I got held up on my regular anime review schedule due to playing the incredibly popular Katawa Shoujo visual novel. But how good is it? Does it stack up to all the hype? Being my first visual novel, aside from one time I cracked open Bible Black: VN, (And that was because I thought it was a hot BDSM porn game but it had FUCKING DIALOGUE OMGGG) this is my only time ever having played one, and it'll be the last for the next year until I'm out of Job Corps. I reached 95% completion as of this review, only missing a few tiny Act 1 scenes, nothing huge. Now then, for the review.

On a side note, this may be my longest review ever! :O



Download/torrent the game here (F2P): http://katawa-shoujo.com/


Basic storyline.
Young Hisao stands in the snow waiting... waiting... waiting for the owner of the letter to arrive. Someone wants to confess to him, he may even know who it is. After they slipped the note in his schoolbook instead of in the locker, he realizes she might be a pretty bold person. He's never been confessed to before, how does one respond to a confession? As he ponders these things, he hears crunching in the snow behind him. "Hisao... you really showed up" says a girl behind him. "Iwanako, I thought it might be you." he says happily, spinning on his heel to face the girl. Her brown hair shimmering in the light of the sun reflecting off the snow, she looks dazzling. He gulps hard.

"Hisao... I... I want to tell you..."

As she starts saying the words, his heart starts beating rapidly. "She's going to confess she's going to confess oh god she's going to confess" his mind screams at him.

"I've known you a long time... and I think maybe, if you like..."

His heart pounds even harder, becoming a dull ache in his chest. "How do I respond what do I say she's so pretty I can't think" the voice in his head starts getting very frantic.

"Can we be boyfriend and girlfriend?" she asks tentatively.

Suddenly, the ache in his chest becomes unbearable. "Augh!" He yells as he falls forward, tripping over his own feet. "M-my chest... it... it..." he gasps in pain as dots start appearing in his eyes. "Hisao? Hisao!" yells Iwanako. "Someone... anyone! Call an ambulance! Hurry!"

Hisao falls forward, the whole world going dark. The pain is simply too unbearable and he succumbs to what he is sure is his final breath. His heart... has given out.




Hisao wakes up in the hospital. He finds out he's had a potentially fatal disease since childhood that, if triggered, usually kills the victim. Arrythmia. The news is devastating. No longer able to attend a regular school, his parents place him in Yamaku Academy, a private school for teenagers suffering from various illnesses. A school for the disabled, the thought is too horrifying for him. No longer a "regular" guy, he's now a sickly fellow, one the world will treat with kid gloves.

Upon entering Yamaku, he slowly begins to realize that maybe it isn't as terrible as he first thought. He sits in the far side of the room next to the window, and immediately two cute girls named Misha and Shizune greet him, introducing themselves as the class representatives. Shizune is deaf, and Misha is her translator. After chatting with them for a while, he notices a cute girl sitting in the chair closest to the door excuse herself and slink out of the room. As she leaves, he notices huge scars covering the right side of her face. Misha tells him that her name is Hanako and she's a burn victim.

Later after class, he tries to find his way to the library and enters the wrong room, meeting a cute blond girl, who introduces herself as Lilly. Lilly is blind from birth, but very beautiful and very nice as well. Sitting down to drink some tea with her, they both chat for a while and he takes his leave, continuing to hunt for the library. As he exits the classroom, suddenly a blur of motion, and a person smashes into him in the hallway, causing him much pain as his heart palpates for a minute. When he catches his breath, he sees the person who rammed him is a pink haired girl missing both her legs (but wearing mechanical replacements) and she apologizes, introducing herself as Emi, the track star of the school. After apologizing, she rushes off to some business or other, and he continues on his way to find that damn library, hopefully with no more interruptions.

Finally finding the library, he grabs himself a book, and exits to find a quiet place to sit and read his book. Finding himself a quiet abandoned classroom, he closes the door only to find that it is not, in fact, unoccupied. In the corner sits a girl missing both her arms, eating rice with a fork between her toes while propped on a table. Her name is Rin, and she is a quizzical person, making odd statements and being incredibly weird, no matter how you slice the pie.


