Kuroshitsuji 2 - One hell of a butler.

This review contains some serious spoilers, so refrain from reading if you have not finished the series or plan to watch it on the future.

It took me quite a while to get me some time to sit and enjoy the second season of the black butler. I hold some dear memories from 1st season and was a bit taken aback by the idea of a new season, taking into account how first season had ended in what seemed like a point of no return for the main characters.

Second season starts anew with a new earl, Alois Trancy, and a new black butler called Claude Faustus, with their own set of servants, as a perverted mirror parody of the Phantomhive household. Alois is a sadistic cruel son of a bitch and the fact that he gouges the eye of her chambermaid in the first chapter doesn't help a bit sympathize with him. Fortunately the reapearance of Sebastian and Ciel by the end of the chapter return hope to the watcher for an enjoyable season.

The Trancy household.

Ciel seems oblivious at the events of first season, including some certain characters deaths (her own being the most obvious XD) and other major turning points, contrasting with some other characters rememberring those events well, which and has the watcher to constantly thinking on what is going on. Because if second season is something, it definitely is a mindtrap web.

Early on, Alois and Ciel become entwined in a perverse dance of twisting memories. With Sebastian wanting to rebuild a perfect revenge for Ciel who has forgotten that he already fulfilled it and was to be devoured by his butler. Claude on the other hand is trying to breed Alois in a similar way, in the hopes he will taste like Ciel's soul. This will lead the demons to gang up to make both their masters part of an opulent menu.

Care for his employees is Alois dumped stat.

After some midseason climax with plenty of battles, Claude, infatuated by Ciel's flavour, will merge both souls into one body, causing quite a commotion and having both demon butlers fighting in several ways to recover Ciel, while Alois and Ciel both struggle for personal sanity in what remais of their shared body.

Overall the second season seems more deep, dense and storydriven, compared to the short story arcs of season one. This makes few room for sidecharacter appearances with the notable exception of our favourite god of death: Grell Sutcliff. On the other side, the fun driven episodes are just cut out favoring the overall dark atmosphear of the story, so some of the audience may feel left apart.

Hannah, the constantly abused chambermaid of Alois becomes one of the new character appearances. She will have a deep impact on the story, and the fact that she holds a bunch of tricks on her sleeve (and down her throat) makes her quite an appealing character, yet her story once revealed seems quite plain and not very consistent. I'm sorry but i don't buy an all powerful evil being like her simply turned into a masochistic slave from day to night for the pursue of love. Demons don't work that way.

One on one duels and eyepatches: what's in this season.

Also the ending too seems just... Wrong. One of the main points of Kuroshitsuji is the weak master/ powerful servant relationship between Ciel and Sebastian. By turning Ciel into a demon breaks the balance, effectively binding Sebastian forever to him as he will never be able to consume his soul. For me i must say it feels like cheating. I understand that no one has the intention of becoming a demon's main dish, but Sebastian has done too much for Ciel to deserve an eternity of servitude. It just feels wrong, and Sebastian doesn't feign his disaproval of the situation he has ended on (risking his life in the process by the way).

If we will have another season of the black butler, only time will tell, but certainly if the Ciel/Sebastian balance of power doesn't return to normal i fear that the main premise of the series would have been maimed or at least badly wounded.

Well, as this post lacks some Sebastian i will have to amend for that with the opening, which is awesome by the way. Oh, and the Trancy guys get a special opening sequence of their own in some of the 12 chapters.

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Professional Ethics

I'm probably not the most professional man around, but i do have my standards.

When financial crisis gets the grip of companies, everything seems to turn upside down. The financial powers of the company get to control human resources and the shadow of the feeding crows preys upon everyone non compliant with their schemes to keep the cash flowing, even if the very core of the system is being harmed in the process.

Overclocking the system is never an option, not even in short term. By degrading the core of the system, in this case the company, to produce results in impossible times, you are loading a weapon that it's just counting the seconds to backfire.

Some days ago i was charged with making some modifications to certain pieces of equipment projected by a long time fired engineer. When i was digging information on the original project i started noticing enormous procedural gaps that lend to the piece being aproved without complying with the company's quality standards. Now i'm being rushed in the same manner to grant approval on this equipment, when not even the errors on the original one were corrected in the first place...

