Hatoful Boyfriend (Japanese title はーとふる彼氏) is a game about a human hunter-gatherer girl (named by you, default Hiyoko Tousaka) who goes to a high school for birds, St. PigeoNation's Institute. There, she dates pigeons.The official website is here, two download mirrors for the free version are here, and an English translation for the free version is available here. The English version of the full game can be found here.Thank you for the redirect, moa810. The second game, Holiday Star, has an English demo available here, and the full version can be purchased here. moa810 is also working on another sequel, and is requesting all fans to send her pictures of their pet birds for a chance at stardom.Four drama CDs have been released in Japanese, with some English translations here. There is a partially translated guidebook which gives some other information. Some manga have also been released - Absolute Zero, high fantasy from Anghel's POV; elaboration on some character background hinted at in Holiday Star; and some monthly stuff translated by fans.Oh, if you're wondering, "hatoful" is the Japanese pronunciation of either the wasei eigo word "heartful" or "hurtful", chosen both for this double meaning and for the fact that it starts with hato (Japanese for pigeon).
Hatoful Boyfriend and Holiday Star provide examples of the following tropes:
Abusive Parents: Sakuya's father, while not physically abusive, has incredibly racist views that he indoctrinated his son with and seems to care more about Sakuya's prospects as the future family heir than his own personal wishes, something confirmed in Sakuya's extended ending where he's kicked out of the house after he confesses to his father that he wants to become a musician. Not only that, but the Bad Boys Love route reveals that said father refused to feed his stepson Yuuya unless he abandoned his full brother's egg and it was only through Yuuya's tricks that said brother even had a family to begin with...and that brother was none other than Sakuya. In other words, Sakuya's "father" would have had him thrown away were it not for Yuuya actually caring about him and, as Yuuya points out, he would disown his "son" in a heartbeat if he ever found out about this.
All Just a Dream: During Holiday Star, Hiyoko can discover Tohri's nefarious plot. Cut to her in a cafe with Ryouta and Kazuaki, saying "Crazy dream, huh?". Ryouta falls for this trope and gets told that she was joking. During the shrine visits, Yuuya halfway confesses to Hiyoko that he's not just an Ordinary High School Student, but chickens out and says he was talking about a dream.
All There in the Manual: The guidebook greatly expands on the characters' backstories, particularly Shuu's/Ichijou Utsuru's
A Love to Dismember: Doctor Shuu does this to your head if you focus on him.
The Hawk Party is composed of warmongers while the Dove party is focused on peace.
Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Hiyoko's choices for wishes are: "Conquer the world by force, Rule the world from the shadows, or Become a famous artist."
Author Appeal: Oko San is based on moa810's own pet bird.
Bad End: As usual for the genre if you don't go all the way with any romance.
There is also one caused in the demo version by staying in the infirmary to wait for Ryouta. Doctor Shuu cuts your head off and stuffs it in a box. The normal ending for Doctor Shuu might also be considered this.
Battle Butler: Sakuya's butler Albert Alain Alkan. Also a typical Scary Black Bird. He is actually an infamous assassin who was contracted to kill Sakyua, but later hired by him for protection.
Big Damn Heroes: On the Bad Boys Love route, just when things look at their bleakest with a trapped Kazuaki and Anghel dying from poison gas and a broken Ryouta submitting to Doctor Shuu, Oko San and Sakuya show up to help.
Blood Knight: Sometimes the heroine expresses her barbaric heritage, for example, "I must return to my people with the spoils of war, lay my bloodied sword at the feet of my great king, and celebrate my conquest of all the lands from here to distant Macedonia."
Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: The various clubs at the school include the track team, the student council, and the birdwatching club... which, in a school for birds, basically amounts to voyeurism of (and by) school students.
Break the Cutie: Happens a lot in the Bad BoysLove route. Ryouta, however, by far gets the worst of it, particularly when the identity of Hiyoko's killer is revealed.
Breaking the Fourth Wall: Hiyoko is aware of the ending credits sequence that happens after getting Azami and Blaster together and interrupts it angrily. In Holiday Star's fourth episode she recaps the third one out loud for "the camera", and when Nageki asks about it she says people might have forgotten. He says being so aware of the camera doesn't seem very professional.
