A recent list of recommended links at Skepchick.org directed me to an article about a ‘visual novel’/dating game, Katawa Shoujo.
This is absolutely not the kind of game that I’d ever consider would interest me. Or, at least, that I would have considered would have interested me. Because that review sounded so positive, and so different, that I had to try it.
Fortunately, at that point I hadn’t read the preceding article about how the game came to be. Had I done so I’d have almost certainly avoided it. It’s bizarre enough that the game originated at 4chan. Beyond bizarre, really, to someone who knows little more of 4chan than its being the source of some of the worst stuff on the internet. But the origin article seems only to confirm that, with the idea for the game forming from threads about sexualizing a young child accident victim.
But I hadn’t read that link then, so I tried the game – and I love it. It’s free – completely free. The staff won’t even accept donations, suggesting that if you want to contribute you donate to charity instead. It is (mostly) gentle and moving and everything that 4chan isn’t, or at least appears not to be. And it’s a collection of well-told stories, each very different from the others, with emotional impact on every arc. Even along the “good” paths – the “bad” endings are each wrenching in their own way.
There is also nudity, and situations far beyond PG13 along each arc. Generally about two per arc. Some seem quite gratuitous. Some are important to the story. Most are somewhat clumsy and embarrassing from the characters’ perspectives. There’s an option to disable “adult content,” but I’ve yet to learn whether that spoils the story, or whether (like HBO’s version of Game of Thrones) the sex scenes help shortcut plot and character development. I suspect that they do. But certainly this isn’t a game for kids.
I understand that there’s a large overlap between Japanese ‘visual novels’ and ‘H- (hentai) games’, and that’s the medium that Katawa Shoujo emulates, though it’s an international effort. I also understand from what I’ve seen on the Katawa Shoujo forums that the game falls far short of what would normally be considered an H-game. I will say that as explicit as they are, there’s nothing sexist (or otherwise discriminatory) about the sex scenes. The protagonist doesn’t take advantage of the girls’ disabilities, nor take prurient interest in them. At most, a disability leads to even more awkwardness than a teen encounter would otherwise have.
The game is set in a Japanese school, which is common for the genre. What isn’t common is that the school caters exclusively to disabled students. The protagonist, Hisao, has a heart attack in the opening moments of the game, which leads to the discovery that he has arrhythmia, and to his enrollment at Yamaku Academy. Hisao is bitter and angry, but he recognizes the need.
He finds it difficult to relate to other students, most of whom are more visibly disabled than he is. He’s taking a huge regimen of drugs, and even so is at significant risk of a further heart attack or death at any time. He resents having continually to watch his health, but keeps his illness hidden from other students. As time progresses, though, he starts to learn how they deal with their own very serious problems, and begins to form relationships with them.
Depending on the choices made in Act I, Hisao will follow an arc romancing one of five girls.
Shizune, the Student Council president is fiercely competitive. She’s also deaf and mute, communicating only in sign language, and requiring her friend Misha to interpret for her.
Lilly, from a different class, is beautiful and completely blind. She and Shizune are always at odds.
Emi has lost her calves and feet, and walks (and races) on prosthetics. She runs to escape her past.
Hanako’s extreme scarring has led her to isolate herself. She’s terrified of others getting close to her, or even looking at her.
Rin has (apparently) a birth defect which robbed her of her arms. She thinks differently from others around her. Eerily logical at times, and sometimes beyond comprehension. She is driven by art.
There is also a very bad ending that can happen if the wrong choices don’t lead to a date for the festival at the end of Act 1.
After Act 1, the subsequent acts are specific to the arc. Each one is unique, with the central girl having a very different character and story than the others.The differences are not superficial. While each arc is built around the same schedule and background events, the story, the girl’s personality, and the feel of the events unfolding are absolutely distinct. Hisao’s reactions also vary, sometimes not to the benefit of his own health.
Each arc has multiple possible endings, with a neutral ending or a bad ending or both for each girl, and some of those are heart-rending. The choices you make after your path is selected in Act 1 do matter.
The writing is excellent. (There are a few places where grammar errors annoyed me, but I’m easily annoyed by grammar.) The conflicts are real. Hisao hits some serious low points in every arc. Even in the good ending. Sometimes it’s very hard to see how there can be a good ending.
I suppose that visual novels have similar mechanics. There’s no real animation, just location shots and character images. Each character has a limited number of poses and is placed on the location background. The poses can mean different emotions or actions, depending on the text. Almost like a low-tech puppet show, except with well-drawn 2D anime characters. A character may be sitting, standing, facing away or arguing with someone else, but she’s always shown looking at you with the same set of standing poses.
The “puppets” are only a hint, though. Just as a novel requires you to construct the scene in your mind, so does the game, but with the setting and character drawing to provide a base for your imagination.
And then sometimes a scene warrants its own separate image. Each of the screenshots I’ve embedded is from one of those times, and the artwork for those is lovely.
At the end of Act 1 there is a short animation that sets the tone for the chosen girl’s story arc with a little foreshadowing. All five are wonderful, and give some hints of the downs in the coming relationship as well as its ups.
The entire game is accompanied by 1.5 hours of original music,with tracks that ideally suit the emotion of the scene portrayed. In playing all five arcs I never got to feel that the music was repetitive. Instead, I found it was a perfect complement to the game. The music is available for download at the Four Leaf Studios website. (Also for free, of course.)
I don’t know that I would ever try another visual novel, with or without adult content. This doesn’t seem like my kind of game, in general, and if it weren’t for that first review I wouldn’t have considered it. But the depth of feeling in this game, the sensitivity to awkward topics, and the ability to convey joy in difficult situations makes me really glad I downloaded it. I find it hard to imagine that commercial versions of the form are often as high quality as Katawa Shoujo. And having finished all paths I’m playing it again at a slower pace (with the adult content disabled, to see if I can tell how much that affects the play.)
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