( information )
basics.
( name ) Hanako Ikezawa
( age ) 17
( birthdate ) July 10th
( height ) 5'3 (164 cm)
( weight ) 114 lbs (52 kg)
( date of entry ) April 4th, 2011 (195X by game calendar)
( assigned job ) Babysitter
( address ) 1338 Benny Road
( 'father' ) Drone
( 'mother' ) Drone
( 'sibling' ) Drone
( former family members ) Turkey (Sadik Adnan) (father)
personality.
With Hanako Ikezawa, the descriptor 'painfully shy' takes on a whole new meaning. The right half of Hanako's body is extensively burned and scarred from an accident in her childhood in which her family's home burned down, killing her father and leaving her permanently disfigured and traumatized ever since. Reclusive and introverted to an extreme, Hanako avoids contact with most people and goes out of her way not to interact with them. This tendency to self-isolate makes her incredibly awkward and prone to severe anxiety in social situations- though her isolation is self-imposed, it does little to arm her against the people she tries so very hard to avoid. Even at Yamaku High School- which was established to provide a safe, comfortable, and healthy learning environment for teenagers with varying disabilities- she fades into the background, too scared of what others may think of her to associate even with people who have disfigurements and impairments like her. Hanako prefers to seclude herself in the often-abandoned school library, where she can bury herself in a book and forget about the outside world. She often skips class for the library, and nobody seems to notice or comment on this. She also tends to use weak excuses to be away from social situations, or to go somewhere where she can be alone, like the tea room she and her only friend frequent.
Hanako's shyness puts her at a disadvantage more than it does to help her. Because of it, she's incredibly lonely, with only one person she can count as a friend- a blind girl named Lilly Satou. Hanako is unusually drawn to and trusting of her; the reasons why provide an interesting insight to her personality. Because Lilly is blind, she is unable to see or stare at the extent of Hanako's burns, putting the girl at ease. Around Lilly, she feels she can relax somewhat. Being so fragile, Lilly tends to mother her, and Hanako is drawn to this side of her friend like a moth to a flame, seemingly starved for any scrap of kindness. This behavior begins to mirror itself with Hisao, the main character, with Hanako reluctantly accepting his company so long as he is gentle towards her and cautious with his words. Despite her shyness, it seems that Hanako craves human contact, but her personal trauma is self-punishing, making it difficult for her to trust anyone. This seems to be why she has ended up alone but for Lilly.
Once you get to know her, though, Hanako is revealed to be a truly kind-hearted girl. Though her smiles are small and rare, they're bright, warm, and sincere. Although she is shy and mistrusting, she has a great capacity to care for others, and is also capable of small moments of bravery with the right encouragement. Once she begins to open up a little, Hanako blossoms, surprising Hisao with her responsiveness once he figures out the right topics to bring up with her and how. She's a follower, not a leader; with someone she can trust, she becomes a loyal and loving friend, never one to judge others or say a cruel word. After all, who is Hanako to judge others when she quite literally finds it hard to show her face to the world?
Hanako has small coping methods for her loneliness; she often has to find ways to keep herself company when Lilly is not around. One of these is a stepping game that she plays when no one else is in the school hallways, avoiding the darker tiles in the floor. In Hanako's own words, she prefers to be alone in a place like the tea room because it's a place where she can pretend no one is around for miles- a place that has been forgotten by the world, making it all right to forget about the world in return. This same idea applies to books, and, in a way, chess; it is implied that Hanako used to play the game with her father often before he died, so it holds a special meaning to her. She's polite, intelligent, and efficient, and is capable of neatly displaying these talents if given the right opportunity. It's obvious that she was raised well until her life fell to pieces, and one wonders what sort of person Hanako would be today had she not met the tragedy of the fire and her father's death. At the same time, though, it doesn't seem that it's too late for her; with the right person and a gentle hand to guide her, Hanako may yet still be able to recover an inner strength that even the fire cannot have burned away. Only time will tell.
regains.
⚫: Regained
⚪: Yet to regain (mostly ideas for now; can change at any time)
Struckout: Traded/lost/destroyed etc
⚪ School uniform/clothes
⚪ Chess set (specialized for use with Lilly)
⚪ Tea set
⚪ Yamaku library card
⚪ Life of Pi (novel)
about katawa shoujo.
KS is a work in progress, going on about four years now. Only act 1 has been released; the full game, with the rest of the acts, is due to be out sometime this year (2011). Because of this, Hanako may be subject to characterization adjustments as necessary once it is released. While I don't predict her personality deviating beyond fans' ideas of reasonable development in the final product, and I don't think that canon will contradict anything that could safely be assumed about her so far, there's a chance that that there are sides of her yet to be revealed and most certainly plenty of information on her history. I'll do my best to make the transition easy, should this prove necessary; until then, please keep in mind that she's from an unfinished canon!
'So that's Hanako, she got burned in a fire when she was a kid, had all sorts of other stuff that I can't really say because it will ruin the story for you. She's burnt, she's shy, she's a bit too neurological than I originally hoped.' -Quoted from one of the KS developers.
Katawa Shoujo is often referred to or thought of as 'that game made by 4chan'; while the project did originate on that image board, it is separate from 4chan as a whole with a dedicated studio behind it which has been working on the game for years now. It is likely because of these origins that Katawa Shoujo has a very fervent and surprisingly active fanbase for a game with only one act released. Exploring the forums or the Shimmie leads to a wealth of fandom in-jokes, fanart, fic, headcanon, speculation, and the like. It is one of those fandoms that has really developed its own ideas about the characters separate from the game itself, and while some of these interpretations have been interesting, I choose not to incorporate any of that fanon into my playing due to a desire to watch the canon develop on its own.
It should also be noted that the canon's name itself- Katawa Shoujo- is markedly offensive in Japan. The word 'katawa' itself is a derogatory term much in the same vein of some taboo slurs known in the English language. So why name it that? This blog post from the development team explains it better than I can; it comes from the original ideas for the game by the Japanese doujinshi artist who conceptualized it. The development team is aware that the term is offensive, but fortunately the message of the game is very much not.