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Dresden · Jan 5, 2012

Katawa Shoujo is free visual novel from Four Leaf Studios about a boy with a heart defect who, upon arrival at a boarding school for the disabled, meets a bevy of variously disabled young female friends.

It's been said to have a length equaling that of commercial visual novels along with production values rivaling those ventures (although that's not difficult considering how fucking awful the art is for most of these games).

But is it any good? No idea, not having played it yet myself, but the reactions have been positive and more importantly, it's free to play--give it a shot and if the premise disgusts you, you don't dig the 'gameplay' or just something about the overall package doesn't raise any interest, delete without a care.

(Also has 'adult content' apparently, so please be over 18).

Download the game here.

Website:

http://katawa-shoujo.com/

Wiki:

http://katawashoujo.wikia.com/wiki/Katawa_Shoujo_Wiki

The English Translated VN thread:

http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=421986

Jintor · Jan 5, 2012

Finished one route. It's very good. The writing is pretty amazing.

Reversed · Jan 5, 2012

The music in this game is superb.

darkside31337 · Jan 5, 2012

Neat to see this get a thread. Looking forward to play it this weekend. Glad to hear positive things about it.

Forkball · Jan 5, 2012

So a disability fetish game...

cj_iwakura · Jan 5, 2012

Wow, long dev cycle. Will try.

Zane · Jan 5, 2012

I've basically been posting around on various forums I go to that, as someone who was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension at birth and have been on assisted breathing since seven years old, this is one of the more offensive things I've seen in my life.

So very nice to see it spread even further by GAF.

Vic · Jan 5, 2012

There's a Linux version?! Will try.

fudgey_lumpkins · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
I've basically been posting around on various forums I go to that, as someone who was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension at birth and have been on assisted breathing since seven years old, this is one of the more offensive things I've seen in my life.

So very nice to see it spread even further by GAF.

Care to elaborate?

LiK · Jan 5, 2012

dunno what this is but i'll give it a shot.

Trojita · Jan 5, 2012

PataHikari · Jan 5, 2012

Forkball said:
So a disability fetish game...

No it's not.

JeTmAn81 · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
I've basically been posting around on various forums I go to that, as someone who was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension at birth and have been on assisted breathing since seven years old, this is one of the more offensive things I've seen in my life.

So very nice to see it spread even further by GAF.

Do you care to elaborate on why you find the game so offensive?

hamchan · Jan 5, 2012

Can't complain about the price! Been looking forward to this for a while. The development time and work put in makes this something to check out.

Lafiel · Jan 5, 2012

The only thing that would be convince me to play this.... is one of the girls autistic?

Hot Coldman · Jan 5, 2012

Sure, why not. I'll play. Wonder if it'll out-crazy Hatoful. Doubt it.

PataHikari · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
I've basically been posting around on various forums I go to that, as someone who was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension at birth and have been on assisted breathing since seven years old, this is one of the more offensive things I've seen in my life.

So very nice to see it spread even further by GAF.

So you've read it. Please tell me what was offensive about it.

Dresden · Jan 5, 2012

Lafiel said:
The only thing that would be convince me to play this.... is one of the girls autistic?

No idea.

survivor · Jan 5, 2012

None of the girls in the OP look waifu material but I will give it a try. Maybe their tragedy will make me like one of them

Fou-Lu · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
I've basically been posting around on various forums I go to that, as someone who was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension at birth and have been on assisted breathing since seven years old, this is one of the more offensive things I've seen in my life.

So very nice to see it spread even further by GAF.

You're easily offended.

Good job.

cj_iwakura · Jan 5, 2012

survivor said:
None of the girls in the OP look waifu material but I will give it a try. Maybe their tragedy will make me like one of them

Brunette, glasses.

I'm easy to please.

Trojita · Jan 5, 2012

Lafiel said:
The only thing that would be convince me to play this.... is one of the girls autistic?

Not that I know of.

From left to right of the girls in the banner

Deaf, Burn Victim, Missing Arms, Missing Legs, Blind Girl's Helper, Blind Girl.

Dresden · Jan 5, 2012

Trojita said:
Not that I know of.

From left to right of the girls in the banner

Deaf, Burn Victim, Missing Arms, Missing Legs, Blind Girl's Helper, Blind Girl.

