Katawa Shoujo – No Money No Problem

This is more or less the last thing I’ll be posting for a while – circumstances have changed and I won’t be focusing much on blogging anymore.  Regardless I wanted to make a review of this game for quite a while, so here it is.  Katawa Shoujo is a freeware visual novel created by independent developer Four Leaf Studios, released on January 4, 2012.  It is squarely within the dating sim genre, and has a premise that can be off-putting to some.  The protagonist is Hisao Nakai, a high school boy in Japan, who is forced to attend a high school for physically disabled children after being diagnosed with a serious medical condition.  Unless the player makes stupid choices, Hisao will enter into a relationship with one of five girls that attend the school.

The game is far more than an excuse to put the player in explicit situations with disabled girls, despite what you might think (though said explicit situations are there).  The game treats the girls and their disabilities tastefully and realistically… to a point.  Four out of the five girls the player can romance practically laugh in the face of their disabilities – you’ve got the mute student council president, armless artist and legless track star, among others.  All the girls have problems that run deeper than their physical disabilities though, many of which are barely even related to them.  Helping the girls (and the protagonist himself) work through their issues are of the same importance as romancing them.  I can go ahead and recommend Katawa Shoujo to anyone even remotely interested in visual novels right now, because it is absolutely free to download and play.  Just look it up.

The story begins in the snow, with a beautiful backdrop of snowflakes and trees.  Hisao receives a love confession from a girl in his class… it doesn’t go well.  Hisao suddenly suffers a heart attack, leading to a hospitalization and a diagnosis of cardiac dysrhythmia: a rare heart condition that causes the heart to behave erratically.  Almost any sort of physical stress or overexertion can lead to heart flutters or even a fatal heart attack, thus severely weakening Hisao.  On top of that, all of Hisao’s classmates, including the girl that confessed to him, eventually stop visiting him during his long hospitalization.  Unsurprisingly, all this causes him to become insanely cynical and bitter.  These feelings almost boil over when he’s told that he won’t be able to go back to his old school, and instead will be attending Yamaku Academy: a high school for physically disabled children (and a 24-hour nursing staff).  Despite Hisao’s grim expectations, Yamaku is exceptionally well funded and is more like a college campus than a high school.  The Yamaku campus, in fact, is based off of Brown University.

Of course, that’s far from enough to snap Hisao out of his bitterness.  It takes the forceful duo of Shizune and Misha, two girls in his class, to do that.  They introduce Hisao to Yamaku’s culture and values, and present the player with the first significant choices that will determine their fate later on.  Encounters with other students and the borderline eccentric staff of the school reveal that Yamaku is just a relatively normal high school that just happens to focus on disabled students, not a hospital that doubles as a school.  That is as far from Hisao’s (and the player’s) expectations as you can get.

As mentioned before, there are five girls that the player can pursue in Katawa Shoujo.  Shizune Hakamichi is the student council president and the representative of Hisao’s class.  She is also deaf and mute, relying on her overly loud and energetic sign language interpreter Shiina “Misha” Mikado to translate for her.  Misha doesn’t actually have a disability; she is attending Yamaku under special conditions.  There is also Shizune’s rival: class 3-2’s representative Lilly Satou.  Class 3-2 is for visually impaired students, and Lilly herself is blind completely.  Next is Hanako Ikezawa, a girl in Hisao’s class with major scarring on the right side of her body.  This doesn’t affect her too badly physically, but she suffers from debilitating social anxiety.  Emi Ibarazaki is a headstrong girl who had her legs amputated, and then preceded to become the star of Yamaku’s track team after re-learning to run on prosthetics.  Lastly is Rin Tezuka, an especially spacey girl with no arms.  Needless to say she became an extremely skilled artist using only her feet, par for the course in Katawa Shoujo.