Being a dating game, Hisao will go on a journey during his final year in this school, to find the reason for his life, and with luck, eventually dating one of these 5 eligible girls. The game is very fun, requiring little interaction (The number of choices is vastly reduced, compared to similar sized visual novels. It's kinda disappointing, and yet it's interesting because you're not forced to choose every single decision to make, Hisao makes many on his own, based on certain choices you made in the first Act.) but offering a very deep story, with each path intersecting with others.

If you like visual novels, this really is a must-play.


Technical aspects.
-This VN has roughly (Based on my playthrough) at least 30 hours of playability. It doesn't seem like much, but it's really quite a lot. Don't enjoy it too fast though... once it's done, it's done for good. D=
-Purely a romance and intrigue VN. It also offers a unique look on those who are disabled, and may make you a more empathetic person by the time you're finished.
-The art style is gorgeous! There are CG's fairly often, especially when compared to other VN's like the Clannad VN (I played a good portion of it the other day, it was far less entertaining than I'd hoped compared to Katawa). And since this is a fire emblem forum, it particularly amusesme because there are many times when there are multiple characters onscreen at the same time, each changing emotions as they speak and listen, making it very easy on the eyes.
-For those of you who appreciate the sexier aspect of the game, there are a total of 11 sex scenes, and 1 extra that doesn't count because you're blindfolded. ... ... you'll see.
The music is incredible, it adds a LOT to the depth of the game. Hanako, the burn victim, has my personal favorite song by far. Her song is tear inducing, once you learn the secret behind her scars.





-HYIF is quite excellent. There are a few slow spots, notably on Shizune and Rin's routes, they tend to drag a little, but otherwise the pacing is good all around.


Noteworthy characters.
Really, every character in this VN is an important character. I'll give a brief bio of the character, then spoilerize the specifics of their route. (I don't intend to spoil anything super important, but you ought to not read them anyway till you've played the game.)

Hisao, the main character. He's socially inept, and you realize this very quickly. Really, he's just a poor guy going to a school with a lot of hot girls who apparently have nobody better to go out with than him. His tendancies to be protective can get him in awkward situations sometimes, but otherwise he's a good hearted fellow who doesn't want to hurt anyone, he just wants to help them.

Kenji is a fellow student in Lilly's class, legally blind and only being able to see a few feet in front of himself with slight decency. He boasts the funniest dialogue in the game, with a crazy personality and intense paranoia. He's terrified of the "feminist uprising", in which women enslave men and transform them into their whipping boys. To this end, no matter what route you take, he always tells you that the girl you're with is terrible and probably trying to get you killed. His most significant character development occurs on Emi and Shizune's route, with Shizune's route having a touching CG where he tells you... something important. No matter what route you take though, he'll be there.




Shizune is the first girl you meet, along with her friend Misha. They were the last route I played, due to me disliking Shizune's attitude and Misha's annoying tendancy to have "Wahahaha" in nearly every goddamn sentence. That being said, their route really isn't terrible. The bad part is that since Shizune is deaf and mute, most of Act 1 and 2 is having Misha directly translate everything Shizune says. It clears up later when Hisao finally takes the initiative and teaches himself sign language to speak with Shizune without Misha's help. Misha is not technically datable, but you can choose to pursue her later in the route after a certain choice.
Shizune Route details



Next, we have Hanako, the second girl you meet. Hanako suffered burn injuries to her body when she was a young girl, and due to her traumatic childhood and years of being bullied in grade school, she is extremely shy, only having one friend at Yamaku, Lilly. Hanako boasts the shortest route in the game, and was my first route I played. This makes me sad, because she also happens to be my second favorite route (Was my first, but then I played Emi's route xP) and definitely the most emotional of all the routes.
Hanako Route details



