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Wild Mass Guessing for Katawa Shoujo.


What was in Kenji's box?

Everything Kenji Says is True
That is, there is a feminist conspiracy which will bloodily take over the school. There will be a Kenji ending where you help him fight off the female masses; each of the other endings will end with the girl you chose killing you.
  • That. Would. Be. AWESUM. Though I think I'd be a little disappointed if you wouldn't be able to pull a Commander Sheppard and solve the crisis peacefully.....though not necessarily calmly, if you know what I mean...
  • I imagine that the chosen girl would end up Becoming the Mask, and be unable to kill you... But you still die anyway. Notice how all the love interests come in pairs...
    • I think that was to make up for the fact that there is no OT3 or Harem Option.
    • This troper remembers seeing a comic based from Rin's route where she takes up Kenji's offer to learn more about the feminist conspiracy (he can't tell she's a girl), passionately agreeing with him. The final panel shows Kenji, bound and gagged, and dumped a dark room with Rin declaring to Lilly that 'he knows too much'.
    • Alternatively, the feminist conspiracy is real, but instead of just killing Hisao, the girls offer him power as one of their husbands if he joins them. You'd get the Kenji ending if you didn't fall for any of them.

In her good ending, Shizune carries Hisao's babies.
Well, unlike Hanako who had the plot altered just for her with a condom Hisao happened to have in his pocket for unclear reasons, Shizune just takes him in. I would just ignore that, but seeing how the sex scene is called "Succession"...note 

Misha has some sort of learning or mental disability.
Compared to the other main heroines, Misha looks normal. But she stumbles on certain words at some points. Dyslexia, or something worse?
  • Can one be dyslexic when reading sign language? And she only stumbles when she is translating for Shizune. Still, it's unclear if she has any problem. But her simply being a visual aide is not possible because she was placed in the school after Shizune. So she must be secretly crazy.
    • "The problem must be in your pants!"
  • I suspect that she may be partially deaf, or may have trouble controlling the volume of her voice, which is why she's always making such a racket in class.
  • I think that she has SEVERE depression and is being overly cheerful to compensate. Though that doesn't explain her problems with stairs and long words.
  • It could be something like Hisao's heart problems or epilepsy where you can't tell just by looking at her.
  • It's cancer.
    • Addendum: She was originally designed with blonde hair and a high forehead. That actually is her hair. The pink drills are her post-chemo wig. And note her pink hair is seen as strange.
    • A well-placed brain tumor may be used as an explanation of her behaviour or dizziness while walking the stairs.
  • It's Lupus.
  • It's quite possible that Misha has obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. When you first meet her, she says "...you should always try to learn as much as you can about where you're going before you go there. Not just with school, either~!" which shows a behavioral preoccupation with details that's often seen in OCPD. Furthermore, her constant signing and speaking of both sides of her conversations with Shizune is possibly indicative of an inflexible devotion to her own morals (assuming she does this to "keep things fair" by allowing Hisao to overhear her talking to Shizune, and vice versa) and a perfectionism that interferes with the completion of her task (she always tries to keep up with Shizune in signing, even when struggling, and only resorts to using paper once in-game). As for other symptoms, her overly cheery and friendly nature may be due to a form of mania or may also stem from a devotion to morals (if she considers being friendly with everyone as morally right). She also is seen grinding down an eraser to flatten the top, which may or may not hint at OCD, which is often found alongside OCPD in patients. A severe enough case of OCPD could certainly land someone in a place like Yamaku.
  • Could be Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome. Many women with it tend to be at least slightly overweight. Could also explain her lack of a route in the game. Since PCOS can render its victims infertile, in a society like Japan's which is still largely conservative and patriarchal, she wouldn't be considered fit to marry by most men, and thus her prospects for a successful long-term relationship are limited at best.
  • According to Word of God, she just broke a nail and her parents overreacted.
    • Note: Word of God has been known to troll the fans. What else do you expect from a project that started on 4Chan?
  • Tme Lord, was previously Walagi.
  • I think she's just so annoying the doctors said "SOMETHING has to be wrong with her!" They never took the time to confirm what.
  • Enjoy.
  • It's implied in the full version she's attending to be in training for sign language training (and thus gets cut tuition due to this).
    • Strengthened by a statement somewhere in Lilly's route that there are some mundane, non-disabled students in Yamaku.
    • In Shizune's route, Misha implies that she didn't want to come to Yamaku, but "it sounded interesting" and she believed people would leave her alone even if they hated her. It's thus possible she had a choice, unlike Hisao, and either she does not have a disability, or her disability would not be a problem in an ordinary school.
  • Asperger's syndrome, or some other social disorder. She has trouble controlling her volume and also has trouble identifying social cues. She may have learned sign language because she had an interest in it, and once a person with Asperger's gets interested in something, they begin to obsess over it.
    • But Yamaku doesn't admit students with mental issues, only physical. It seems likely that she doesn't have a problem and is one of those rare instances of average students admitted to the school. Her hyperactivity may not be a symptom of anything and may just be her personality.
      • Back to the obsession over sign language bit, they gave her reduced tuition because of her knowing sign language. She does have a mental/learning disability, it's just not the reason she goes to Yamaku.
      • Lilly also mentions in her path that Yamaku will, from time to time, induct students who don't have a physical disability. Such may be the case with Misha, who this troper believes may have an autism spectrum disorder; Hanako, whose not so much disabled from her scars as she is very phobic of people as a result of them; and Kenji, whose problems extend much further than being legally blind.
  • She has Tilde Aphasia, a mysterious speech disorder visible only to those who straddle the boundary between universes. Also known as Tilderette's Syndrome. Wahaha~!