Act 1 of the game always starts the same way, but starts to branch off shortly after Hisao arrives at Yamaku.  Nearly every choice in Act 1 gives the player invisible “points” with one of the five girls, or otherwise branches off completely into a new scene or onto a specific girl’s route entirely.  Keep in mind that some of these occur before you even meet the girl that you are earning points with.  Act 1 takes care to show plenty of each girl, their personalities and what they value, without delving too far into their inner thoughts and motivations.  An attentive player will be able to somewhat steer themselves towards the girl they want based on what they see of them, but I would recommend reading up on the five girls and choosing one to pursue before playing.  I say this because taking a neutral path (intentionally or unintentionally) can open the player up to a number of traps, also known as bad endings.  Endings where you fail to follow any girl’s route… and die.  I mean, that’s the whole point of the game, to enter a relationship.  I’d advise that you be wary of choices that seem hilarious at the time, and to JOIN THE ART CLUB if given the option.  Trust me, it makes sense in context.  Knowing which girl to pursue in advance really helps, and to keep plenty of backup saves in case that doesn’t work and you DO end up dead.

Because you haven’t chosen her route yet of course!

Considering how Hisao, the poor new guy, gets plopped down in the middle of a vicious feud between Shizune and Lilly, it makes perfect sense that much of the early game is dedicated to giving you “points” with one or the other with its choices.  On the other hand, it only takes two specific choices to lock you onto Emi’s route no matter how many points you have with either of them.  She’s the type to drag you into her world like that.  Hanako is best friends with Lilly, and not outgoing, to put it lightly.  Thus a single choice right before you are locked onto Lilly’s route will lock you onto Hanako’s instead.  If you don’t manage to get onto anyone else’s route (and avoid all the bad ends), it’s a one-way ticket to Rin’s route.  No matter which girl Hisao ends up going for, they will help Hisao (and the player) realize how narrow their mindset previously was and undergo a bit of revitalization by the time their route officially begins.  That doesn’t mean that Hisao won’t fall back into old habits, unfortunately.

Players can expect every girl’s route to shatter their expectations of character archetypes, as well as common visual novel and anime tropes.  The “spirited competitor” Shizune, “incomprehensible artist” Rin, “plucky girl” Emi, “yamato nadeshiko” Lilly and “shrinking violet” Hanako; all of them will defy and deconstruct what is expected of them from both Hisao and the genre savvy player.  Even characters without routes such as “genki girl” Misha and “conspiracy theorist” Kenji end up doing this.  All the major girls also tend to come in pairs: Lilly and Hanako are incredibly close, Shizune is basically connected at the hip to Misha, and Rin and Emi are friends (but they aren’t as close as the other two, so their routes are completely separate).  The meaning behind these pairings become very apparent as you play through each route, specifically for Lilly and Hanako.  In fact, I would strongly recommend that you play Hanako’s route before Lilly’s, as certain plot points from Hanako’s route are addressed in Lilly’s as well.

For Hisao himself, each route is as much about him overcoming his condition and truly moving on from his trauma as it is about the girls.  He’ll also find his own plans and aspirations for the future, which change depending on how each girl inspires and, to a point, rubs off on him personality-wise.  Sometimes, however, taking on aspects of a particular girl’s mindset is not a good thing for him at first.

“Can you tell me what you think?”

Shizune’s route has you finally give in to the energy of Shizune and Misha, and join the Student Council.  The good news is that you will probably avoid her bad ending (every girl’s route has a bad ending, and some also have neutral endings).  The bad news is that there is only a single choice for the player to make in the route.  Hisao certainly is not mistaken when labeling Shizune as pushy and competitive in an almost child-like manner.  Since she lacks the ability to speak, everyone else she does is excessively loud to make up for it, from her actions as the Student Council President to her exaggerated facial expressions.  And from anything she can’t express directly, she has the world’s loudest translator in Misha (not to mention the owner of the loudest hair in the game).  As a result though, her personality comes off as especially abrasive to others, and Misha tends to put her own spin on translations and leave things out at her own digression.

In Act 2 of Shizune’s route, Hisao learns sign language, becoming fluent in an insanely small amount of time.  You can’t have an entire relationship through an interpreter, right?  Hisao essentially gets to know Shizune and Misha again afterwards, this time as separate individuals.  Shizune is actually much sweeter than she lets on, but is still pretty obsessed with competition and conquests of all kinds.  Once into Act 3, Hisao (unfortunately) meets Shizune’s family.  Act 3 is quite different from any other part of the game: it’s a slice-of-life segment featuring some of the most dysfunctional characters in Katawa Shoujo.  It’s fun, but it’s not for everyone.  Especially considering the lack of player choices and potentially unlikable characters.  But don’t fret; there’s plenty of drama in Act 4.