Next, we have Lilly, the third character you meet, and also my second route choice. Lilly is blind from birth, coming from a family of some stature. Her etiquette is very good and she speaks with an authoritative air, yet lacks even a trace of pompousness. She is Hanako's only friend, and both of their routes are intertwined. In one curious twist unique to their routes, if you play Lilly's route, at a certain point you, Hanako, and Lilly will all drink a lot of booze, and Lilly be drunk and you'll have a chance to basically take advantage of her. Yet, while playing Hanako's route, the role is changed and it's Hanako in that scene that you have the chance to take advantage of. Silly VN writers!
Lilly Route details



Emi was my third route, and remains my favorite route. If all 5 of these girls were real and I had my choice of them, I'd be very torn between Hanako and Emi, that's for sure. Emi was in an accident when she was younger, and lost both of her legs just below the knee. Despite this, Emi trained hard and was back on her feet in mechanical legs within a single year. Her story is inspiring, a tale of not letting bad luck get you down and perservering no matter what obstacles get in your way. Emi is also quite sexual and likes to experiment, her route probably has the best H-scenes of them all.
Emi Route details



Rin was my fourth choice, and the fifth of the girls that you meet. Rin is an armless girl who is, well, rather depressed or something. In any case, she's eccentric and weird no matter how you look at her. She and Emi are best friends, in a manner of speaking, because together they have all their limbs! That being said, she is definitely my least favorite route, because I found her the least attractive, and I thought she had a rather dull personality. *dodges hail of eggs*
Rin Route details


Novelty factor.
Unfortunately, once you finish this, it's over. I do enjoy listening to the music, but that's solved by getting the OST (It's free!), and Hanako/Shizune's cutscenes. If you enjoy a particular scene (probably a sex scene, ya fuckin' perv) you can probably squeeze more enjoyment out of this, but it's not like the story's gonna change, yo.


Final Score.
9/10! My only problems are that Hanako needed a longer route with more character development, and the game could do with more branching storylines. You can get all the branches with a single extra save on each playthrough, it's a little disappointing. The artwork is great, the characters are all likable except for the librarian, and Rin and this was a great first Visual Novel for me. After I get out of Job Corps I'm hoping I can enjoy more of this quality, though I doubt any will be as unique, as Katawa Shoujo.

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Recently, due to boredom, I've started using the "Surprise Me!" random manga feature on my favorite manga site to read random manga I might not normally read. The following is a review of one I read a couple nights ago. It was really short, only about an hour and a half to finish, but it wasn't bad, considering I normally wouldn't read it.




Manga here: http://www.mangareader.net/1407/variante.html


Basic storyline.
The detective enters the house. Immediately the stench hits him, the typical foul smell of a bloody murder. "Get the media out of here," he says to a nearby subordinate "if they see this, the secret might get out.". As his junior leaves and shooes the TV crews out of the area, the detective walks further into the house. Blood spattered across every wall, bits and chunks of flesh hanging off of various objects, this is possibly worse than the recent terrorist attacks he heard so much about.

Stepping into the living room, here he sees the victims. A young girl of tender teenage years is broken in many disturbing ways, only feet from the bodies of her parents. Their wounds are even more brutal than he expected. He fights back a wave of nausea, pulls out his camera and starts shooting pictures of the scene. After this he calls in the coroner who comes and retrieves the bodies. What a day this has been, and what a terrible way to go.

24 hours later.

"Where... where am I..." the girl says to herself. Her vision blurry, she props herself up. For some reason, she's laying on a metal table, and a tray filled with a variety of sharp objects is sitting nearby. Blinking her eyes, she shifts her gaze to the side of the room, where she sees an older man cowering in terror. As her gaze fixes on him, he flinches and squeaks a terrified sound. "Get... get away from me! You're supposed to be dead!!" yells the man. "Dead? I... I can't be dead... where am I?" asks the girl. She rubs her eyes but then realizes something feels... wrong. Glancing down at her left arm, she shrieks in horror as she sees an abomination of some sort replacing what used to be her left arm.

