Surprisingly, despite being a Freeware Visual Novel, Katawa Shoujo has an awesome sound track. Doing It for the Art, indeed.
- A few of the Leitmotifs:
- Lilly's "Concord".
- Rin's "Parity". The Quad City DJ's mashup is also very awesome.
- Hanako's "Painful History". One of the composers did a remix for this tune, and judging by the reception and his comments, an arrange album might just come out.
- Emi's "Standing Tall". It sounds as if the composer's telling you, "Look, a beautiful girl. She's athletic, cheerful, playful, childish, full of energy, she has a smile that will light up your day and has always an optimistic attitude in life, no matter what happens. What could be wrong with her?..."
- Nurse's "Ah Eh I Oh You"
- Lilly's "Concord".
- "Shadow of the Truth", in comparison to the lighter tone of the soundtrack, is haunting and powerful. Appropriate, as it's used whenever Hisao is confronted with the uncertainty of whether or not he has long to live. In Lilly's route, the track is memorably played when Hisao realises that Lilly is leaving for Scotland, never to return.
- Raindrops and Puddles is one of the most beautiful songs on a grand list of beautiful songs, managing to be both reflective and evocative of relaxation and calm. Notably, while it's one of the themes that plays in every route, it's largely as a result of Hisao having deep thinking to do or enjoying time with the specific route's character.
- It's difficult to not feel happy while listening to "Afternoon". Naturally, it plays in scenes when the afternoon rolls around.
- "Innocence", a very softly understated song that both leads into Lilly's Love Confession, and plays during Hisao and Hanako confessing to each other, and realizing what missteps they've made along the way. It also plays in both versions of Emi's good ending, when Hisao manages to bridge the gap that has appeared between them and finally says that he loves her.
- "Jitter", the song that plays during the animation at the start of Hanako's route, is at first forlorn, then overwhelmingly hectic, and finally... serene and calm.
- "Breathlessly", a heartrendingly lonely piano piece reserved for some of the most tragic moments.
- "Comfort", the music that plays during some of the Heartwarming Moments.
- "To Become One", the H Scene music. It complements the tastefulness and emotion of them quite well. Ditto with "Letting My Heart Speak", although not played in such scenes as often.
- "Wiosna", meaning 'Spring' in Polish. An uncomplicated song that plays in the main menu, comprised of a single piano, and some sort of guitar. What we get is a calming and subdued piece that is lonely and wistful, nostalgic and quaint. In fact, all of the songs work for this trope, as every single one is easily connected to the type of scene it corresponds to. "Painful History", "Shadow of the Truth", "Caged Heart" and "Stride" all have a somewhat sinister tone to them, denoting the seriousness of the scenes they appear in, while songs such as "Innocence" and "Romance in Andante II" are easily connected to the romantic scenes, especially Lilly's Crescendo sequence. Even the "Generic Happy Music" is awesome!
- "Friendship", which apart from Kenji's glasses removal scene, only plays during Lilly's and Emi's good endings and Rin's neutral ending. A soft song, bittersweet tune that really lampshades Lilly's farewell and, if you took the right choices, Hisao's determination to convince her to stay at near impossible odds. Meanwhile, it also gives the tune to when Emi finally lets Hisao close while finally being honest about her accident which also claimed her father. Finally, it also lampshades Rin essentially breaking up with Hisao at the art exhibit and ends their friendship reluctantly in the rain with a farewell hug.
- "Red Velvet", a beautiful slow jazz piece.
- "Moment of Decision", Solemn yet powerful with a feeling of definite resolution.
- Sarabande from BWV1010note has managed quite the emotional reaction from players when it serves as a Theme Song Reveal in Lilly's good ending that Lilly came back for Hisao.
- "Aria de l'Etoile" is another one of those pieces that plays during the more beautiful scenes, including Rin and Hisao's first kiss in her bedroom, Rin's ending scene, Emi's ending scene, falling asleep next to Hanako, and Lilly making the origami crane.
- Cold Iron, the track that plays during Hanako's panic attack making an already stressful and emotional scene even worse and really points out Hanako's mental scars. It also plays in the first scene during Hisao's first heart attack, another heart attack in Lilly's route, and Hanako's Bad Ending.
- "Caged Heart" plays first during the second scene of the game, in which Hisao is in the hospital as a result of his arrhythmia. However, the song takes on a new association for any who have played Hanako's Bad Ending, where it plays when Hanako violently explodes at Hisao, and by extension, the player, and cuts off their relationship permanently.
- Romance in Andante II, a beautiful tune you might hear in specially romantic moments, like Emi and Hisao's first kiss, Shizune accepting to be Hisao's girlfriend or Lilly thanking Hisao with a kiss for giving her the music box and her confession of love towards him some scenes later.
- And finally, Romance in Andante, a short but beautiful piano melody that only appears in the Happy Ending credits sequence from any girl's route. It simply fits.
- There were also two songs that the developers wanted to put in, but for various reasons, couldn't. Both of them are masterpieces, though; Carefree Days easily catches the spirit of Miki from what little we see of her in Hanako's route, and When it's Hard to Smile sounds like a good ending theme, or just a grand theme to be played whenever one of the girls is at her most jubilant.
