RAITA

Honjou Raita (本庄雷太^? aka RAITA) is a doujin artist, illustrator and character designer. Sometime 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.

• 
  RAITA's original concept sketch (jp)
• 
  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." - in the events leading up to 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 possible in Act 1 (totaling 1232), the majority of them that do not lead to Kenji's ending (also called the Act 1 Bad Ending) 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.