Katawa Shoujo Act 1 (Visual Novel Review)

The OELVN community is highly active, yet surprisingly quiet. Most projects tend to slip by in the night, but the very ambitious Katawa Shoujo has a lot of hype outside of the community, probably due to the fact that it was initially born on 4chan. Only the first act has been released, but it's a pretty solid piece of work on its own.

You play as Hisao Nakai, a teen boy with a congential heart disease. Because of his condition, he goes to a school for people with medical needs. Hisao has trouble getting used to it at first, and he feels especially uncomfortable surrounded by people with disabilities, but he manages to make some friends and as time goes on, he might even manage to develop a realtionship with one of them.

The art is pretty solid, although a few inconsistencies here and there are noticeable if you're paying attention. One cameo appearance in particular is a little jarring on the eyes, but it has no real effect on the story. The designs are appealling, if not a little generic, and the level of detail that has gone into not just the characters, but the layout and overall feel are impressive. I would have preferred drawn backgrounds rather than filtered photographs, but the photos do the job and they don't stand out, so I can't complain too much.

The story itself is well written and graceful, albeit somewhat slow at points. However, the pacing is still pretty decent, and I found myself drawn to some of the girls (although I found others plain annoying). In some ways, it's a rather generic sort of visual novel. One guy, and plenty of dateable girls, all with their own personal issues and hang ups. Not to mention a couple Japanese tropes wind their way in (a ghostly girl named Hanako?). Add to that a mildly insane male friend and you've got yourself a story. Thankfully, the fact that all the girls are disabled is really a part of the story and not merely a gimmick to make it stand out. Anyone interested in this sort of quiet tale of high school love will not be disappointed. There's not much outside of it to impress anyone outside of this demographic, though.

Overall, Katawa Shuojo Act 1 is a very nice piece of work and a great addition to the OELVN community. It took two years for this to be released - one wonders how long it will take for the final version to reach completion. Anyone who enjoys this should definitely drop some encouragement in the forum or the dev blog to keep the team going.

P.S.
I got the Emi end, which is frustrating because I liked her the least and found her to be rather annoying. I was aiming for Hanako...better luck next time.

--Ou-bento