Hisao will be able to learn sign language in Part 2
Seeing as the writers almost made Hisao and Shizune the Official Couple. It would be troublesome for Misha to have to be around all of the time; it's not fun if all your dates are chaperoned. Plus, Hisao expressed interest in learning sign. Ergo, it only makes sense to come to this conclusion.
  • Having Misha around would make it less fun how?
    • This game is supposed to be an Eroge eventually, right? Now rethink that last statement... Holy crud, you're right.
    • This troper always thought it would be quite amusing if, during a love scene with Shizune, the camera would briefly show Misha sitting in a chair nearby, flipping through some random manga, periodically gasping and moaning for no apparent reason.
    • ...How would you even sign that? I'd be surprised to find such movements in American Sign Language. Oh wait, Shizune uses Japanese Sign Language. It would not surprise me if that had developed signs for moaning and sexual cries.note note  But I just found in that Wikipedia page that JSL uses mouthing, which is never indicated in the game. Think someone should point that out to the KS devs?
      • According to some of the translated doujin notes, she actually uses ASL, not JSL. Which is still Fridge Logic - why would a class in Japan... aarg my brain.
      • Translation Convention.
      • She could speak ASL, JSL, or both; ASL is used as sort of a common language around the world. In Japan in particular, ASL is much more common than JSL to the point of many younger Japanese deaf students don't know JSL.
      • Besides, plenty of ASL "speakers" mouth anyway.
      • Not at all, she'd be too busy having sex to do any talking with her hands!
    • This is the real reason Misha doesn't have her own route.
  • The translated version of the original doujin page notes that a hypothetical "win" for her route would involve passing a sign language class in order to confess to her, so it's possible that the game developers would build on that.
    • Chipping in here, Hisao does think in Shizune's ending for Act 1 that "maybe I should learn sign language." I think it's highly likely that Hisao will a) begin to learn sign language during Shizune's route in the full game or b) plan to start learning it after Shizune's "good end." He may be taught by Misha, which should be entertaining.

Shizune can read lips.
She just doesn't tell anyone and pretends she can't because she's, well, a tad manipulative. It's so she can get information out of people. And didn't she act a little differently after Hisao talked to her privately on the roof?
  • Further supported by the fact that the above theory was canon in one of the earliest demos.
  • But isn't that impossible for people who were born deaf?
  • No, learning how to read lips has nothing to do with being able to hear.
  • In an early version of the script, the one where Misha commits suicide, it's confirmed late into her arc that Shizune can read lips. In the final product though, it seems that element was removed.

Kenji is actually Harry Potter.
Well, they do look alike. Of course, since we don't really see his eyes behind the glasses, or his uncovered forehead (to reveal if he really has a scar or not), he could be James Potter as well.
  • ... Holy hell, there's even a girl called Lily in-game.
    • Except Lily in this game is blonde, has blue eyes and is blind.
    • Kenji also wears a red-and-gold scarf (the Gryffindor colors), further adding fuel to this theory. In another parallel with James (at least, in his teen years), he's also a world-class asshole.

Hanako is responsible for the fire.
While its definitely possible that her reaction and attitude are based on her scars, being in an environment where a good portion of people is a stranger site should help that somewhat. It is likely that there is more to the story, and her being responsible for the fire that scarred her and killed her father would fit with her being afraid to get close to people.
  • My money's on a younger Hanako, no more than ten, trying to cook something for her mom and dad when something goes wrong. She tries to fix it, but it gets worse, and by the time her parents hear the smoke alarm, the entire kitchen is ablaze, with a scared little girl trapped in the middle. Her father saves her, at the cost of his own life; he dies of smoke inhalation. Her mother, if she survives, is now a widow, and their home is destroyed. (And pray that they didn't live in an apartment, or things would get really bad.) Poor Hanako barely survives, and is permanently scarred, along with any other lasting damage to her lungs or other internal organs we don't even know about. Her father is dead, her mother is either dead or widowed and homeless. All because she tried to do something special. You can see how that'd make a girl feel like maybe talking to people or making friends is a bad idea, like the best thing she could do for the world is to curl up in a little ball in the corner and try very hard not to exist. Frankly, it's a miracle poor Hanako isn't catatonic.
    • It seems plausible, but that's also a bit of an overused plot device, if/when the devs go into deeper detail regarding what caused the fire, I figure they'll come up with something somewhat original.
  • She could also be indirectly responsible for the fire as well; Hanako could have offended someone with ties to a criminal organization in the past which would have possibly lead to her home being set on fire by that organization to make it look like an accident; either that or a guy she turned down in the past who was far too jealous and used the old "If I cannot have you nobody will" spiel.
    • There was actually a fanfiction on the forums that mentioned how the main characters came to Yamaku Academy. Shizune and her mother, and her grandmother orchestrated the entire thing. The car crash that destroyed some of Emi's legs? The disfigurement of Hanako and the death of her father? The thalidomide that deformed Rin's arms? Lilly's blindness? Hisao's heart problems? All were caused by Shizune and her mother and grandmother.
  • One theory worth considering might be that the fire was related to a birthday celebration. Hanako carelessly knocked over the cake loaded with lit candles in such a way that the whole house was eventually consumed by the blaze. Every birthday celebration is a cruel reminder of the fire she was responsible for that killed her parents and left her physically and emotionally scarred.
    • It doesn't have to be that Hanako directly caused the fire, just that somehow her birthday caused it. E.g. birthday cake was forgotten while cooking and eventually ignited. This could suffice to convince her that because she was born, everyone she cared about died.
  • She says during her route that it happened while she was sleeping, so this is most likely false unless she somehow has an Enemy Within.

Hanako is a child soldier and will grow up to be Balalaika
She's lying about the scars. They were actually caused by a grenade blowing up in her face. Lilly route will be canon, and seeing her best friend and the guy she had a crush on hook up and leave her behind will cause Hanako to snap.

She will leave Yamaku and dye her hair blond as a reminder of her friend's betrayal. And the rest is history.

  • It's possible...
    • As of the full version, Hanako is a Shipper on Deck in Lilly's route. But if we take a different ending as canon, it could still work. Especially Hanako's bad end, in which she does snap, and basically says she's sick of being treated with kid gloves.