I had to make a stand. As an engineer you are not to be a mindless drone. It is expected from you to think, to be critic and analytic. Don't take any word from granted, be it your boss or whichever higher power you wish to bow to. If you comply you will be the main cause of your downfall.

It is your approval and opinion that counts, so never ever put your sign on nothing you can not accept. Be ready to fight for it, be ready to defend it to the latest consequences and face the possibilities. If you sign there, responsability will befall on you and believe me, when things are done blindly and rushed for profit's sake, they tend to fall apart much faster than thought and planned enterprises.

Your mindless approval could lead in the worst cases to other serious economic problems or even accidents, in the same way the company is now paying to repair a badly planned equipment, it may be later paying to repair yours, or even worst, calling you to answer for victims or heavy economic losses caused by your lack of thought.

So have the nerve. Make a stand. And if they are going to enforce it to someone, never be the sacrificial lamb. Is better to pay with your job than with your full professional career.

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Emi at it's Emi-est - Emi's route review at Katawa Shoujo

"Can you stand up for yourself?"

The third route i chose on my Katawa Shoujo adventure was Emi's. Originally one of the least appealing to me on act 1, despite her loli charms, in the end it turned to be pretty nice after Shizune's disappointment.

Emi, unlike Shizune acts like one would expect from a girlfriend, overall making her story more aproachable. Kissing becomes a playful part of the conversation with her and people in Yamaku are aware of your relationship early during the path. Personal acomplishment and expectations also become a part of the story as the teacher tries to guide Hisao to his future career in the field of science, and Hisao strives everyday at the track field to overcome his weakened heart.

Thus the story of Emi's arc is not one of finding love but instead finding the confidence to trust one another in a relationship, as secrets of Emi's past fly like vultures overshadowing every conversation and become a passive threat of early breakup now and then.

Unlike Rin, she has arms to hug you with.

A little help of my friends
One of the things i like the most about Emi is that she is not the typical hopeless loli needing for a white knight (fact that she will voice angrily several times at you). Emi is sure carefree and childish, but she does not let others mess with her life, and is always convinced that she can overcome every obstacle on her own,

Managing personal space and confort zone is thus the key to suceeding here and getting to get Emi's confidence without making her feel threatened, and the secondary characters play an important role on this one. Through them you get the feedback and valuable bits of info that unlike the other stories make this look like an actual "game".

The second most prominent character in the story will be your friend, The Nurse. Nameless as he is, hilarity ensues as he presses some homo insinuation jokes on Hisao in front of her girlfriend. But don't ignore him just for being a jester, as he will become one of your most valuable informants.

Yuuko and Kenji get a kind of sidestory that makes you aware that is not only the girl that's happening around (unlike Rin's path which was a cry of antisocialism). You also get to know Emi's mother, and not only she is a pretty nice person, probably the hottest character in the whole game. If Emi is to age like her we should feed some serious envy rage at Hisao now.

The route is full of memorable quotes and nice characters. 

Oh I forgot you also get some nice share of Rin on this path for you to enjoy if any of your sanity still resisted through her mindfucking trail of thought. Crash-landing at Emi's room in the middle of a sex scene is the epitome of her awesome character career in this game (XD)

Getting sexy
One thing i heard the most from KS fans on this path was about the large amount of sex scenes on this path. Well, it's not like there are so many, maybe one more than other paths, but sex here fits naturally like part of a relationship, instead of being a climatic event not to be spoken off (in facts it gets pretty anticlimatic sometimes). Hisao and Emi spend some frequent sexy time and this slips on to their more mundane conversations, but this is perceived as something natural on the flow of events and doesn't strike as a forced inclusion, like in Shizune's path.

I had a dejavu here...

Overall i found this route to be nice, and i surprised myself reminiscing of my previous relationships as i could see them mirrored by Hisao and Emi. That i think, feels right. It feels like the writer managed to convey to me the feeling of an actual relationship, which was, i hope, the goal.

In conclusion, despite not being the rollercoaster of emotions Rin's path was, this path is fun and has some memorable moments, so you should definitely give it a try.

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Bastion - Review of a telltale.

I must admit my first impression on Bastion wasn't very good. Seeing the trailers around the net i couldn't understant what was all the fuzz about a game that seemed 'just one more' dungeon crawler/beat em up. But the art kept drawing me to it, and so, when some weeks ago it was discounted on xbox live i thougth that was the final push i needed to try it.

