Katawa Shoujo Forums

So I had a quick check using the search function and couldn't find a topic on this idea, so forgive me if I missed something.

I was wondering about this today: say KS didn't have a male lead (Hisao) and instead had a female one. They would be in almost the exact same role as Hisao is in the canon game, but female. Which of the girls would you personally pick to fill that role?

Personally, I don't have a clue. I feel like any of them, with maybe the exception of Rin due to her airy-fairyness (I feel like people would get somewhat sick of it after a while if she was the lead), could fill the spot with no problems.

NOTE: I should add that we're assuming you're playing as the female lead, with several male characters who each have their own routes. Basically KS but with genders reversed.

Biased version: Emi, because playable Emi

Non-biased version: Lilly- most even-headed, and reasonably attractive to most people

Also, I expected to come in here and have the OP read, "Katawa Shoujo in reverse is the story of a boy with heart problems who slowly gets farther and farther away from his girlfriend and becomes more and more cynical before his heart magically heals, and then he forgets everybody he knows and leaves his school for a more normal one, where he takes a love note away from a girl and then hides his feelings for her for an unspecified period of time."

SpunkySix wrote:Biased version: Emi, because playable Emi

Non-biased version: Lilly- most even-headed, and reasonably attractive to most people

Also, I expected to come in here and have the OP read, "Katawa Shoujo in reverse is the story of a boy with heart problems who slowly gets farther and farther away from his girlfriend and becomes more and more cynical before his heart magically heals, and then he forgets everybody he knows and leaves his school for a more normal one, where he takes a love note away from a girl and then hides his feelings for her for an unspecified period of time."

After thinking about it some more, I actually agree that Lilly would be the best option. Although her being blind thing might hinder the VN somewhat

And I don't know whether you've seen it or not, but there's actually a fan-fic on this site along those lines. I think it's called Irreversible, go check it out

Walshy12238 wrote:

SpunkySix wrote:Biased version: Emi, because playable Emi

Non-biased version: Lilly- most even-headed, and reasonably attractive to most people

Also, I expected to come in here and have the OP read, "Katawa Shoujo in reverse is the story of a boy with heart problems who slowly gets farther and farther away from his girlfriend and becomes more and more cynical before his heart magically heals, and then he forgets everybody he knows and leaves his school for a more normal one, where he takes a love note away from a girl and then hides his feelings for her for an unspecified period of time."

After thinking about it some more, I actually agree that Lilly would be the best option. Although her being blind thing might hinder the VN somewhat

And I don't know whether you've seen it or not, but there's actually a fan-fic on this site along those lines. I think it's called Irreversible, go check it out

I was actually wondering that... since it's reversed, is Lilly blind, or does she have heart problems?

And huh, I might have to. I was just being weird, or so I thought.

I don't quite get it but...

You mean genderbend-ish like 'Katawa shounen'? Or is it mode in the line of otome game?

SpunkySix wrote:

Walshy12238 wrote:

SpunkySix wrote:Biased version: Emi, because playable Emi

Non-biased version: Lilly- most even-headed, and reasonably attractive to most people

Also, I expected to come in here and have the OP read, "Katawa Shoujo in reverse is the story of a boy with heart problems who slowly gets farther and farther away from his girlfriend and becomes more and more cynical before his heart magically heals, and then he forgets everybody he knows and leaves his school for a more normal one, where he takes a love note away from a girl and then hides his feelings for her for an unspecified period of time."

After thinking about it some more, I actually agree that Lilly would be the best option. Although her being blind thing might hinder the VN somewhat

And I don't know whether you've seen it or not, but there's actually a fan-fic on this site along those lines. I think it's called Irreversible, go check it out

I was actually wondering that... since it's reversed, is Lilly blind, or does she have heart problems?

And huh, I might have to. I was just being weird, or so I thought.

Well if she was blind that wouldn't be as much fun, but that was the point... I guess we can make an exception?

Megumeru wrote:I don't quite get it but...

You mean genderbend-ish like 'Katawa shounen'? Or is it mode in the line of otome game?

The idea is basically that you swap out Hisao for one of the girls, who has five potential routes to play through. I'm interested to see who people would pick to be the canonical lead out of the 5 main girls (+ Misha as well I suppose).

I'd think having Lilly as a lead would leave all but text to be seen. Maybe a limited view of things she's touching? Shizune would require Misha to translate for her constantly, too.
If it was Rin, you'd have the narrative cluttered my innane ramblings.

I'd say Either Emi or Hanako, for protag.

With Hanako, you'd be missing about a 1/5 of what was going on at all times anyway, and she'd probably be looking away half the time as well. Emi for protagonista (maybe biased).

Also, when I saw 'KS in reverse' I thought it'd be something like a character graduating and integrating back into society.

AaronIsCrunchy wrote:Also, when I saw 'KS in reverse' I thought it'd be something like a character graduating and integrating back into society.

Maybe my choice of title wasn't so great

I guess it does seem like either Emi or Hanako are the best choices. I completely skipped over the fact that Lilly is blind, which is my bad. Out of the two, Emi definitely seems like she'd be better suited to the fit of lead character.

