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.
5 Likes
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 ;~;
1 Like
best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl best girl
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?
9 Likes
But but… they were just so cute in Haruka’s route T3T
2 Likes
THEY WERE AMAZING IN HARUKA’S ROUTE.
It’s the best romance in the VN aside from RikiKyousuke.
4 Likes
I wouldn’t even call them random, tbh. People typically kiss in these situations.
b-but muh Saya
I don’t hate kissing scenes in romance, but I feel like Shirokiri thinks that throwing two people together and having them kiss is considered chemistry. Instead, it just makes me uncomfortable. For Haruka, it’s only a nitpick, but it’s a problem I have with Shirokiri’s writing style, in general.
I’ve never been in that kind of situation, but I’ve been raised on standards where even oral sex is only acceptable within the bonds of marriage.
The occasional kiss in romance is fine and dandy, but in real life, I would not put myself in that kind of situation until I am happily wed to the woman of my dreams, and even then, I would only kiss her.
I would have agreed with you for Kud’s route that the kissing may have seemed a tad bit out of place. But for Haruka’s route, I think they were done pretty well. While I don’t want to chalk it up to your own preferences, I just wanna give my opinion on how I feel the romance was handled.
I am a romance nut, after all
2 Likes
Hopeless Romanticmatsurians unite.
1 Like
You miss the part where Haruka craves attention/contact/love to make up for a severe lack of it earlier?
And Riki is just a deviant who takes any chance.
Of course they kiss a lot.
3 Likes
This is confirmed in other routes, yes
1 Like
Which of the two bad endings are you talking about?
I’m specifically talking about the bad ending where Kanata tricks Riki into giving up his search. I haven’t seen the other bad ending. 
1 Like
The other one isn’t exactly a second bad ending, as it ends with the generic bad end scene, but it shows us a new Haruka’s sprite.
2 Likes
There are basically three reasons why I think Haruka’s route was the worst of Little Busters!:
First, the forced drama. I wasn’t really moved by this route’s drama at all. I pitied Haruka, but much much less than I pitied Komari or Kud, for example. The whole thing didn’t feel natural at all. It seemed like a fight between two female teenagers, when the two are trying to make you pity them to win an ally. And the resolution of the conflict felt extremely artificial and made no sense. If things were that easy, why couldn’t Kanata solve the problem earlier?
Second, the plot. The plot of this route also felt artificial. It didn’t really slowly progress towards a climax, like in other routes. They just moved it along, trying their best to extend it. But the result felt like a boring investigation story. The plot moved in parallel, rather than an increasing straight. Without build up, they just threw up the ‘main drama’ in the end, and other elements in the story.
And third, the romance, while lacking also was damn boring. Even Komari’s route, that lacked romance much more, had better ‘romantic scenes’. It seemed just like two kids playing, and I couldn’t feel their chemistry at all.
So, this is why I think Haruka’s route is the worst route of LB!