Now all i can say is that i'm glad i bought it. Just finished my first playthrough yesterday, but i'm totally going for New game + to get the extra content.

The game story revolves about the destruction of Caelandia due to the an apocaliptic event called "The Calamity". The main character, simply referred by friends and foes alike as The Kid, awakes after this incident heading for the Bastion: a flying island where survivors agreed to meet in case some serious shit happened on the country.

The Bastion, your new home after The Calamity, has all what a hero needs.
That is if you can find it's fragments... 

When the kid manages to get to the Bastion, he is charged with the task of finding survivors and restoring the Bastion to it's former glory by recovering shards of the ancient world. His epic task accompanied by the always present voice of Rucks: the first survivor, and narrator of sorts, he is the main point of this game being so awesome. If The Kid is the body of the game, enduring hordes of enemies in search of the parts of the Bastion, Rucks is the soul: through his words you will learn Caelandia's history, you will revive memories of old, and face the events of the near future.

"Man, that must have been some hell of a party."

Bastion is a tale of rediscovery. Through the stages you find out the main places that made Caelandia what it was and the people which lived there. The harms they faced and the works they performed. The spirits they drank and the music they played.

As you start rounding up survivors and discover more about The Calamity, things start to get a bit tense as frictions arise between the people of the Bastion, leading you to a climatic finale on the zero zone of the calamity, where your decisions as a player will decide the future of the survivors.

It's all fun and games until someone backstabs you...

Beautifuly hand drawn art is the main visual point of Bastion. From the begginning to the end the visuals are simply stunning and will make Caelandia stand coherent yet beautiful, from the backgrounds to the destroyable props.

This coupled with the awesome soundtrack, with tints of far west and post apocaliptic tunes, and the magnificent voiceover of Rucks complete an experience that you won't want to be ending.

And for that reason the developers thought in advance on replayability: plenty of weapon options and skills will make each trip into Caelandia an entirely different experience. Completed with the possibility of increasing the handicap by activating a number of collectible gods avilable on Caelandia's shrine, for those who want to spice up the challenge.
Also, new game plus will unlock new options, as you replay the game to reveal the alternative endings.

I've heard some concerns of pc players that it's controls on the mouse are a bit bothersome due to having to continuous clic, but on the xbox 360 the analog sticks played it fine, and also felt like the controls setup was just right so i didn't have to bother to change them.

Overall, the game feels and plays magnificently and if you are a fluent english language speaker you should get it without a thought. But if you are not, think twice, for half the game's appeal is in the voiceover.

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Immaterial and missing colours

Lately i am having some serious artist block. I can count months straight from the time i finished my last drawing. And it's a hopeless situation. My life is so busy lately that my time is a most valuable commodity. On the other hand, a crescent feeling of angst grows inside me the most when i can't express me with colours.

I have a serious problem building up with all that is artsy. I tend to pull my limits when drawing on pen and paper by trying difficult poses, wich lots of times leads to serious frustration as i don't manage to portrait what's in my mind. Also, the lack of time to practice means that i have little references of recent drawings that went good, this kinda sets a psychologycal barrier between you and the paper.

Art by EndureSquare - but it's in all artists minds.

The computer, is the media where i can also pull most of myself when i stay focused, but lately is a no go. For a good drawing you have to go lots of hours straight of working before making your first stop. If I break from it too soon, i lose my concentration and it becomes one more forgotten file on a nameless folder. A skeleton of what it should have been, and it never will.

The ipad is the media where i could pull the most of my time, as i have two hours a day where we basically have no other option but to make us company one another. But the ipad pen seriously annoys me: with that enormous tip, it's difficult to be precise and i get frustrated. The fact that your wrist also provokes the ipad to draw also causes you to have to hover over the screen with no anchor point whatsoever, thus putting you at the need of learning drawing from zero.

I know... I should stop writing and whinning so much and get myself to draw -_-

This week though i managed to get some time for drawing, and the only word that can be used to describe the sensation is completeness. Grabbing a pencil is like reuniting with a long lost limb, it puts you at peace with yourself. Throwing some sketches around is fun but in the end ideas is what take you out of the block. So i went for some ideas i got from kaawa shoujo and got me back on track.

