It's been one year today that Katawa Shoujo was released to the public. At first I thought I might try to start Hanako's path since I never got to it, but I'm way more interested in playing Awesomenauts to bother.
So instead of actually going back into Katawa Shoujo, I though it would be nice to look back again at the events that happened in the three paths I've chosen. Although I didn't actually start reading the visual novel until late February, it's still nice to reminisce of all the emotion and character that each girl has brought to Yamaku High School.
As a friendly reminder, there will be spoilers for Lilly, Emi, and Shizune's path. So if you don't mind being spoiled or you have read their paths, continue on young adventurer.
Emi Ibarazaki
Meeting Emi's Mother
It was an interesting experience first meeting Meiko, Emi's mom, on that track meet Emi invited Hisao to. Meiko was a kind and supportive parent, indicated by the fact that she attends Emi's track meetings. It was a nice change in pace to meet an attractive, mature woman that happened to be the mother of Emi after we later find out from Meiko herself.
Meeting Emi's Father
After the shake in the relationship between Hisao and Emi, finally meeting her dad was the resolution to the climax that was very much needed. Basically this was the event that indicated that Emi finally trusted Hisao enough to visit her father's grave with him. Although I did know that Emi's father was dead for a while without being told explicitly, the act of visiting the grave site was very noteworthy progression to the relationship that was with Emi.
Lilly Satou
First Time Lilly Feels Your Face
A very memorable moment for me. When Lilly first feels your face it represented the interest she had for Hisao. It also was made more obvious when Lilly said that Hisao was rather handsome. Not being the last time Lilly would be doing it, it happens at least two more times, it servered as a nice reminder of the affection Lilly has for Hisao inside her path.
Blind Folded Sex Scene
Maybe I'm just more interested in Lilly's lady bits, but the scene where Lilly blind folds you during sex, was probably one of the sexiest scenes of all the paths that I've played. Since you can't see anything, it had to described to you in a lot of detail. The fact that it was a black screen and the only thing to the scene was the words on the screen. It being intimate enough that I actually liked it more than the other, is enough to want to applaud the writers for that.
Shiina "Misha" Mikado
Serious Time With Misha
The usually cheerful Misha, has broken down on the roof of Yamaku. Hisao stumbles on Shiina for the second time looking rather sad, however this time she is willing to talk to Hisao. We find out that Shiina has been in love with Shizune for quite a while, way before Hisao stumbled into the mix. Shiina being one of the reason I wanted to read Shizune's path, this was a pretty sad state of evens that was happening. This also kind of showed the balance between the love relationship between Shizune and Hisao, the unrequited love Shiina had toward Shizune and the struggle to keep the friendship intact with all three characters.
Misha Goes Short
Everyone will miss the drills, but I'm a big fan of women with short hair. This was a day after the conversation Shiina had with the very annoying character that is Jigoro, Shizune's father. Shiina tells Hisao that the reason for the change was because she was getting hot, from the summer heat, but there was probably some influence from Jigoro.
Shizune Hakamichi
Holding a Conversation with Shizune
Most of the time Hisao had to interact with Shizune though Misha, which never really felt like I was talk to Shizune. However, when Hisao finally understands enough sign language to hold some kind of conversation, I could finally give Shizune a voice in my head while reading. Communication is such a human thing, that it is often taken for granted, so when we finally get to hear Shizune's "voice", I could finally connect with her without the proxy that was Misha.
Shizune Finally Opens Up
It's a strange thing to see such a seemingly emotionally strong character, like Shizune, show her weak side. So when we finally see Shizune open up to Hisao, it was a very nice thing to experience. After all the shenanigans that happened between her and Shiina, we finally get to hear what Shizune is feeling and that was very much lacking throughout Shizune's path.
Good Ending
I haven't touched Katawa Shoujo since I finished Shizune's path, but I still recognize it as a great visual novel, that can be revisited whenever. For the three out five paths that I've completed, all the good, neutral, and bad ending, I've had some of them stick more with me than others. Overall it was an enlightening experience for my first visual novel that I've read.