“Can you stand up for yourself?”

Emi’s route has you… take up exercise and dietary plans.  Hisao becomes the running partner of the adorable and chronically outgoing Emi Ibarazaki, who calls herself “The Fastest Thing on No Legs”.  She’s hardheaded and determined to a fault – she ended up FASTER than she was before she lost her legs, after all.  Emi does have some major personal issues too, but she has a hard time confronting or confiding said problems with anyone, Hisao included.  She tries to handle everything herself, to the detriment of everyone around her, and has a ton of related complexes.  Luckily, the player’s got plenty of help from side characters in this route, including Emi’s mom and Yamaku’s head nurse.  One thing that I admittedly found frustrating in this route was that Hisao never picks up on the heavy-handed foreshadowing, nor does he make an effort to work around many of Emi’s clearly defined complexes until near the end of the route.  It does make a degree of sense that Hisao isn’t too perceptive in this route, thanks to Emi’s hardheaded nature rubbing off on him.  While it does take some determination on Hisao’s part to help Emi and bring stability to their relationship, he also needs to listen to advice from others.  A direct approach is not always the best one, as this route will teach.

“Can you face your fears?”

In Hanako’s route you… well, you do something.  Arguably the most distinctive character in the game, Hanako’s crippling social anxiety and shyness are very deceiving.  Through her stuttering speech and deep-seeded shame over her appearance, Hanako proves to be very perceptive and sensitive to social cues, especially when it comes to Hisao.  Speaking of Hisao, he doesn’t so much become like Hanako in this route as much as he wants to protect and help her through her issues.  This may become the mindset of the player as well, considering Hanako’s incredibly sorrowful past and how fragile she appears at times.

But how much protecting does Hanako need?  She has a very close friend in fellow main girl Lilly, and endured through some very tough times in the past.  Solving this dilemma requires you to listen to Hanako, and listen WELL.  Even the smallest comments or details about her past can prove very important, especially considering how tough it is for a quiet girl like Hanako to talk about such things.  She won’t let you know if you piss her off, after all – Hisao has to figure out that out for himself.  A perceptive player will find that Hanako’s story is in fact very similar to the situation that Hisao found himself in – read into that as you will.

“Can you seize the day?”

In Rin’s route you join the art club, just because you can.  Just like Rin paints despite having no arms: she does it because she can.  To the surprise of no one, Rin is by far the most difficult girl to understand.  She’s prone to speaking in cryptic, fractured and incomprehensible ideas, usually with a questioning stare that gives away no feelings one way or the other.  She rarely shows anything with her near-perfect poker face, in fact.  Which she does without even realizing it.  Add to that her word-finding difficulties (she doesn’t know that “swarm” is a word), and you have a perfect storm of incomprehensibility.  While she says a lot of weird and flat-out hilarious things, the player has to look further into meanings and implications.  If no one can understand her, how do you think she feels whenever she tries to be understood?

Hisao unsurprisingly struggles to understand her, but at the same time empathizes with her and her self-identity issues due to his own mindset being similar early on.  Even though Rin is rather out there in her ideas and philosophies about art and just about anything, she has a shocking amount of determination that comes out when she dedicates herself.  Thus she throws herself into her art when given the chance to take her skills to the next level.  This occurs at the same time as Hisao’s decision to move forward in his life past his heart attack and condition.  They both decide to change, for the better or for the worse.  Hisao ultimately has the hardest time building a relationship with Rin than with any of the other girls, but the end of the route is quite rewarding considering how grim her bad ends are.  Rin’s route tends to fall into more extended prose and descriptions of sights, smells and the like, especially outdoor environments.  This can be a good or bad thing depending on the player’s attention span.

“Can you see what I see?”

