Katawa Shoujo

The title for this bishoujo-style visual novel.

You find 5 real world cripples as attractive as these and I'll give you a prize.

Katawa Shoujo ("Cripple Girls") is a dating sim created by a development group consisting almost entirely of former 4channers. Like all dating sims, the goal of the game is to synthesise a relationship with a girl, because the player does not have the social skills required to do so in the real world. What makes Katawa Shoujo stand out from the rest of perverse games enjoyed by manchildren with an undying respect for all things Japanese (although there is nothing Asian about Katawa Shoujo) is the fact that it takes place at a school for disabled adolescents, and thus the girls in the game are all broken in some fashion.

Disabilities dealt with include:

• Having no legs from the knee down.
• Having no arms.
• Being Non sequitur
• Being deaf
• Being obnoxious with no social repercussion
• Being blind,
• and being severely BBQ'd

Being a visual novel, the gameplay consists of large blocks of text moving over alternating images. Essentially a very large powerpoint presentation, but with a storyline. Pressing TAB speeds up the text by a fuckload, so you can skip most of it. Katawa Shoujo also has an amazing soundtrack composed of midi loops played for hours on end until the music changes in the next scene.

Major Characters

Hisao Nakai

The prototypical angst-ridden teen devoid of all memorable personality. He was shipped off to a school made specifically for physically crippled people due to having Arrhythmia caused by a girl who admitted she liked him in the name of Kalima. Now that he's out of hospital, Hisao must learn to conform with living among nature's mistakes. The player utilizes him to interact with the rest of the cast, and his idea of "helping" a girl is to pry into their personal life like a jealous girlfriend to make the girls' life worse before it gets better. A small running gag in the game is the one strand of idiot hair on his head which apparently doesn't stay down like an unwelcome boner.

His heart condition is bad enough to attend a special school for physically crippled people, described by Rin as sounding like a drunk percussion orchestra, but not quite bad enough to prevent him from doing the horizontal hula with any of the animu princesses in the game.

Emi Ibarazaki

Gameplay with Emi

A legless girl whose confidence, self reliance, hyperactive, and perky personality is enough to give anyone who plays this game a continually lasting migraine. She apparently has a trademark "pout" which is described by Hisao as looking like a "sad puppy". She is the obligatory "foody" of the game; the type who eats a shitload of food but never gains any weight, but is also one of those types who's self conscious about her height. Her prosthesis (flat running blades, like Oscar Pistorius) apparently leaves her a few inches shorter than the original legs did.

Going down her route sees Hisao embracinh her deviant personality - or lack thereof - as she continually forces him to take up running with her every morning and have lunch on the roof with her and Rin. Predictably, love blossoms between the two and they begin to get closer to one another to the extent that they begin dry humping one other on Emi's bed which escelates into having sex a couple of times. Sometime down the line running every morning with Hisao causes her legs to become infected. Scared that the Nurse will take her legs away again, she refuses to see him. She's eventually convinced to see him, but it's too little too late and loses them anyway; thus becoming wheelchair-bound. She and Hisao hang out at the race track where she lures him to the track shed where she goads him into sticking his dick into her shitter, the results of which reveal that she obviously doesn't wipe properly. Afterwards, she becomes a recluse and tells him that she wants time alone to focus on schoolwork. It's later revealed that she's become a slut to his dick when she tells him that she's trying hard not to pounce on him. When they talk again, she then claims that she "won't rely on anyone" which activates Hisao's "needy little faggot" mode which constantly asks questions and gets confused whenever Emi still shows her usual affection towards him. Regardless, she invites him to her home but a while into the visit pretends to leave to go to the toilet but goes into the kitchen. Hisao either confronts Emi directly or questions her mother; both result in him leaving by either getting kicked out by Emi or leaving on his own accord.

If you find yourself down the Bad route, Hisao breaks up with Emi and tries to win her back, but fails. The end. If you go down the Good route, all lost hope is restored as Hisao's nagging at Emi to tell Hisao what's wrong with her ultimately ends with her taking him to her dad's grave, where she suddenly has verbal diarrhea and we all learn of her reclusive personality due to the death of her father and her inability to put the past behind her. They then proceed to perform the dance routine for the fourth time. The end.

Hanako Ikezawa

Awww, isn't it cute?