Hanako's parents were killed by Colonel Volgin.
For starters, both Hanako and Colonel Volgin have facial scarring and in Metal Gear Solid 5, Colonel Volgin trades out his electrical powers for pyrokinesis, becoming the Man on Fire. So Colonel Volgin may've decided to kill a bunch of people and Hanako's family just happened to be one of his many victims.
  • In a parallel universe, Colonel Volgin adopts Hanako and trains her to become a member of the Soviet Union, transforming her into a cruel sadist who takes enjoyment in torturing others.

Rin is a WoD somehow daywalking Malkavian.
While she is shown in clear daylight it would shed light on her unusual discussions and monologues.

Kenji was molested by a woman as a child.
He acts like having intercourse with a woman is unnatural, and that certainly gives off a certain unwanted air.

... Or maybe I'm just sleep deprived and looking into it too much. Hm.

  • As a matter of fact, boyo, it's something completely different. Get the Kenji ending for act 1 and you'll find out what.
    • What if he said that as a cover-up for the true story?
      • The sad thing is: that may very well be true.
      • Why? Because he hates women? He also hates maneating cows! He believes in feminist conspiracy (and shitload of other ridiculous things), because he's nuts, not because he's an oppressed victim. He's not supposed to be right in his hatred.
      • An explanation isn't an excuse. Ted Bundy had an intensely troubling childhood but nobody's apologizing on his behalf because that's not what's implied by things like that.

Shizune is Haruhi after reading The Catcher in the Rye and/or watching Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex.
She thought what she'd do was, she'd pretend she was one of those deaf-mutes.

Katawa Shoujo takes place in the same world as Code Geass, perhaps in its future
Check out the map on the wall in this screenshot; compare with this map of the Code Geass world after the breakup of the EU and the division of most of the world between Britannia (blue) and the UFN (red). They're essentially the same down to the colours used for the two blocs. (In reality, of course, this is probably a Shout-Out.)

Misha is diabetic
We still have no idea what Misha's disability is, but she must have one, else she would not have been in that school. A theory that came to my mind last night: diabetes. While it's not usually a condition that would warrant sending a girl to a special school, it CAN, theoretically, be kind of dangerous, so I guess parents rich or worried enough about the whole thing might do so.(Besides, managing this condition requires a great amount of responsibility (maintaining a proper diet, taking your insulin regularly), and Misha does not seem so great in that department...). Now, diabetes is an "invisible" disability, most of the time(even if she has a pump, it can probably be very easily hidden under cloths), which might be why she seems to have none. It might also explain her being overweight(well, you know. Relatively to everybody else). While being "sweet" and hyperactive and genki may not actually be symptoms of high blood sugar IRL, they are commonly known enough "facts" to appear in the game. Who knows? Maybe she will make a joke about this some time.One thing this does not explain is why she knows sign language. That's the reason I am actually more supportive of the "minor hearing problem" theory.
  • I doubt that she would need to have a disability to be at the school; sign-language interpreters are quite often hired help, because their work is a valuable service and can be very tiring (in one class this troper attended, there was enough talking from enough people in a two-hour class period that the task really did require two interpreters switching off... it really is work!). Being good friends certainly helps, but considering how much work it is to keep up with Shizune, Misha would have to be pretty saintly to be doing this without some sort of compensation. So basically, she isn’t necessarily physically disabled in any way (barring some Word of God I’m not clued in on), though all that is is an absence of evidence.
    • I don't know how it works in Japan(or anyway else, really), but around here you... don't see sign language interpreters that young. I don't know if it's because they have to be a certain age or if the young ones are just rare, but all interpreters I saw were adults.
      • This troper has been to Japan and encountered a deaf university student. She did coincidentally have a non-deaf friend her age who was also a student who knew sign language and basically interpreted everything for her. (Though this wasn't during a class, but an after-school meeting.)
      • This is in fact implied in Shizune's route Act 2.

Kenji is gay
This would explain so much.
  • Unlikely, seeing as his path is a Bad End instead of a Gay Option.
    • Well, maybe like another Kenji, he is gay but just doesn't want to admit it to himself. That might explain his obsession with always being "manly" and his hatred of women.
      • I think you're referring to Kanji, who never has his sexuality defined in game.
      • Kanji is a Naoto-sexual.
      • {{Hiimdaisy "You sayin' I like dudes?"}}
    • Full game brings further doubt: he had a girlfriend at one point, and going by what he said they got along pretty well. He further clarifies that he doesn't dislike women in general, just feminists. That said, he seems to believe that women are feminists by default...
      • It's perfectly plausible that he doesn't know/realize he's gay. There are a dozen reasons that a gay guy might have a girlfriend before or after realizing/admitting they are gay.
    • According to the devs there was supposed to be a Gay Option but it got written out due to time. Some level of bisexuality going around.
      • Jossed. While Kenji could still be bisexual, the wild mass guess that Kenji is exclusively attracted to the same sex is definitely jossed, as if you get the bad ending in Act 1, Kenji mentions he used to have a girlfriend, so he does find the opposite sex attractive. This is also where you learn why Kenji hates "feminists" so much: it's because since he didn't know that sex is exhausting, after having sex with his girlfriend he thought she had stolen his life force, and thus he broke up with her.

Misha is part of a special scholarship program
Basically, certain students at Yamaku need certain types of assistance, such as sign language interpreters for the deaf, etc. Rather than bringing in an adult to fill these needs, the school finds high school students who are interested in filling the role and provides them with necessary training. These students are compensated for their services by receiving a full scholarship to Yamaku.
  • A most intriguing theory, but unless Misha is lying(not impossible, but unlikely), it is proved wrong by a piece of dialog. Misha clearly explains the origins of her friendship with Shizune, and it appears that the whole thing was pretty much coincidental. She didn't even know Shizune was deaf in the beginning(she thought she was just ignoring her...).

