Say It In Red | Episode 12: Hatoful Boyfriend

Say It In Red

Coo! Coooo! Cooo!
This week, Sara and Runa go to bird school, which is for dating gorgeous birds in Hatoful Boyfriend, a dating sim about pigeons that you can meet, befriend, and romance at St. PigeoNation's academy. What would Sara and Runa, ostensibly two humans, possibly do at a bird school though? Will they be able to handle bird P.E. with flying lessons and wing stretches? Will they join the student council and learn the intricacies of bird political parties? Will they spend too much time in the infirmary and end up as an experimental subject for a grouchy partridge!?
Hatoful Boyfriend (2011) is a delightful dating sim starring Hiyoko Tosaka, the sole human attending a school for intelligent birds. Set in the late 22nd Century, you follow Hiyoko as she navigates school clubs, electives, exams, holidays, and the milestones of high school life while trying (with varying success) to get closer to the beautiful birds who now fill her daily life. If Hiyoko spends a lot of time studying and joins the infirmary staff, maybe she can get to know Yuuya, the most suave and popular pigeon in school. Maybe if she plays to her strengths and spends all of her time running for the track team, she can finally understand the pudding connoisseur Okosan. Perhaps, even, if she spends enough time working at the library, she'll finally get the reclusive underclassman, Nageki, to open up to her and explain why he never seems to leave that one room. In addition to these pigeons Hiyoko can also get closer to Ryouta, her childhood friend with a weak constitution; Sakuya, an aristocratic fantail from france and apparent Half-brother to Yuuya; Anghel, an absolutely perfect bleeding heart luzon; Kazuaki, Hiyoko's homeroom teacher and math instructor; Azami, a cool java sparrow who rides her vintage scooter with a strong conviction to obey traffic ordinances; or Shuu, the school doctor who seems to be the center of several disturbing rumors about student disappearances and dismemberments.
Where will Hiyoko's time at St. PigeoNation's take her? To lifelong love with a childhood friend, no matter how short that life might be? To an action-packed life on the run with a secret agent? Into the depths of the school to learn the secrets, and tragedies, of its recent past? Whatever routes you choose to explore, Hatoful Boyfriend is a delightful and extremely fun dating sim full of heart, humor, a bit of pain, and a whole flock of gorgeous pigeons. Join us as we see what it's like to go to bird school, which is for romancing birds!
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Content Warnings for this episode:
00:27:45 to 00:31:20 - Discussion of a teacher/student romance route
00:39:00 to 00:46:30 - Discussion of a teacher/student romance where the teacher is Hannibal Lector and wants to experiment on the protagonist.
00:42:00 - Student Murder & Cooking
00:43:00 - Dismemberment
00:43:20 - Loss of Agency
00:46:45 to end - Intermittent discussions of fatal respiratory pandemic
00:52:50 - Dismemberment
00:58:00 - Mentions of body horror
01:01:20 - Suicide mention
01:03:30 - Hostage situation
01:05:00 - Medical experimentation and Suicide