A thought that occurred to me in regards to Hatoful Boyfriend.

[xaq_the_aereon]

...I just said "bird-brained," didn't I. :[ Anyway...

The gears have been turning in the back of m'head for the past few days now over something kjorteo and feralmuse brought up on Friday, specifically regarding Azami and Hiyoko (aka Teo aka Elilara aka the protagonist; I stuck to her default name) riding tandem on the same scooter and the implications of the size difference between a bird and a human.


But...what if that size difference isn't there? What if we're dealing with human-sized avians? I mean, think about it...how would normal-sized birds be able to play instruments, or handle human tools like cleavers? I can buy the idea of some degree of physiological leeway allowing for use of wings like hands, but how's a 4-pound bird going to pick up an object weighing twice that? And just how the hell is a normal-sized fantail pigeon capable of playing the piano so well?

Also, if St. Pigeonation's was built specifically for normal-sized birds, there'd be no sense in building it to human scale...how would they open the doors or sit in the desks and such?

There's only 3 explanations there that I can think of, and I can rule one out right away for one simple reason: if St. Pigeonation's were built to proper bird-size scale, Hiyoko would never be able to fit; the front door would barely be big enough for her hand.

Therefore, I'm fully convinced that either the birds are human-sized, or humans are now bird-sized.


Which just opens a whole new can of questions, most notably...how?

Anyway, back to Yuuya's route.

Comments

[kjorteo]

Aw, but envisioning them at their actual respective bird/human scales makes my mental image for certain scenes so much more awesome!

(It's where I got this icon, even!)

[xaq.livejournal.com]

Yeah, well, when my brain tries to wrap the idea of such a scenario being threatening, it automatically engages a line of thought more along the lines of...well...this.

SHUU: *pulls out scalpel-sized cleaver, makes statement about her head*
HIYOKO: *hits Shuu with textbook in her hand* **SPLACK**
HAPPY END! :D


More to the point, though, I was thinking about what could possibly have caused human-sized birds, and my first thought was somewhere along the lines of "radioactive mutation post-nuclear attack."

Which, in fairness, could explain that hellscape Hiyoko goes running through just before running into Azami.

[kjorteo]

My personal theory is that something ... happened ... to humanity (hence why our lone human protagonist is a hunter-gatherer who lives in a cave, albeit a suspiciously well-furnished one with a working doorbell but SHHH.) Bird-sized birds just sort of took over the vacated ruins and tried to fit into human civilization as though they were humans (hence St. Pigeonation's desks and their suspicious inclination toward running-based sporting events that specifically disallow flight, even though a lot of birds get injured in the hurdles) and basically the whole thing is exactly as awkward for everyone as we've been joking that it would be.

Questions like those raised in those comics I just linked, Pidgeworth playing the piano, how (and why) Guilty Gear Bird operates a human-sized scooter instead of just flying, how Ryouta is the one doing all the work in the three-legged race, etc. all fall under "because the mental image is hilarious, now shush."

[xaq.livejournal.com]

One other question came about while I was doing Nageki's route...he doesn't take part in the class hike (makes sense, since he's not in your class...freakin' nerdybirdy. :b), so I chatted with Ryouta instead, splitting lunch with him.

How would a human survive on bird-sized proportions? I think the CalorieBLEEEP would have been more nourishing and filling than that, especially half of that.


...Eh, what can I say, I can't settle for a hilarious mental image when stuff like Shuu's and Yuuya's routes get involved.

[kjorteo]

Again, I'd say this icon proves that endings like that are the best time for that kind of hilarious mental image.

(Well, obviously I take it completely seriously at the time, but, you know, after the fact.)