Special Education and Katawa Shoujo

How long has it been since I've written a blog entry? Two or three weeks, I think. How long has it been since I've written about Katawa Shoujo? Two months. So, it seems I am far overdue for not just a blog entry, but one about Katawa Shoujo as well. Today's blog is all about how Katawa Shoujo incorporates Special Education into its narrative and atmosphere.

A quick question: what is Special Education? Growing up, Special Education had a, shall we say, bad reputation. When I was a kid, we had kids who were, shall we say, slower to learn than the rest of us. These kids were placed in Title 1, a Special Ed project that few of us outside of it understood, save for the fact that they got to go on lots of field trips. We didn't know much, but most of us hated the kids that were in Title 1 because we felt they worked less hard than us and were rewarded more often. Special Education just wasn't something we were taught on. However, now that I'm in college again, I can say, with absolute certainty, what Special Education is: it's education that's given when the average offering is insufficient.

Who receives Special Education? Extraordinary students. These are the students that have extraordinary conditions that render regular education insufficient to their needs. Notice, however, that this does not necessarily mean that the student is, well, mentally challenged. An extraordinary student can be someone who is in a wheelchair, for example, an autistic, a super genius, anything.

Katawa Shoujo takes place in a special, seemingly private school named Yamaku. This school has several facilities designed for its students. There's a track field, a football field, a pool (though it's never seen in game), a well equipped nurse's office for emergencies, books in audio and braille for the blind, and all of this is staffed by the finest professionals available. But, for what?

The students of Yamaku High are, for the most part, students with special needs. Take, for example, our hero, Hisao Nakai, who suffers from arrhythmia. Hisao needs to maintain a steady regiment of diet, exercise, and medication, lest he keels over and dies. Hisao needs: a medic to have emergency medicine on hand, medical facilities that can handle a child having a heart attack, experienced medical attention, healthy food, professional staff that knows how to act in case of emergencies, quick access to a hospital in case the proverbial shit hits the fan, a calm environment, and access to dozens of different medicines that are constantly well stacked. And that's just for Hisao.

Yamaku High is built specifically to attend to the needs of the disabled. But please don't think of Yamaku as some sort of special school to send away "the crippled". Yamaku isn't a "crippled kids school", it's a school, a school that specializes in giving the care and attention that extraordinary students need and deserve. 

My apologies for using that word, "cripple". No offence is meant.

Yamaku is a school, first and foremost. The students that are sent here, they are sent there to learn. They learn English, Science, Math, Japanese (the game is set in Japan, after all), Art, Music, Literature. They have a Student Council, athletes, after school clubs. These are students who, with a little extra help, can achieve their dreams, fulfill their passions. They socialize here, they make friends, they fall in love, they LIVE. Yamaku isn't a hospital that doubles as a school, it's a school that can handle what regular schools are ill equipped to do. It's a school that makes Special Education its Modus Operandi.

The thing about Special Education is that we're never really taught what it really is, nor do we think much about the sacrifices that an extraordinary student requires just to have the same opportunities we do. It's really hard, you know, being able bodied and all, to think about what life is like for someone who can't see, or can't hear, or can't walk. I can't imagine a life where I'm unable to talk because of something I was born with, or unable to control my arms, or needing to carefully calculate just how much energy and effort I need to put into my every day activities. And these things that are so hard for me to imagine? They are the day to day reality of many, many people out there, who live their whole lives like this.

The disabled, however, aren't helpless victims that require to be laid in bed 24/7, or institutionalized indefinitely, they are people. People who have dreams, people who fight everyday not just to stay alive, but to get ahead in life. They are people, like you and I, who feel like we do, get angry like we do, get happy like we do, and love like we do. They are no different than us.

Wait, no, that's not how it should be worded. It's not that "they are like us", it's more like, we are like them. We are exactly like them, just that some of us have more advantages. Still, we all have our damage.

One of the primary reasons Four Leaf Studios made Katawa Shoujo was to spread that message: that everyone has damage. The disabled are no less than us, no more than us. They are not helpless, but they are not superhuman either. They are people, and this is a subject a few people out there simply fail to grasp.

Many disabled people live tough lives, and all they ask is a little help here, a little extra room there, and a little understanding. Special Education provides exactly that to the ones who need it most: the kids. You don't see this sort of thing often in media, save for some "inspirational" schlock that does little more than soothe the egos of those that otherwise wouldn't lift a finger to help the disabled. Katawa Shoujo, however, doesn't do this, rather, it presents the disabled as people, and Special Education as exactly what it is: extra help designed to help the student form their own future. In my opinion, Katawa Shoujo is one of, if not THE, finest presentation of Special Education ever shown in any media.

A quick announcement

Due to the fact that I am starting college once more, updates will be more infrequent. My apologies.

Just for Fun- A Visual Novel Based on "Twilight"?