Probable won't have the spare time to color them but having time to doodle around is a big step forward.

-------

Playing: Bastion
Watching: Otome youkai Zakuro
Listening to:  Guilty Gear vs BlazBlue

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Battlefield: Friendzone - Shizune's Route Review on Katawa Shoujo

"Can you tell me what you think?"

I finished my last Katawa Shoujo review stating that after Rin's path was so awesomely written, i feared the next ones would not leave to my expectations. Shizune sadly has proved me right. It is an agreed consensus between the KS comunity that her path does not meet the expectations built up during Act 1, we will see why.

When i first played Act 1 two years ago, Shizune was my girl of choice before beggining to play. She is a lot like me: stubborn, manipulative, childish and with a natural talent for leadership. Not to mention she is cute. Her story during Act 1 is the one which probably raises the hopes of the player the most for the chapters to come, so for me it was a bit of a downer how the rest of the story turned out.

I'm sorry Shi-chan, but i had to say it... 

First of all, don't blame Shizune, for the problems on this path really lie in the lack of a solid writing (things that happen when you have a different writer for each different path). 

Out of control
The main offender here is the total lack of options: Once you enter her path, you will only have 1 decision to make through all the story, and it's the only difference that triggers her bad ending. The player has no power on the story overall. The funny thing is that on some points throught the stroy the development leads you to think a question is going to be asked, but they simply don't leave you the option to answer, wich ends up being frustrating.

To make things worse there are hundreds of pointless lines of text. There are full scenes that do nothing to send the story forward or offer any insight on the characters personalities. Starting by Shizune's family, which are weird enough to rival with Kenji, but not half as funny, and which are introduced just for the sake of it, cause if you completely remove their appeareances you won't be changing the story whatsoever.

This people are pointless...

In my humble opinion, this two main issues above could have been managed together by splitting this pointless scenes onto parallel choice activated paths, that would enhance "one playthrough" experience giving the player some feel of command on his actions, and leave some noncrucial subplots as alternate routes.

The Bro Code
Shizune's path is more like the Bro path. You get a lot from Kenji, nice parts, funny, a nice interlude from the main plot. You get some very nice travel scene with Lily and her sister, that despite being pointless storywise, creates a nice mood, ans you get a lot of Misha too.

The dark side though is that Shizune is like a Bro too. Even thoght you start dating her early on, the overall mood between her and Hisao feels more like friends with benefits than actually a loving couple. Her light tsundere personality never seems to be an obstacle on the relation, neither is his deafness, as soon is overcome by Hisao with other methods for comunication. This leads to a situation where the pursue of love is something that the path neglects in exchange of maintaining the statu quo.

As Misha and Shizune relation starts to crumble, this becomes the main focus on the story. In fact, on chapter 3 to 4 your chances are that you are more sympathetic to Misha than to Shizune. This is in my opinion an error that comes from early development. Misha is one awesome character, with a trampling personality, she is not meant to be a secondary character. She should have had a personal path, or removed early on from the story, but leaving her as a secondary character is asking for her to steal the scene, which she does a lot (not that i don't like that, but it's not how what is supposed to be).

The final solution to the main conflict between Misha and Shizune does not come with any realization or self improvement from any of the parts, overall leading to a dull ending with no climax whatsoever.
What a pity -_-

Having said so, i must say that this path contains some very nice and memorable scenes, but it's a pity that get washed away on the overall narrative disaster. I hope no one chooses this path as his first cause it may leave him a bad impression of a wonderful game.

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Brave 10

Brave 10, one of my favourite manga is having an anime adaptation this season. At the beggining i was scared about how it turn out but so far is meeting my expectations. The drawing is not as detailed as the manga but even though, it manages to show a lot of details, specially in the character design wich is in my opinion one of the best points of the manga.

If you are not familiar with the story, it revolves about the legendary 10 heroes of Yukimura Sanada, completed with all the major personalities of the late Sengoku era: Tokugawa, Masamune Date, ans even his right eye Rokurou make an appearance, as well as famous ninjas as Saizou, Sasuke and Hanzo.

Fuck Naruto! - Saizou vs Hanzo: as awesome as ninjas can be.