Kazuaki is a world-famous math genius... and a narcoleptic who falls asleep in the middle of talking.
The player character may also be one, since she's apparently already passed a year at one of the most demanding private high schools in the world, despite being a cave-dwelling barbarian, and sometimes protests things in rather erudite terminology for someone who couldn't finish her reading assignment.
If you join the student council then you are forced into the vice presidency. Fair enough: you're the only other person on it.
A creepy example occurs during Doctor Shuu's best ending in the full version: when he asks you if you love him after he's killed you and is currently carrying your severed head around and interprets her head bobbing up and down in the jar as an answer, since your three choices all say "Yes." Worse: If he isn't actually carrying your head around at the moment of dialogue then that means he has attached it to Labor 9, or the Scarecrow. You can only answer "yes" because you don't have free will anymore.
Chivalrous Pervert: Yuuya, who amongst other things tells you that doves reach sexual maturity after only one year and interprets the act of looking at nest-building materials in a specific way.
Club Stub: The Student Council. If the heroine joins, there are two members. Otherwise, it's just Sakuya, who doesn't seem to be in touch with his class's opinions or even want to be there.
Coca-Pepsi, Inc.: A religious example. Hiyoko mentions that she comes from "Shint Buddhist" family. Both Tanabata and Christmas are celebrated in this universe. Anghel mentions reincarnation in his ramblings, but his human portrait also has crosses (a symbol of Christianity, a religion, which has nothing to do with reincarnation) and his name means "Angel" -angels belong to Abrahamic religions, not to Dharmic ones.
Cowboy Bebop At His Computer: One of the game reviews mentioned the protagonist's name - Cloaca Mahoney - as a downside. In fact, "Cloaca Mohoney" is only a name Angie Gallant chose for her famous walkthrough of the game. See, kids? That's what happens when you don't play the game before reviewing it.
Creepy Physical: The doctor, Iwamine Shuu, offers to give you some interesting drugs. He also promises to examine your insides most intimately once he's done preserving your head.
Cry for the Devil: Doctor Shuu appears to rocket-jump over the Moral Event Horizon in the Bad Boys Love route. Then he reveals that he's doing all of this because of his unrequited love for Ryouta's father and sincere desire to fulfill his dying wish. It doesn't excuse the horrific things he's done up to that point, but it does make one feel at least a twinge of pity for him.
Damning With Faint Praise: In the first scene with Ryouta, he offers to make breakfast for our heroine. Her answer? "Maybe I'll take you up on that, if starvation looms!" Ryouta's cooking is maybe preferable to starvation? Gee, thanks for that vote of confidence... Which is odd, because she says that Ryouta's cooking is delicious if she talks to him during the class hike. Maybe it was just her typical Large Ham way of speaking?
"That's terrible! I mean, Okosan is a nutcase and I don't know what he's saying half the time, but he really does like pudding!"
Don't Fear the Reaper: The Conductor in Holiday Star is pretty laid back and gives advice like "I dunno, kiddo. We never recommend haunting as a deathstyle choice, y’know? Too easy to go all black and bitter." It's revealed at some point that he is Death, as seen in the Bad Ends, and Hiyoko considers him her friend. They go all the way back to the demo version!
Dub-Induced Plot Hole: In the English translation of the demo, Kazuaki refers to the bird in his marked-out photo with female pronouns, implying that she was his dead lover. This became a bit awkward when the full game version came out and revealed that Kazuaki's photo was most likely of his dead brother Nageki. Fortunately, this was corrected in the separate English translation for the full game.
Dumb Muscle: You start with 1 wisdom, 800 vitality, and 5 charisma, and you do not get more than about 35 to 40 possible points of stat increase throughout the game. However, if you attend math class on all the elective days, you end up top of the class.
Fantastic Racism: Fantails towards... well, pretty much every sentient creature. Also, two-sided racism between birds and humans is a huge plot point in the Bad Boys Love Route.
In Holiday Star the birds running a department store see the human Hiyoko coming in and immediately want her out, since as a human she is low-class.