In Lilly’s route you drink a lot of tea and get to see some of the prettiest art in the game.  This route is pretty much set up to be the “final” one; it is the only one that resolves multiple characters’ issues, and is the only route to feature an epilogue.  This is also the only route that really resembles a romantic drama, which makes perfect sense considering Lilly’s old-fashioned ideals. That said; the transition from Act I to her route happens rather abruptly and without a strong lead-in, partly due to her and Hanako having many of the same Act I scenes.  Lilly’s route continues to have issues dealing with Hanako early on, with many of the major plot points from Hanako’s route being covered in a compressed format.  As mentioned above, Hanako’s should be played first.

Throughout the entirety of Act I, Lilly appears to be the definition of perfect, discounting her blindness and bitter feud with Shizune.  She is never phased by anything, never shows outright anger or reveals any inner turmoil, and is perfectly ok with people poking fun at her disability. Not to mention her attractiveness.  But it becomes more apparent throughout her route that her perfect and proper behavior is her flaw in itself.  As intelligent and cool-headed as she is, as much as she plays a motherly role to characters like Hanako, she has issues of her own.  She isn’t too forthcoming with talking about her problems (that’d cause needless worry in her mind), but that isn’t the biggest problem in her route.

The problem is that no one thinks that she HAS any issues, Hisao especially.  Thus they become complacent in relying on her for support, but not the other way around.  So she never gets the help she might need, or anyone to stop her and Shizune from getting at each other’s throats.  Complacency is actually a really big theme in her route in general, along with honesty.  Players have to be honest with Lilly if they want Hisao to have an “equal” relationship with her in the end.  Whether it’s due to Lilly hiding her troubles to a fault or Hisao hesitating to push her on the subject, players don’t get to learn a lot about Lilly until late in the route.  It’s probably easier to just go to another girl… Lilly’s older sister, Akira.  A much more matter-of-fact and forthcoming person, she won’t hesitate to let Hisao into the loop.  Or to buy alcohol for underage students, for that matter.

Lilly’s route arguably has the most dramatic and heartwarming ending of any route, and the most surprising one too.  Yes, it’s really saying something when the most straight-forward route manages to have a more surprising ending than those of Hanako, Rin and Shizune.

The girls themselves aren’t the only interesting characters in the game, not by far.  If you were worried that there might be a lack of comedy in Katawa Shoujo, Hisao’s borderline paranoid-schizophrenic shut-in dorm mate Kenji provides plenty of it (technically he’s legally blind).  He tends to appear at the most inopportune times to share his thoughts on THE GREATEST THREAT TO MANKIND: FEMINISIM.  Usually that loudly too.  He’ll rant on and on like a lunatic, reducing all but the most stone-faced player to laughing fits, and reducing Hisao to the most deadpan responses ever made.  It really is surprising that the guy hasn’t killed anybody… that we know of.  Despite his insane logic and conspiracy theories though, he really does value Hisao as a friend, and shows genuine wisdom and insight at times (and doesn’t actually think all women are evil either).  But then there’s the alternate name for the Act I bad end… the Kenji route.  Kenji may or may not be dangerous on his own, but he IS a crazy guy obsessed with feminist conspiracies in a dating sim game with 5 girls to pursue.  If you’re into dark humor though, the Kenji route is worth taking at least once for kicks.

What.

Getting into the quirky school staff, the most prominent adult in the game is assistant librarian Yuuko.  She often shows up to give helpful advice to Hisao about his various relationships, which is surprising, since she herself is painfully neurotic, overworked and tends to freak out at the smallest provocation.  Perhaps it’s because of her problems that she can help other people with theirs.  Like Hanako, she’s also shockingly perceptive of others’ feelings despite her own anxiety.

There’s also Hisao’s homeroom teacher Mutou, a stereotypical absent-minded professor (even Hisao calls him that) who teaches science.  While the game’s current drama often throws him to the side or plays up his scatterbrained tendencies, there’s no doubting his dedication to his students.  He usually plays a big role in helping Hisao plan for his future, and shows hidden depths when dealing specific students like Hanako or Misha.  Mutou has a rival and polar opposite in the form of the outspoken and dramatic art teacher Nomiya, who only appears in Rin’s route.  Last but not least is the head nurse of Yamaku, whose name they never bother to tell you.  He’s a genuine example of a “funny” doctor (and one that is occasionally actually funny), never hesitating to look on the bright side of things or tease Hisao.  On the other hand, he never hesitates to hand out verbal beatdowns if his advice isn’t taken seriously.  He also happens to have a close relationship with someone who makes ignoring advice a lifestyle: Emi.  Unsurprisingly, he appears a lot in her route to give advice, both medical and romantic.