Her being against stem cell research will be a plot point in her route.
  • Unless the dev is lying, it's just an easter egg.
    • They may very well be lying.
      • Actually, assume for a moment that they are lying, and that Shizune does have a problem with it, perhaps stem cell treatment becomes part of Hanako's route?
    • Alternatively; she wears them as a silent Take That!; underwears has the two functions of covering indecency, and keeping the inside of your pants clean.
    • Jossed. Stem cell research isn't mentioned at all in Shizune's route.

There will be a Misha ending...
But it'll be considered Shizune's bad end, similarly to Kyou and Ryou in CLANNAD.
  • That's actually not that far from the truth. While she doesn't have a route, she does have an H-scene, and making the choice to get it is what leads to Shizune's bad end.

In the full game, the "skip all H-scenes" option won't just skip them
Hisao and the girl will be about to get it on, but Kenji will burst out of nowhere declaring that he's "rescuing" Hisao, and drag him away. The storyline will then continue as if the H-scene had occurred.
  • I support this.
    • Hilariously he really will be saving Hisao. If you go through with the H-scene, Hisao's heart will give out, and he'll die.
      • Or not, as the shock of suddenly his psychotic hallmate suddenly barging in on him and his girlfriend during a private moment and abducting him also causes his heart to give out.
      • To go further with this, any time this scene plays, Kenji will yell "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! before rescuing Hisao by dragging him out of the room.

There will be bad endings where Kenji murders the girl
In a fit of insanity he will kill the girl Hisao ends up with, in a horrible misguided attempt at saving Hisao. Of course this will be too much for Hisao's heart, causing him to die as well.
  • I just want to say this seems highly possible.
    • Jossed. The only bad ending involving Kenji has Hisao fall to his death by complete accident.

Shizune is well aware of Misha's volume control problems, and wouldn't have it any other way.
Shizune is a very stubborn and willful, going straight into flat-out pushy at times... So being unable to communicate with people was probably very frustrating for her. Naturally, she'd rather have an interpreter that's hard to ignore. While she can't hear Misha herself, she's observant enough to figure it out by watching other people. And since she's not bothered by Misha's volume herself, she might even encourage the loudness.
  • Seems likely, and definitely in character for our favorite budding Riskmaster.
  • During a scene in Shizune's bad end route, Lilly literally says that Shizune used Misha as a megaphone during the time the student council contained more than three members.
  • Her finger snaps are loud enough that characters, such as Hisao and Lilly, tend to be annoyed by them, so this is likely.

Shizune refuses to throw things because she seriously injured her brother as a child.
She could pass it off by saying "I'm too sophisticated for that sort of thing," but I don't think that's it. I think she and her brother got into some sort of spat as children, she threw something at him, and it had much more severe of an effect than she intended.
  • It may have resulted in her accidentally cutting off his junk.

The "April Fools Joke" posted on the blog wasn't a joke. Not entirely, at least.
The developers really are planning to do at least most of those things, and charge money, to see how many fans stick with 4LS. Possibly because they're sick of hearing people whine for Misha/Kenji routes (and I mean romantic Kenji routes, not different ways for Kenji to kill Hisao) and different various things?

Rin isn't always the Cloudcuckoolander we all know and love
It's just, well, that time of the month, and she's usually much more normal.

Hanako was a resident of Fuyuki.
We already know of the Fuyuki Fire, and it's not a very long stretch that Kiritsugu happens to save not only Shirou. Only this time, her burns were so bad (but less severe than Shirou's injuries, hence him getting Avalon) that Kiritsugu had to ship her off.
  • She blames herself for the fire, remember. So unless she's Kotomine Kirei (or his daughter) or Angra Mainy- waitaminute! If AM could ever be considered to be born, then it would have been on the day of the fire. Which means it was it's birthday, which is when Hanako's fire incident happened. It ALL makes sense!
  • It is stated that aside from Shirou, all the orphans from the fire where sent to the church. No mention is made of the survivors whose parents weren't dead. It's possible that Hanako's father died in the fire, and that the fire is what caused her scars, but her mother was fine and decided to move Hanako to another city.
    • Well, given that Hanako's route has her reveal that her mother died shielding her from the fire, I think it's safe to say this one is fully jossed.

The Satou family is a branch of the Pendragon family
Just tell me Akira doesn't have any resemblance to Saber (specifically from Fate/Zero). Would also explain their wealth.

Hanako's parents were actually powerful mages who were killed by Voldemort. However, Hanako's mother tried to shield her from Voldemort's attack, and her love for Hanako caused Voldemort's spell to rebound, "killing" him and setting the house on fire, which is how Hanako got her scars. Now she attends Yamaku High, where Mutou keeps an eye on her and is secretly training her to become a Magical Girl in preparation for Voldemort's inevitable return. The story she tells Hisao is a half truth in order to hide her magical secret.

Hisao dies after the conclusion of the story
The game is over, and so is the main characters life. It was your job to make the best of it. I hope you did.
  • Then again, the same can be said about the vast majority of main characters in any game everywhere...
  • He states at various points that he expects to die young, possibly even before 30. It might be interesting to see how long he lives and how his girlfriend/wife responds to his death.

The reason Hisao is so tired all the time is because he sleeps standing up
Whenever Hisao wakes up, he's staring at his bed, not sleeping on it. Standing up all night can't be good for you.
  • Oddly enough, if we assume that the image of a given scene is how he is looking at it in the first person, there would be a number of inconsistencies with how the scenes are set up. Sometimes, the C Gs would be contradicted; for example, when he talks with Misha on the roof, she's leaning against the fence, but appears to be in the middle of the roof outside the CG. Other times, it's more obvious from the situation he's in, such as the hospital room at the end of Lilly's route; he would seem to be looking into the room, rather than out from his bed.

Among the financial backers of Yamaku Academy are the families of Shizune and Lilly
.They are very wealthy families. They both happened to have daughters born with disabilities in the space of a few months. It's only natural that they would become more sensitive on the matter and, directly or through foundations, supported efforts to help disabled children. It may be objected that Jigoro wouldn't be to the type to do that but it's shown that, while a huge Jerkass, he cares for his daughter.