Fan Translation: Officially acknowledged by the maker, that later became the official translation for the full version available on DLsite.
Feather Fingers: Bird characters are described (and often depicted) holding things with their wings.
If you take the Bad Boys Love route, the game shifts from a humorous pigeon dating sim to a dark mystery/thriller.
Holiday Star's first two stories are loony absurd adventures, with minor darker hints here and there. The third story is similar, a fantasy-RPG-ish romp. Until the end of that one, and the fourth is nightmarish and aferlife-y.
GIS Syndrome: Subverted. Stock photos are used for the bird characters and the loading screens, but they are properly cited in the credits.
Government Conspiracy: The Hawk Party's Operation Hurtful, which includes the creation of the H5N1 virus. On the other hand, they also get angry if you don't hook up with anyone.
Hidden Depths: Every main bird character is revealed to have one of these during BBL. Let's just say the dating sim part of Hatoful Boyfriend is just the tip of the iceberg of this game's plot...
100% Completion: Getting at least one ending for each bird unlocks the Bad Boys Love route, and completing that in turn gives you a "thank you" picture after the credits a full set of documents in the Library. Getting all of the endings for each bird unlocks a post-BBL epilogue, the last Gallery image, and a Library item with a bonus scene.
Idle Rich: If you join the student council, you can bully Sakuya into helping clean the office at the end of the semester, which ends with you having to teach him how because he's never done his own housework before.
I'm a Humanitarian: The birds have no problem with eating poultry. And, if you focus on Doctor Shuu, then he cooks Yuuya into something resembling a roast chicken.
Turns out to be enforced. Because of political tensions between birds and humans after the birds' rise to sapience, the heroine has been sent to a birds-only school to test how closely humans and birds can interact. If she doesn't romance anybirdy, the experiment is considered a failure, and the Hawk Party condemns humanity to destruction, starting with the heroine.
In the main game, only the protagonist and Anghel can see Nageki, though Anghel only shows this once as an optional scene on his route. During the BBL route, it is revealed that Ryouta can as well. Also referenced in the Drama CD when he talks to his "dead friend" Nageki in the library about one of the seven mysteries of the school: students who draw in library books are said to get cursed. As Ryouta suspects, there is actually some truth to this...
In the manga, Okosan can also see him, and in Holiday Star it's said that only the pure of heart can see ghosts.
Killed Off for Real: Hiyoko and Yuuya on the Bad Boys Love route. Although if you get the full ending, you find that Yuuya was saved just in time, and Hiyoko might be revived.
Killer Rabbit: You will never, ever look at Chukar partridges the same way again.
Poster on the Let's Play thread: You are now realizing that without Anghel and Okosan, the joke characters, all the main characters and all human life would be gone by now.
Let's Play: Angie Gallant's legendary let's play of the free demo version might just be the reason you're here right now. She has now done a follow up for the full game.
A group of fans known as Team Hatoful has done a series of voiced playthroughs of different routes of the game - specifically Anghel's, Bad Boys Love, Ryouta's and Sakuya's routes, and has also completed a blind run of the sequel, HolidayStar. Notable for, among other things, taking Yuuya's Handsome Lech tendencies even further, giving the French Sakuya a fake British accent, and making Shuu sound like Severus Snape.
Lighter and Softer: The drama CDs and - for the most part - the manga are pretty much played purely for comedy and don't have the same tendency for twists and pathos as either of the games.
Mad Scientist: Doctor Shuu wants to feed steroids into Oko San just to see how his body will react to them. It turns out that he is a researcher for the Hawk Party.
Tohri Nishikikouji as well. He creates a laser cannon using Anghel's powers and the will and drive of fanboys and fangirls.
Mayfly-December Romance: Yep, this game acknowledges the difference between human and bird lifespans.
Meaningful Background Event: Blink and you'll miss it, but your first clue that things in this game aren't quite as cheerful as they first seem comes when Hiyoko decides to go for a run: One of the things she passes is the post-apocalyptic remains of a city.
Medium Awareness: "What's the number in the top-left-hand corner say?"
Meido: Ryouta dresses up as this, and you can join him.