Alright, so today I had a hard day, and I didn't have time to think up anything serious to discuss today, so I figured I'd do something more for fun to help me relax. Now, I know that nine tenths of you have already hit the back button (or closed this window) so, for the one or two of you that have managed to actually stay here, I'd like to share with you a crazy idea. Now, I know "Twilight" doesn't have the best reputation in the gaming community. Or in the literary community. Or in the film community. Or on the Internet in general. Or just in general. But hear me out, I have a crazy idea! Here it is: Make "Twilight" an Otome Visual Novel!

Not like this is the worst book ever written.

Why Grand Theft Auto 5 deserved to be Game of the Year 2013

I was inspired to write this entry about two weeks ago, when a friend of mine (who shall remain anonymous) commented on Facebook: "I don't understand why a violent game like Grand Theft Auto 5 would win Game of the Year, beating good, healthy, family fun like New Super Mario Bros Wii U." And that got me thinking: Why did GTA 5 deserve Game of the Year? How about we answer that question?

All we hear is radio ga ga, radio goo goo, radio ga ga!

Mighty Number 9- a few thoughts

In the year 2013, Keiji Inafune, director of the highly celebrated Mega Man series of games, had come out on Kickstarter announcing that he would create a new property, a spiritual successor to the Mega Man franchise. The name was Mighty Number 9, and all Mr Inafune asked for was 900 thousand dollars to help get it made. Fans of Mega Man flocked to Kickstarter and gave him his 900 grand, and then to show how much faith they had in him, they gave him another 3 million, 100 thousand dollars. Expectations were very high, but there was a slight bump in the road.

A controversy arose when a girl named Dina Abou Karam made a piece of Fan Art of the main character of Mighty Number 9, Beck, as a female. So far, no big deal, this is common in Fan Art, and it even has a name: Rule 63. (There is always a female version of a male character, and vice versa). Then, Dina made a comment, asking the makers to make Beck a female robot because, well, why not? Seriously, that was her argument, "why not?" More on that later.

Dina Abou Karam's rendition of Beck, from Mighty Number 9. Many people have called it awful, but I think it's an alright drawing. Nothing special, but alright.

So far, no big deal, just a random girl on the net posting fan art of a project she's supporting and asking, rather nicely it must be added, for some changes in aesthetics. But then, something happened. Dina got hired for the project as a community manager for Mighty Number 9. Her job? Manage the community. That means that she goes to the message board, looks at what the people are writing, and takes that to her higher ups. If there's spam, she has to delete it. If there's harassment, she has to deal with it promptly. She's basically a mod. 

And this is where the proverbial shit hit the fan. Up until that moment, Dina was the girl who kept posting fanart of Rule 63 Beck on the message boards, going on and on about "caring about women's representation in gaming". How did people respond? Well:

OMGWTFOTL- A parody of a genre?

Odious Manly Genuflection With Terrible Fury: One True Lamentation is a visual novel. Actually, maybe it's better to call it a parody of the visual novel genre. Or, is it a deconstruction of the genre? Is it anything at all, aside from a weird game? Can it even be called a game? Let's answer a few of these questions.

OMGWTFOTL is a visual novel, for the loosest use of the definition. First of all, the game is really, really short, as it can be beaten in 10 minutes. In comparison, don't take it personally babe, it just ain't your story takes 2 hours. Katawa Shoujo takes 10 hours to finish all the routes. And professionally made visual novels, such as Clannad can take twice as long, or even thrice as long as Katawa Shoujo! So basically, OMGWTFOTL can best be called a visual short story, though such a genre does not technically exist outside the Freeware scene. This makes it, technically, a game, albeit a short one.

The main purpose of a visual novel is to tell a story. Does OMGWTFOTL tell a story? Well, yes, surprisingly enough. There's an unnamed protagonist, and he's confronting his nemesis, Osaka Bancho, the man who raped the protagonist's sister and scooped out his best friend's eyes. The protagonist is, at first, overpowered by Osaka, but by the player's choice, can either overpower him with quick thinking and dirty fighting, ask Karl Goch to help him, or suddenly fall in love with Osaka Bancho, when the two commit lover's suicide. Or he can genuflect, which is a surefire way to end the game and get the 'bad ending'.

The 'best ending' is obtained by defeating Osaka Bancho via fighting dirty. Halfway through the game, the story of Osaka Bancho ends by way of the protagonist eating his face, then reminiscing about some guy called Kanagawa Bancho and his misadventures. Inmediately, Kanagawa takes over the game, and offers the player a choice between two new stories: one about a romance with a childhood friend, or one about tentacle rape. The childhood friend choice leads to the best ending.

The game proceeds to tell a second story. There's two kids, a boy and a girl. The boy and the girl are putting up some decorations for an upcoming school carnival, when she falls off a ladder. The boy rescues her, and she immediately confesses her love to him. Then they make out. The end. Or he can go crazy, knock her out, and assault a military base wielding nothing but a katana, while nude. Choice is yours.