Somebody stop this man!

The remaining handful of notable characters are related to the 5 pursuable girls.  There’s the afore-mentioned Akira Satou, Lilly’s older sister.  She’s everything Lilly isn’t – direct and outgoing, somewhat loud and lacking in… certain assets.  But she’s definitely pretty intelligent and insightful; she works as a lawyer and, quite shockingly, has a good relationship with Hanako.  On the opposite end, there are others who are SCARILY similar to the main girls they’re related to, like Shizune’s little brother, Hideaki.  He’s got a strange monotone matter of speaking, and is even more direct and to the point about things than his deaf-mute sister (which should probably be impossible).  He has the same competitive streak too.  In Emi’s route you have her mom, Meiko.  Just imagine a grown Emi without the hard-headedness.  And then there’s Shizune’s dad.  Let’s just say if there’s anyone in the game you want to punch in the face…

Possibly the biggest issue with Katawa Shoujo in general are the choices leading to the bad endings.  In most cases, players have to make Hisao be a complete jerk to get a bad end.  This does make it fairly easy to avoid bad endings, but as a result, the endings themselves often involve Hisao being a complete moron who is DETERMINED to make the worst decisions possible over and over until the logical horrible conclusion happens.  Hanako and Shizune’s routes have the worst cases of this.  This is also present in most of the paths to the Act I bad end, but it’s more understandable due to Hisao’s bitterness at that point in the game.

But luckily Hisao does.

Before wrapping up this essay posing as a game review, I’d like to point out how good this game, a FREEWARE game, looks and sounds.  The character sprites and artwork are very well done and look realistic in general, making you feel like you’re really looking through Hisao’s eyes (though if Hisao is involved in the scene himself, you’ll get another perspective that shows him).  Even though Katawa Shoujo is certainly an anime-styled game, the anime influence on the art style is limited to characters’ faces and expressions.  The expressions are pretty varied and accurate too, which is extremely important for visual novels and their focus on individual characters.  The developers didn’t take the easy way out either: they made the effort to come up with specific designs and implied personalities for many background characters that don’t play a role in the story.  And as mentioned before, Lilly’s route has several amazing pieces of art that show up at just the right moments to make an impact.

There are a couple of issues with the consistency of the art style at times.  Hisao himself looks different in a few scenes, particularly at the very start of the story (that first piece of art could’ve been made years before anything else in the game).  The biggest issues with the art turn up in Emi and Shizune’s routes, respectively.  Emi herself went through a major redesign late in the game’s development, and thus ends up looking significantly younger in some scenes than her character sprite.  Shizune’s honestly makes a huge mess of this at times, most of which can be blamed on a change in artists at the time.  The new artist has a much rougher style, and the characters in particular are barely recognizable when compared to their sprites or scenes in other routes.  Aside from those two routes, the art is very consistent.

She looks what, about 12 in this pic?

Aside from the actual art, most of the background images are just that: images.  It’s obvious that they consist of actual photographs with a filter placed over, but they still look rather nice nonetheless, and they’d probably needlessly stand out without the filter.  Possibly the most shocking thing Katawa Shoujo has are fully animated cutscenes.  Yes, a freeware game with animated cutscenes.  One rather basic one appears at the start of the game, mostly to serve as opening credits and set the restless mood surrounding Hisao’s hospitalization.  The others appear at the beginning of each girl’s route to introduce their issues to the player in a rather abstract format.  You could say that they’re opening themes for each girl.  The art style is a more simplistic anime-esque style than usual, but that’s practically a positive considering their purpose – it makes them seem more dream-like and gets players thinking about the meaning behind them.

The game does feature a scattered few instances of animation in scenes and sound effects, the most prominent being Hisao’s heart flutters.  After experiencing major flutters and a heart attack in the first scene, repeated cut-ins of a heart along with loud, strained heartbeats are all it takes to fill players with dread, and make them fear the worst.  At times they’re the only things to remind players of Hisao’s condition – it’s all too fitting at the moments Hisao pushes his condition to the back of his mind and ignores it.