The quiet, purple-haired, timid, book-reading, chess-playing and billiards-playing girl whom thousands of lonely weebs masturbate over because she's so kawaii. She has horrific burns on the right hand side of her body and has social anxiety because of it, running away from the slightest bit of interaction anyone has with her. She has no friends apart from Lilly, experiments with food which often makes it inedible, and the two are often seen having tea together in the empty unused room they use during lunch. While doing Lilly's route, she grows some balls and joins a newspaper club, makes some friends and goes travelling with one of them. She also enjoys playing chess, but sucks at it.

Going down Hanako's route sees Hisao beginning to latch onto Lilly and Hanako like a filthy social parasite under the guise of helping Lilly with her class rep duties. In the early parts of the story, Hisao spends time with the pair, during which time he plays chess, sips tea like a faggot and experiences his first awkward boner when seeing them in their pyjamas. Hanako tells Hisao the basics of what happened to her after she tells him that she found out about his heart, in a sort of "I'll show you mine if you show me yours" kind of way. She then has a Catatonic attack ater being grouped with Shizune, Hisao and Misha because none of them shut the hell up long enough to notice. Lilly calls Hisao to talk to him about the incident and drops the bombshell that she's leaving for Scotland and that she wants to push up the birthday party for Hanako where they give her some presents. Akira arrives to give the 3 minors wine. What could go wrong, eh? A drunk Hanako is carried to her bed where she attempts to have drunk sex with him, but he turns her down and puts her into bed. Then they proceed to go to bed in their own rooms, ready for the obligatory walk of shame the next day.

The day before Lilly leaves for Scotland, she invites Hisao out to a Jazz club where Hisao and Hanako continue to circle-jerk each other on their individual disabilities and shitty pasts over a game of Billiards - a completely normal topic of conversation to talk about when out on the town.

On the event of her birthday, she becomes a hermit.

Depending on the choices you make, you find yourself at the either Bad Ending, where he forcibly enters her room and she blows up in his face when he tries to pry her out. The Neutral Ending, where he visits her room and treats her like a Downs patient and end up playing chess. Or the Good Ending where he backs off and give her some space, she eventually comes out of hiding, he then visits her and shows her his scar. The next day they meet up in town, where they circle-jerk each other even more about their shitty pasts and he gets a shitty thing for her phone and when they get back to school, she shows him her scars in return for showing his. Being the fucktard that he is, Hisao sees it as a greenlight for sex and fucks her; judging by her facial expressions it was rape. The day after, things get awkward. But they eventually sort their issues out by going something any sane person would do; causing a public disturbance! Spouting some shit about how Hisao wouldn't stay around if he saw her as just someone to protect and because she didn't know he liked her like she liked him, and vice versa, blahb lah blah. It's also when she reveals that she locked herself in her room because she doesn't want people fussing over her on her birthday, and not because she blames herself for her parents' deaths like everyone had been led to believe, and they live happily ever after. The end.

Oh and Gimme the Chocolate, Hisao!

Lilly Satou

Not fanart.

A tall, blind, blonde-haired blue-eyed girl who is a quiet and refined young woman. She's her class' representative and is distantly related to Shizune. Shizune hates Lilly and Lilly puts up with her shit. She apparently looks foreign by Japanese standards, and she reveals she has some Scottish heritage. But honestly you can't really tell the difference because she's an animu chick. She is bilingual as she can speak English and Japanese as well as read English Braille.

Going down Lilly's route is practically identical to Hanako's to begin with, except if you chose to go to Town rather than the Library, the story focuses on Lilly. The early part of Lilly's story mostly just consists of her finding out what Hisao looks like based on touch ultimately resulting in a blind person's equivalent of a crush, dealing with how she can't go shopping on her own, and how she requires books imported in Braille. She and Hisao go on what is essentially a date in the local town centre to buy presents for Hanako, where they meet Lilly's sister Akira and Shizune's crossdressing shota brother, Hideaki. Later, Hisao is invited to Lilly's room for tea and each give their presents to Hanako. Akira shows up and gives them free wine and leaves. The three get shitfaced. Instead of Hisao carrying Hanako to her room and trying to have drunk sex with him, all three spend the night in Lilly's room, waking up with hangovers and going through the obligatory walk of shame.

