{"id":7147,"date":"2020-08-15T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2020-08-15T09:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/playlab.uta.fi\/?p=7147"},"modified":"2020-08-15T12:00:01","modified_gmt":"2020-08-15T09:00:01","slug":"is-it-wrong-to-try-to-pick-up-girls-in-a-school-for-the-disabled-katawa-shoujo-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/is-it-wrong-to-try-to-pick-up-girls-in-a-school-for-the-disabled-katawa-shoujo-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls\u00a0in a School for the Disabled?\u00a0\u2013\u00a0Katawa\u00a0Shoujo\u00a0review\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who ever thought 4chan could give birth to a game this wholesome?\u00a0<\/span>The concept o<\/span>f\u00a0<\/span>Katawa<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Shoujo<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>started as a<\/span>\u00a0simple sketch of\u00a0<\/span>cute,\u00a0<\/span>disabled girls o<\/span>n the last\u00a0<\/span>bonus\u00a0<\/span>page of an erotic doujin<\/span>shi<\/span>\u00a0nearly twenty years ago.\u00a0<\/span>It gained tractio<\/span>n online<\/span> on the imageboard<\/span>\u00a0several years later and the internet’s most infamous group<\/span>\u00a0of trolls<\/span>\u00a0decided to make a visual\u00a0<\/span>novel out of it \u2013 hence the name of the developer, Four Leaf Studios.\u00a0<\/span>So, you might be wondering, what is the finished product like?<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our main character, Hisao Nakai, ends up hospitalized because of a heart attack that was caused by a girl confessing her lov<\/span>e to him. That might sound like a bit too on the nose, but in the\u00a0<\/span>hospital,<\/span>\u00a0it\u2019s revealed that Hisao has\u00a0<\/span>chronic cardiac arrhythmia, which requires him to take medicine daily and have frequent checkups.\u00a0<\/span>As a result of this, he transfers to\u00a0<\/span>Yamaku<\/span>\u00a0High School, which\u00a0<\/span>specializes<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>in providing education and healthcare for disabled students.\u00a0<\/span>There he meets five interesting girls<\/span>, all with varying personalities<\/span>, looks<\/span>, and of course, disabilities.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The premise sounds\u00a0<\/span>alarming<\/span>: a dating simulator made by 4chan in which you try to pick up disabled<\/span>\u00a0anime<\/span>\u00a0girls.\u00a0<\/span>But surprisingly there\u2019s no need to worry, as rather than being gross and fetishistic,\u00a0<\/span>Katawa<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Shoujo<\/span><\/i>\u00a0handles its themes gently and respectfully.\u00a0<\/span>When playing it, you learn to see past the <\/span>girls<\/span>\u2019<\/span>\u00a0disabilities and appreciate them for all their adorable and annoying quirks. At the same time, you as the main character come to terms with the changes in your own life and maybe find love in the end.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As visual novels usually do,\u00a0<\/span>Katawa<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Shoujo<\/span><\/i>\u00a0requires some time to complete. A typical route<\/span>, of which there are at least 17,<\/span>\u00a0with a good ending takes about<\/span>\u00a0seven hours to reach, while bad endings are a lot quicker to reach, which I unfortunately noticed.\u00a0<\/span>The pace is quite slow, as is in most visual novels, but it gives\u00a0<\/span>more<\/span>\u00a0time to get\u00a0<\/span>to\u00a0<\/span>know the characters.\u00a0<\/span>The art style is\u00a0<\/span>adequate,<\/span>\u00a0and the production value is ambitious for a game made\u00a0<\/span>by a loose international group.\u00a0<\/span>I was amused by the side character Kenji\u00a0<\/span>Setou<\/span>, the main characters anti-social dorm\u00a0<\/span>neighbor<\/span>\u00a0who\u2019s always ranting about feminist conspiracy theories\u00a0<\/span>\u2013 perhaps an homage to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Katawa<\/span><\/i>\u00a0<\/span><\/i>Shoujo<\/span><\/i>\u2019s<\/span>\u00a0roots in 4chan.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

In the end<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0the game is a lot more than can be described in such few words. The\u00a0<\/span>writing and the fleshed-out characters make it a truly unique experience not falling into the stereotype of a typical eroge o<\/span>r a<\/span>\u00a0dating simulator.\u00a0<\/span>So,<\/span>\u00a0whether you\u2019re looking to simply pass some time or go Ash Ketchum on the girls\u00a0<\/span>or have not yet decided, give it a shot:\u00a0<\/span>Katawa<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Shoujo<\/span>\u00a0is\u00a0<\/span>available to download online<\/span><\/a>\u00a0for free.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Developer<\/span>:\u00a0<\/span>Four<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Leaf<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Studios<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Publisher:\u00a0<\/span>Four<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Leaf<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>Studios<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Platform<\/span>s<\/span>: Windows, Mac OS X, Linux<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Release: 4.1.2012<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Genres<\/span>:<\/span>\u00a0Visual novel,\u00a0<\/span>N<\/span>akige,\u00a0<\/span>E<\/span>roge<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

PEGI: 18+ or none depending on which game mode you choose.\u00a0<\/span>The adult content in the game can be turned off.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Images are taken from the game’s home page. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Katawa Shoujo isn\u2019t your typical dating simulator. Strap yourself in for an emotional rollercoaster presented to you by… 4chan?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":7151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[1141,1142,352],"class_list":["post-7147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-game-reviews","tag-dating-simulator","tag-eroge","tag-visual-novel","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7147"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7147\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7147"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7147"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tuni.fi\/playlab\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7147"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}