It only makes sense.
After all, you know what they say: "Emi is Bestgirl"

AaronIsCrunchy wrote:Also, when I saw 'KS in reverse' I thought it'd be something like a character graduating and integrating back into society.

I like this idea, because one of the things about Yamaku that many people forget is that it's supposed to help students with disabilities integrate back into society.

That's why I like epilogues that show how our characters might handle the world 'back outside'. Especially if they lead to somewhat happy and/or relatively normal endings.

Munchenhausen wrote:It only makes sense.
After all, you know what they say: "Emi is Bestgirl"

9/10 doctors recommend Emi.

And I like that thought about reintegration too. Without that, the school is just a fancy shelter from the outside world, really. Could even do more harm than good.

Walshy12238 wrote:
The idea is basically that you swap out Hisao for one of the girls, who has five potential routes to play through. I'm interested to see who people would pick to be the canonical lead out of the 5 main girls (+ Misha as well I suppose).

Ah, so it's like an otome game so to say...


hohoho this is bound to be very-very interesting~

Let's see:
You want a girl with commitment/honesty issue? Lilly
A girl with a troubling past that traumatize her? Hanako
How about a girl who always runs away from her problems? Emi
Maybe a girl who can't seem to get her thoughts conveyed, putting any possible LI in precarious predicaments? Rin
Then how about a girl who can't communicate her thoughts alone, thus often making a lot of decisions based on her own assumption? Shizune
Lastly, would you like to be the girl who chases skirts instead? Misha

Assuming that we separate the Misha-Shizune duo (since there can be only one protagonist), this will be a very-very-very interesting premise for a fanfiction.


For the humor though...
1. Lilly as the protagonist will consist of text--just text and no image--but puts heavy emphasis on SFX and senses. Choice-wise, you'll be given an option to hide or change the subject almost deliberately.
2. Hanako as the protagonist will always include an option in the 'choice' section to run (i'vegotsomethingtodo)
3. Emi as the protagonist will sometimes include a 'choice' that leads up to kinky-action that aims to deter the male characters
4. Rin's choice will NEVER be related to what the male-character asks her about (or at least partially related, albeit very-very vague), and always answers in confusing riddles or statements that is mind-blowing or numbing whatsoever.
5. Shizune as the protagonist will consist of '....' every time the male character tries to speak, text-base are what Shizune thinks the male character is trying to say/convey, and choices are a lot and heavy with 30-70% chance of leading you to a bad ending.
6. Misha will be...normal, more or less. But of course, you'll be chasing skirts instead of pants so...

i smell a very comedic VN incoming. If the devs made a fandisk, something along this concept should go

Alright, so if it's completely in reverse, let's look at the routes. I agree that Hanako and Emi are the best bets here, unless you want to get into experimental art forms. Shizune would probably need FMV to get the sign language and the pidgin gestures across.

So, Hanako's routes:

• Hisao (duh, and it'd work like the canon good route, except Hanako has choice points that let her sabotage it, or maybe make it BETTER)
• Akira (best end: Akira tells her father to fuck off, and gets past her alcoholism. good end: long-distance relationship. bad end: Hanako gets dragged into her alcoholism, and also loses her. There may be some overlap with Hisao's Lilly route here in the good and bad ends (Hanako may have choice points to influence Hisao's choices in Lilly's route), especially if Akira (or Hanako) is closeted here, but I struggle to make it work.)
• Misha (would be a quite difficult route, quite possibly the feelsiest one)
• Miki (who would be revealed to be Hanako's ex (and a Misstep already happened), but Hanako's grown to the point that she's mature enough to handle that relationship)
• Akio (he sits next to her in class, he's in literature club so there's common interests. The trick will be making him sufficiently different from Hisao.)

Emi's routes:

• Hisao (she gets a choice point that lands her in therapy)
• Maeda (who is "cheating" on Molly (it's not cheating, as he's actually Molly's beard, so they both sleep around outside of their "relationship" and are cool with that, but he's still a shameless womanizer who's out for poon and nothing else), and there's no good ends)
• Taro (need I say any more?)
• Haruhiko (they're both on the track team)
• I dunno. Maybe Kenji, because a Emi x Kenji route would be hilarious.

Fuck it, let's do Rin's routes.

• Hisao
• There is a boy. In the art club. He is blind.
• Molly (although that may be the Hisao route with a more artistically-inclined lesbian, so it might not work)
• Saki? Oh god that would be terrible.
• And I don't know from there.

Maybe Kenji, because a Emi x Kenji route would be hilarious.

Check the one Helbereth is writing...

Out of the 5(6) canon girls Emi would indeed be best suited.
Rin is not suited to be a protagonist for obvious reasons.
Lilly would be highly experimental - and not really a visual novel in any case.
Shizune the same to a lesser degree.
And Hanako would also have a few problems...

But if you ask me, any of the other girls in class 3-3 would be better choices. VN protagonists have little to zero personality, and basically all the girls have gotten too much characterization to make good VN protagonists...