Discussion thread for Haruka’s route (And Haruka in general I think this thread is good for, I dunno) in Little Busters. Feel free to discuss anything from Haruka’s route, but we understand that you may need to draw reference upon the events of Refrain to discuss certain aspects. Anything reference to events from other character routes or Refrain, please mark with [spoiler] tags. Her birthday is the 13th of October.
What would you rate this route?
0 voters
So how about that best route in LB aside from Refrain? Don’t you look at me like ‘man waifu favoritism yo’ because none of that, that came way later to me, I’ve thought Haruka’s route was the best for a long time.
I feel a big part of why I found Haruka’s route so impactful was MUH FEELS, it managed to make me and many others feel genuinely mad, shocked, even hateful at the Saigusa family, to get such strong emotional responses out of the reader is amazing, it’s not something that happens to me often, I think it’s really something to applaud.
That and it’s got the cheesiest ass line in the game, and my favorite outside Refrain, Riki’s response to Haruka saying she can’t do anything Kanata can’t: “You made me fall in love with you.”. It’s 100% LAME and I lapped it up, it makes me smile every time.
What do you all think of Haruka’s route? In my experience her fans seem to be certainly be present, but are quiet, it really makes me happy to meet another one when they speak up.
On my first readthrough of Little Busters, I didn’t give Haruka’s route enough of my attention. But her story is one that really grew on me with time. I feel like the Anime sweetened it up a bit, but the way they got the group together to resolve her crisis was really nice. The original felt a lot more brutal in many ways; you could really feel Haruka’s hatred and lack of trust in people. When I go back to it now, it’s a much more emotional experience for me. Helping Haruka change her worldview and learn to trust others is really impacting, because I know many people like her who simply don’t believe in human kindness. And yet, Riki was able to help her grow out of it and learn to believe in others. It was a great route.
I’m curious see how Kanata’s route goes. I plan to read it soon.
I’m a bit fency on the Anime’s take on the route, on one hand, it was done acceptably well for the episode count, and I approve of the change of having Haruka live in the dorm and not with her parents.
On the other hand, I really liked the romance of the route, I think it was the most well done romance in the game, and as I said up there, had a line I really loved, so I was a bit sad to see it cut, even though I knew it was going to happen. Also, done well for three episodes it may have been, but it was a bit too sanicfast, like every other damn route in that adaptation, another episode really should have been there.
It took a while for me to grow to like her character, but when I got around to her route it really turned out to be better than I was expecting. The themes underlying it I’ve seen before but still work really well, and the execution of her relationship with Kanata is done brilliantly. All things considered, one of my favourite routes in LB.
While going through other parts of Little Busters! my opinions of Haruka changed quite a bit. Originally she was the crazy cheerful girl from every VN ever… but then she joined the baseball team and started catching every ball I hit! I can’t even count amount of times I hit a massive combo and sang “Go Haruchin! Go Haruchin!”
She had the best fashion sense out of all the characters too~
I feel like Haruka’s route was one of the few I got invested in. (Yuiko and Refrain were the other two.)
Unfortunately… I’m not sure if the investment I had in it was pleasant. The story of Haruka’s route just made me sooooo angry~! However the romantic moments were so cheesy and cute and stuff! T w T
Basically… it was a roller coaster of feels and I can never think clearly about whether I liked it or not ^^;
Haha, YES. Haruchin being one of the most active players in the batting practice goes a long way towards making her more likeable. My callout was usually “One to Kyousuke! Two to Haruchin! Three to Haruchin! Four to Kurugaya! Five to Kyousuke! Six to Kyousuke! Seven to Kyousuke! Eight to Haruchin! Nine to… the cat…”
In all seriousness though, her character and route was undoubtedly one of the easiest to become invested in. It’s sad, but because of that it’s almost impossible to avoid breaking out into a huge grin when the ending arrives.
Haruchin is awesome. I found her annoying at first when I started playing Little Busters, but I think that’s kind of the point, and she ended up growing on me anyway. She’s a fun and adorable character, and she is indeed very useful in baseball. I could do without that super long sentence she says during baseball, where it keeps going ping though, that keeps throwing off my concentration, haha.
