Katawa Shoujo (2024)

I don't normally 100% games. When I do, it's usually for quick and easy indie titles. Fully completing a visual novel is much rarer due to their length, complex decision-trees, and variety of routes. So why fully complete this one? Two reasons. The first being there is a very easy-to-follow guide on Steam that I am extremely grateful for. The second reason being how much I enjoyed my time at Yamaku High School.

Katawa Shoujo is a popular yet niche game. Visual novels are niche in general due to their lack of mainstream popularity as a genre, though there are a few titles that are well known enough for most gamers to recognize. Katawa Shoujo strides that line by being a well known game in a little circle of the internet known as 4chan.

The history of how Katawa Shoujo came to be is quite interesting. Up until I started playing it, I just knew 4channers liked it, or at least couldn't shut up about it, and that the gimmick was dating a bunch of disabled girls. This was not surprising to me, and it shouldn't be surprising to you, if you know anything about 4chan. So let's dive into its conception a bit.

In the year 2000, the artist Raita Honjou released a doujin called Schuppen Harnische, an erotic Nausicaa fanfiction. Included were bonus illustrations, one of which being a concept sketch for a game called Katawa Shoujo.

Many years later, this concept sketch made its way to 4chan via a fan-translated and colorized version that blew up. It's popularity and repeated discussions lead to the creation of Four Leaf Studios after they got permission from RAITA to develop the game.

So after hearing about this game quite a lot, many years after its release in 2012, I finally decided to play it with its re-release on Steam. This game has always been free-to-play so there was nothing holding me back before, but having it in my Steam library made it far harder to ignore. My partner, who had previously played it (but not to the extent that I have, funnily enough) was also quite excited for me to try it.

Alright, history lesson over! Let's talk about the game.

As previously mentioned, Katawa Shoujo features a disabled cast, including its main character, who enrolls in a boarding school for disabled students. There he learns to adjust to his new classmates, his disability, and how he moves forward in this new life. Since this is a visual novel, gameplay comprises of reading, though there are occasional choices to be made, and those choices lead the player down different routes dedicated to specific characters.

There are five main characters each with multiple endings labelled as good, bad, or neutral. I found the characters themselves interesting beyond the plot hook of their physical struggles, though of course that plays a role in their personalities and interactions. I was impressed how human and real they felt, even if some of them are a bit on the quirkier side. Some characters I definitely liked more than others but that's just player's preference, not a critique. There were only a couple criticisms I had with the writing. I felt some routes could have pursued more interesting threads than they did.

There is spicy content in this game. It is optional for those who don't want to experience it as you have to install a patch from the official game website. I won't discuss it much so I don't break any rules but I have very minor gripes with the scenes and found they were pretty wholesome (a few routes aren't but nothing abusive) and like they were written with a female gaze in mind.

I feel really fulfilled having fully finished this experience. It has taken me a long time to do so. I'm notoriously slow with finishing games, and it has drastically cut into the time I could have spent finishing others, but I wouldn't change a thing. I just feel a quiet love for this game that has grown on me with each route I completed.

I would recommend this game to anyone, especially as a first experience to the visual novel genre. And it's free!

I finished Emi's good ending! The last but certainly not least route.

I really enjoyed this ending. Emi's strength is never diminished to needing anyone to survive but learns it is still okay to love and ask for help and support, even if she can continue on without it. The discussions of fear, of death, of losing the ones you love hit close to home. Despite all the pain, Hisao and Emi choose to live presently, to live with a fleeting future that they're happy to live as long as they have each other. It makes my heart squeeze.

Time to write a more complete review.

I finished Emi's bad ending. Only one more route to go!

Emi is the best girl, outshining Lilly in a surprising last minute clutch. This made her ending all the more painful. I definitely saw myself in her with the defensive wall that she pulls up around herself, never getting vulnerable or revealing details about her past even to those closest to her. While Hisao wasn't as much of an ass in this one as he was in previous routes, he still pushes her clearly set boundaries, but he also suffered some devastating emotional stab wounds from Emi so I'll cut him a bit more slack here.

Overall, even though I hated to see this ending end the way it did, I think it was an enjoyable, relatable, and cutthroat read.

I finished Shizune's good ending. I finished it on the same day I finished her bad ending but I got tired and then forgot to post it. Oops!

The good ending involves declining Misha's physical advances but still revolves around the gap that has grown between her and Shizune. Shizune still acknowledges her manipulativeness and controlling behavior but doesn't indicate wanting to change. Hisao confesses his love to her but it isn't reciprocated. There's no clear picture where their relationship will end or continue after graduation. There main theme seemed to be of holding on to these good memories because time is fleeting.

