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  • Accidental Innuendo: One particular item in BBL is referred to as a Bright and Massive Thing. Among others, this leads to the line, "You're up, Massive Thing!"
    • Also what Ryouta says after being knocked out.
    Ryouta: "Aargh! Darn it! Why did I let myself get taken from behind like that!?"
  • Audience-Alienating Premise: Deliberately so.
    "I wanted to create something that seems ridiculous and crazy at first glance, but that once you look into the world, you would fall into the depth."
  • Aluminum Christmas Trees: Many players think the photo used for Anghel's bird form was either a Photoshopped hoax or a bird that had been shot. Bleeding-heart doves are in fact real, and the red stain on their chest is natural.
  • Awesome Music: Moa has an exceptional ability for choosing tracks for her games that are either emotionally moving or simply fun to listen to.
    • Anghel's battle theme. One may not even want to finish the battle just to listen to the epic music!
    • The heartwrenching music that plays at the end of Nageki's route may make the player burst into tears.
    • Everything is better with "The Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy". Even Doctor Shuu.
    • BBL has a track at a pivotal moment, Death Tone which is appropriately both sad and inspirational.
      • Holiday Star also has a track that is inspirational, heartwrenching, and plays at a pivotal moment.
    • These two ethereal songs from Holiday Star really make the players feel as if they're immersed in an oneiric fantasy world.
    • That hilariously boss music that plays in the first Holiday Star Chapter and during one of the radio Q and A sessions, when Yuuya's being cool.
  • 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.
  • Draco in Leather Pants: Lots of fans identify with The King and eagerly downplay the harm he causes, preferring to characterize him as a wounded innocent. Going by fan works, it would be difficult to tell that he's the Big Bad of the second game.
  • Ensemble Dark Horse: A lot of fan-art is based on Doctor Shuu despite the fact that his romance path is, let us say, not the happiest.
  • Fandom Rivalry: With Katawa Shoujo, to an extent.
  • Fan Nickname:
    • "Fat Bird" or "Murderbeaks" for Doctor Shuu.
    • "Narcolepsy-sensei" or "Sleepybeaks" for Kazuaki.
    • "Simple Bird" for Okosan.
    • "Ousama" for The King. "Ousama" is what he calls himself in Japanese, and it does mean the same thing.
    • Anyone who regularly plays this game, especially with friends, develops nickname. Examples: "Sadbird" for Nageki, "Saddest Bird" for The King, "Fab Bird" for Nishikikouji, "Secret Bird" for Anghel, and "Unapologetically Racist Bird" for Sakuya.
  • Fan-Preferred Couple: When the game first came out many fans were disappointed that there wasn't the option to romance Azami. In the HD remake, it's possible, though since she only appears away from the school and in the summer it's a shorter, simpler route than any of the others.
  • Genius Bonus: Many of these may be apparent to players with hobbies related to birds, such as keeping pet birds or studying ornithology. See the Hatoful Boyfriend Fridge Brilliance section for a more complete and detailed list of these.
    • Upon introducing Shuu, Hiyoko mentions that even just talking to him can bring you down with horrible diseases such as Aspergillus or Psittacosis. Both of these diseases have certain strains that can affect both birds and humans.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: Practically everything involving fake Kazuaki/Hitori.
  • Ho Yay: Mainly in the Bad Boys Love route, although it's limited to Doctor Shuu's unrequited feelings for Ryouta's father in a flashback, and possibly Kazuaki's feelings over his late foster-brother Nageki.
    • Yuuya's flirtatious nature is by no means limited to girls. He even says, "I'm always straight in love. Well, almost always." When he overhears Ryouta and Sakuya discussing him, he says, "I guess I'm topic of choice among the boys now as well as the girls. Not that I mind."
    • The manga also alludes to this when, after Ryouta tells how Yuuya's locker is usually overflowing with gifted beans on Legumentine's, Sakuya mentions that St. Pigeonation's is (excluding the player's character) an all-boys academy.
    • In Holiday Star, Hitori and the original Kazuaki seem to have been very close, albeit in a horrendously dysfunctional way, with Hitori ultimately taking advantage of Kazuaki's trust to kill him and steal his identity. In the alternate universe shown in the sidestories, both of them are alive and working together at St. Pigeonation's, and Kazuaki is still very attached to and dependent on Hitori, who seems rather less enthused about the whole affair.
    • Female example: Hiyoko's admiration of Azami borders on full-blown swooning in a couple of scenes with her even thinking, "She's so cool! I think I'm in love...!" after Azami saves her from a gang of punkgeons. Sadly, there's no actual route for her in the original and her side story consists of Hiyoko setting her back up with her former boyfriend. Although, you do get to form a gang with her in one of her endings.
  • It Was His Sled: The manga tells you right from the start that Nageki is a ghost, which was only revealed at the very end of his route in the game.
  • Memetic Mutation: It's become a minor Running Gag for some that this is "The Medic's favorite game", because he keeps a flock of doves in his infirmary.
    • People love to joke that Nikola Tesla invented this game or that it would be his favourite because... well... this happened.
    • Also, Doctor Shuu seems to have quite a following. Just read the comments. Also, Iwamine-sensei runs Pakistan.
    • For a while, due to a translation error accidentally saying Dr. Shuu had hands, there was a minor meme in which Shuu would be drawn or Photoshopped as a bird with human arms and hands sticking out of his body.
    • In Holiday Star The King is original Kazuaki's witch form after he fell into despair, and Holiday Star is his witch's barrier.
    • Still a better dove story than Twilight. (A play on the meme: Still a better love story than Twilight.)
  • Moe: Ryouta and Nageki.
  • Narm Charm: The premise is ridiculous, the script is riddled with typos and the occasional formatting error, the graphics are a somewhat jarring mix of bird photos, 3D backgrounds and the occasional hand-drawn or photoshopped image... and somehow, it all still works.
  • Nightmare Fuel: So much that it actually warrants its own page.
  • Obvious Beta: The Vita version is very unstable, having at least these issues: crashing often, text sometimes appearing at irregular rates, music gradually becoming distorted until you close the game and start it up again, issues with the skip option, and significant loading times for a VN. Unfortunately, this extends to the sequel as well.
  • Quirky Work: Well, it did start out as an April Fools' joke... that being said, Oko San and Anghel's routes (and the characters themselves) are exceedingly bizarre even for this game.
  • Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Do you find Sakuya and Yuuya insufferable? You'll most likely change your tune big time after you've played through the Bad Boys Love route. Yuuya takes it yet further in Holiday Star.
  • Ron the Death Eater: Many characters can't be sorted neatly into "good" or "evil"; many have done bad things but still have some good motives or relatable stories. The fandom in general hates Hitori Uzune to the point where his fans have received death threats. Moa herself condemns that kind of thing, claiming Hatoful Boyfriend is not morally didactic.
  • What Do You Mean, It's Not for Kids?: The English download site for the full game gives it a G-ratingnote . If you've played this game in its entirety, you'll know just how deeply and hilariously wrong this rating is.
  • The Woobie: Almost every main character is turned into this in the Bad Boys Love route, with healthy doses of The Reveal, Break the Cutie, and Tear Jerker.
    • In Holiday Star The King becomes this once we learn of his tragic back story. His back story may especially hit close to home for players who have ever suffered from social isolation, clinical depression, and/or suicidal thoughts.

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