Katawa Shoujo

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Katawa Shoujo
Katawa Shoujo logo.png
Logo of Katawa Shoujo
Original title か た わ 少女
transcription Katawa Shōjo
Studio Four Leaf Studios
Publisher Four Leaf Studios
Erstveröffent-
lichung		 4th January 2012
platform Microsoft Windows , macOS , Linux
Game engine Ren'Py
genre Ren'ai adventure , eroge
Game mode Single player
control Mouse , keyboard
medium CD-ROM , download
language English, French, Spanish, Japanese, German
Current version 1.3.1 (June 6, 2015)

Katawa Shoujo ( Japanese か た わ 少女 Katawa Shōjo , dt. "Disabled girl", actually "cripple girl") is a Ren'ai adventure from Four Leaf Studios. It tells the story of a young man and five young women who live with various disabilities. The game was created with the Ren'Py engine and licensed under the Creative Commons cc-by-nc-nd. The developers refer to Katawa Shoujo as a visual novel in the western sense .

Content and game mechanics

Most of the action takes place at the fictional Yamaku High School for disabled children, somewhere in modern Japan. The life of Hisao Nakai, a normal boy, is turned upside down when a diagnosed cardiac arrhythmia forces him to move to a new school after a long hospital stay. Despite his difficulties, Hisao can make friends, and maybe love too.

As is typical for the genre, the game consists of extensive texts as well as various images and animations. In between, the player can make decisions that influence the further course of the game. Depending on the decisions made by the player, the story is different and ultimately leads to romantic or eroge relationships with one of the five heroines. These relationships can end for good, bad, neutral, or bittersweet. Furthermore, game processes are possible that do not lead to any relationship and end with the death of the protagonist.

development

The game has its origins in a sketch by the Japanese dōjinshi artist Raita. Since January 2007, the sketch has been extensively on the 4chan - Image Board discussed, and a group of developers has been collected from the users of 4chan and other Internet communities. The group adopted the name Four Leaf Studios (based on the 4chan logo). On April 29, 2009, the team released an "Act 1" preview. Act 1 has since been translated into other languages. Version 5 includes English , French , Italian , Japanese , Russian , German , Hungarian, and both traditional and simplified Chinese . The full version was published in English on January 4, 2012. Official translations into French, Spanish and Japanese have followed so far.

The original development team initially coordinated via 4chan. The later further development took place independently of the imageboard. After the game was released, Four Leaf Studios announced that they had no plans to work with members on a new project. On June 6, 2015, Four Leaf Studios announced with the release of version 1.3.1 that official support for Katawa Shoujo was "most likely" over.

Critical reception

Katawa Shoujo received a positive reception. Once released, it exceeded the expectations of reviewers, who particularly praised the relatively high production values ​​and the honest handling of the subject. The sensitive handling of the eroge elements (erotic images on the corresponding gameplay), which were essential for the stories, was also praised. (It was also noted that the game's "adult" scenes can be replaced with others, albeit at the expense of the characterization and development of the plot.) It rose to GameFAQs in third in the "Top 10 Wanted FAQs" table Place and finally reached the first place; In March 2012, GameFAQs gave an average reader rating of 8.4 from seven reviews and an average rating of 9.0 from 374 users.

However, the name of the game has met with criticism, as the term katawa ( 片 輪 ) is seen as a derogatory term in Japan. In the title it is meant as a non-judgmental “handicapped”. In fact, katawa corresponds to the derogatory term “cripple” in German and literally refers to a car with only one wheel that no longer works properly. The use of the word is frowned upon on Japanese television and radio. The developers commented on questions about the term katawa : “It's not like we're intentionally trying to offend [with the title], and we didn't make the name up ourselves. The origin of the name is of course Japan itself, from Raita and his original concept of [Katawa Shoujo]. "

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Katawa Shoujo Released . Retrieved January 3, 2011.
  2. ↑ a b Official download page of Katawa Shoujo
  3. ↑ Katawa Shoujo . hikari-translations.de. February 2, 2015. Retrieved September 17, 2017.
  4. ↑ a b Katawa Shoujo 1.3.1 release and the end of support, accessed June 25, 2015.
  5. ↑ Katawa Shoujo Act 1 Manual . Four Leaf Studios, April 29, 2009, pp. 10-12.
  6. ↑ http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/650003-katawa-shoujo/faqs/63632
  7. ↑ Original sketch . Archived from the original on May 12, 2012. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved May 24, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / shimmie.katawa-shoujo.com
  8. ↑ Informational database listing of book that contains the inspirational sketch, from The Doujinshi & Manga Lexicon . Retrieved May 24, 2012.
  9. ↑ a b 4chan Group Releases Eroge Demo . Retrieved April 30, 2009.
  10. ^ A Long History of Katawa Shoujo: part 2 . Kotaku. January 12, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  11. ↑ Katawa Shoujo Released . Retrieved January 9, 2012.
  12. ↑ Patrick Lum: Unexpected Sincerity: Disabilities, Girls, and Katawa Shoujo . Kotaku. January 11, 2012. Retrieved January 13, 2012.
  13. ↑ http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2012/01/10/impressions-katawa-shoujo/
  14. ↑ http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo?from=Main.KatawaShoujo
  15. ↑ http://www.gamefaqs.com/pc/650003-katawa-shoujo
  16. ↑ James Valentine: Naming and Narrating Disability in Japan . In: Mairian Corker, Tom Shakespeare (Eds.): Disability / postmodernity: Embodying Disability Theory . Continuum, 2006, ISBN 0-8264-5055-5 , pp. 218 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
  17. ↑ Discussion of the Japanese reaction to Katawa Shoujo . Retrieved on May 24, 2012.

Web links