Hey Steemit!
It's been a long while because I was overseas for about a week or so! Sorry about that. Anyways, If you're unfamiliar with this series, basically I share a soundtrack and my thoughts about it, and I highly recommend listening to the song while reading! š
We're back at it again with a weird one this time! The song for today is from a dating sim called Hatoful Boyfriend!
If you're wondering why there are birdies on the cover, you must be really new to this game; because in Hatoful Boyfriend, you get to date birdies! Yay..? š¤
Hatoful Boyfriend is an interactive text-based visual novel that follows a branching plot line, with the player's decisions determining which of the game's multiple endings they receive. The game is set in a version of Earth populated by sapient birds, and its main story follows the player character and protagonistāthe only human attending St. PigeoNation's Institute, an elite school for birdsāas she finds love among her avian acquaintances.
The title Hatoful Boyfriend is actually a pun on the wasei-eigo word hÄtofuru (ćć¼ććć«, "heartful", also "hurtful"), and the Japanese word hato (鳩, "pigeon", "dove"), as the game features pigeons and other birds as major characters. Yay for puns! š
When I first saw this game I thought it was sooo ridiculous just, why? But when I watched a whole playthrough of it I'm not exaggerating when I say it changed me. I will never underestimate Japanese dating sims ever again. There's so much story (a really feelsy story at that) underneath a seemingly weird game that most people would think is some fetish. The novel is really well-written; each character is really unique and their individual stories are so unexpected and interesting. Oh and the music is great too!
Just so you know, there are human portraits in this to show what the birdies would look like in human form (so it's not that weird):
If you're interested in finding out a little bit about the backstory, here's a short video on the game's lore!
And here's the song for today!
This song is called Anghel's Battle, which is kinda spoilery on its own already. I don't want to give away too much, but you'd definitely need to work quite a bit to get to this song in-game. It can only be heard during a specific scene with a secret birdie, and it plays at the end of his route. This particular birdie is probably the most unique in terms of backstory, and I was soo confused and amazed at how someone even thought of this.
Anyway, this piece is definitely one of my favourites from the OST, and one of few "rock" songs I would play on loop (cos I generally enjoy more tranquil and mellow songs). But this is so EPIC! I love the consistent rise and fall in tone and volume, as well as the stark contrast between the light piano and the electric and bass guitar, complemented by the drums. You'd notice that the loud rock parts are not overpowering the lighter and softer parts, and they're not excessively loud like most rock pieces can be. And this is exactly why I love this song. The ratio and the distribution is just perfect, and even though the 2 main parts of the song are like worlds apart, the drum beats join them together in perfect harmony. It's definitely a head-banger for sure.
Hatoful Boyfriend was developed by manga artist Hato Moa's dÅjin circle PigeoNation Inc., and is the successor of a Flash game of the same name she created for April Fools' Day in 2011. I bet she didn't expect to have a fully developed game (and sequel, too) when she first created that Flash game! There's even a webcomic called Hatoful Kareshi, which features additional short stories on the different characters interacting in school.
I would definitely recommend this game if you like visual novels and a compelling story. This game is definitely a mind blower if you're new to dating sims. If you can get past laughing at the idea of dating birds that is. Just check out this steam review:
Couldn't have said it better myself. šš
Thanks for reading!
To find out more about me, check out my intro post here!
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : http://tacocat.vornix.blog/2019/04/16/ost-of-the-day-27-hatoful-boyfriend-anghels-battle-%f0%9f%90%a6/