In the bonus content you unlock by completing Bad Boy's Love, Sakuya and Kazuaki are dragged into it as well.
The Merch: There are already plans for tote bags, pins, St. PigeoNation ID cards and more. Various styles of St. Pigeonation bags, shirts, cups and even a thong with Yuuya on it can be found at the Cafepress store
Missing Mom: If you focus on Ryouta, then you find out his mother dies.
Mood Whiplash: The endings of Ryouta and Nageki's routes can come as quite a shock if you've grown used to the game's silly and comedic tone. The Bad Boys Love route in the full version, even more so. The manga, which is largely cheerful absurd short comics, also has several chapters end with Kazuaki explaining the history of the setting - like how a plague swept humankind and killed seventy percent of them.
"Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: The official website has many of these. People trying to get others to play this game typically have to use lots of these too, as most rational people's initial reaction to hearing about it is something along the lines of "Wait, something like this actually exists?!?"
Official Couple: It's not definite, but Ryouta seems to be the most canon love interest for Hiyoko as he's the one who stays with her spirit in the hopes of him being able to be cured of his disease and her being able to be transplanted into a body someday in the good ending to the Bad Boys Love route, the last route you can unlock.
Holiday Star suggests that it's Nageki, or at least has Ryouta fear this, but the Holiday Star route is distinct and doesn't overlap.
Overly Narrow Superlative: The English download site for the game describes it as "the world's greatest pigeon dating sim".
Bird of Mass Destruction: The Bad Boys Love route reveals that Nageki harbored a disease that caused all humans who got too close to him to drop dead on the spot, which was the main reason he killed himself. Unfortunately, some of his body parts were saved by Doctor Shuu, who intends to make Ryouta the new carrier...
Precision F-Strike: If you tell Doctor Shuu that Yuuya is lying, Shuu thanks you before kicking you out of the infirmary, saying that he needs to discuss this with Yuuya... alone. Yuuya's reaction: "...Shit."
The Promise: The Bad Boys Love route is jumpstarted by one.
Pun-Based Title: The title is a mix of hato, the Japanese word for pigeon/dove, and "heartful". The paid version of the game is subtitled "-Hurtful Complete Edition-" as well. Then there's Hurtful Boyfriend and Operation Hurtful.
Punch Clock Villain: If you don't finish any romantic storylines, a meeting of the Hawk Party condemns humanity and orders them exterminated... then adjourns for coffee.
Punny Name: The (quail) teacher and (partridge) doctor have surnames punning on the Japanese for "quail" and "partridge". The library freshman's personal name is based on "nagekibato", the Japanese word for "mourning dove". Both the partridge and the quail are operating under assumed names, so this was probably deliberate on their parts.
Rainbow Speak: On the Bad Boys Love route, several plot-important phrases are highlighted in yellow. Really important things are highlighted in red.
Also, secondary characters Azami, Rabu, Kenzaburo, and Mr. One are apparently actual birds from that cafe.
Relationship Values: As usual for the genre, although they are not shown to the player.
Removed From The Picture: If Hiyoko is on Kazuaki's route, she finds a photo dropped by him that has the photographed bird almost completely marked out. Which, in the Bad Boy's Love route, we learn was probably a photo of his dead brother, Nageki.
Royals Who Actually DO Something: Shirogane Sakuya, in BBL and Holiday Star. "A king's duty is not to indulge in sloth and indolence! The future will come, yes, and we do not know what tragedies it may bring, but a king's duty is to stand proudly forth and do battle with them!"
Played for Laughs as they are not very important: "Hiyoko levelled up! Wisdom increased by 5!"
They become a bit more important in the full version where you need to boost the appropriate stats to get the best endings for Doctor Shuu, Sakuya, and Oko San. Additionally, Anghel's route features a turn-based RPG battle and while it's mainly used for parody, it is possible to lose it and get a bad ending if you botch it.
Save Game Limits: The Bad Boys Love route, in contrast with the main Otome route where you could save any time you wanted, lets you save only at certain points in the story.
Serious Business: For Oko San, it is pudding. In his ending, he quits school to quest for the true pudding, and you can join him.
