For those unfamiliar with the medium, a VN is essentially a book with graphics, sprites, voices, music, and choices. It’s a fitting conclusion, a decent payoff, and ultimately making me a fan. Little Busters (LB) is an all-ages visual novel (VN) released by Key Visual Arts in 2007. And while the flaws are still visible, I’m happy with what we’ve got. So I came into this season hoping for any improvements. I pushed myself to finish the first season of Little Busters, and even the tearjerker scenes weren’t enough to excuse the massive plot holes, unfunny jokes, and overall boredom I went through for 26 episodes. This may seem fairly biased for an impression, but I inititally hated this franchise. But more importantly, seeing these characters go through this 39 ep journey and succeeding against all odds, leaving me and them with big smiles. Fulfillment in seeing the secret of the world, how tragic things were behind the events of season 1, and finally giving a reason for Kyousuke’s actions. Fulfillment in seeing Riki finally being confident in his own abilities and using it to save everyone during despair. Fulfillment in seeing Rin have hope for friendship even when all of it may dissappear. If I had to sum up all of that in one word, it’s fulfillment. Seeing how these two and the girls affected each other, how both had grown through their constant hardship, and just how much Kyousuke had done behind the scenes so that Riki’s final growth feels that much more effective. Sure this means Masato and Kengo get much needed backstory, but it’s when it focuses on Kyousuke’s desperation or Rin and Riki’s relationship that it really shines. Ironically, focusing on just the original little busters brings the theme of friendship further than all the previous routes. So why do I feel satisfied with it? Well despite how “magical” the ending seems, it actually manages to resolve all the questions in the story. It also doesn’t help that the major twist to this story, while properly foreshadowed, is both completely nonsensical and overly convenient(SPOILER: Kyousuke is Rika from higurashi).
What I mean by this is that the resolution to EVERYTHING is powered by love, friendship, and the will to not give up(aka an army of deus ex machinas). Apart from a jarring transition at the very start, it suffers from overreliance of what I call “the magic of Jun Maeda”. That being said, there are some MAJOR problems with this route. And even with my complaints, this route left me satisfied in so many ways. One of Harukas bad end extra scenes requires Kurugayas route to be locked and Kuds route to not be locked. Reasons: One of Komaris routes scenes with Kurugaya only occurs if Rin part 1 or Kurugayas route isnt finished. So after what’s equivalent to a billion internet years, i’ve FINALLY finished the fall season with Little Busters Refrain. Komari -> Rin part 1 -> Kurugaya -> Haruka -> Kud -> Mio -> Rin part 2.
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