Spoileriffic! Wanna read another gushy review for the game?

[Zeon Twilight]

This post contains grievous Spoilers, I will be discussing my thoughts on each of the paths in the game, If you have not played through all the paths, consider yourself warned.

This shall be the chronicle/review of my experience. I suppose that you nice forum goers have seen it before. After all, we all played the same game didn't we? I cannot say anything about it that no one else has. Obviously, I am but another person who wishes to pay tribute to this wonderful experience. The only thing I can bring is my side on this, the vision of the game that only I can see I suppose. But I will share.

My girlfriend found this one, The Escapist mentioned that it had been released, like many, I heard 4chan and "dating Sim/VN" and thought "This can only end in tears."

I was right, but for completely wrong reasons.

So we downloaded the game. I watch her play it for a bit, she ended up going down Hanako's path first. Much to her chagrin I wouldn't start my own play through until she saw Hanako through to the end. Mostly because I had to know how it ended. I remember thinking to myself, "This is too good." In disbelief, "They are luring me in with good writing but the game will end with a huge cliffhanger trollface."

I was wrong. Hanako's story being one of the best romance stories I've seen in the Genre. In fact, perhaps one of the most enjoyable love stories I've experienced in the past.

So I began my own journey into the game, with the ending of Hanako's story fresh in my mind, and doubting it could be topped, I set off to "catch 'em all" I shall now give my thoughts on each of these stories in the order that I personally played them. Spoilers spoilers spoilers spoilers AHOY

Shizune: After seeing my girl play through Hanako, I decided the only fair way to go about it was to go through the other girls, then come back around and do Hanako's story once for myself. I started my journey with Shizune. I enjoyed this path quite a bit, it was sort of like a high school Romantic comedy, except it didn't suck. The drama didn't really hit very hard until near the end. I've seen some complaints that Shizune wasn't a terribly romantic character, and that she didn't really seem that into the relationship. This is a point, but it doesn't seem out of character for her, she's a driven person who doesn't have time to brood. The good ending made me filled with a giddy sort of happiness, the thought that Shizune and Hisao would certainly split, sure, but they would come back together too. I think their relationship would be a wild and unpredictable one. Maybe one day Shizune would settle down with him, but it would take awhile.

Oddly, for the BAD ending however, I felt it was one of the most heartbreaking. The sight of Shizune giving up on herself and those around her, sitting there on the stairs with that plush kitty in her purse was just a heart rending scene. Considering what has to be done to get to that point of course, you already feel like a total asshole and that only makes the feeling so much worse, The bad path ends up giving what I think may be one of the worst "Hisao" incarnation the game has to offer.

Lilly: Fresh from seeing both Shizune's ending, it peeked my curiosity for Lilly, I was hoping that going on that path would give me a chance to go with her to meet her dad, sadly this was not so. Still, I enjoyed watching Hisao's growth in this path, he really seemed to grasp a lot of self control going down this one. The inner peace that he seemed to grasp being with her is clear and interesting to watch. Oddly, the side story of Hanako in this path interested me almost as much, seeing Hanako break out of her own shell a bit was pleasant, in the way that it's a different sort of growth than what she gets in her own path. The good ending in this one of very enjoyable, the "Holdin' out for a Hero' esqe ending didn't fool me of course, I knew when Hisao had his second heart attack that Lilly would be there. Still, in spite of the fact that it's predictable, it was not any less heart warming. I actually found the fact that Lilly seemed to be the only one with an after credits bumper to be odd, but pleasant, making me wish the others had as well.

I was however, very disappointed at the neutral ending, it was just the good ending cut short. The game seems to do this a couple times and each time it does it feels a bit like a sham, It would have been more interesting if the neutral ending had been more of a "That's how it fizzles" sort of thing, just so it could be distinct at least.

Rin: Whoooo boy, Rin, how can I really review such an odd one? Her story is easily the strangest. I can say that she was a very odd girl, but while I don't completely understand her in some ways, I do in others. The relationship between her and Hisao is probably the most strained of all the girls, in that Rin is simply not the sort of person who thinks too much on things. This story probably also is one of the darkest as others have said, a very introspective one that leads to many questions about one's concept of self, and how one's self stacks up in the world around them. While Rin is not a person I think I would date myself, she is a very interesting person and I can see why one would fall in love with her.

Rin's bad ending suffers the same problem as Lilly's Neutral ending, it's a conversation that would happen anyway, happening somewhere else. No special picture to tear your heart asunder.

...No that belongs to the other ending, the Neutral ending to Rin's story is certainly the best of the "Neutrals" It comes across as it's own distinct story and you feel genuinely empty as you watch her give in to the expectations of the world around her. to shape herself into the image that they made for her, rather than finding herself, growing and changing on her own as she does in the good ending. Both endings however are quite poignant and well worth seeing at least once.