Probably his best, however, is unleashed upon Sakuya on Oko's route if you side with him during an argument between the two: "GIGA...DRILL...BEEEEEEEEEAK!!" Sakuya doesn't have a prayer after that one.
Another Pokémon reference in Yuuya's route, followed immediately by a Toy Story one: "Blast off at the speed of light! To the maintenance office and beyond!"
The Bad End if you don't go all the way with any romance has a very specific grim reaper screen!! It also has double exclamation marks!! Like all over the place!! And one of the inventory items is a Nintendo 3DS amongst other things!!
Our heroine's in despair! Events that happen when she's late leaving school one day (in the full version) have left her in despair!
In bright red text: I did not kill <player name>. This is true.
If you choose to side with Ryouta in the cafeteria, your rage inspires Okosan to flee like a rabbit from a catapult.
Alternately, siding with Okosan will get you calling him San of the Forest.
The choice of wishes at Tanabata Festival (Take Over the World, rule the world from shadows, and become a famous artist) could be a shout-out to Adolf Hitler's biography.
Star-Crossed Lovers: Anghel claims that Hiyoko and himself were this in a past life. A more straight example would be Hiyoko and Nageki on Nageki's route when he fades away after realizing that he loves Hiyoko.
Stranger in a Strange School: Hiyoko is a human girl at a school for Pigeons. If you go by the manga, it's an all boys school to boot!
Surprise Creepy: Who even knew that a parody pigeon dating simulator could even inspire a Nightmare Fuel page?
Switched at Birth: Yuuya swapped his stepfather's egg with his dead father's egg containing Sakuya so that his brother could have a family and a home instead of being thrown away on his stepfather's orders.
When the heroine shows up on the wrong day for class, if you choose to return home, she tells Kazuaki: "I must return to my people with the spoils of war, lay my bloodied sword at the feet of my great king, and celebrate my conquest of all the lands from here to distant Macedonia."
Except for the student festival in fall, when your class does a Maid Cafe and Ryota briefly appears with a maid outfit drawn over his photo. This leads to the usual fanart of everybirdie crossdressing as maids, even those in other classes and the staff. Oko also appears in a maid outfit during his route, and the Library menu's post-BBL bonus scene shows Sakuya and Kazuaki as bemaided birds as well.
And Oko San's ICPSS portrait, while all other characters are rendered as Bishounen, is a bird in a school uniform.
In the full version, you can see the other classmates dressed up as maids for the Maid Cafe, and Ryouta fills in as a Miko at the local shrine for New Year's.
During the Radio session for Holiday Star, Ryouta explains that clothing isn't mandatory for birds, who wear clothes for protection against cold, fashion, or ceremonial purposes only.
Tempting Fate: In Holiday Star, Sakuya proudly boasts that there's no way the thieves will be able to get into the council room. Hiyoko refers to this as "raising a flag", and when the inevitable happens she and Ryouta call it "flag retrieval" - they're terms commonly used to refer to visual novel gameplay.
When Sakuya asks the player what she loves, she answers "udon". Though she also can't sit still in class unless she's had some red meat, as she tells Ryouta in the first cutscene.
Twenty Minutes into the Future: In the Bad Boy's Love route, you find out that the game actually takes place in the year 2187!
Two-Teacher School: The main game has only Kazuaki and Shuu. BBL shows us the principal, but only briefly and not while he is still among the living.
Uplifted Animal: It turns out that intelligent birds did not naturally come about...
Wholesome Crossdresser: You will always see Ryouta in a maid's uniform for the Maid Cafe, and if you follow him down his arc you'll find he also works at a transvestite cafe... and goes by the name "Coolene". Of course, he's working there so he can support his mother, but you can ask him to leave.
Widget Series: The premise of the game is considered to be very far outside the mainstream box.
You All Look Familiar: The manga lampshades the difficulties of having three white fantails in the cast, and distinguishes them by giving Sakuya and Yuuya accessories in bird form, while Oko San remains "nude". Less present in the actual game where their bird-photo images all have different poses, and of course their human-style portraits are all different.
on the video Let's Play.
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