Yamaku Academy
Yamaku Academy is a high school for the disabled, located somewhere in modern Japan. It is the main setting of Katawa Shoujo.
Description
This school primarily caters to students with various physical disabilities, although they will occasionally accept those who are able-bodied as well. However, they will not accept mentally-disabled students.
The school uniform of Yamaku is not actually a single mandatory uniform. Instead it's a collection of clothing articles that the students can combine for their attire. This allows students to choose clothing that better fits their disability (such as Rin and Miki).
Important Locations
Yamaku High features several locations:
- Main Building
- Medical Building
- Library
- Gym
- Male and Female Dorms
- Running Track
- Pool (talked about, but never explicitly shown)
- Cafeteria
- Yamaku foundation offices
Clubs and Teams
Yamaku Academy has many clubs, actively pushing students to join them:
- Art Club
- Book Club (stated by Misha to be the most popular club)
- Music Club (mentioned by Lilly)
- The Deaf Band (mentioned by Misha; it's unknown if this is part of the music club or a separate entity)
- Literature Club (mentioned by Lilly and Misha on random occasions)
- School Newspaper (Hanako joins this club during Lilly's route)
- Photography Club
- Science Club (started by Hisao and Mutou in Emi's route)
Additionally, there are two sports teams:
- Track Team
- Baseball Team (mentioned by Lilly)
List of Known Students and Staff
Students
Trivia
- Hisao, upon first seeing it, comments on the gate being too 'pompous' for what it is.
- Despite having a 'grand' exterior, classrooms and other areas appear quite plain and simple, with basic wooden desks, old windows and classic blackboards (but as Hisao would say: 'Simple and efficient.').
- It is suggested that Yamaku has a large amount of funding, which would explain its size and its many features.
- "Yamaku" is not a real Japanese word.
- Some of the photos of the academy are actual photos of Brown University.
- Yamaku's exact location is never explicitly revealed. However, a few hints exist as to its possible location:
- Iwanako's Letter is addressed to a "City Miyagi." The place in Japan with the closest name would be Sendai City, capital of the Miyagi Prefecture.
- cpl_crud of Four Leaf Studios, after the release of the game, revealed that while he was photographing the city of Sendai for research, he imagined Yamaku as being in the location of the remains of the Sendai Castle (located here).
- When asked if Yamaku's mascot was a fish, Aura replied "Sure. Why not?"
Known Staff
- Shinichi Nomiya
- Miyagi
- Unnamed female nurse (mentioned)
- An older woman is briefly mentioned as working as the Librarian when Yuuko isn't there.
Known Students
- Haruhiko Suzumiya
- Lezard Valeth
- Misaki Kawana
- Akio Hayashi
- Moriya
- Shiraki
- Saki Enomoto
- Rika Katayama