TIMESKIP! The three are having lunch on the roof which just so happens to be where Emi and Rin have lunch. But Hisao has his first of many heart murmurs. Lilly drops the same bombshell that she's going to Scotland for a week. In that time he becomes a needy little faggot and has to babysit Hanako on his own. When Lilly comes back, she invites him go join her and Hanako to a Summer house. It's here that the entire "good girl" facade is thrown entirely out the window; as after he has his second heart murmur and she admits she has feelings for him they then proceed to fuck. Twice. Both times getting creampied and she doesn't fall pregnant - apparently being on the pill.

ANOTHER TIMESKIP! Later we find out that Shizune and Lilly used to be friends, Misha had brown long hair and Akira reveals that she's going to Scotland permanently. Later, Lilly shlicks in front of Hisao while he's blindfolded, with which the proceeding sex almost causes him to have yet another heart attack so that shit must've been good. Hisao later finds out from Akira that Lilly's going back to Scotland with her, this time permanently. Leaving Hisao on his own.

On the day she has to leave, he chooses to go after her or not. If you found yourself at the Neutral route, he wallows in self-pity and doesn't go after her. On the good route, he mans up, calls himself an idiot and leaves for the airport. When he eventually does, he sees Lilly and Akira, and then... CUE THE CONVENIENTLY PLACED PLOT DEVICE! He has a heart attack from all the running. He wakes up in a hospital and she's there. They BAWWW together and live happily ever after. The end.

Rin Tezuka

She's kinda emo

A red-haired armless girl who has a unique way with words. She uses her feet to accomplish every day tasks such as eating and painting, but she can't dress herself and relies on Emi to do that for her. She rarely eats much and wears a boy’s uniform because she doesn’t want dudes peeking up her skirt when she uses her feet to do menial tasks and while painting, but that won't stop Podophiles bash off to her. While she lacks a real emotional threshold and is always spouting random shit, most of her story revolves around how she's depressed because she doesn't know who she is nor can find the right words to describe how she feels. Lolwut.

You go down Rin's route because Hisao is a failed abortion of a person and is "distant" towards every other girl in the story, resorting to a fellow failed abortion with no arms. Hisao starts hanging out with Rin at her mural while hearing other characters' opinions on her being "unique", but doesn't get very far with her until he forces himself into her every day life by joining her Art club as the result of her having fallen asleep on him during the school festival which turned him into a lovelorn needy faggot. From that point on, the creepiness begins. At some point we meet Nomiya, her art teacher who refers to her as his "protégéé", offers her the chance to display her work in an art gallery. She says she'll thin about it, then goes to the forest and visits one specific tree which she named the "Worry Tree" to think about shit because she's so deep and mysterious.

At the next art session, Nomiya presses Rin for a decision about the art gallery. Hisao does the usual fucktarded thing and sticks his nose in which makes her either leave the room either in disgust or worry. It's all forgotten on their next encounter when they're forced to go on a picnic which then gets ruined by a sudden downpour, which causes Emi to become bedbound with a cold the next day. He and Rin talk about shit on the roof which ends in a hug. The next day, she catches a cold, so Hisao visits her and CUE THE HALF NAKED CHICK! he experiences his very first boner. He finds out that he took an entire bottle of cold pills and is high as a kite where a pointless conversation ensues. Just as he's about to leave, she kisses him. The next day - when she's not a prime rape target - she takes him to a hill full of Dandelions where she completely spills everything that's on her mind, but ultimately comes to the decision that she'll agree to the art gallery. Hallelujah!

They go to the gallery to meet the gallery owner called Sae Saionji, who evaluates Rin's work. After telling Rin that she's got no proper theme to her work, Rin's accepted anyway and is given the gallery's workshop. Hisao visits her at the workshop where he admits he likes her and is instantly rejected but continues to visit her while overthinking everything she does and forcefeeds her oranges. Sae and Rin come to the decision that Rin's theme would be "Nameless", afterwhich Rin asks Sae for some cigarettes, a minor's equivalent of weed which they then smoke. She reveals that she has artist's block so Hisao jumps at the chance to pry her out and go for a walk. When they get back to the gallery, she tells him to fuck off for a while but lets him touch her so he touches her cheek. The next day, we're back at the art gallery where we find out that Rin is pretty much no different to Sae's late husband, who painted himself to death. At the workshop, Rin is performing a no-armed person's equivalent of masturbating involving sitting down and grinding herself against the floor. He hugs her and then proceeds to finger her. Afterwards they both fall asleep and have an arguement the next morning for some reason.

