Calling Katawa Shoujo a "Dating Sim" is one of the most fundamentally inaccurate descriptions of it I've ever seen, and really quite unfair to it and others of the same genre. There's a reason these games are known as -Visual Novels-, with emphasis on "Novel". Anyone who has read a Choose Your Own Adventure (CYOA) book would know that Visual Novels are identical in concept, except that the medium is electronic, and you click instead of flip pages (I'd say VN's have images to match, but I remember the CYOA books have images too). It's really no different from reading a romantic story book written by, say Nicholas Sparks, except if his books was a CYOA with built-in music.
All stories revolve around the fact that they have a specific setting for them, no matter what you do. Why wasn't the Illiad set in modern day Europe with fighter jets and nuclear weapons, or why isn't Pride and Prejudice set in the Stone Age, or why is X-Men a story about mutants instead of a story about normal people? Katawa Shoujo isn't any different from its story being set in a school for the disabled. But as the story itself shows, there's a very good reason why it's done so. If Katawa Shoujo wasn't about crippled people, its entire story would fall apart quite easily, such is how well crafted its story is (weak as it is in some of the routes).
People here say the girls aren't defined by their disabilities, but I think that's a misstatement. No, the girls aren't all about their "defects" (the term Hisao, the main character uses), but it's hard to imagine the girls being anything without their defects. However, their conditions complement and shape their personality in ways that are both logical and not overbearing, they accentuate their person rather than define it (ex. Lilly is precise and careful, not just because she's blind, but because she was once in a strict Catholic all-girls school). And KS goes to show the practical effects of each disability, while at the same time showing that these characters do not use their disabilities as excuses not to be the best they can be - Shizune is a deaf-mute requiring her friend Misha to translate everything she says, yet is a highly dynamic student council president, Lilly is blind yet inquisitive and kind, Rin has no arms yet is a painter and artist etc... These are very fleshed-out personalities, despite being born out of stereotypes, and not at all exploitative or demeaning. I've seen more thought put into this game on the treatment and perception of people with disabilities than in many other mainstream media I've seen. The game makes a very good point: while people with disabilities will always have needs that non-disabled do not have, they are people like you and me first and foremost, and their disabilities will only be a big deal if you let yourself think it is.
The main controversy of this entire piece though is that this game has sex scenes. And yes there are sex scenes, that is indisputable. However, there is an option to turn them off, and the majority of them are tasteful examples, and not particularly glorifying, nor fetishisizing - in fact, most of the scenes give minimum focus on the particular disabilities at all. The conditions are only covered in the sex scenes when they logically have to, rather than being the centerpiece. And for most of the routes except one, you can actually cut out all of the sex scenes and still have a 100% complete story. Even with that sole exception though (which occurs in my personal favorite route), the sex is used as part of the story in a bittersweet manner that appeals more to the heart than to the crotch, and which is used as the springboard for much emotionally heartbreaking character development. In fact, if anyone were to get into Katawa Shoujo thinking to use it as a "fapping tool", it would be very difficult to do so. No, not because the girls are disfigured or have disabilities, but because by the time you get to those scenes (once you finish 75% of the game) you've come to know and respect the characters so much that the sex scenes feel entirely unnecessary, a feeling the story supports.
What strikes me the most about the game though is how much people with actual disabilities can relate to at least one aspect of either the story or a character. For me, it was Hanako's route, about the shy introverted girl with scars covering half her body. I was diagnosed with autism at a very young age, and though I had lots of support to overcome it it's hard not to have shreds of introversion. While my condition is different from the aforementioned character's, reading through Hanako's story was like looking at a mirror of my past self, of my thoughts and actions on how I was as an introvert, right down to her exact line, "I... don't like people, so I don't mind not having many friends.", words I have said at one time or another. And I've heard of testimony from a lot of others with at least a form of disability or know someone with disabilities who've played the game, and agree with the sentiment: there is much in this story that's relateable.
