendly so please if you dislike something tell it but do it in a polite and friendly manner.

Also i appologize for the likley ton of grammar and spelling errors in my post since english is not my nativly spoken and written language.

So here comes my personal final verdict on Katawa Shoujo.

Act 1:

A decent to good buildup altho some things are a bit confusing since i would have assumed that introducing myself to Hanako would be a good thing since it should show here that Hisao is not caring too much about her scars.

The Kenjii endin on the roof felt a little out of place and overly dramatic altho i could oversee that in the wake of the rest of the act.

Also another bummer was the fact that the talk to kenjii about hanako has a influence if you get to her arc.


Now onto the Arcs of the specific girls. I sort them in my personal preference order from least to best ( which is only my personal subjective view and in no way objective ).

Rin:

As much as i like the idea that stands behind the whole arc and some qoutes and text are really really good the arc as a whole suffers from beeing way too much overbord in the thinking and monologe perspective due to the low amount of interaction between Rin and Hisao. I know that it is intentional still it feels odd and not right for me. The Picture that i get from rin is not the same that i get when i see how rin interacts in Act 1 or the other arcs. It seems to me that rin has more of a mental then a physical problem and the whole arc feels esotherical and metaphorical. The Good Ending felt oddly unrewarding and unsatisfying if not to say dull.

Emi:

While Emi´s Arc is a vast improvment over Rin´s it still has it flaws but the general tone is wayyy better. I like her cheerfulness and her attitude. The writing is way more solid altho the fact that her father is dead is so obvious and while the last scene at the Cementary is heartwarming it was too blunt and obvious for my personal taste.


Hanako:

Was a bit of a suprise she was my third playthrough when i had emi and lilly done. And after Lilly´s arc i had really high expectations. While i think the writer portrayed her good it is not up to the standard that shizune or lillys arc did set. The Hanako i see in Lillys arc differs by a large margin to the one you see in her own arc. While its overall a very good storytelling it missed a little bit out after seeing lillys arc. Still a very very pleasant experience. I was suprised how tasteful the H-Scene there was made tho which i think was a good way to artistically in both graphical and writing way. The Bad ending was sadly better in terms of writing then the good one in my view.


Shizune:

Comes in as very very very very narrow second.
The whole writing from start to finish is pure gold. The dedication of hisao that he shows in this and lillys arc was missed in the other ones. It was an emotional ride that fits my personal view of true and sincere love very closley. I havent read that good material in a while and currently playing her arc another time just because i enjoyed it so much.


Lilly:

My, My, My what shall i say. Heartwarming, goosebumps, joy, tears. I couldnt have imagine that a piece of written fiction can go so deep under my skin.
The whole setup the whole story evey little inch of it ws just pure gold to me. After getting her good ending with the fear of having screwed at the airport scene i sat there and litteraly screemed at my screen " THIS CANT BE " i was emotionally torn and told myself what the heck i did wrong there. When a piece of fiction does that it means either i am an emotional wreck or the writer did a damn good job, for the sake of my own sanity i just assume the latter one.


Absolute Final Verdict:

Its fun and sad. As Much as i enjoyed KS i am a bit torn now. I tried other VN´s but most of them do not survive the first 20 minutes.
I tried Clannad, i tried Shuffle, and i tried lets meow meow and non of those and at least a dozen others got me sticking after KS.
Either the settings are so absolutly out of reality ( i mean gods and devils really ) or are just there to carter some specific fetish or any other kind of weird thing i dont get. Same goes for the most pure eroge stuff where it mostly gets and absurd story to cover up the H-Scenes which are not presented in a taste like KS does but more like a drawn pron which i dont want to have.

The "normallity" of KS even when having such a delicate topic like disabilitys is what made it stand out for me which again i simply count as result of excellent writing , Art style and not to forget the wonderful music.

After True Love and KS i have not much fate in Visual Novels cause the Quality of those said two where very high. Still KS showed that when you handle material with a great respect and care for the outcome and not the money even amateurs can provide an expierence that is way above most commercial grade products and i bow to 4LS for that.

Heh, it's interesting how differently people can react to the game. To me, it shows how there's something for everyone in it. My impression is almost the opposite of yours.

Here's my ranking of the arks:

1. Rin (To me, she's definitely the same person in Act 1 and beyond. The neutral ending, to me, is the true ending. The most subtle, complex and well written route, IMO.)
2. Hanako (I agree that the bad ending is more satisfying from a story telling point of view, although it ends a bit abruptly. But I just love the good end from a sentimental poin-of-view. The neutral ending depresses me the most.)
3. Emi (The wittiest route, and the one with the best chemistry, IMO. Pretty, straightforward and predictable from a story telling point-of-view.)
4. Lilly (A well executed idyll; little more. It's a good route to put it in the middle of your playthroughs, to relax. I feel Hanako's been written out of the way, so she doesn't disturb the idyll. Not that I find her development implausible; it just feels like too much, too soon.)
5. Shizune (I like the subtlety of the route; but ultimately, there's no real direction. It's a bit messy and goes on for too long. It's sort of fitting that you don't get more than one decision in this route; Shizune controls all. The bad ending is better than the good one. I have to come back to it again, some time soon. Maybe I'll appreciate it more.)

Thanks for your reply.

I Agree i think everyone has his or her own merit on how the game plays and moreso feels for them.

to your points:

1.) yeah i hear many praising rins part might be just me not getting it it just lost me at a certain point i like the way the desicions are layed out it just felt to me i dont even know why those desicions matter, due to rin beeing totally unpredictable to read.

2) Yeah i loved the good Hanako ending too from that sentimental point i just felt it does not live up to the point of view and the personal impression i got from her in lillys arc.

3) Yeah as said emis cheery and upbeat way felt a little like a sporty misha to me. It was predictable that was definatly the only deduction point there agreed.

4) there i disagree with you i think its not meant to be an idyll its meant to be reflecting her smooth and reserved tone which at points it might overdue for some people, not for me tho. As said i found hanako to be more plausible for me there tho not because she opens up more sooner ( which i somewhat agree to your statment ) but more like it feels like its less overstressing the subject which i at times felt in her own arc. And as said for me it pulled the right triggers according to lilly, i just was joywashed after the good lilly ending.

5) What made the boxes ticking for me was exactly that it has not that much of direction. I did not mind the lengh either. I think the bad ending of shizune lacked a bit for me personally. What ticked the boxes for me also was that it was deeper it brought up why shizune acts like she did and it brought up more emotions on hisao´s side. Sometimes its good to be mad to be furious and not just overthinking things. Sometimes ist just good to do something stupid out of love or such things this is why i liked the scene where hisao dragged misha along to show her why the friendship between misha and shizune does count for something big.

Keep your opinions coming and discussing