Suddenly some men and a woman run into the room to see what the commotion is. "Oh! Oh my god, she's alive!" yells the woman. "Aiko, Aiko are you okay? How can you be alive?!" says the woman, a look of confusion on her face. "And what happened to your arm..."

This begins the story of Variente.




Variente... it had a lot of potential. The main issues it has is that it's very short (And complete too, no more new chapters are coming), you don't get much time to like more than the main character and the sorta-love-interest, and the story starts with a bang and ends with a fizzle. It says to you "There are these awesome things called Chimaera's, Aiko has to hunt them down with her mutated left arm (Oh right, I forgot to mention that) and kill them, and then after that happens...! The manga ends! Yes that's right, that's all there is!"

There was a great hint of conspiracy, there were lots of great plot points that could have been filled, the actual emotion of the story is very compelling, but it's just so damned short and the ending comes so soon it really just kills itself. There's not a lot to say about it in that regard, so I'll get on with the other parts of the review.


Technical aspects.
-This manga has 19 issues.
-The first issue is 67 pages, but the rest are roughly in the 40 page area.
-This is sort of a horror manga, but it's also fantasy, intrigue, and a bit of romance.
-The art style is quite solid, except that I gave up trying to figure out what was going on during fighting scenes.
-HYIF is excellent, but the thing ends way too fast so it'll leave you a bit disappointed, probably.


Noteworthy characters.
Aiko is the main character. She wakes up on a coroners table to find out her left arm has become a hideous mutated arm of a beast known as "Chimaera". How she got this arm is a mystery, but it has incredible powers and allows her body to heal from any injury. When she awakens however, she finds out her family is dead, and she is now a lab rat, used only for experiments and to eventually become a military weapon. Striking a deal, she hunts down the less advanced monstrous chimaera in the city, in exchange for her own life and a semblance of freedom.

She's really just such a compelling main character. I wanted to give her a big hug throughout the whole manga, her sorrow feels very tangible and realistic. If I awoke under the exact same circumstances as she did, I imagine I'd probably act very similarly to her and that's why I say she's a great MC.

The other main character is the detective from the beginning of the story, who becomes the only person she can talk to who isn't afraid of her arm. Will it grow to love and a happy ending? You'll have to read the manga yourself.


AEHI.
Action is average in this manga. The parts that should be good are marred by bad visuals where you can't tell what dafuq is going on.
Emotion is very compelling. Aiko is a great MC and in spite of her hideous arm I imagine I'd probably fall for her IRL.
Humor is nonexistent.
Intrigue is okay. It has some predictable plot twists, but it also has some unpredictable ones too. The intrigue is marred by the all-too-soon ending, however.


Novelty factor.
Yeah this manga is worth reading maybe once. It's all right but I won't read it ever again.


Ending.
The ending is ... well I won't say if it's good or bad, but if the manga was about twice as long as it actually is now, and had much better elaborations on various plot points, then ended the way it does, it'd be an excellent and fitting ending. It feels like the writer rushed and wanted to get to the "good part" before they were ready to do so.


Final Score.
Plot Speed: 5/10, For once, the low score indicates the plot moving too fast.
Plot Originality: 4/10. It's a little original, but aside from the mutated arm the rest of it isn't that amazing.
Art Style: 7/10. The artwork is great, but fighting scenes are cluttered and confusing.
Character Execution: 5/10, Aiko, and the detective character, are excellent amazing characters. Everyone else is lackluster at best.
Reliance on Japan Memes: 10/10! No japanese memes.
Overall score: 5/10! If it was longer and all the characters had the kind of Depth Aiko did, this would be a fantastic manga. Otherwise, it falls somewhat... short.


Since it's really short, I'd say it's worth a read. It's not like it's a terrible manga, just a bit underwhelming. In fact, I'd definitely recommend it if it were longer! So if you don't mind an ending that comes a bit too soon, you should definitely read this manga.

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Around 21:00GMT to 22:00GMT today there'll be at least 10-15 minutes of downtime to allow for forum upgrades. The biggest new feature of the new version of the forum software is that you will be able to sign in with your e-mail if you want to.

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