Hatoful Boyfriend: HolidayStar

Editorial Review

★4.2 / 5 — henhenta editorial rating (our own assessment, not the DLsite official user score)

Hatoful Boyfriend: HolidayStar operates in a space most visual novels fear to occupy—the absurdist comedy that uses its own structural absurdity as narrative substance. Where traditional otome games mine emotional resonance from relationship branching, this sequel leans hard into the surreal horror-comedy tone that made the first game’s subversion of dating sim conventions work, only now anchored in a winter holiday setting that somehow makes pigeons and existential dread feel thematically coherent.

The work’s distinctive appeal lies in its refusal to play its premise straight. By positioning itself explicitly as “not an otome game” despite the dating sim framework, HolidayStar signals that the bird-romancing conceit exists to serve darker narrative purposes. The tags reveal the actual DNA here: horror and comedy working in tandem, with slice-of-life framing that makes the tonal whiplash intentional rather than accidental. This is a game that understands winter academia as a setting for both mundane character moments and the kind of uncanny revelations the first title apparently established. The requirement to play the Complete Edition first suggests substantial lore payoff—scenarios that explicitly connect to hidden truths, making this a sequel that respects series continuity rather than retreading familiar ground.

Readers invested in genre deconstruction and those who appreciate comedy that generates laughs through narrative dissonance rather than punchlines will find genuine value here. This appeals specifically to players fatigued by earnest dating sims seeking something that weaponizes its own format against player expectations.

A defiantly weird entry that doubles down on what made the original work—blending comedy and horror through the sheer cognitive dissonance of caring about pigeon relationships while reality destabilizes around you.