I quite like her route too. It’s my third favorite after Kurugaya and Rin, and continues to be an entertaining read when going through it again. The voice acting, the drama, the tears… ahh.
Haruka was probably my 2nd favorite behind Anego back when I first read. It’s been so long that I feel bad, having forgotten her common route hilarity that sort of died in the anime. Haruka needs more love 
I think Haruka’s route was probably my favorite route in non EX Little Busters! I enjoyed the route, and the bad end I thought was quite tasteful.
Haruka’s route was my second favorite among the girl routes (Kud being first) .
It was quite surprising to find out that the cheerful troublemaker wasn’t cheerful at all on the inside, and that behind that noisy, hyperactive act lay a lonely girl full of anxiety and self-derision, struggling alone against the world that tried to suffocate her. A very intense route which contained not the story of one, but of two girls caught in a game designed by by heartless, powerful grown-ups.
The romance was quite powerful, as Riki became Haruka’s only supporting pillar very soon. It was also the hardest route, if I remember correctly. Make the wrong choice once, by neglecting Haruka or making her jealous and you’re in for a brutal bad ending.
As one who did not read the VN, I can’t really say anything about her there. However, I have seen the anime, and I can say that Haruka’s arc was my favorite.
I found her back story very similar to Naoi (Angel Beats!) and Hotaru (introduced as Hinata) (H2O: Footsteps in the Sand). When we were introduced to Kanata early in, I noticed the resemblance and thought that they were related, maybe sisters, but I didn’t expect for them to be twins. I thought it was thoroughly screwed up how their uncles decided which daughter was conceived by which father, and how they pampered the one who they believed to be their heir while putting the other through hell. And even Kanata wasn’t that well off either because they were extremely strict with her as well. It is even shown that Kanata truly cares for Haruka, but their uncles wouldn’t allow that (hince the constant abuse and the scars all up her arms and back); she didn’t want to constantly punish Haruka at school, she didn’t want to smash the bench, she didn’t want to post those flyers. Hell, Kanata might not even have been their son’s daughter. In fact, I theorize that it was in fact Haruka who was the true heir, and Kanata knew this for the longest time.
I loved how while they openly hated each other, they loved, cared for, and worried about each other in their hearts.
It took me awhile to love Haruka. When I first played the common route a few months ago, I thought she was okay but I didn’t really get into her character all that much. However when I started reading the common route again for both Komari and Kud’s story routes, she really grew on me. She was energetic, playful, always tried to put a smile on everybody’s face by doing funny mischievous things and it’s really hard not to smile or laugh at her antics.
Coming from someone who can get through Anohana without shedding too many tears, Haruka’s story is probably one of the heaviest stories I’ve ever read. The moment when you find out about her treatment from the Saigusa family you really feel sorry for what she had to go through and you want her to see her get out of her suffering. There is no cliché villain or right and wrong but rather it was an unfortunate chain of events that occurred. Additionally, what I really liked about Haruka’s story is how her end goal changed over time. At first, she wanted to find out who was responsible for her suffering and switch places with that person but over time, she realizes that maybe doing that would not be a good idea and it would cause more harm than good.
Now like most people, when I read the common route I didn’t like Kanata Futaki’s haughty attitude all that much and that dislike turned into utter hatred during the middle of Haruka’s route. I thought her treatment towards Haruka was really despicable and there were times when I wanted to punch her in the face. HOWEVER, when you get to the climax of Haruka’s story, you begin to understand that much like Haruka, she didn’t have a good lifestyle either (given by the fact that she got whipped when she didn’t obey family orders). You understand why she treated Haruka badly and sympathize a little bit with her. Not to mention, the whole scene where Kanata explains why she treated Haruka badly along with the moment where both she and Haruka reconcile is one of the saddest and yet heartwarming moments that I have ever experienced.
So overall, Haruka’s route is probably my favorite route in Little Busters so far and I can see why @Kanon loves her so much. It’s a route that I loved reading and I’m definitely going to read it again when I do another playthrough for Little Busters
You heartless monster.