The gravely ill aunt Lilly tells about in Hanako's route is Shizune's mother.
It has been stated that Lilly's and Shizune's fathers being brothers is a script error - it's Lilly's father and Shizune's mother that are siblings. The latter is never seen, and not even mentioned, in Shizune's route. Given the type of person Jigoro is, it's not hard to imagine their marriage breaking apart badly after Hideaki's birth, made worse by frail health on her part - considering both she and her brother have daughters born with disabilities, some genetic problems may be traced in their family. That was one more reason for her to decide leaving Shizune and Hideaki in Japan - she felt she wasn't strong enough to raise them alone, even with the support of her family, and didn't want to force them to live in Scotland. This, however, has led to complete estrangement from them, to the point they are not even informed of her health. This situation may also add a layer of bitterness on Shizune and Lilly's strained relation.
  • Lilly says she has more than one aunt. She could have at least one on her Scottish mother's side apart from her father's sister (Shizune's mother).

Kenji is a part of the feminist conspiracy
Yamaku does not accept mentally disabled students, which Kenji's delusions and paranoia would likely fall into. He's actually an agent of the conspiracy. His rantings and ravings are easily dismissed as the thoughts of a madman so that the world dismisses him and is jaded when the real attack begins in earnest.

Whilst it's not officially mentioned in the game or on the developers websites its highly likely she has this condition, se definatly carries across many traits attributed to someone with Aspergers including
  • Bringing up rather inappropriate topics,
  • Lack of social awareness around her,
  • Has difficulty coping with crowds,
  • Has trouble understanding the feelings of other people,
  • Has trouble grasping sarcasm and takes figures of speech (penny for your thoughts, girlish figure) literally

Shizune can talk, but sticks to sign language out of pride
Shizune, like many deaf people, did learn to talk, but realized that because she can't hear herself, her pronunciation will never be correct. Given her, "if I can't be the best at it it's not worth doing," attitude, she decided to stop talking and only use sign language. Her father, being the jerkass he is, sees this as her defying or distancing herself from him, which angers him (hence why he's constantly insisting that she talk to him).
  • Shizune's father notes that he hired dozens of tutors trying to get her to speak from when she was a little girl. I don't think Shizune was always that competitive, so she wouldn't have just decided to stick with sign language all the time. Most likely, she just really can't speak.
  • Shizune has some capacity to make sounds from her mouth, such as "ssss" in her second H-scene. It's less clear whether she can form words with them, though.

If a Misha route is ever made...
It won't be a route where Hisao romances Misha. Rather it'll be a route where you play as Misha.
  • It'd have a Foregone Conclusion, consisting largely of rejection and hair styling.
  • ... And romance Hisao?
    • Alternately, it's a joke route where Hisao and Misha become best friends. Or a unique route where instead of hooking up with the girl like the other routes, you get to play matchmaker which means you can get Misha to hook up with Shizune.

Kenji is, or will become, Kamina
In the Shizune route he says, "I go beyond the impossible all the time."

During her first weeks at Yamaku, Rin wore a female uniform
Even for a school like Yamaku, a student without both arms is most probably not common, so it was normal to have her wear the usual uniform, and teachers probably thought she would be self-conscious enough to avoid inopportune poses in presence of other students. However, Rin being Rin, she didn't mind. Panty shots and hilarity ensued, leading to teachers to rethink, and impose her a male uniform for practicality and decency's sake.
  • It could be her parents' idea; Rin is the only character whose parents are alive (when the characters discuss Rin working on art at the atelier, it's mentioned that her parents approve) but are never seen or heard. It's possible that before coming to Yamaku, she encountered this problem in some form or another, since it's not explicitly stated how long she has been able to do things with her feet..

Lilly and Shizune both know the Japanese equivalent of the Deafblind Manual Alphabet
During both of ther routes the two are revealed to be cousins and to have once worked together on the Student Council; also in Lilly's route Shizune admits that they used to be close. It is also revealed in Shizune's route that Lilly joined the council after the most of the old members left in order to help Shizune out. So it stands that they would have some means of communicating directly with each other. They fact they don't use it anymore and talk to each other only through Misha or (in Shizune's route) Hisao, when they bother to do so at all, is just a sign of how deep their falling out is.
  • Further evidence is that Misha joined after Lilly did, when only she and Shizune were on the council. It would be necessary for them to communicate with the Deafblind Manual Alphabet if that were the case. Then again, in Lilly's route, their reconciliation involves mainly nonverbal communication.

We will see "official" cameos of the Katawa Shoujo characters in another Visual Novel, sometime in the future
The KS devs have not ruled out the possibility of working on a Visual Novel again. And there could be one: Measuring Shadows, an abandoned project some of them were previously working on - Molly comes from there. So, if work on it will be resumed, there would be no surprise to see some of the KS cast as background characters.

The Shanghai is an interdimensional nexus.
It never seems to have any customers aside from which ever girls Hisao is there with, and they are the ones to introduce him to it and imply to go there often, yet you never see any of the girls from other paths when you are there. How does it stay in business with so few customers? Because it serves as the establishment of choice for Hisao in every path, at the same time. It even serves for paths that don't exist: Hisao and Miki hang out there, as do Hisao and Sae, and there's even a dimension where Hisao goes there just to see Yuuko again, and one where Nurse suggests a walk there and drinking green tea with their antioxidants with the pretense of it being just to make Hisao healthier. The Shanghai doesn't have so few customers, it has billions of customers. That's why Yuuko is so stressed out all of the time.
  • I am more of the opinion that Yuuko is actually either a time-keeper or an angel in training with very little experience. It's most probable that she's peaked into the future of all of the 5 main girls, and seeing as each of their fates would've been grim without the aid of someone else, she deliberately tried to find a keen yet approachable person to help her get each of them out of trouble. It's possible that all the various reiterations of the story keep making Hisao - possibly the only person kind enough to see through their imperfections, or maybe just another terrified kid whose fate would have also been signed by an early death - go through all the possible aspects of love, in order for Yuuko to understand how to save all of them instead than selecting those to be spared. Skip mode is essentially her using her powers to get Hisao on the right paths. It's possible that she might have purposely stopped time in a groundhog day like way just to avoid the kids' deaths. It makes sense that she's got some super natural powers, given that she appears to be everywhere and always at the right time for that, as well as being an albeit clumsily advisor.

