Katawa Shoujo, Doujin Eroge In English

The fact that handicapped lolis don't say no is quite well known and thoroughly tested (or so I heard), so why not have an eroge full of them? It's this perfectly sane idea that may have inspired the concept behind Katawa Shoujo, an eroge which literally translates as Disablity Girls. And the reason we're mentioning it is that it's being developed straight in English, by a group of 4channers reunited as Four Leaf Studios.


The game's website was launched over the weekend, and with it came some fresh visual samples and more details about the game itself, and how it came to be. Long story short, some dude posted this image from a doujin by Raita of doujin circle Zettai Shoujo on 4chan, detailing character art for a dating sim he dubbed "Katawa Shoujo". This sparked a hypothetical debate about how such a game should be made, and by summer 2007 there were enough ideas and enough interest for an actual fan-made project to take off. Too bad there's no touch-down in sight, yet.

And not only that, but a spin-off game in the style of Type-Moon's Melty Blood fighting game is also being considered - more or less seriously - under the title Crippled/Heart. A tentative opening movie can be seen on YouTube, and there's also a tiny gameplay clip from Katawa Shoujo, by the way. Still, with no decent wanking material at hand, you might as well kill some time reading the game's description below, as presented by Four Leaf.

"Katawa Shoujo is a bishoujo-style visual novel set in the fictional Yamaku High School for disabled children, located somewhere in modern Japan. Hisao Nakai, a normal boy living a normal life, has his life turned upside down when a congenital heart defect forces him to move to a new school after a long hospitalization. Despite his difficulties, Hisao is able to find friends - and perhaps love, if he plays his cards right. There are five main paths corresponding to the 5 main female characters, each path following the storyline pertaining to that character."