RAITA

Raita Honjou (本庄雷太, Honjou Raita), aka RAITA, is a doujin artist, illustrator and character designer. Twelve years before the release of Katawa Shoujo, Honjou drew a doujin called "Schuppen Harnische." At the end of the doujin were bonus pages with illustrations not related to the story, also drawn by Honjou. Among these bonus pages was the sketch that inspired Four Leaf Studios to form and develop Katawa Shoujo. More recently, Honjou worked on art for the Sega game Valkyria Chronicles.

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  RAITA's original concept sketch (jp)
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  The same concept sketch, coloured and fan-translated

Trivia

The bonus page has a number of small facts about each girl that would later become major characters in the actual game. Most of these facts did make it into the final release, albeit a few exceptions exist.

• "A deaf girl. The class rep type. Big boobs." - This character became the model for Shizune. Like the original, Shizune was designed as deaf, and the class representative of Class 3-3. Her bust size is never given explicit mention.
  • "You can't make a confession to her unless you pass the sign language class." - during the events of her route, Hisao ends up learning sign language at Yamaku Academy, with the help of Misha.
• "A blind girl. She's a bit clichéd." - This character became the model for Lilly. Upon first meeting her, Hisao notes that she is very well-bred in terms of her speech and mannerisms.
• "Has two artificial legs ever since a traffic accident as a kid. Member of the track and field club. Pretty fast." - This character became the model for Emi. These facts were all transferred over to the final product.
• "Has a scar from a fire on her face. It's an injury from back in the sixth grade of elementary school. Because of this, she hasn't smiled at anything since. This is her crying after the player's confession. 'But... I'm so...'" - This character, who became the basis for Hanako, was toned down a little bit. The basic facts of her accident, while unchanged, were expanded upon. Hanako, unlike her original concept, does smile often when around Lilly (and to an extent, Hisao).
• "A thalidomide girl with both her arms short since birth." - This character became the concept for Rin.
  • "Holds her chopsticks and her pen with her toes." - This is brought up many times. Rin, due to her lack of hands, eats by putting a fork in between her toes, and works with a paintbrush in the same manner.
  • "The most difficult one to get." - This ended up being the exact opposite of the details concerning Rin in the final product. Of all the possible choice combinations in Act 1 (totaling 1232), 644 of them lead to Kenji's ending (also called the Act 1 Bad Ending), and 272 of the remaining combinations lead to Rin's Route. In addition, Rin's route has the most combinations of choices after reaching Act 2 in comparison to any of the other girls.
  • "There's gotta be an eating-lunch-on-the-rooftop event with her." - Rin and Emi commonly eat their lunches on the roof of the school, with Hisao occasionally joining them.
• "This school lets you customize your uniform to some extent." - This is never addressed, though there is evidence to suggest there is no rule at Yamaku against it. For example, the school allows Rin to wear a male's uniform (though this may be a special exception due to her lack of hands), and allows Miki Miura to wear a combination male's and female's uniform. Also, it seems that no regulations are given to girls regarding what they wear on their legs and feet, as we see Shizune wearing dark blue stockings, Hanako wearing black pantyhose and brown boots (though in her cinema we see her wearing shoes), Emi wearing orange and yellow striped stockings over her prosthetics, Lilly wearing white stockings or pantyhose (as her skirt is the longest among the characters in the game, we don't know) and Rin with sandals. Other girls are shown wearing different types and colors of socks, stockings, pantyhoses and shoes or sneakers.
• "Play time is three months. It's best to avoid gigolo play, otherwise you won't be able to get anyone at all." - The amount of time that the game spans over varies by route. In addition, if the player makes the wrong choices (hence "gigolo play"), they will not end up on any of the routes, and get Kenji's ending.