Emi: Emi has the distinct honor of having what I feel is some of the most realistic writing in the game, never once in her story do I question the motives of the characters involved because I can see any aspect of it happening. While I do not feel this makes it the best written by default, I do feel that this path has one of the most interesting contrasts between the happy warm fuzzy feeling of Shizune's path and the "My insides are hurting" Drama of Hanako or Rin's path. It's also probably the most subtle in that choices that will lead you to damnation. I played this one pretty naturally and ended up with no choice at the end but the bad side of things. Which is I suppose, true to life, sometimes the choices we make lead us down a path we cannot escape. The bad ending was a hard one to take, but seemed like a real possibility.

Meanwhile, the Good ending is also quite possible, it gives just as much of a warm fuzzy feeling as any of the other good endings and is written very believably. I really like how they handled Emi's confessions to Hisao, the way that after all the hard work it takes to get her to trust him, she does finally break down and let him in. It has a special sort of magic to it.

Hanako: So I returned to my first love, with the perspective of the other stories fresh in my mind, perhaps I did not enjoy it as much as I did when I watched my girlfriend go through her story, Hanako still had one of the most enjoyable warm fuzzy high school drama story feelings, in no small thanks to how ADORABLE the girl was drawn. Even on the good path there is a certain bittersweetness to how things turn out. Hisao comes across as a flawed person here more than probably any of the other "Good" endings. He really should have noticed how uncomfortable the poor girl got when he started to try to get the hanky panky on. Yet I can't hold that against the romance of this story, as it is brought out, Hisao DOES realize it and DOES feel like a complete asshole over it. Meanwhile Hanako was partly to blame as well, she is established to be sharp enough to know what might happen, and she goes through with it for the wrong reasons. Still, I have to give this one credit, while the future seems very uncertain for these two, more so than any of the others aside from maybe Rin, I feel the connection that comes off the two of them is one of the strongest, and only serves to become stronger. The thought of the future I can see for Hanako and Hisao is full of happy possibilities. I would have loved for Hanako to have an after credits H scene in a way, just to show that someday the two of them will get around to it naturally. But I suppose leaving it with the kiss does bring a feeling of innocence to things that the story probably needed.

The Bad ending on the other hand is wholly heartbreaking. seeing Hanako go off on Hisao like she does is almost physically hard to watch. While I think I may well have been more saddened by Shizune's bad end, just because it makes her seem so hopeless. Whereas even with the outburst in the end of Hanako Bad I don't think she'd be broken, I could see her becoming very bitter and that is a very sad thought. Certainly one of the most depressing bad endings.

Kenji:I felt the secret ending you get when you beat the game in a certain number of times while eating grapefruit with a survivalist guide on your desk was very interesting. I thought it was really cool how 4leaf studios actually programmed a fully operational third person shooter system for an ending that almost no one would see really impressive dedication. The Feminist bosses certainly are relentless and I'm not sure what we would have done without the seven manly artifacts to purify our souls. Of course the ending is truly heartbreaking when in the Kenji and Hisao realize they are in a video game, powerless to change the world because the Feminists have bought off 4leaf. The "supposed to lose" final boss fight against AlphaFem and the daring confession of manly love that the two share before being deleted from existence is truely the most expressive storytelling in any video game I've ever seen. Just the look on Kenji's face as Hisai slowly fades into nothing. No words, just knowing that one man he'd ever loved was gone for ever. Truly tragic.

Oh...Oh you mean the one that is actually in the game? Not the odd idea for a fanfiction I had? Oh yeah...that blows man, but I suppose sometimes shit happens, if you're an asshole or too secretive, you die. It's interesting to get a bit more perspective into Kenji, sort of a shame we don't get to see more of his strangeness.

Overall, Katawa Shoujo is probably the best VN I've ever played, and I have played a few. It's also a game that makes me want to be a better person, just for seeing the people in it strive to be better people in spite of that odds stacked against them. The music is perfectly executed and the art direction is wonderful. The only things I'm really disappointed about I'd say are the lackluster reward for 100% completion, and the fact that the game does indeed end. I would have loved to have seen one more secret path or cutscene or something.

I know 4leaf will probably not do a sequel, and that they will no longer be known as such. I do hope that someday they come together again to bring us another amazing experience. It seems a shame for such amazing talent to go to waste, never to be used again.

Thank you 4Leaf studios, you brought us something free and amazing, simple and dynamic. A story that can really be enjoyed by all. A thoughtful portrayal of characters that really feel like people. While I would never say the game is PERFECT, nothing is, and it's still the best damn example of a VN I've played. It will set the bar for any and all other VN's to come.

Thank you whoever reads this, When I play something that touches me as this game has, I feel the need to say my piece on it, I have now. I suppose I'll hang about the forum's a bit, post here and there, but this is the main reason I came, to declare that I believe this deserves to be one of the best games of 2012, even though it released only 4 days into the year, it's set the storytelling bar really high. Bravo 4LS, Bravo!

[Weaver]

I still always like reading opinions on the game
Thanks for your review!

[Zeon Twilight]

Thanks for the comment Weasel. I forgot to mention at the end of my post, if anyone has suggestions for other games like Katawa Shoujo, in the VN/really solid story vein, I'd love to hear about any suggestions, game's got me in the mood for that kind of game.