it’s Everlasting Summer’s Sovyonok, as well as Ever17’s LeMU. It’s Oblivious Garden’s homonymous setting. We have probably all been to Yamaku High. Let’s start with where most of the stories take place. What, then, can you tell to your fellow readers who have yet to play Katawa Shoujo? Your views on it may have changed now, but can you reflect on what about the game roped you in? It could have been both your first and your last visual novel, but it wasn’t. Because you see, it has been four years since the most popular non-Japanese visual novel was launched. I hope that, by the end of this humble piece, you are all able to mutter “so this is what Katawa Shoujo is all about!”, yes, even you who raised the right hand. Unfortunately for you who are reading right now, no distance is safe enough. To be honest, I don’t really share the nostalgia of those who spent hours reading an Emotional Narrative Clickable Slideshow (this is what “visual novel” means in Japanese) for the first time with Katawa Shoujo, nor do I share the perplex skepticism of those who have watched the hurricane of hype from a safe distance. I’ll keep both my hands in my pocket, thanks. I say so as I belong to the last group I mentioned. I’m afraid this won’t be a very interesting read to you. To those who failed to raise either hand when prompted, be it because you were already a seasoned visual novel player when it was released or you just happened to come across it when you were just starting out, I apologize. But this is for another time, is it not? Well, then.
I beg your pardon? Why, yes, it’s completely different. No, m’Lady, watching a Let’s Play can’t possibly count as a playthrough. Now, those of you who have never played it, please raise your left hand.
Ladies and gentlemen whose first experience with a visual novel was Katawa Shoujo, please raise your right hands.