Waitaminute . . . she doesn't sound disabled. FALSE ADVERTISING.

Zane · Jan 5, 2012

fudgey_lumpkins said:
Care to elaborate?

I'll copy paste what I said to a friend:

It's a hentai game. Someone out there is jacking off to it. The game serves as an outlet and fuel for these people.

Presumably the game is about realizing that disabled people are just like everyone else. Well that's nice. But I sort of thought that was a given. And also by the time you've gotten to that end goal (if you ever do, I mean, it's on you), you've already slogged through hours of disability fetishizing. And making a game like this kind of just harms your goal. If your goal is to make people see handicapped people as ordinary, that is.

But the girls are portrayed as desirable despite their disabilities, you might say! Actually they are targets of desire purely because of their disabilities. They are portrayed as unordinary. But they are ordinary. A game doesn't have to be made about them. It's not a big deal. Why is attention being drawn to their handicaps! That disability apparently happens to be such a selling point is what's disgusting.

all this game says to me is "you're different. you're always going to be different. nothing you can do about it, so stop wasting the effort to be like everyone else."

tl;dr: the selling point for the game is that the girls are disabled. remove that and it's every other VN ever. the idea that disability is a "unique" feature for your game is disgusting.

Thoraxes · Jan 5, 2012

Katawa Shoujo |OT| Hugging doesn't always require working arms

Dresden said:
Waitaminute . . . she doesn't sound disabled. FALSE ADVERTISING.

Her disability is that she can't control the volume of her voice... Ok, so that's not really one at all.

Hot Coldman · Jan 5, 2012

Blind Girl's Helper and Blind Girl... are they a 2-for-1 deal? :3

Lafiel · Jan 5, 2012

Trojita said:
Not that I know of.

From left to right of the girls in the banner

Deaf, Burn Victim, Missing Arms, Missing Legs, Blind Girl's Helper, Blind Girl.

Damn so it is only physically-disabled girls? they need to make a game like this about mentally disabled girls instead.

PataHikari · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
I'll copy paste what I said to a friend:

So you never ever want stories told or art made portraying disabled people.

Also, why exactly is it a bad thing for somebody to find a disabled person sexually desirable?

Trojita · Jan 5, 2012

Green Scar said:
Blind Girl's Helper and Blind Girl... are they a 2-for-1 deal? :3

.... Yes

Cwarrior · Jan 5, 2012

Lafiel said:
Damn so it is only physically-disabled girls? they need to make a game like this about mentally disabled girls instead.

they already do it's those key games.

to be fair most anime girls are mentally disabled.

Fou-Lu · Jan 5, 2012

Lafiel said:
Damn so it is only physically-disabled girls? they need to make a game like this about mentally disabled girls instead.

You mean like every other VN in existence?

PataHikari · Jan 5, 2012

Cwarrior said:
they already do it's those key games

Oooooooo iceburn

Trojita · Jan 5, 2012

Here's a poster

Screencaptures

notworksafe · Jan 5, 2012

Lafiel said:
Damn so it is only physically-disabled girls? they need to make a game like this about mentally disabled girls instead.

The fuck?

we.are.the.armada · Jan 5, 2012

Just beat this today - tried for Hanako but failed. My friends and I are having a conversation about Rin and how it'd be to live without arms. This game is very interesting.

RurouniZel · Jan 5, 2012

Huh. Will check out.

Thoraxes · Jan 5, 2012

Cwarrior said:
they already do it's those key games

Yeah. Fuko is as close to it as you can get if you want to single it to Clannad only, though, there's still plenty of them to be found in their other games too.

Trojita · Jan 5, 2012

Cwarrior said:
they already do it's those key games

uguu~

survivor · Jan 5, 2012

Wait isn't one of them missing legs? They all got legs in that picture Trojita posted

edit: nvm I see the metals thingy now

duckroll · Jan 5, 2012

The scenario seems pretty implausible and kinda dumb. Why is it a boarding school specifically for the disabled? What qualifies as being disabled? What is the purpose of such a school, and why does the main character who only has a heart defect need to attend it? Why is a burn victim considered a "disability" in this scenario? Are these questions answered in the game? Or is it just bad writing?

Zane · Jan 5, 2012

PataHikari said:
So you never ever want stories told or art made portraying disabled people.

Also, why exactly is it a bad thing for somebody to find a disabled person sexually desirable?