Go down the bad route, Hisao shouts at her for having little to no connection to the world and everything around her and pushes her for an explanation about what she's thinking. When she doesn't give a response, he storms away like a bitch. Go down the Neutral route, Hisao gets too pissed off with her to shout at her so doing what any normal human being would do, he leaves. Nearly a week later, she goes to his room and invites herself in where he shouts at her for the same reason as the bad route. He visits her at the gallery opening where she has a mental breakdown. After much prodding from Hisao, she goes back in looking pissed off and he gets completely ignored. Vacation starts but he doesn't have anyone to hang round with. He finds Emi, who says she's not in her room but the ensuing conversation reveals that she might be a little gay for Rin. At the art gallery, Rin avoids Hisao by lying about going for a walk, but he stalks her anyway. They go for a walk in the rain, talk about how she wants someone to understand her and hoped that he would but doesn't, then she tells him she's got a scholarship in art in Tokyo. He gets pissed off, but eventually they "hug" and they go their seperate ways. If you go down the Good route, after the mental breakdown, she decides to run away from the art gallery. He finds her in the classroom she uses to sleep in, and convinces her to talk to Nomiya which results in him blowing a fuse. They then talk about shit, mostly about how she can't expect people to understand what she's thinking and he takes her to her dorm room. The next day, she turns up at his door soaked from walking in the rain, and they have makeup sex. She then takes him to the hill of Dandelions which have now matured into seeds. The end.

Shizune Hakamichi

That's right, she gives none.

A blue-haired bespectacled chick who is a deaf-mute. The only way she can communicate with people is either through Misha, writing what she wants to say down on a notepad or with anyone else who learned Sign language. She's the competitive bitch with far too much Unwarranted self-importance and believes that the only way to gain power is through dictatorship, which is the reason she doesn't have any friends apart from Misha. She hates Lilly with a passion, mostly because of their differing beliefs regarding how to obtain "power". Shizune's route is also by far the longest route in the game with the least amount of options, making it the most boring.

Shizune's route starts off on platonic terms; Hisao gets invited to have tea with them at The Shanghai and is blackmailed into doing slave labour for the Student Council which ends in him doing most of the work they should be doing. It's also the first time that he decides to learn sign language for the sake of having a conversation with Shizune without Misha hanging off her arse like a butt-nugget. After a hard day's work at the Student Council, and after being lectured by Kenji about the vast feminist conspiracy, Hisao is met by Shizune and Misha who invited themselves into his dorm room but they prod him about his medications to which he responds by throwing them out or avoiding the subject entirely. Neither option affects the outcome of the route though. Eventually, Hisao realises that the Student Council consists of just Shizune and Misha.

Sometime later after drinking tea that people died for, Hisao's roped into doing more Student Council shit. They finish at dusk and order a Chinese where Hisao learns the sign language for "Omelette", "Dumplings", and "3685" from Misha. On the day of the festival, Hisao decides to grab a bite to eat and "out of impulse" decides to see what Kenji is up to, while also imagining him doing something like this. Hisao then encounters Shizune and Misha, where he attempts, and fails, to get them a toy each. Not uch happens for a while after that, except Hisao almost has another of his trademark heart attacks and decides for the first time to learn sign language full-time. Kenji ropes Hisao into getting a package from the post office, but not without having one of his trademark ramblings, even going so far as to claim World War III will involve feminists and a post-apocolyptic future with men as slaves while feminists rule the Earth, like some sort of fucked up Dystopian Amazonian future.

After picking up the cardboard box, he bumps into Shizune outside the Shanghai which marks the first time Shizune actually has any dialogue besides "...", but everything she says is in FUCKING SQUARE BRACKETS! The entire trip is ended with a competition involving carrying the box which ends up with her losing and having to carry it... after their fingers touch! So kawaii! A few days later and a few thousand competitions later, Misha talks to Hisao about taking a few days off on preparing for an upcoming festival to catch up with schoolwork, where she drops the bomb that Shizune already knows that he's learning Sign language and completely loses it, but gives up anyway and lays back and accepts it. While assembling some stalls for the festival, Hisao has his first real conversation with Shizune without Misha shoving her head up her rectum. Which ends abruptly when A Wild Lilly appears and they have a deaf-mute vs. blind person slanging match again which doesn't go anywhere.

