The route was excellent and I ended up appreciating Shizune a lot more for it, but the plot in Act 3 seemed to flounder a bit when it could have really grabbed the family plot – or the Misha thing – by the bollocks. She’s actually very like me personality-wise (and looks-wise, although I have more of a Misha build!) and she’s probably one of the characters I’d make friends with, if she were real. Shizune Hakamichi (writer: Anonymous22) was my favourite girl from the demo and I’m actually studying for a qualification in sign language (BSL), so naturally I went for her first. Even Lilly’s route, which I generally disliked, had a nice flow and spacing to it. Most of the characters are believable and the storytelling, for the most part, is great even when the writing isn’t. No, I don’t get all the “feels” about the characters, the most I got was angry at Hisao (or angry at Rin or angry at Misha) for doing stupid shit, but teenagers do stupid shit anyway. The best thing about KS is that several months on it’s still made me think – ‘specially Shizune’s, Emi’s and Rin’s. That being said, there is some amazing storytelling, boosted by an amazing soundtrack and some great artwork – and that takes some doing especially given your subject matter, and especially as this was done by an indie team over 5 years. Not going to lie, I don’t necessarily agree with the reviews that praise KS for having stellar writing that would turn Chuck Norris into a quivering wreck, because it does fall flat in places and there is definitely some better quality writing out there. While there is nudity, a little bit of artistic licence as far as “first-time sex” goes, and some of the H-scenes are more explicit, the scenes are tastefully written and portrayed – no gallons of white fluid splattering everywhere and dripping orifices (thank god).
It’s a far reach to call KS “porn with plot” or even “plot with porn”.
Katawa Shoujo (KS) was my second full visual novel – my first experience was technically the demo, but my first full-version game was a short fanmade novel called Clannad -The Past Path- (you don’t have to have played or even know about Clannad itself to enjoy it, but it’s worth the playthrough if you like KEY’s works). Even if you’re spoiled by a plot description it’s nothing like reading it through yourself. Also, given some of the route content, you are honestly better off giving the game a go yourself and experiencing it first-hand. Okay … I’ve decided to scrap the idea of a written blow-by-blow walkthrough as holy shit, this is a long game and it’d take me forever particularly in the cases of Rin and Shizune (who have the longest paths). Length: On average, about 3/4 hours per route so you’re looking at about 20 hours altogether, but if you’re looking to get all the endings for every heroine (good and bad) it’ll take longer. Rating: 18+ (sexual content, occasional strong language, HNNGGGG)
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