I remember Scott Benson mentioning somewhere in his GDC talk on "Night in the Woods" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xzhe45Q8780 - that animal people is just how he draws people ... so would it be interesting to take that in-universe? That the people of the town are human, and what we're seeing is just how Mae would draw them in her journal - that the visuals of the game themselves are also a part of Mae's narration of events, and shaped by her own choices about how she draws the world.

Iiiii never finished that game. I should play it some more.