neko's thinkbox

A cutie is fine, too. Or five.

Every once in a while, someone has a brain attack SO epic, humanity is blown away. Something SO epic time stands still, and even McGyver asks “Why didn’t I think of that?”.

This is it.

Katawa Shoujo is a Visual Novel made and produced by 4 Leaf studios, a seemingly unknown group of people (read: the everyman) with one goal: to turn someone’s random post on a pic-board (I believe 4 chan) into an epic VN. Hold the phone, WHAT?

Premise: You are Hisao, a School-Aged male (read: clueless virgin) who has a heart condition. After having a heart attack during your crushes confession, you spend many months in a hospital, only to awake to your doctor all up in your grill, going “Guess what! You’re out of the hospital now, but you’ll have to go to a SPECIAL school for the disabled/special needs people.” So, away you go (against your better judgment, mind) to Yamaku, said school.

There, basically, you have a harem of lovely, but special, ladies to talk with, fall in love with, and ultimately get rude with (by rude, I mean all sorts of fun).

By the way, the title literally means “Disabled Girls”. Wow.

There are 5 ladies, all with special needs, and they are (In order of my most favorite to least):

Mmm. Delicious Shizune…

Shizune, the Class President of your class, 3-3. She’s deaf and mute, so you have to speak to her through her friend/dorm mate/maybe threesome buddy Misha (read: Genki to extremes). Very forceful, work oriented and strong. A good sense of right vs. wrong. My Favorite girl. Plays a mean game of Risk. Nothing beats a blue-haired Risk-playing iron-fisted beauty. Tsundere-esque character.

WANT. TO. HOLD.

Filling out the painfully cute but introverted/socially inept role is Hanako. The right side of her body is covered in burns (from a terrible accident), therefore she believes she is ugly, only solidifying the “KYAA! LEMME HOLD YOU!” vibes she gives off. The kind of girl you want to help through life.

Emi. The other Genki.

Emi. She’s the athletic/bubbly person. She’s the Track team’s star runner… EXCEPT SHE HAS NO LEGS!!?! I dunno, but she’s still cute. Even with the prosthetic appendages. Most definitely the loli. A little high sprung for myself.

Lilly. Don’t let the eyes fool you…

Of course, we can’t have a disabled cast without the Majestic Blind Girl. Named Lilly, she’s, well, blind. I don’t really like her haughty attitude, though. Maybe after time, she’ll grow on me, but until then… we’ll… see…

And filling out the bottom of the list…

I really dislike the character Rin. She may have no arms, but it still doesn’t fix her almost drugged out personality and randomness. Perhaps, like Lilly, she’ll grow on me, but as of the completion of the demo, no love here.

So, thems is the ladies. There are a few secondary characters who are noteworthy (Well, there are only 5 secondary characters anyways), but I believe one should be a potential love interest, as do a lot of people. Mainly, all of 4chan.

The nurse and teacher (Nurse and Muto, respectively) act as the authority figures, so we’ll not pay them any mind. Your dorm mate, though, deserves lots of recognition.

You know that one guy in school who was in his own world? Thought that everything was a conspiracy? Kenji is that guy. I think his speech on why there are so many cute girls in the school, vs. how many guys there are is hilarious. Ready for it? Two words: Feminist Infiltration. Thats right. He believes that women are planning on taking over the world. And this school for the disabled is the first place they are starting. Bonus points for trying to talk to you (the main character) naked in the showers. Just to bum some pizza money. Oh yeah.

The librarian, Yuko, really doesn’t need any discussion ATM, because,well, we don’t really know her yet.

The last secondary character that NEEDS to mentioned is Misha, aka Micchan, Shiina Mikado, Drill-Tan, the hottie with pink hair, the hot one, etc. etc. This is her:

No one knows WHY she’s at a school for disabled people, but she is. Look at her. LOOK, DAMMIT! She should be a viable choice for loving, amirite? She does play an important part, acting as a interpreter for Shizune, but I can imagine that once you learn Sign Language, she’ll be weeded out of the story. Which sucks, because, well, she’s cute! Oh, and she has the mostest wicked laugh, like “WAHAHAHAHAHA~!”.

Awesome, eh?

Katawa Shoujo (KS for short), beyond being a VN, has a very moving story, none of which I shall spoil. Each character has a back story, and yes, they are awesome.

A sample screen shot.

So that’s that. The VN isn’t finished yet, but you can download a demo (It covers the School Festival), which will introduce the characters in better detail than my humble Canadianism can. Also, there are no H-Scenes YET, and you only start to fall for a girl at the end of the demo, so trust me, you’ll demand moar moar MOAR.

So, for now, that’s all, so be sure to check it out.

http://www.katawa-shoujo.com