Fast forward to the Tanabata festival, one of your generic over-the-counter and late-at-night festivals involving girls in yukatas that weebs seem to love, although Misha leaves early. Hisao asks Shizune out and she accepts. Bet you didn't see that coming did you? Bet you didn't see this coming either; when she tells him she'll be gone for a week, he invites himself along to her house!

When the 3 go to Shizune's, Hisao meets Hideaki; Shizune's shota crossdressing brother, and her Chuck Norris ripoff of a dad Jigoro who thinks his opinions are fact. Jigoro and Misha get into a neverending shouting match which gives Shizune a perfect distraction to tie Hisao to a chair and rape him, but it's never mentioned again afterwards.

After Hisao returns to the school he receives a letter from Iwanako, which Kenji lays some bro-vice about dealing with women and reveals a bit about his past life with an ex girlfriend. Hisao hangs out with Shizune and Misha at the Student Council room, where they plan upcoming elections, or rather ways to save cash so they can afford pizza at the end of it, just like real politicians. Hisao and Misha go for a meal at The Shanghai and talk about how Shizune pushes people away when she gets wrapped up in Council work. Totally not a foreshadowing. Hisao is later wrapped up in doing yet more Council work and then a game of shogi (bastard child of chess and a Tower defence game). Out of nowhere, Shizune asks Hisao if Misha is angry at her, and further reveals they "kind of had some sort of fight", but doesn't know what she's done wrong.

Hisao encounters Yuuko who asks him to return his books, then asks him to look after the Library while she goes on an errand. He does, and a Wild Kenji appears who rants about how feminists kicked him out of his dorm room. Where he compares a dictionary to their ancestors' equivalent of porn, making out like ancient Japan was ruled by an army of horny William Shakespeares. Hisao visits Shizune at the Student Council office and the ensuing conversation reveals that she "wants to leave something behind for people to remember her by". Misha appears and they all have a take-away. Misha follows Hisao back to his dorm room, and talks about how "the happier Shizune gets, the more depressed she feels", then tries it on with Hisao.

Note that this is the only significant choice throughout the entire story, and that's choosing to either "comfort" Misha or reject her. If you fuck her, it leads you down the Bad route and things get awkward between the three of them. Hisao begins skipping classes trying to avoid Shizune and Misha, Misha admits she's gay for Shizune and how she learned Sign Language for her, is jealous of their relationship and how Shizune brings people close to her then "shuts them out". Hisao and Shizune arrange a picnic but Misha refuses to go, leaving them on their own. Jigoro and Hideaki visit Shizune and invites Shizune on a family vacation but refuses, and Hisao invites Misha for food at the Shanghai, where he has a heart-to-heart with Misha about "friendship". Cute. And finally, Shizune, who never actually finds out that he cheated on her, breaks up with him. The end. Rejecting Misha leads you down the Good route, where pretty much the exact same happens, except Misha apologizes and thanks Hisao for rejecting her and instead of Shizune breaking up with you, Kenji arrives at Hisao's dorm room complaining about his mail not arriving when Shizune appears. Lulz ensues, but Kenji fucks off and they head up to the roof, where Shizune reveals that Misha suddenly got over her depression and cheered the fuck up. They're then seen lecturing two girls running for the next Student Council. When Misha fucks off and sun sets, they fuck on the floor. And then a desk. The rest of the story basically talks about the end of school and everyone's happy. The end.

Shiina “Misha” Mikado

SPOILER ALERT. Oh, too late. WAHAHAHAHA~

The pink-haired air-headed asspie that hangs around with Shizune and translates everything via sign language that's being said in the immediate area for Shizune's convenience, even if Shizune isn't around. She doesn't have her own route, but she appears a lot on Shizune's route. She apparently doesn't know how to control the volume of her voice, especially while laughing. Misha's original hair colour was brown and was down to her arse. You'd be forgiven for thinking that she looks like Kasane Teto, provided you know who the fuck she is. WAHAHAHAHA~

She appears a lot during Shizune's route, and you find out that stairs make her dizzy, she falls asleep a lot, she doesn't know know to ride a bike, she wants to be a sign language teacher and she fuckin' loves parfait. It's also implied that she's got absolutely nothing physically wrong with her at all, when she mentions that the school only allowed her in because of her choice of career in life, as well as a discount on the school's tuition fees. For some reason. She has a majorly gay thing for Shizune, who was the reason she learned Sign Language in the first place. When Misha admitted to Shizune that she liked her, she was instantly rejected. She cuts her hair and loses the drills, making her look like the dyke that she is. She gets depressed near the end of the story because of her jealousy of Shizune's and Hisao's relationship and for some reason makes sexual advances on Hisao, which you can either accept or reject. If you choose to fuck her, it leads you down the bad ending. But it's really more of a Win ending, as Shizune never finds out that you cheated on her.