Even so, I whole-heartedly agree with you. Even though I’ve yet to read the visual novel yet, I loved Haruka’s arc in the anime. As a major sucker for tragedy (Elfen Lied, Ef, AnoHana, and Angel Beats! just to name a few), I fell in love with her story because it was definitely the most tragic of the characters, or at least until we get into Refrain, but it’s neither the time nor the place for that one.
I watched the anime before reading the visual novel, so I knew the plot and played the heroine routes in whatever order came to mind. Somehow, Haruka ended up being one of the last routes I read through. And my god, I was not prepared for it. I liked the Haruka plotline in the anime, but the visual novel version was just on a completely different level.
Maybe it was because the series of choices where any mistake leads to an instant Game Over conveyed the sense of a hopeless situation better. Maybe because Haruka has some of the most expressive sprites of all and her route uses them splendidly. Maybe because we actually got to see how Haruka lived, and further delved into her motivations and situation. Maybe it was because Kanata’s own struggle was, for a long time, very well conveyed through “show, don’t tell”. Maybe it was even that bad end if you fail to tell Haruka and Kanata apart that was just heartbreaking. It’s probably all of that put together.
Haruka’s route is my favorite in Little Busters, in case you couldn’t tell, and actually my favorite Key character route in general (not counting Tomoyo After After). I absolutely loved it.
I think the biggest downfall of the anime’s adaption of the route is the perspective.
In the VN, you choose what Riki does. You are responsible for the big things that happen. You have to notice a little thing in order to work everything out. You are the one Haruka trusts. You are the one who breaks the promise. You are the one who sees the slander first-hand. You are the one who sees Haruka’s family life. You are there to see everything that goes through Riki’s head - to know that, despite how horribly depressing the atmosphere is, Riki desperately wants both of the sisters to be happy.
In the anime… you see the conflict. It’s still a good watch, but… the commitment isn’t there.
Yes. You are a good person. Tomoyo After is my favorite ;~;
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I like to compare Haruka’s route to Mio’s route and Midori.
It starts off with Kanata looking like the main antagonist, but slowly changes so that after all those tears of hatred you feel for them. (Midori)
What I really love about her route is how it takes your cheerful girl to a depressed, hatefilled and almost murderous person that it’s no wonder you start to get angry too. I know I did.
I still want to know which one of them is the rightful heir. How does Kanata’s route compare to this?
We actually already have a topic for this… Moving some posts~
This is my thoughts on the character and route before reading Refrain. My opinion is subject to change.
When I first saw Haruka, I thought I could never get to like her. She was strange, annoying and irresponsible. As I kept playing through the common route, however, she began to grow on me. Yeah, she was still the strangest girl I’ve ever seen, but she became something more than that. She became a rather entertaining character, and I became rather excited to play her route.
Haruka’s route is both indescribably sad and long at the same time. At least three times while reading the darn thing I kept wanting to know when it was going to end. At the same time, I was incredibly surprised how this story was able to make me empathize with Haruka. The character of Kanata Futaki is the main driving point of conflict here, and if there’s anything Shirokiri managed to do extremely well in this story, it’s making me really hate Kanata.
Haruka herself grows immensely in this story, from being an irresponsible, playful delinquent to a bitter, misunderstood student to a mature, independent woman. The romance in this story is much less forced than in Kud’s route, but I’m still not a fan of the random kissing scenes.
The bad ending has got to be one of the most emotional bad endings I have ever experienced. Not only did it cement my hatred for Kanata, but it made me feel shocked and betrayed that Haruka’s dreams had been shattered. I almost felt like not going after the good ending…
But it was worth it. The good ending had me see a matured Haruka, and almost completely flipped around my opinion of Kanata. For the longest time, this route felt like any positivity was far out of my reach, until I fought my way to this ending. Shirokiri really pulled out all the stops in writing this, but it’s still a route that I think needed work, both in balancing the emotions and pacing.
As for Haruka herself…I think it’s no question that she is my favorite character in Little Busters! at the time of this writing. But I’ve still got four more routes to go through, so who knows what might happen?
