Katawa Shojo

[Djanki]

Has anyone here heard of Katawa Shojo?

The story goes like this--a few years ago, some doujinshi-artist named Raita made a bonus page in a doujin, and showed five different girls, with some disabilities. One was blind, another was a deaf-mute, another had prosthetic legs, another had no arms, and the last one was a victim of some burns. He was quoted as saying, "I'd love to play a game like this...".

Anon got together, and said, "Hey, that'd be awesome, wouldn't it? We should make a game like this!". Then, after a few months of dicking around, they got together, and made Katawa Shojo. The game takes place in a school for disabled teenagers; the main character is a boy named Hisao who suffers from Arrhythmia, who also was recently admitted to the school. There, he meets the five girls: Lilly, the tall, blind half-foreigner; Shizune, the deaf and mute president of the student body with a burning spirit (as well as her lively interpreter, Misha); Emi, the energetic star of the track team, who has prosthetic legs; her best friend, Rin, who is an armless artist with her head in the clouds; and Hanako, Lilly's shy friend, whose long hair covers a partially burnt face.

Despite what you might think, the 'disabled' part is played safely by the developers. It's not shown in a particularly pitiful manner, but it's not played for laughs (other than the fact that Hisao has to adjust to being with various people with disabilities, some more obvious than others). The demo for Act 1 was recently released. I downloaded it, and I have to say, from what I've played, it's quite fun. It reminds me of ToHeart 2, actually, what with the unique and sincere characters and the calming-yet-upbeat atmosphere.

I wonder if anyone else has heard of it?

[Valiere]

I haven't heard of it, but as I was reading your description, I was getting increasingly afraid that whoever made this has a disability fetish. I hope that's not the case.

Edit: Oh, it's a dating sim. Developed by 4chan. Hoo boy.

[HackersTotalMassLaser]

Oh, dammit...

[Archem]

Oh, it's a dating sim. Developed by 4chan. Hoo boy.

Ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss...

Not touching that with... Well, anything.

[Darkfox]

Edit: Oh, it's a dating sim. Developed by 4chan. Hoo boy.

*pulls out a cross can starts sprinkling holy water around himself*

[HackersTotalMassLaser]

Tristan voice: Burn the witch!

[Djanki]

Like I said, though, it's not nearly as freaky as you think! The worse I saw is that, for some reason, Lelouch Lamperouge is in your classroom. Trust me when I say that the weirdest thing I've seen as yet is...a game of Risk with a deaf-mute.

Seriously, the dev-team toed the line well. If it bothers you, the final game is going to have an option for cutting out the sex.


EDIT: Forgot, dev. blog here: http://katawashoujo.blogspot.com/

[RuneBlade]

Have lurked /a/ as long as I can remember, seeing this everywhere now since the demo came out, and I recall when they first posted the concept art. IŽll probably play it when the full game is out

[Grandy]

Anon did something that is NOT intended to be offensive?

Dear God, what's next?

...is that a MissingNo lurking around my building's trash can?

[Archem]

...is that a MissingNo lurking around my building's trash can?

Horrifying!

[Djanki]

Anon did something that is NOT intended to be offensive?

...is that a MissingNo lurking around my building's trash can?

Hey, I'm surprised, too. It's opened the way to a lot of weak puns on the /a/ board, but overall, KS has been received with applause. People are waiting for the full game to come out, if only for the rampant boning...

[spoiler]Of course, I'm skipping all that...as long as I can bear it...[/spoiler]