Minor characters

• Iwanako: A black-haired girl resembling Hanako whose face is never seen. She's the original slag of Hisao's life before she "confesses" to him in some woods before when has his heart attack. She sends him a letter in every single story, which is read by Hisao which basically says that she's sorry for not "being there for him" and that she's moved on and hopes he does as well. He reacts accordingly depending on the relevance of the situation, but he mostly acts like a depressive little bitch. Some dipshits actually want her to have a route even though the whole point of the game is to meet, befriend and sleep with a girl with a physical disability hence the title of the fucking game, "Cripple girls".

• Kenji: A legally blind, misanthropic, conspiracy theory nut job with assburgers, who lives opposite Hisao in the boys' dorm. He has a deep rooted hatred for feminists and preaches about the feminist conspiracy every chance he gets. Contrary to popular belief he doesn't hate women entirely. He claims to have Shaman's eyes which have "seen things", impressive feat for someone who's supposed to be legally blind. You always see him naked at least once before you get to fuck any girls, and he is the faggot that holds the "manly picnic" with you on the school roof and you get so drunk that you lose balance and fall off the roof to your bloody, untimely end. Or pushes you off. Even though he hides away in his room, sleeps all day and obsessively hates women, it's hinted throughout the game that he dated and fucked Yuuko, essentially making her a rapist/cradle snatcher. That gives him a one-up on you because he's not a virgin.

• Yuuko Shirikawa: Freckled and bespectacled 20-something year old with the biggest tits in the game, with the exception of Emi's mother. She works 2 jobs, one in the school library and the other in a tea restaurant called The Shanghai, to pay for her University's tuition fees. Whenever she appears she shows signs of being mentally unstable, almost always bordering on having a panic attack and constantly apologising for stupid shit. As mentioned before, it's hinted that she dated and fucked Kenji at least once.

• "Nurse": His name's never revealed, but to be honest nobody really gives a shit what it is. He is the kind of guy that would brofist you when he sees signs of having fucked Emi, but could also cut your bollocks off for not keeping up with your daily light excercise routine. He has a bigger role in Emi's route seeing as he knows the Ibarazaki family personally. In the sense that he's totally nailing Emi's mother.

• Akio Mutou: Hisao's, Hanako's, Misha's and Shizune's teacher. Passionate about science but is so wrapped up in his own little world that he makes little to no sense. He seems to take a liking to Hisao and refers to him as his "Star pupil".

• Shinichi Nomiya: A Gary Glitter lookalike who appears in Rin's route. Crazy about art to the point of obsession, he pretty much forces Rin to do his bidding, thrusting her into the limelight by displaying her works at an art gallery, while she doesn't have the balls to speak up against it. He's described at one stage as "looking at Rin like a hungry wolf", so there's definitely some ulterior motive.

• Sae Saionji: The chainsmoking gallery owner who knows Nomiya who appears in Rin's route. She promotes underage smoking and is also the one who gave Rin the nickname "The little kitten". Her husband spent more time painting shit than keeping himself sustained with food and fucking her on demand and eventually painted himself to death. Forever Alone.

• Akira Satou: Lilly's emasculated, alcoholic older sister who wears a suit and promotes underage drinking. She appears in Shizune's, Hanako's and Lilly's routes. She's the female equivalent of a pretty cool guy, and calls herself Hideaki's babysitter. She has a boyfriend, so the whole tomboy thing must be a huge turn-on for him.

• Meiko Ibarazaki: Emi's mother who appears in Rin's and Emi's routes. TITS.

• Hideaki Hakamichi: Shizune's cross-dressing faggot shota brother, who appears in both Shizune's and Lilly's routes. He's described as the result of a "scientific process of sucking out all the hypractive, infuriating and childish qualities of a small child and implanted them into the dad, creating a raging jerk dad, and leaving behind Hideaki". He has the habit of trapping people in an endless spiral of awkwardness, by asking a question which leads to more questions. The character as a whole is about as interesting as watching anti-vandal paint dry.

