I finished my first route of Katawa Shoujo yesterday. Those of you who frequent /a/ of 4chan will have heard and may have even anticipated for this game, or rather I should say, visual novel. For those with virgin ears to Katawa Shoujo, you can read about the details of its history and conception at the developer’s blog site. I will give a very brief background here. It all started with a drawn concept image of five handicapped girls, and the possibility of a visual novel was suggested. A team of people formed Four Leaf Studios with the goal of turning that possibility into reality, and roughly five years later the complete program was released a little over a week ago. A testament to determination.
I first chose Shizune based on one simple reason: because she is bespectacled. Glasses score big points on my list of criteria of female attractiveness. Shizune is also a forward, strong-willed, hardworking, and responsible girl. These are all qualities that I respect, and as such, Shizune’s personality is one I can hold in high esteem. However, her character feels a little bit, and pardon the pun, two dimensional. The writing forming her character is lacking in emotional impact. By the end of the route all I learned about her is that she is a deaf-mute, ambitious, assiduous girl. And little more. One can already gather this information without needing to journey through her route anyway.
Misha, on the other hand, was the one who generated most of the emotions of the route. Where there is laughter, there is Misha. Where there is drama, there is Misha. So despite a specious impression of simple-mindedness, Misha possesses more emotional complexity than Shizune, and I dare say due to that Misha is the more interesting character of the duo. I must say though, without spoiling too much, the tension that surfaces between Misha and Shizune came somewhat out of left field, and felt underdeveloped. Or it could be me, missing the hints. Certainly, Misha deserves a substantial role and her own spotlight in Shizune’s story. After all, she is nearly an inseparable part of Shizune’s life during the course of the game, and to not involve her between Shizune’s and protagonist’s budding relationship would have been a greater atrocity. To have limited Misha’s character as nothing more than Shizune’s walking translator would have done Misha a disservice, and the writers has rightly avoided that by injecting drama centered on Misha.
As for the presentation. The art is serviceable, although the obvious changes in art styles can be a little jarring at times. Some of the music almost borders on catchy, however, their simplicity and restraint evinces their purpose as background lullabies. The writing I will hold judgment until I have finished more routes.
Shizune’s playthrough lasted an almost exact duration of nine hours. I have just begun my second, aiming for Rin. I hesitate to praise or denigrate Katawa Shoujo as a whole at this moment, as I am far from full completion of the game. What I can say is I like it enough to play it for the second time, which is more than I can claim for a lot of games. And oh, by the way, the game is free.