Objectively, Katawa Shoujo isn't something that I'd call a "Masterpiece" by any stretch due to a couple of slips in the story writing, but the fact that it has made me laugh, cry, and most of all think is something I would not attribute to something made simply for "cripple porn fetishists". This is a labor of love, not lust.
Finally, this game was not made in Japan despite the origin being Japanese art. This game was made by an grassroots international team who simply take inspiration from their love of anime and manga.
All stories revolve around the fact that they have a specific setting for them, no matter what you do. Why wasn't the Illiad set in modern day Europe with fighter jets and nuclear weapons, or why isn't Pride and Prejudice set in the Stone Age, or why is X-Men a story about mutants instead of a story about normal people? Katawa Shoujo isn't any different from its story being set in a school for the disabled. But as the story itself shows, there's a very good reason why it's done so. If Katawa Shoujo wasn't about crippled people, its entire story would fall apart quite easily, such is how well crafted its story is (weak as it is in some of the routes).
People here say the girls aren't defined by their disabilities, but I think that's a misstatement. No, the girls aren't all about their "defects" (the term Hisao, the main character uses), but it's hard to imagine the girls being anything without their defects. However, their conditions complement and shape their personality in ways that are both logical and not overbearing, they accentuate their person rather than define it (ex. Lilly is precise and careful, not just because she's blind, but because she was once in a strict Catholic all-girls school). And KS goes to show the practical effects of each disability, while at the same time showing that these characters do not use their disabilities as excuses not to be the best they can be - Shizune is a deaf-mute requiring her friend Misha to translate everything she says, yet is a highly dynamic student council president, Lilly is blind yet inquisitive and kind, Rin has no arms yet is a painter and artist etc... These are very fleshed-out personalities, despite being born out of stereotypes, and not at all exploitative or demeaning. I've seen more thought put into this game on the treatment and perception of people with disabilities than in many other mainstream media I've seen. The game makes a very good point: while people with disabilities will always have needs that non-disabled do not have, they are people like you and me first and foremost, and their disabilities will only be a big deal if you let yourself think it is.
The main controversy of this entire piece though is that this game has sex scenes. And yes there are sex scenes, that is indisputable. However, there is an option to turn them off, and the majority of them are tasteful examples, and not particularly glorifying, nor fetishisizing - in fact, most of the scenes give minimum focus on the particular disabilities at all. The conditions are only covered in the sex scenes when they logically have to, rather than being the centerpiece. And for most of the routes except one, you can actually cut out all of the sex scenes and still have a 100% complete story. Even with that sole exception though (which occurs in my personal favorite route), the sex is used as part of the story in a bittersweet manner that appeals more to the heart than to the crotch, and which is used as the springboard for much emotionally heartbreaking character development. In fact, if anyone were to get into Katawa Shoujo thinking to use it as a "fapping tool", it would be very difficult to do so. No, not because the girls are disfigured or have disabilities, but because by the time you get to those scenes (once you finish 75% of the game) you've come to know and respect the characters so much that the sex scenes feel entirely unnecessary, a feeling the story supports.
What strikes me the most about the game though is how much people with actual disabilities can relate to at least one aspect of either the story or a character. For me, it was Hanako's route, about the shy introverted girl with scars covering half her body. I was diagnosed with autism at a very young age, and though I had lots of support to overcome it it's hard not to have shreds of introversion. While my condition is different from the aforementioned character's, reading through Hanako's story was like looking at a mirror of my past self, of my thoughts and actions on how I was as an introvert, right down to her exact line, "I... don't like people, so I don't mind not having many friends.", words I have said at one time or another. And I've heard of testimony from a lot of others with at least a form of disability or know someone with disabilities who've played the game, and agree with the sentiment: there is much in this story that's relateable.
Objectively, Katawa Shoujo isn't something that I'd call a "Masterpiece" by any stretch due to a couple of slips in the story writing, but the fact that it has made me laugh, cry, and most of all think is something I would not attribute to something made simply for "cripple porn fetishists". This is a labor of love, not lust.
Finally, this game was not made in Japan despite the origin being Japanese art. This game was made by an grassroots international team who simply take inspiration from their love of anime and manga.