Not if it's going to be done this way, no.

It isn't. It is bad, however, to find someone sexually desirable simply because they are disabled. Like fuck, is that my only redeeming feature?

Dresden · Jan 5, 2012

survivor said:
Wait isn't one of them missing legs? They all got legs in that picture Trojita posted

Well now that I look at it the girl in the bloomers (wearing them for some inexplicable reason) has prosthetic legs.

GrizzNKev · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
I'll copy paste what I said to a friend:

tl;dr: the selling point for the game is that the girls are disabled. remove that and it's every other VN ever. the idea that disability is a "unique" feature for your game is disgusting.

The sexual parts are not required to complete the game. Have you played it?

LiK · Jan 5, 2012

duckroll said:
The scenario seems pretty implausible and kinda dumb. Why is it a boarding school specifically for the disabled? What qualifies as being disabled? What is the purpose of such a school, and why does the main character who only has a heart defect need to attend it? Why is a burn victim considered a "disability" in this scenario? Are these questions answered in the game? Or is it just bad writing?

as plausible as any other dating sims where you end up as the only boy in an all-girls school.

Hot Coldman · Jan 5, 2012

notworksafe said:
The fuck?

It's OK. They'd be robots, with faulty programming!

Date the one who's actually a mentally-disabled human for True Ending

Jintor · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
I've basically been posting around on various forums I go to that, as someone who was diagnosed with severe pulmonary hypertension at birth and have been on assisted breathing since seven years old, this is one of the more offensive things I've seen in my life.

So very nice to see it spread even further by GAF.

Maybe you'd like to play it before you make a judgment, yes?

duckroll · Jan 5, 2012

LiK said:
as plausible as other dating sims where you end up as the only boy in an all-girls school.

Those are generally badly written though. The foundation of a good ADV is having a grounded general setting that is believable and can be related to, even if the scenario itself contains fantastical elements or silly stuff. If the premise is contrived for the sake of the cast-assembled-for-fetish to begin with, that's a bad start.

Zane · Jan 5, 2012

GrizzNKev said:
The sexual parts are not required to complete the game. Have you played it?

God damn this is a bad excuse. It doesn't change the fact that the game uses disabled girls as a selling point. The sad thing is that it's working, as evidenced by this thread. And that really only proves my point.

And I really don't need to play it to be saying the things I'm saying. I am disabled and this is the way the game's concept makes me feel. That is enough.

jman2050 · Jan 5, 2012

duckroll said:
The scenario seems pretty implausible and kinda dumb. Why is it a boarding school specifically for the disabled?

You do realize those actually exist, right?

What qualifies as being disabled? What is the purpose of such a school, and why does the main character who only has a heart defect need to attend it?

It seems to be for those who require constant direct medical attention or who require specific special needs. Basically stuff that you would never expect a regular school to be able to deal with.

Why is a burn victim considered a "disability" in this scenario?

I'm not that far in yet, but

it seems to be more severe PTSD related than anything having to do with the burn itself

PataHikari · Jan 5, 2012

Zane said:
It is bad, however, to find someone sexually desirable simply because they are disabled. Like fuck, is that my only redeeming feature?

Well good thing the story doesn't do this.

(You see, unlike you, I've read a significant portion of it)

duckroll said:
The scenario seems pretty implausible and kinda dumb. Why is it a boarding school specifically for the disabled?

It's just there for the setting, basically to make the idea of meeting 5 people with different disabilities at once slightly more plausible.

duckroll said:
What qualifies as being disabled?What is the purpose of such a school, and why does the main character who only has a heart defect need to attend it?

Basically it seems like anything that would require constant medical staff near by. That's why Hisao went, otherwise his heart might explode and nobody be near by to treat it.

duckroll said:
Why is a burn victim considered a "disability" in this scenario?

This has actually been brought up before and the writers did say there's a reason.

(The out of story reason is that the sketches that inspired them included her)

duckroll said:
Are these questions answered in the game?

Yeah, pretty much.

duckroll said:
Or is it just bad writing?

Nah the writings pretty good.

Zane said:
And I really don't need to play it to be saying the things I'm saying. I am disabled and this is the way the game's concept makes me feel. That is enough.

The problem is that the way it makes you feel is a knee-jerk reaction that doesn't really fit the game.

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