So far combats are being pretty nice (despite the opening may make them look dull), and Isanami's childish nature is very well portrayed without being annoying (also praise for the seiyu, she's doing some very nice acting). Hanzo Hattori is also proving to be every inch of an awesome enemy he is in the manga. Also I love that Saizo, the main character, isn't simply an overpowered character for no reason, and can get beaten by other characters if he does not try it's best. I'm worried on the other side that being a story with a lot of characters, they will end up forgetting half of them through the story as it happens with other similar manga.

The opening animation is so-so, the song is cool but i guess they forgot the action just to fit more character presentations. Oh, so far chapter 3 has featured an alternate voiceover of the same song but with different lyrics which is pretty nice too.

If you are looking for a nice shounen, and you didn't get enough Yukimura and Masamune from Sengoku Basara, you should definitely look forward to watching Brave 10.

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Damocles Sword

It's fun how life plays with peoples destinies. One day out of the blue you find your life crumble down to the base and set again with the difficult task of rebuilding or moving on. (zergling rush anyone?)

Yesterday was just a normal day at work. Some meetings, some planning, some damage control... But as of mid afternoon, the HR team called us for a public announcement: Our manager executive had been cut off the company.

I don't know and i don't care much about the reasons, but if something it was, was unexpected. That very morning, during the meetings, that cheerful man was planning his tasks for next week oblivious that he won't be making it there as he was being already beheaded in some other place by guys in suits and smoking big cigars.

I guess that as the siracusan tale says. Power comes with visibility, and that backflavor of betting your life on it.

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Tezuka zooone! - Rin´s Route Review on Katawa Shoujo

 "Can you seize the moment?"

My first playthrough through Katawa Shoujo made me realize something that lately has been crossing my mind. I'm too polite sometimes, i always want everyone to have a good impression of me so i'm not prone to taking biased decisions. This ended my first playthrough in Kenji's route (the bad ending par excellence) being impossible to completely side with any of the girls.

Funny thing is that happened to me on the demo also, two years ago. And now, even though i didn't remember my answers from back then i ended in the same absolute path.

On my second gameplay though, i got to Rin's path. Most of the fans say it's the hardest... And men, did I suffer for this young lady's sake...

Enter madness

Tezuka Rin was one of the girls witch most attracted me in Act 1 despite his story developement was probably one of the slowest as to say so. Rin speaks almost nothing, and when it does usually you don't know what to think of her words. She is criptyc, independent and a daytime dreamer. Raita, the original concept creator of Katawa Shoujo, had outline that Rin would be the toughest girl to get, and the 4LS team sure have followed his statements.

Communicating with Rin is almost a titanic task, and every statement you throw at her is met but with the clashing thoughts in her mind in contradiction, that process your words for like two minutes two answer you with a) another question b) anything so absurd that fucks your mind badly.

"I'm hugging you, Hisao" ... Instant heart attack.

To make things worse, Rin's path has a complete detachment from secondary characters. Early on, Rin will move to to the nearby city in order to pursue her artistic interests, which will make the story setting to stray apart from Yamaku and will reduce the overall contact from Hisao with other students, which will leave no one to provide useful insight on how to handle things around the redhead paintress.

Only Emi and the art teacher will play a relevant part on the story, but Emi won't be providing much useful information once the story drifts from Yamaku to the atelier, and the art teacher is a douche that will be always pursuing his own interests over Rin, which will only worsen situations as the path progresses.

Artist selfdestruction
From the moment the story moves to the city, the sunny and cheerful imagery of Yamaku will fade to a dark and gray climate that will accompany Hisao and Rin for the rest of the stoy.

Most of the story is built of meaningful silences...

As Rin drifts into full artist mode, distance between her and Hisao will keep growing, and lack of communication will start to take his toll on the couple. Rin's main story will then becomeone of frustration: Both Rin and Hisao have to cope with it in their own ways: Rin frustrated at her artist block and with the pressure of the deadlines coming, and Hisao frustrated from her unability to transmit his feelings to the armless girl, and the few advances he gets on their relationship are often found with an oversized backlash thrown at him, so you will constantly feel each choice is a do or die situation that will lead to breakup. 

Lack of communication will be your biggest enemy...

I can only describe the last part of the story as a massive trainwreck of feelings, as things between Rin and Hisao start to spiral out of control and the distance gets always worse. The key moments of the story transmit real powerful images through both the art and narrative, being the epitome where you find a broken Rin atop of the atelier probably the most shocking scene you will be seeing in the whole game, perfectly fit with sorrowful music and illustrations.