• Jigoro Hakamichi: Shizune's dad, who appears solely in Shizune's route. He seems to think of himself as a stone-cold badass who doesn't give a fuck about what anyone else thinks even if his opinion is wrong. He's essentially a cheap Chuck Norris ripoff but with a blue hawaiin shirt and a katana. He hates sweater vests which is unfortunate for Hisao. He apparently enjoys eating bear liver, even though it's toxic. It also seems that he isn't aware that Shizune's deaf & mute, as some of his ramblings involve her not talking to him.

• Aoi & Keiko: Two n00bs running for the "next" Student Council, who only appear in Shizune's Good route. They got more than they bargained for when they asked if Shizune was taking her job too seriously, in the form of an hour-long lecture. Facepalm

• Miki Miura: Half-cast tomboy girl with a stump for a hand. She appears in Hanako's and Shizune's route and the Bad ending on Emi's route. Seems to take an awful liking to Hanako.

File:1245174647617.jpg

This is pure fucking genius.

Development and drama

The KS forum also has its own brand of meta-fail: a fanart/fanfiction section where the devs show their own form of appreciation for their fanbase.

The idea for the game came from a joke page drawn by the Eleven artist "Raita". When the page was translated and posted on 4chan's /a/ board, Anonymous loved the idea of a cripple-fucking game. They immediately started outlining the main plot, all-important "love" scenes, and lulzy bad ends. A thread was stickied, a development team was formed, and a dedicated forum was made so they could more effectively circle jerk.

Then the drama began. Members of the team would join and ragequit for various reasons. Some were fired for spending too much time fapping and not enough time working. The plot was written and re-written and the art was drawn and discarded rapidly. But at last, on 9/11 an early development version of the first part of the game was leaked and discussed on 4chan; still, much work remained.

The name "Katawa Shoujo" was also a boner of contention with the Japanese audience, since Katawa means "cripple" and is seen as derogatory. The name was kept, however, to stay in touch with the artistic vision and because it was "too late" to change it to something inoffensive.

During 2008, threads about KS would be quite frequently present on /jp/, causing much rage since the whole thing was considered to be a massive piece of vaporware, as well as many accusations of viral marketing by the game devs. This continues, to the point that now "being a KS dev" is a common accusation on /jp/.

In the spring of 2009, Act 1 of the game was finally released. After much nervousness about how the Japs would take a deliberate attempt to imitate their shitty games (as nerds are constantly seeking validation from one another), the Japanese reaction was neatly summed up in three words: "SUBS FUCKING WHERE?!?" Meanwhile, back in round eye-land, the feedback forum consists mainly of posts saying stuff like "this is the best visual novel I've ever played", which may be a sad commentary on the genre. It might, on the other hand, be an indication that the tastes of basement dwellers are best understood by other basement dwellers. Because the devs forget everything on the internet is forever, they frequently get butthurt when forum posters use dev blog entries and dev-commissioned fanart to spoil plot tweests, calling all the clues obvious trolls.

Moot also changed /jp/'s name from "Japan/General" to "Katawa Shoujo" for a day during early summer of 2009, presumably for the lulz.

Shortly after the demo release, a KS forum devianTard named mugenjohncel, allegedly a former artist turned millionaire businessman/importer/drug trafficker posted a beautiful drawing of one of the heroines tied to a chair and stabbed to death with a pencil, then got b& not for posting guro, but for asking if it could be put in the devs' own SUPER SPESHUL IMAGEDUMP SIET. Being filthy rich and unencumbered by a day job, mugen failed to bitch about it anywhere, instead going on to start his own Ren'Py game where you get to rape and murder a Mexican loli in the nuclear apocalpyse. This was, of course, him wanting to be exactly like 4LS despite the absence of a modern setting in Japan, teenage girls, disabilities, or a staff of infighting manchildren producing it:

<Delta_Kurshiva> http://jpproject.2ksite.com/heavy-metal-girl-madonna-episode-1-humble-origin--p1767.html#p1767

<Delta_Kurshiva> NRRRRRRR

<Blue123> MUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGEEEEN

<Blue123> Mugen faggotry: Slavshit edition

<Delta_Kurshiva> hahaha, he's whining for japanese translation

<Blue123> I thought he said he doesn't want to be like us

<Delta_Kurshiva> "big plans" indeed

<Delta_Kurshiva> oh, he wants to be exactly like us

<Delta_Kurshiva> only, /jp/ and everyone in the world thinks he's fucking aseome

<Delta_Kurshiva> and... it's him. Not us.

