Many people have a flawed perception of Katawa Shoujo, particularly people who have never read it. The reputation strides ahead of itself; it is that dating simulator with disabled girls made by 4chan. This is almost technically accurate, but the words weave implications that actually form the impression. One would think it’s a joke if you suggest it is a serious literary work. What do these people know, if they have not read it? I don’t need to read it, they may say. It’s just perverted. But this assumption is deeply wrong. If it were simple eroge, then why are people still talking about its story fourteen years after its release?
It’s not accurate to call Katawa Shoujo a dating simulator. Many call it one, but this misrepresents the actual story themes, where romance is a secondary component. It’s more accurate to call it a coming-of-age story. The complexity of the story puts it out as a pretense for sex; if you come in expecting porn, you’ll find little of it here. But even the one or two sex scenes you’ll see in the approximately eight hours of a playthrough would be taken out of proportion, simply because it’s a visual novel. Sex in a film is judged by its merit as an element of the story, but in a visual novel is assumed to be inherently depraved. The star of Katawa Shoujo is not the sex, but the characters. Full of personality, quirks, struggles, stories, an empathetic reader will be able to appreciate the depth of the characters. A dating simulator should lather you in good feelings, but Katawa Shoujo doesn’t want to. Anyone who has read Rin’s or Hanako’s route can attest, the story is often bitter-sweet and turbulent, and especially in the case of Rin, even lacks any real romance.
I said that it is really a coming-of-age story. Love is an incidental part of growing up, thus it gives the frame for the plot, but the resounding theme in each storyline is tragedy. In each one, the protagonist Hisao experiences a tragedy — the diagnosis of a heart issue that will forever changes how he lives — and simultaneously has his old life ripped away, and a new one thrust upon him. Whichever route the player takes, they will come to learn about a person who has already lived a long time with tragedy, that show how people adapt and continue on with life. Thus, the story is about tragedy, it’s past, present, and future. Though every girl has found ways to deal with their obvious setbacks, each one is still learning who they are and how to live their lives, just like everyone else. The stereotype of a dating simulator is that it’s written by loveless losers trying to simulate what they don’t have, but it’s clear to me the writers of Katawa Shoujo were extremely empathetic, knowledgeable about people, and had something to say about life.
Why do I care so much about how people judge the game? Because Katawa Shoujo is one of the truly great visual novels. So many people, myself included, learned that a visual novel can be a legitimate form of literature through Katawa Shoujo, and I hate to see something I admire be given such a reputation. I can’t speak about my admiration of it with anyone, because these assumptions are hard-set. It has one of those best qualities of art, which is to affirm life in all its aspects, and does so without gawdy sentimentality, but genuine humanity. It’s been eight years since I read it — I went in with all those negative assumptions, but the merits of the story stripped them away, and the message came through unadulterated. I was deeply affected by it, and I’m not the only one. The Katawa Shoujo forums and subreddit are full of love for the stories and how touching they are. My story is a very common one, that of people entering with these assumptions but finding a genuinely touching experience. This may be impossible to understand if you’re still standing outside looking in. The bawdy shell given to it by others has obscured the real nature of the game, which I have discussed. A problem is that people would not give credence to the accounts of those with first-hand experience of the story; they see them as perverts, yet would refuse to read it themselves. I don’t expect them to, but I wish they could at least withold judgment on that which they do not know. These assumptions about visual novels have held back the advancement of the medium for too long.
Romance in the modern world is rough. Every other couple is divorcing, leaving their children with a tainted model of a relationship. The concept of sex in our society is immature and self-centered. Discourse on the relations of the sexes has become poisoned as the last decade went on. Katawa Shoujo is a relic of Internet culture that totally lacks the cruft built around modern romance. It shows love with a beautiful grace and humanity that is totally lacking in the world. What a deep twist of irony that it is associated with the apotheosis of degenerate sexual attitudes, and is chastised by the same society.