I finished Shizune's bad ending.

The beginning of Shizune's route felt confusing due to Shizune having to "speak" through Misha, who acts as her sign language interpreter. It was hard to tell when Misha was speaking for herself or Shizune. Once Hisao begins to learn sign language, and he's able to understand Shizune and speak to her directly, her character definitely starts to warm up on me. It's hard to completely like her though due to her hyperfocused competitive nature and how she doesn't weigh the consequences of how she treats others. This route felt much more difficult than the other bad endings because you must choose to cheat on her. While Shizune never admits to finding out, Hisao suspects she might have, but while cheating on her may have added to the breaking of friendships and relationships for Shizune, it ends with her distancing herself from everyone due to her own behaviors as opposed to Hisao's actions.

I finished Rin's good ending.

This ending resolves the issues I had with the previous two. Hisao learns that his behavior wasn't okay, Rin learns it's okay to not communicate as well as she'd like, and they both learn that while they may never understand each other completely, that is something they will navigate together.

Personally I don't enjoy Rin's character. I don't think she's a bad one. I just don't enjoy cyclical dialogue which is a huge part of her character. I think she may be coded for autism which would be nice to see that type of representation but this is my headcanon as I haven't seen anything stating she is on the spectrum.

I finished Rin's neutral ending.

Rin is still a frustrating character but during this route I started to feel as if Hisao was failing her and becoming a shitty person. Both in the bad and neutral ending he yells at her but that was due to frustration. Repeatedly he goes back to Rin without adjusting his expectations only to interrogate her and get immediately frustrated, like he's trying to purposefully get pissed off at her. There is also something he says to her in their last conversation, which is very drawn out, that people are always alone and they will never be able to connect, that could be interpreted as a jab at her inability to communicate, but I understood his perspective more as a depressing truth (for him). It seems Rin feels shackled to artistry so I'm curious if her good ending opens up more opportunities to explore. I am also hoping Hisao becomes a better person, regardless of Rin's faults.

I finished Rin's bad ending.

This route is emotionally chaotic. Rin is difficult to understand, her communication skills are abstract, and I felt just as frustrated with her as Hisao did. Throughout her route, I began wondering if she was written with autistic rep in mind but I'm not knowledgeable enough to know for sure. The ending itself felt natural with Hisao finally hitting a breaking point and no longer being able to continue their friendship. I am curious how this will be repaired in the other endings.

So I finished Hanako's good ending, which means I've finished all of her endings!

One could argue her ending is a bit plain but the significance of Hanako finally gaining a connection with another person that they've never had before is really important to her character arc.

Out of the two routes I've finished, between Lilly and Hanako, I prefer Lilly's but it was nice to get closer to Hanako since she's so prevalent in Lilly's route as well.

On to the next route!

I finished Hanako's neutral ending.

This ending was also dissatisfying due to its abruptness though at least it ended amicably with Hanako. I would be very frustrated if I weren't save scumming, and there's an argument to be made of earning the good ending through trial and error, but I am enjoying my playthrough being guided by a walkthrough.

On to the good ending!

Well, I finished the bad ending for Hanako.

It feels weird to say I'm disappointed by the way this route ended because I don't enjoy when characters have a bad time (like I never let my Sims go unhappy, I could never torture them on purpose). You piss off Hanako, she kicks you out of her room, and then it's over. I was expecting her to self-harm or pursue suicide or something, which I'm glad she didn't because her survival not relying on the MC only proves how resilient she is to not give up on herself, but the bad ending equaling to pissing off a friend seems very soft for an ending in general.

I have finished Lilly's Good Ending, which adds additional scenes that take place after where the Neutral Ending stops. I think it wrapped up the story pretty nicely in a satisfying way. I definitely left the game feeling good. Though I was unsatisfied that they didn't get to see the Tanabata Festival together. Booooo!

I'm a little nervous continuing cause basically all the other characters have a Bad Ending option so I'm not sure what type of bad we'll be looking at but I'll keep y'all posted.

Just finished getting Lilly's Neutral Ending.

I enjoyed this route. Lilly is a well-written character whose personality is revealed through her interactions with her peers, friends, and family. I thought the way her blindness was written was very detail-oriented. I could picture how someone without sight would navigate places or everyday tasks.

It had a bittersweet conclusion so I'm curious what will transpire with her Good Ending.