Kenji lost his virginity to Yuuko.
There are a bunch of hints dropped throughout the game that Kenji and Yuuko may have slept together. Kenji mentions the woman he slept with was older, while Yuuko mentions her ex-boyfriend was younger than she was...
  • It seems extremely likely that they are exes. They were both in a relationship prior to the event. Kanji dumped his girlfriend and Yuuko was dumped by her boyfriend. Yuuko mentions her ex got her into cryptography and Kanji tells you to avoid the Shanghai as it houses some of the key members of the feminist conspiracy he broke up with his girlfriend over...
  • There's also the "Yamaku Cat Burglar" thread from Emi's branch. When Yuuko first talks about it, it is obvious that the burglar is Kenji—though why Hisao doesn't seem to catch on to that is a mystery. Later, she claims she identified him, but she refuses to say who it is, and she even acts a little wry that Hisao doesn't know. Not to mention why Kenji was stealing library books in the first place. On the one hand, Kenji is just Kenji; on the other, he wanted to get books without having to interact with Yuuko.

Misha's Bush Cheney sweater is a hint that she is a lesbian
Cheney's daughter is a lesbian, also bush.
  • Alternatively, she could wear it because of her trouble with certain words. Misha tends to stumble over the longer words Shizune uses.

What happens to the other girls in different arcs?
People often wonder what happens to the other girls in each arc. Here is a list with two possibilities for each, the good being the idealist/optimistic though, the bad being, well, let's just say you'd cry if you saw it yourself.

  • Emi
    • Good: She eventually overcomes her grief on her own.
    • Bad: She eventually destroys herself with her grief.

  • Hanako
    • Good: She manages to overcome her fears of people on her own; she would have gotten better anyways, Hisao was just a catalyst.
      • This happens in Lilly's route.
    • Bad: She is never able to come out of her shell, and eventually commits suicide after graduation.

  • Lilly
    • Good: She goes to Scotland and lives a happy life.
      • Alternately, she decides to stay in Japan on her own for various reasons, like in Shizune's route, and lives a happy life.
    • Bad: She goes to Scotland and doesn't live a happy life. Yeah, this one's a bit mundane.

  • Rin
    • Good: She doesn't accept the art gallery opportunity because Hisao didn't convince her to do so (implied in Emi's arc).
    • Bad: She accepts and eventually commits suicide.

  • Shizune
    • Good: Misha and Shizune hook up.
      • Alternatively, Misha falls in love with someone else, and Shizune goes on to make friends besides Misha.
    • Bad: Misha and Shizune get in an argument and Shizune kills Misha. It's more likely than you think!

Eeyup.

The Eventual Careers of the Characters Who Don't Explictly state them.
Hanako- Author or Journalist. She loves books and reading and in Lily's path she joins the journalism club. And what's more it would be a line of work where the first thing people notice about wouldn't be her scars.

Misha saw Shizune and Hisao having sex at the Hakamichi Esate in Shizune's route.
Because they were both...... preoccupied. They were not able to notice her. However the event was what brought home to her the fact that Shizune and Hisao were a couple and that any hope that she and Shizune would ever be one was gone. This is what sent her on the emotional tailspin that causes her to cut her hair and try and seduce Hisao late on. Misha cut her hair knowing that Shizune wouldn't like it, as a way silently showing her anger.
  • The sex scene is after Misha's haircut, so it doesn't impact her decision. It's also implied that Misha is aware of how close Hisao and Shizune are getting as early as he asks her to tutor him in sign language. However, Hisao suggests that they're making enough noise to be heard outside the room, so unless Misha was still in a shouting match with Jigoro, it's possible she heard them.

Kenji is Dominic Deegan after ill-advised future-seeing cost him his sight and sanity
Because they're similar-looking manipulative cynical weirdos who wear scarves all the time for no apparent reason. Attempting to psychically predict the outcome of Hisao's arrival screwed up his brain and gave him permanent Seer's Shroud (a.k.a. really bad vision).

7 year old Hanako...
was a Genki Girl, the way she acts when she's drunk on her birthday is her actual personality when she's no longer worrying about how people view her.

Shizune and Lilly also reconcile at some point during or after Shizune's route
Late in Shizune's route, Shizune, while discussing her grievances with Lilly, concludes by stating that Lilly was not the one who was wrong, and admits that her competitive personality has driven away many who were close to her. Since Shizune makes the first move in Lilly's route by giving Lilly the folder she needs, it's thus possible that something similar happens in the time between when Shizune and Misha reconcile and their graduation, or some time in the future.

Shizune's tendency to compartmentalize things is a coping mechanism
Considering the issue of her father being such and Jackasss. Along with the general Fanon consensus that her mother is in all likelihood dead. It seems that she probably had a very unpleasant childhood with the whole issue with the speech tutors is just the tip of the iceberg. It would make sense that she would probably decide the best way to deal with it is to just isolate it off and pretend that it has nothing to do with anything and just concentrate on the now.

Theories on how Rika and Saki would have been implemented
Here's some theories on how the April Fool's Day character's routes might have be accessed, what might have happened in them, and what the themes would be.

  • Rika
    • Accessed By: Either in an added scene in Hisao's first visit to the nurse, or, more likely, one after he decides to "go for it" on the track.
      • One possibility is an option to "Go talk to the white-haired girl" in the nurse's office. She will ask Hisao what he hopes to accomplish at Yamaku; saying "I want to learn to live with my condition" gets you her route, and "I want to try to overcome my condition" gets you Emi's (or keeps you on track for hers and Shizune's if you made choices towards the latter).
    • Guiding Question: Can you see what's in my heart?
    • Supporting Characters: The Nurse, DLC Character 3.
    • Bad Ending: Rika gets hospitalized (the most likely "unpredictable circumstances" I can think of), which is expected to last until the end of the school year, and this ends their relationship much like Lilly's move to Scotland
    • Good Ending Rika is hospitalized, but promises to reunite with Hisao once it is over.