I have chills just remembering this scene...

The ending thankfully is pretty beautiful and feels like a great reward for those who managed to endure all the hardship of this path. Rin's ending is surprisingly romantic for a girl who seems so detached from human emotions, and will provide a beautiful conclusion to a masterfully written story.

Overall i can say that the story was brilliantly played, but i can see that not many people will sympathize with Rin. I for myself ended getting more than i bargained for and felt it was so powerful a story that i'm afraid the other paths won't live to my expectations.

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Playing with broken dolls - A Katawa Shoujo Introduction

Lately i've been caught in some "interesting" readings, if i could say so. The kind that touch you deep where your most inner principles lie. The kind that keep you thinking for a while after you read them. The kind that directly impact your life when you read them. The kind that deprive you of sleep and make you long for just a little more. I would really like to write more about them, but as a concession for the unknowing reader i guess i will open with a brief introduction of them.

My relation with Katawa shoujo began some years ago... With the launch of the demo, containing Act 1 of the final game.

When anyone asks me for a way to describe Katawa Shoujo, I myself have trouble. The "game" word has some implications that certainly ashame anyone who has given it at least an hour of his time. Katawa is not a game, is an exercise of introspection and self enlightment, a constant questioning of your personal values.

"Visual novel" certainly is better, but as Rin says throught the story, "the word i really search for doesn't belong to this world, and creating a new one wouldn't help us communicating" so let's stick with "visual novel".

Katawa shoujo starts with shocking realizations. Hisao, the main character suffers a heart attack that places him for some months on intensive care, effectively severing away from the real world. As a possibility to reintegrate him into society Hisao is offered the possibility to join Yamaku academy: a school for people who, for the most various reason, need special cares.

Hisao starts his new life trying to cope with the "disabled" label that was imposed to him, with varying degree of success while knowing diferent other alumni of Yamaku. Be it physical or psycologycal scars, everyone in Yamaku has a reason to be there, and a different way to cope with their condition. There Hisao meets Shizune, a mute-deaf passionate and competitive girl, always supported by the always loud and cheerful Misha, who acts as her support translator to comunicate to others through sign language.

Shortly after he meets Hanako, a girl on which severe burnings have left some deep physical and even deeper psychologycal scars, and Lily, a polite ladylike blind girl.

For finishers, we have Emi, an easygoing and lively girl with a passion for running, despite not having legs, and Rin, a spaced out and divagating girl dedicating his life to art, which, not having arms, has become proficient at using her feet for the more various activities.

Some other people will help populate Yamaku academy, as teachers and nurses as well as some citizens of the neighbouring cities play a role in the story, incluiding the paranoid and almost blind Kenji, Hisao's dorm mate which usually is the protagonist of some bizarrely comical interludes (specially when he ends naked and pizzaless in an unforgiving world XD)

Act 1 covers the first week of Hisao at school and his first steps to get to know the girls and probably himself while at it. The ideas it transmits are very powerful and are what keeps you grabbed to your chair.

The unpredictability of live, that can shatter in a second all the things you ever wished for, reshapping your enviroment forever, and how to adapt to a new reality is one of the items i can relate the most due to my personal circumstances. But other powerful themes arise, so as how to cope with a lethal disease, and how disabled people have to overcome their handicaps, while still being part of a society that sometimes treats them awkwardly.

Even if Act 1 didn't went deep enough as to explore the inner emotions and the love relationships with the girls on Yamaku, it really made me more self aware and really changed me a bit some years ago. So when i heard the full novel was finally released i knew i had to go back to revisitting those feelings...

I will be doing a series of reviews for each girl's path on the blog, so expect to see future articles on this game over the next weeks.

If this made you get interested, don't hesitate to grab Katawa Shoujo in the four-leaf studios website. Oh, i forgot to mention it. It's free, as it a collective project of sone people from 4chan... And yes, i know what you may be thinking at this very instant. My answer is that in every monster, no matter how deep theres an inner, forbidden good. Katawa shoujo is a piece of that gem. And it seems the bigger the monster, the purer the good it can produce. So go, downoad it, play it, and treasure every moment of it.

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