Hanako Ikezawa
Hanako Ikezawa (池沢華子, Ikezawa Hanako) is one of the five primary heroine characters in Katawa Shoujo. She is badly scarred on the right side of her body, due to a house fire that claimed the lives of her parents. Having lost her only family, Hanako grew up in an orphanage, eventually becoming the oldest resident. Hanako developed an extreme social anxiety in response to years of teasing and bullying by her peers due to her scars. As a result, she is extremely shy and only trusts a few people in whose presence she seems to relax and be comfortable in. Hanako grows her hair long and uses it to hide her facial scarring from casual observation. An honest girl, she believes in equality between friends and highly values the few people she chooses to spend time with. As a result of her social isolation, Hanako developed a number of solitary interests including chess, reading and billiards. Surprisingly, and in contrast to her personality, she is also fond of karaoke.
- "At a young age, Hanako Ikezawa had a traumatic experience that left her life in shambles. Her parents died when their home burned down in an accident, which also disfigured Hanako permanently and leaving her in an orphanage. She is extremely shy, shunning from most other people to the point of actually panicking from any social contact. Her only trusted schoolmate is Lilly, who has taken Hanako under her wing ever since the two were introduced to each other."
- — Official Description
Appearance
Hanako is a tall girl of average build with long, dark purple hair that nearly reaches her waist, as well as a slick of hair on the right side of her face that covers one of her eyes and partially covers her facial scars.
She's usually seen wearing the standard school uniform with a pair of black stockings and a pair of brown leather boots. Her pajamas consist of a long-sleeved and ankle-length light pink night gown, with a small red ribbon in the middle of her chest. Her casual clothes consist of a long-sleeved dark blue denim jacket with a light pink frilly necked blouse with a small black ribbon, a pair of long black pants, and black shoes. She also wears a black beret to cover her scars from passersby.
Personality
Hanako is a quiet and extremely shy girl, being likely to run away when an unfamiliar person tries to make contact with her (e.g Hisao on his first day at Yamaku). Despite her shy demeanor, she does get along with certain students that she is acquainted with; such as Lilly, Shizune, Emi and Misha, more so with Lilly who is her closest friend. She is initially very shy and evasive around Hisao, but soon they may become close friends.
She is usually very friendly despite not being very outspoken, especially with her close friends. However, she lashes out at Hisao when he tries to get close to her on her birthday if the bad ending is achieved, stating that she hates to be treated like a weak, broken person.
Relationships
Family
Hanako's mother and father died in a house fire when she was eight; Hanako only survived because her mother shielded her from the flames. Unfortunately, the entire right side of Hanako's body was badly burned and scarred. With no living relatives, Hanako became a ward of the state.
Students
Hanako has only brief acquaintances with her fellow students; the only person at Yamaku with whom she has a deeper relationship is Lilly. Their friendship started when Lilly moved into the dorm room next to hers. Hanako was able to open up to Lilly, presumably because her blindness meant that Lilly would not react to Hanako's scarring. Ever since Lilly moved into the dorm, their friendship deepened, with Hanako depending the most on Lilly. Lilly deeply cares for Hanako, always looking out for her well being. She even bought Hanako a doll for her birthday and a phone for Christmas. Although Shizune and Misha care for her well being as a student, they frown upon the liberties granted to her due to her social anxiety. Hanako is shown to be crippled in social situations on multiple occasions, and is prone to running away or even breaking down, going so far as becoming catatonic, only worsened by other students staring and speculating on what had happened. Later in Lilly's route she ends up joining the newspaper club and makes a few more friends, eventually overcoming her anxiety.
Staff
Hanako only interacts with Yamaku's staff members if necessary. Usually the teachers, mostly Mutou, try to give Hanako time to herself, which often leads to her secluding herself in the library, even during class hours. Hanako is also acquainted with Yuuko the librarian through Lilly.
Outsiders
Hanako has few acquaintances outside of Yamaku. She is shown to be very fond of Lilly's elder sister Akira, who even attends Hanako's birthday party with a gift of two wine bottles. Akira takes Lilly, Hanako and Hisao for a night out in the city just before Lilly leaves for Scotland to visit her family. It is also mentioned that Hanako visits a therapist every weekend.
Plot
See Hanako's route for the full plot line.
Background
Ten years before the story, Hanako's house inexplicably caught fire while her family slept (this was hinted to have occurred on the night of her birthday), killing her parents and badly scarring Hanako herself. Hanako told Hisao that the only reason she survived was that her mother shielded her from the fire before succumbing to the heat. After spending a length of time in the hospital recovering, Hanako lived at an orphanage where she was constantly bullied, even by those who used to be her closest friends, because of her appearance. This made her become very aware of her scarring, and this self-consciousness developed into paralyzing social anxiety, prompting her self-isolation. She secluded herself in the orphanage's library until she was offered the opportunity to attend Yamaku Academy.
Trivia
- Out of the five main girls, Hanako has only one H-scene, while the rest have at least two.
- Hanako's name can mean "Flower Child". This is complementary to Lilly's name, and exemplifies her inner beauty.
- Hanako appears more outgoing in Lilly's route than her own "Good Route" (though this is understandable, as chronologically, Lilly's route goes farther than Hanako's route).
- In the leaked beta version, it was revealed that Hanako's original route was originally a "trap" of sorts. Where before, if the player chose Hanako's path, the only endings the player could get were bad. Before being changed to Hanako’s current official route with a good ending. Back then, In order to get Hanako's good ending, one would have to first achieve all three of her bad endings, then the option for Hanako's good ending would be available as a branch of Lilly's route.
- In the leaked beta version, much of Hanako's backstory is revealed and several details are different from the final release. For example, it was revealed that she lived with foster parents instead of at an orphanage. Also, before the fire that claimed her parents' lives broke out, they bought her a stuffed rabbit named Petra. It was the only item that survived the fire, and she still holds on to it as a memory. Finally, it is revealed that the fire started when a blackout occurred in Hanako's home town, and was caused by unattended candles that were lit while the power was out. Unlike in the final release, it was Hanako's father who saved her by being able to get her out of the house before it collapsed. It is also revealed that she indirectly caused the death of someone for whom she had romantic feelings by running away during the middle of her confession. The boy in question attempted to run after her, but was hit by a speeding vehicle and killed instantly.
- Although Hanako's route is average in length in the final release, her original story from the leaked beta version is the longest, with hers being the only route in both versions of the game to have 4 acts (with the exception of "Life Expectancy").
- Hanako is reading Life of Pi when Hisao first meets her.
- Hanako is the only main character whose theme (Painful History) does not play when Hisao first meets her. Instead the song Everyday Fantasy is heard.
- Rin points out that she saw Hanako go to the bathroom a few times in a row. This might be a reference to a Japanese urban legend of a young WWII-era girl named Hanako-san, who haunts school bathrooms.