So, the story is there, wacky as it is. So, the story is a comedy. Sometimes it's black comedy, sometimes it's not. But the game, is it a parody?

Well, first, we need to ask ourselves, were it a parody, what is it parodying? Well, we could make a case that it parodies short, poorly made Freeware visual novels, but let's ask ourselves a question: what would the point of such an action be? Also, if one were to look at the writing, one would see that, aside from the story of the two childhood friends, there is nothing here that is normally included in visual novels. So, is this game a parody of short freeware visual 'novels'?

The game is a comedy, with some parody elements here or there, but mostly it's an audacious comedy. It's a comedic romp about revenge, honor, love, and passion. It's a farce about the unrestrained passions that lead men to do the weird things we do, like beat up a guy to a bloody pulp or assault an army base while in the nude. Or, we can just say it's a Weird Japanese Thing and call it a day. That works just as well.

An apology and a quick word about Final Fantasy

Due to reasons of health, I was unable to do three of my promised blog entries: Final Fantasy 11, 12, and 13. I apologize, but my health comes first. I'm still a little weary, but I really wanted SOMETHING to close this month of Final Fantasy, so here's a quick word about the franchise.

What is it about Final Fantasy that has earned it so many fans?  Well, we need to take a step back and look at what Final Fantasy actually is. Well, Final Fantasy is an RPG franchise that has been known, through its numbered iterations (at least from 4 to 9) to push the technological capabilities of whichever console the games were featured. It is a franchise that often features long stories while also having slow, menu based game play. It is one of the best selling RPG, as well as video game franchises in the world, and its name is synonymous with J-RPG. Along with Dragon Quest, this series helped revolutionize the RPG genre, and helped open up the RPG market. It is no exaggeration to say that, many modern RPG franchises owe their very existence to this series.

But what about the series itself? Why is it so famous? Well, this is a franchise that has often, though not always, churned out hit after hit. Starting with Final Fantasy 3, and ending with Final Fantasy 11, nearly every entry would garner near unanimous praise from professional critics and consumers alike. The few exceptions would be Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, released after Final Fantasy 4 in the American market and often viewed as a mistake, and Final Fantasy 10-2, the first (game) sequel to a Final Fantasy, in this case Final Fantasy 10, which, to be honest, was nowhere near as good as the original. After Final Fantasy 11, most entries would be either "love it or hate it", like Final Fantasy 13, "serviceable" like Final Fantasy 12, "pretty darn entertaining" like Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, or downright horrid, like Final Fantasy: All the Bravest, the single most abysmally reviewed entry in the entire franchise, and the SOLE entry in this franchise to be described by TV Tropes as So Bad It's Horrible.

So, what we have here is a franchise that has many well reviewed entries, and that has actually even helped shape an entire genre, as well as opening up said genre's market. But this is what makes the franchise "influential". What is it that makes the genre LOVED? After all, this is one of the few franchises that has lived from the 8 Bit era to the HD era! There are over 20 entries in the franchise; you don't get that many entries in a franchise without having a solid fanbase. So, what makes this series so loved?

It's a hodgepodge of reasons, some of which can not be put to the written word, but I'll try my best. You know, every video game offers the player a chance to experience something different. Super Mario allows the player to experience cutesy worlds while hopping about to find a lost princess. Sonic breeze through amazingly detailed stages at high speeds, sometimes making one feel as if they are on a roller coaster. The Sims helps one observe the daily lives of fictional people. Well, Final Fantasy allows one to experience an epic story of good versus evil.

But it's so much more than that. Final Fantasy lets the player experience new worlds, worlds that often the player wishes he or she could explore in real life, that they could be REAL. It offers characters that the player often identifies with, looks up to, and in the case of the villains, often loves to hate.

The series is popular because the player resonates with the series. Many of its games are emotional roller coasters. What gamer didn't stand up in shock when Galuf died fighting Exdeath in Final Fantasy 5? How many gamers dropped their controllers to the ground in horror upon witnessing Kefka destroy the world in Final Fantasy 6 after spending at least six game hours working to prevent such a thing? How many gamers wept when Aeris was killed in Final Fantasy 7? How many fists pumped into the air in triumph when Sephiroth was killed once and for all? How many tears were shed when Tidus ceased to exist in Final Fantasy 10?

Final Fantasy is a series that has created an innumerable amount of memories in gamers across the world. It's this love, for many unconditional, for others waning from the disappointment in a company that has seemingly forgotten what got it ahead in the first place, that keeps this franchise alive and profitable. Why is Final Fantasy so popular? Because it is a franchise that creates unforgettable experiences to the player, makes them feel more alive. Final Fantasy is famous because people love it, and people love it because they experienced many emotions playing.THIS is the sole measurement of a game's quality and of a franchise' staying power.