<buckingham> do we even have a decent japanese translation effort

<Delta_Kurshiva> Haven't heard back from them yet

<Blue123> Nothing has happened there for about a week or two

<Delta_Kurshiva> I would like to put forward that the translators are fucking lazy.

<buckingham> damn mugen would shit himself with joy if he knew we had a daily event centered around talkibg about him

Fanbase

Comparable to the Silk Screen Goku Shirt

The fanbase consists of a bunch of L33t romantics, who play the demo despite there being no love making visually depicted. The full game will contain nudity and the sexings, but the developers promise an option that allows players to skip any portions of the game involving sex. Players bring up this option with their parents when trying to advocate why the game is beautiful, and why they are not total perverts for playing it. Lastly the fans of the game also enjoy arguing over which of the fucked up characters they consider to be their waifu, creating many lulz for really cool guyz (AKA fellow /v/irgins) viewing said ronery sadness. Some dedicated fans have been known to sever their own arms upon completion of the game.

Thinking about joining the Katawa Shoujo forums and discussing your favorite cripple girl? Please make sure you enjoy the following before proceeding: The forums are cesspools for Devs so far up their own assholes they believe everyone but themselves are trash, fucktarded users who post terrible photoshops and get their cocks sucked by the rest of the forum, and retards who write terrible fan fiction about the burn girl getting her charred cock sucked by the deaf girl.

If you enjoy all those things, a forums account may just be the thing for you!

Failart

Gallery About missing Pics

• 
  A series of ways the player can meet his untimely death.
• 
  Even failed wrestlers wish to be the cripple girl.
• 
  That fag from Code Geass finally found his home. Hey, that dude in the back has a fucking cane. What is this a class of cripples or something?
• 
  No burn victim on the planet would wear a bikini. Animu lies.

[Collapse GalleryExpand Gallery]

• 
  There are 3 puns here. Can you SEE them all?
• 
  What Rin was born for.
• 
  The sad truth that most ronery fags must face when playing this game. It's porn.
• Hahahah! It's funny because the creator used the incorrect form of "there"!
  Hahahah! It's funny because the creator used the incorrect form of "there"!
• 
  Ridiculous hair style that will do the impossible and fight da powa.
• 
  The opinions of players with truly superior tastes.
• 
  The opinions of the characters themselves.
• 
  Misha summarizes her thoughts on you.
• 
  BTW, She's objecting to your sexual advances.
• 
  A question all players end up asking themselves at one point in the game. Then they order a pizza.
• 
  Interpreter fail.
• 
  Hanako making a great suggestwin.
• 
  Rin, great hide & seek player or GREATEST hide & seek player.
• 
  Rin is an armless ADD asswipe.
• 
  The final boss of the game clasping your torso with her its mighty claws.
• 
  The cancer that is killing Misha is...cancer.
• 
  HAHAHAHA, it's funny because he's actually a fagot.
• 
  This turns on fans because they are sick fucks
• 
  You're looking the wrong way you dumb blind bitch!
• 
  Protip: If someone laughs while giving you a blowjob kill yourself.
• 
  Protip: Pretending your dick is a balloon is a bad idea.
• 
  Protip: If you get off on rape, don't fuck a mute.
• 
  Protip: When your partner asks for "the chocolate" in bed, shit in her mouth.
• 
  Dick Cheney had a heart condition.
• 
  The worst ending there is in a pill.

See Also

• Dating sim - What this is.
• Online sex games - Not quite what this is.
• Animu - The style the characters are based after.
• Ronery - What you are.
• Hentai - What this essentially is.

Links

• http://katawa-shoujo.com/ - The homepage.
• http://ks.renai.us/ - The forum where the sick fucks like you go, to talk about the game.
• http://shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com/ - The art page where said sick fucks like you go to fap to pictures related to the game
• http://katawashoujo.blogspot.com/ - The blog where devs highlight each others' achievements and articulate their relationship with their fanbase

Katawa Shoujo is part of a series on Gaming Visit the Gaming Portal for complete coverage.

Katawa Shoujo is part of a series on Chans Visit the Chans Portal for complete coverage.

Katawa Shoujo is part of a series on Anime Visit the Anime Portal for complete coverage.

February 19 and 20, 2012
Preceded by Greece	Katawa Shoujo	Succeeded by Jews did WTC