The music in Katawa Shoujo is rarely complex, but does its job of setting the mood of scenes, and does it well.  The menu theme is the foremost indicator of this: the first song players hear when starting the game may not seem important, but it’s such a low key, soothing track that it’s the perfect musical chaser to calm players down after a potentially dramatic or heartwarming session.  In most “neutral” scenes (generally during Hisao’s internal monologues) and those lacking in drama, the music is soothing and pretty out-of-the-way, focusing on light strings and occasional piano melodies.  And that’s when it isn’t even trying to do anything: more introspective and calmer moments with the girls feature cushy and heartwarming songs like “Comfort” and “Air Guitar” to touch even the most restrained players.

Each of the girls has their own light-hearted motif that shows up during establishing character moments, excluding Hanako, who has a much more rarely heard dramatic motif.  Lilly’s is more calming than light-hearted too, but it’s perfect for her personality.  It always helps to cast them in a positive light, even for Emi after she nearly gives Hisao a heart attack by crashing into him.  Moments of silliness and general fun are perfectly accompanied by tracks like “Hokabi” or “Generic Happy Music” too.  For maximum hilarity, the Kenji-specific “Out of the Loop” is there for his crazy ranting.  The Nurse also gets his own motif, perfect for when he shows up to mess with Hisao.

When the dramatic moments do come, that is where the soundtrack really shines.  Songs like “Stride” or “Caged Heart” are pretty much just unsettling enough to bring up the same thoughts of insecurity and tension in the player that Hisao is likely grappling with at the moment.  And then you have tracks like “Shadow of the Truth” and “Cold Iron”, which hit you right in the heart and let you KNOW that something bad is going to happen.  The pure impact of the music in those scenes simply cannot be overstated.  There is one other track that matches those two: “Moment of Decision”.  Seeing as this is a visual novel with both good and bad ends, the title should say everything about the scenes it accompanies.

Let’s say the player succeeds in winning the girl – they’re rewarded with the most beautiful and sweetest tracks in the game, such as end credit theme for every girl’s good end: “Romance in Andante”.  Somewhat related to said tracks are “To Become One” and “Letting my Heart Speak”, which play during equally… enjoyable scenes.

Sex scenes.  Anyone with knowledge about the visual novel medium, particularly dating sim games, would not be at all surprised to know Katawa Shoujo has them.  Those who are queasy about viewing such scenes has the option of turning them off, but should be aware that doing so does NOT censor all instances of nudity for character sprites, just the explicit scenes.  About half of the sex scenes are actually plot-relevant: they don’t exist just for the sake of it.  So I wouldn’t recommend skipping them if you want the full impact of the story.  They’re done (in a manner of speaking) in a rather tasteful and realistic manner, highlighting the struggles of the act as much as the pleasures instead of glamorizing it.

As players complete the game and play through every route, the menu progressively fills up with images of each girl and Hisao himself, representing each chapter the player reaches.  It ends up looking like a hastily stitched together patchwork of images, just like the new life Hisao stitches together in each route.  There is also a reward of sorts of completing the entire game (viewing every possible scene), but its only one image that can be seen in the Gallery section of the menu.  I really wish there was more myself.

Katawa Shoujo is a game that values realistic conclusions.  Thus even the good endings leave some uncertainty at the end.  Will the relationship really work?  The player can form the relationship and stabilize it, but the ultimate ending is whatever you imagine it to be.  Happy or not so happy, that’s how real life is.  Hisao can’t make his condition go away after all, and neither can the girl he ends up with.  It’s imperfect, but at the same time makes the relationships all the more real and effective.  Katawa Shoujo is not without its flaws, but is compelling and beautiful nonetheless.

“Our pasts may be scattered and at times overshadowed by sadness, but they’re also an irrevocable part of our lives and personalities.  Even if I could change a single thing, I wouldn’t, because my past was what led me here.”  “That’s why, even with all that’s happened to us before, and all that may well befall us… together, we’ll keep walking forward.”