  • Saki
    • Accessed By: Going along the path to Rin's route but making an added choice near the end, possibly one that lets you accompany Emi to the art room or during the talk with Mr. Nomiya.
    • Guiding Question: Can you live life to the fullest?
    • Supporting Characters: Mr. Nomiya, Rin, DLC Character 4.
    • Bad Ending: They break up, most likely due to Hisao's angst over his condition, and Hisao never hears from her again until her death a few years later.
    • Good Ending: Hisao makes it clear that his own lifespan will likely be shorter than most, and promises to stay with Saki during the time they have left.

Shizune and Lilly's falling out is partially Misha's fault.
As we all know, Misha is a little oblivious to social cues. This is hardly an ideal trait in an interpreter. Especially one that has to facilitate communication between a blind person and a deaf person. Also Misha joined the council when Shizune and Lilly were the only members and were also very close to one another meaning that they must have been able to communicate with one another some how. Way I see it Misha's efforts to interprete between them resulted in one or both of the misinterpreting something the either upsset the other resulting a big fight. By the time it even occurred to the other to talk to the other directly, things had already passed the point of no return.
  • One piece of evidence that could support this theory is Misha's admission during her "confession" scene in Shizune's route that she was initially not very good at sign language, but Shizune essentially forced her to use it around her. It could be that Misha might have made translation errors if Shizune made her interpret her and Lilly's conversations, or had her use it in situations in which the three were talking together.

Rin was abused prior to coming to Yamaku.
Of all the courtable characters, Rin is the one with the least known backstory (We know thatEmi lost her legs (and father) in an accident, Hanako suffered her burns in a house fire, the Satous and Hakamichis are related, and Misha used to have normal hair), and considering that Rin is not all right in the head, it may not be too much of a stretch to think that she suffered some kind of abuse before coming to Yamaku.

Misha has been to America, has lived in America, or is from America
She's constantly referencing America, doesn't seem the best at Japanese, and has an American shirt. Either that or she's just a fan of America.

How a Kenji route might turn out
  • Accessed By: DLC options, including saying "You're cute"
  • Guiding Question: Can you look at yourself in the mirror?
  • Supporting Characters: Lilly, Yuuko (she may be a recurring character in all routes, but will likely become plot-relevant in this one if she's Kenji's old girlfriend.
  • Bad Ending: Kenji and Hisao break up.
    • Hisao comes to believe Kenji's conspiracy theories, and does something stupid, getting himself arrested or killed.
  • Good Ending: Hisao helps Kenji realize that his conspiracy theories were a way of trying to avoid his own responsibility for the breakup, and he resolves to do a better job with Hisao.

Kenji is a satire of 4chan and its users.
Rants about feminists, talks about conspiracies, is completely weird and is able to go on and on about nothing...it helps that the game was developed by 4chan users.

Hisao has a fatal heart attack when gets back to his dorm room in Hanako's Bad Ending
Because honestly, they're just a chance to talk away from getting to an alternate good ending when the credits roll. To make it truly a bad end, that outburst would have to be the last time they ever could have talked...

The condom broke, Hanako got pregnant anyway
Because the shot pulling back into the bakery only really makes any kind of sense that way.

Hisao's heart is actually fine
When Hisao's parents learned Hisao fainted because a girl confessed to him they cooked up a fake condition with his doctors to give him a reason to exercise and also to go away to boarding school and be more independent.
  • Technically, he is somewhat more independent than most because of the long hours his parents worked, leaving him home alone. Also, his parents, by doing this, caused his and Iwanako's relationship to wither and die, unless they didn't think Iwanako was a good fit for him (indeed, Iwanako is far less developed of a character than the girls, whatever your opinion of them may be, and it's implied that Hisao didn't know much more about her than we do).

Jigoro is a Pro Wrestler.
And he takes Kayfabe very seriously. To the point where he won't even break it at home with his family. Hisao just had the misfortune to meet him while he was playing a heel. He's much nicer and more supportive during his face turns.

As long as you get a good ending with one girl, they all get good ones.
I admit, this is mostly because it would negate some Tear Jerker.
  • If this troper could elaborate...
    • Emi comes to terms with her father's death.
    • Rin decides not to go down a self-destructive path to improve her art.
      • Interestingly enough, in Emi's route, Rin responds with some annoyance to Nomiya's trying to get her to work harder, which could indicate that she doesn't feel the need to go as far there, without the exhibition.
    • Hanako becomes less skittish and introverted.
    • Lilly decides to stay in Japan and become a teacher.
    • Shizune hooks up with Misha.

The Hakamichi Family are either Yakuza or have connections to them.
Jigoro's Dress and his use of a sword as an accessory tend to point in that direction.

Shizune's good ending does not resolve the love triangle, it makes things worse
Instead of making up with Shizune directly, Misha seems to stop being distant mostly for Hisao's sake, making a comment suggesting she thinks Hisao likes her (as well), apparently cementing the Love Triangle between the trio. Good thing graduation came along, before the whole thing blew up in their faces. On a more positive note, I guess this is as close as you can get to a OT3 in the game.
  • It's interesting to contrast this with the bad ending, where Hisao still succeeds in convincing Misha, but her guilt drives Shizune out of the triangle, leaving the two of them alone.
    • One has to wonder, in that situation, what happens to Hisao and Misha? Shizune expresses a desire to be alone in her final scene, and her relationship with Misha is not improving at all, but where does that leave the other two? Hisao and Misha's last scene together doesn't seem to indicate much apart from their mutual confusion over how Shizune's been acting lately.

