I've already played the entire game to 100%, thank you very much.
I knew someone was going to take that out of context...
Check out my fanfiction!The easiest way to convert people is to show them the screencaps of imageboard reaction threads that were featured under Katawa Shoujo
"You like Castlevania, don't you?"Right, I should be more clear. The core of the story is like that of any other romantic visual novel - our protagonist becomes friends with a girl, bonds with her, and eventually develops a relationship with her.
The deal with Katawa Shoujo is that it doesn't use any of the character's disabilities as things that define them, only as things that affect them in varying forms. It uses them as a vehicle for the story, for change. The disabilities themselves aren't the focus, they are what gives the story context. They are handled with care and taste, not dismissed as trivial or as something that completely defines their characters.
Hisao's arrhythmia isn't what defines him in the beginning of the story, it's the fact that has to adapt to a new, difficult situation. Shizune is deaf-mute, but it's her competitive spirit and enthusiasm that drives her as Student Council President. Emi has no legs, yet is in the track team and is very cheerful. Rin has no arms, but since she's such a Cloud Cuckoolander you'd occasionally forget it. And so on, and so on...
Of course, that's oversimplifying it, but I think the game is best played without knowing much, so I won't say much in detail.
In conclusion, Katawa Shoujo isn't about dating crippled girls. It's about dating girls, actual people like you and me, who have both good and bad points.
And really, even then you could still say that it's not interesting enough, or that it's an idea that could fail horribly, but no, it's a work that was made entirely out of dedication and love.
It's not an exaggerated claim, either. This is a free work created on no budget whatsoever, developed for 5 years by an international group of people who probably never met physically, who originally didn't know the first thing about making visual novels. A work that was on more than one occasion on the verge of collapsing, yet somehow it was actually finished.
It's one of those few works which actually lives up to what it was intended to be, despite all odds, and which may have more than lived up to expectations. For all that is holy, at least give it a try.
edited 15th May '13 8:28:48 PM by Crinias
[stares in disbelief]
...Well... you certainly feel... strongly about this. I wonder if I'd ever felt such strong emotions for a work I love.
I mostly said what I did because to my overly-literal brain "crippled girls" and "girls who are crippled" mean precisely the same thing, except that "crippled" is used as an attributive adjective in one and part of a relative clause in the other. I should learn to stop being so literal.
Really, I don't understand why seemed apprehensive about this concept. When I first heard about it, I knew it could go badly, but I still thought the concept was a neat idea. At least as far as I can remember, which may not be accurate.
"What's out there? What's waiting for me?"Playing Rin's route, there were times when I forgot that she's 'armless. There was never a moment in which I forgot about her way of speaking.
A blog that gets updated on a geological timescale.Remember, never try to read the mind of a genius, a lunatic, or a nineball.
edited 23rd Jul '13 6:38:57 PM by rikalous