Rin is Hisao's one true love
She's the first girl Hisao tells about his condition. Her impassive attitude and ability to enjoy the things in life most people take for granted are what he needs while overcoming the inner turmoil of his condition and understanding who he is. Also, unlike most of the girls, Hisao never mentions that she's cute, but her eyes captivate him. That's because Hisao isn't looking at her on a superficial level; the eyes are the windows to the soul.

Going with the morbid, ever so popular with other franchises, interpretation here. Everything is Hisao's idealized fantasies of what can happen once he gets out of the hospital. Maybe he's even comatose.
  • Alternatively, everything after the heart attack in the scene False Cadence or the scene Under a Maudin Sky in Lilly's good ending is. Lilly's still going to Scotland, and Hisao is left hallucinating her still being there after he gets out of the hospital.
    • This version is made even more plausible by considering how the ending for Lilly's path is determined by the program: There are two choices early in Lilly's arc, and each seems to have no direct influence on whether Lilly should go on to Scotland or not, but could be interpreted as affecting the health of Lilly and Hisao's relationship.

Kenji is a Chuunibyou who still hasn't outgrown his delusions.

Misha's breast size is inversely proportional the length of her hair.
After Misha cuts her hair in Shizune's path, her breasts appear to be much larger. It might be because her huge drills make her breasts look normal sized by comparison, but there's no way they could have looked that much bigger just by a comparison. They clearly grew because she cut her hair.
  • Then again, in the old photo of her with Shizune and Lilly, in which her hair is by far the longest, her breasts are fairly large, and they don't look all that large the one time she takes off her shirt (when her hair is short).

Hanako is actually a host for the Phoenix Force.
You heard it here first. Hanako can't remember that she was the one who killed her parents because the Phoenix locked the memory away, and burned Hanako to further reinforce that the fire was an accident.

Someone else besides the characters in the background is watching Hisao and Hanako from the bakery
That may be why the shot of them through the bakery window is the way it is. Most of the CG images either have Hisao in them, or show what he is ostensibly looking at. The only question is - who's looking at them?
  • Misha, Shizune, Emi, Rin and Lilly. The latter two were dragged along.

Kenji's revolution is Nudist Beach.
Think about it. For like 20 seconds.
  • This theory falls apart when you realize that NB has female soldiers. More so than male soldiers. Wait...

Someone read the Agent Orange Files to Kenji at some point.

Shizune's family has another house near the school.
  • She did say that she had a summer home in her route, and it'd make sense for Lily to stay there to go to the local airport. Also, Hisao probably doesn't have a few thousand dollars stashed away in his dorm room.

Misha's disability is a missing or damaged semicircular ducts in her inner ear.
That part of the ear is used for both hearing and for balance, and early in Shizune's route Misha says that stairs can make her dizzy. Semicircular ducts aren't 100% required for hearing, but assist in it, so her high volume could be to compensate for a minor inability hear herself when she talks normally, as the ducts aren't there to fully convey the sound.

The "barrier free" school the girl from this (warning: NSFW) doujin is going to is Yamaku
Because why not?

Misha is bisexual, but homoromantic.
She tries to have sex with Hisao in Shizune's route (at least out of sexual frustration), but is in love with Shizune and NOT Hisao.

A remake of Katawa Shoujo will be released in the future
Updated HD visuals, higher quality soundtrack, animated visuals and several new routes added: Misha Route (joke route where Misha and Hisao become the best of friend), Kenji Route (gay option where you help Kenji overcome his delusions) and Hisao Route (where you reject everyone and things go to shit for Hisao) and a neutral ending where Hisao can choose to leave the school before the story really begins. The new routes have unique imagines and some new music exclusive to those routes.
A Hisao route will be implemented in the future or would've existed had the game been developed a decade later
NOTE: The route will also be referred to by fans as the Lone Wolf Route,Isolation Route, Incel Route, Sigma Male Route, Asshole Route, Wanker Route, Loner Route,Hater Route or Loser Route.
  • Accessed By: DLC Update or remake only; requires you reject all other girls and to survive during Kenji's manly picnic. During the beginning of Act 2, Kenji will come over to talk to you and apologize for last night. If you accept his apology, the Kenji route begins. If you tell him to fuck off, Hisao accuses Kenji of trying to murder him and decides to go his own way.
  • Guiding Question: Do you really need other people?
  • Supporting Characters: Akio Mutuo, Iwanako, Hisao's parents Misha and Shizune, Lily and Hanako, Rin, Emi, and Kenji.
  • Bad Ending: Much like Beta Hanako, this one is all bad endings.
    • After blowing Kenji off, you can either choose to take your pills or don't. Not doing so gets you the first bad ending, where Hisao has a heart attack and dies.
    • The second one has Hisao get expelled from cheating on his tests and profiteering off of others doing the same.
    • The third ending has you get into a fist-fight with Kenji on the school roof as revenge for earlier, leading to Hisao getting arrested.
    • The fourth one has Hisao try to go back to his old life and decides to stalk Iwanako to get revenge on her, blaming her for everything. His plot is foiled and he winds up in a psychiatric unit, deemed unfit to stand trial.
    • If you manage to avoid all these routes, the only ending you can get is one where Hisao has a meltdown surrounded by all the girls and Kenji who try to help him only for Hisao to kill himself from all the repressed emotions and guilt for his actions.
  • Good Ending: There is no good ending. What the hell were you expecting from a path of self-destruction?

In an updated remake of the game, the "skip all H-scenes" option will be replaced by new cutscenes
These cutscenes aren't required for 100% Completion and only exist for humour. In any route but Kenji's, the H-scenes are replaced with a scene where Kenji will burst into the room, yelling "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS! before rescuing Hisao by dragging him out of the room. After the H-scene has concluded, Misha will replace the normal character and ask Hisao to join the school council (e.g replacing Rin after the first H-scene in Emi's route) before the story continues as normal. If you're on Kenji's route, Misha and Shizune will burst in and forcefully drag out Hisao out or humorously enough, a second Kenji will come in, much to the real Kenji's confusion before dragging Hisao out as normal.

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