Little Busters! - Kanata Futaki Route & Character Discussion

[Pepe]

I’ve finally finished Kanata’s route (and, by extension, the entirety of Little Busters English Edition) and I’d like to keep my bigger thoughts on hold for a moment. Good points so far by everyone, though

One teeny tiny thing I’d like to comment, though, is how the final (completely skippable) choice, where you may or may not kiss Haruka before continuing with Operation Wedding Busters, completely fucks up with all of my ideas on the choice mechanic of this game and how it interacts with the agency of Riki in Little Busters.
I’m gonna have to change my thoughts on this one, for sure, because before this, I wouldn’t have even imagined having choices outside of the dream world. (as if Refrain hadn’t already convinced me of this lol)

[BlackHayate02]

Now that I’ve finally finished the last remaining route in Little Busters!, I’ve also looked back at the pieces I have chosen for my classical-music gimmick… I haven’t mentioned a single Baroque piece yet. Which means, for Kanata, I must choose a piece by J.S. Bach, because I can’t not mention Bach when it comes to Baroque. Plus, dude shares the same birthday as Haydn, and guess what piece I chose for Haruka before?

Sadly, I don’t know as much Bach pieces as I want to, but right now my pick for Kanata is the Erbarme Dich aria from his St. Matthew Passion (oh nice, it’s Holy Week right now). That song is pure suffering, right down to the lyrics.

(Here’s a playlist of pieces I picked for each routes, for those interested.)

Anyway, for the Kanata route, it was a much better experience than I personally expected, and I found it to be a much-needed follow-up to Haruka Route. Whereas there were some aspects of Haruka Route that sort-of muddled its message with regards to domestic abuse, Kanata Route managed to have a much clearer and much more thoughtful exploration of the subject:

C. Zablan (Blackh02)

There’s also this line that cleared the muddled waters for me when it comes to the route’s message:

Another thing I appreciate about this route is how the story acknowledged and respected that Kanata herself isn’t exactly a fan of men who conflate pity with romantic interest. Still, the route values support network as the key (kek) to freeing a victim from abuse, but it conveys so without coming across as promoting emotional dependency, or reinforcing gender stereotypes that damsels need a knight in shining armor to be saved. That’s why I like that Kanata was saved through the effort of the entire Little Busters – and Kanata herself, too – rather than just Riki alone. Bonus points that the idea of Riki conveying confessing to Kanata was deemed inconsequential in the end.

Also, shoutout to Haruka in this route. She did great. I’m so proud of her.

4.5/5 the raid-the-wedding-scene was so shounen I love it

[HeliosAlpha]

So it’s surprisingly difficult to find details on the more minor races and locations in The Neverending Story. There are 3 places that are referenced in Little Busters! Chapter 23 is called The City of the Old Emperors and details two of them: The city of the Old Emperors; and Basketville, the village of the Yskálnari. Chapter 25 then introduces the Minroud Mine.

Old Emperors - So in Fantastica(not Fantasia), humans from Earth have the ability to manifest their wishes through a magic amulet. Using the amulet costs a piece of your memory, and the amulet only works as long as you have memories of Earth. The Old Emperors are humans that got trapped in Fantastica and ended up forgetting all about themselves; they also get called the Know Nothings. They are just kinda zombies that do human-like activities on auto pilot.

“These people here used up all their memories. Without a past you can’t have a future. That’s why they don’t get older. Just look at them. Would you believe that some of them have been here a thousand years and more? But they stay just as they are. Nothing can change for them, because they themselves can’t change anymore.”

Yskálnari - Basketville is a community where everything is the same. All buildings, items, clothes, etc. are made from the same straw material. Its recidents, the Yskálnari, are all in agreement and always operate in groups. They are all conjoined mentally, and there’s no individuality. Below is what happens when a large crow grabs and eats one of them.

When the danger was past, the sailors emerged and resumed their song and dance, as though nothing had happened. Their harmony was undisturbed, and far from grieving, they didn’t waste so much as a word on the incident.
“Why should we grieve?” said one of them when Bastian inquired. “None of us is missing.”
With them the individual counted for nothing. No one was irreplaceable, because they drew no distinction between one man and another.

This is what Kanata refers to when she talks about students leaving and how it’s easier to leave when no one gets emotional about it.

Minroud Mine - When humans on Earth dream up something but forget it when they wake up, that dream has to go somewhere. Those dreams are manifested in the ground of Fantastica. Minroud is the place where Yor the blind miner digs up dreams from the depths. Dreams take the form of fragile, paper-thin pieces of isinglass.

Minroud is the namesake of the ZEN manga adaptation of Kanata’s route. I’m not sure if it’s mentioned anywhere else.

[BeanCurd]

Minroud Mine - When humans on Earth dream up something but forget it when they wake up, that dream has to go somewhere. Those dreams are manifested in the ground of Fantastica. Minroud is the place where Yor the blind miner digs up dreams from the depths. Dreams take the form of fragile, paper-thin pieces of isinglass.

I see, the word ‘Minroud’ was from Minroud Mine. I’ve been wondering about that before.

I remember Haruka mentioned the word Minroud.

If I remember it right, this scene is when Haruka and Riki were talking about how they first met, or something like that.

[HeliosAlpha]

Ok, I thought I’d heard it somewhere. I did a quick CTRL+F of the Haruka and Kanata routes, but nothing showed up.

[BeanCurd]

This was during the common route of Kanata’s route. It just so happen I have screenshots of these in my folder.

[HeliosAlpha]

Yeah, the files I searched are only the content after date goes away. It’s just that the whole script is divided into 350 text files.

I guess this shows that LB! refers to Minroud more as a place to find forgotten memories rather than forgotten dreams (minute difference). Like, the pictures Yor has dug up aren’t clear images. They’re very dreamlike, even making reference to Salvador Dali.

What these pictures represented it was hard to say. There were figures in weird disguise that seemed to be flying through the air in an enormous bird’s nest, donkeys in judge’s robes, clocks as limp as soft butter, dressmaker’s dummies standing in deserted, glaringly lighted squares.

The picture that Bastian finds is of his dad, whom he has forgotten at that point, frozen in a block of ice. The picture doesn’t bring back his memory of his dad, but it fills him with emotions and gives him purpose. He feels like ‘the man in the picture’ is screaming for Bastian to not leave him behind. (Bastian’s mom is dead, and he has no other family than his dad.)

[Pepe]

Alright so… time to get this bookclub back and rolling into action. I think one thing that has never been covered in the discussion so far and has probably been on everyone’s minds is: How the hell is Kanata even in this world? (and, by extension, what are her motives for being in this world)

I personally have my own thoughts on this, as I am sure many others have their own theories. However, I am going solely on memory for this post, so I am totally open to anyone challenging my memories (as if I haven’t fucked up misremembering stuff way too often as it is )

Anyway, to start off my theory, I would like to put down one fact. Fact: Kanata is not involved in the bus crash incident, nor is her life implied to be in any danger. That alone says that it may be impossible for her to have even been in the world. So far, the Little Busters dream world (and the only other dream world shown in the series) has been a construct of minds that wished to solve their regrets on the brink of death. Kanata does not fit that bill.

Where does that leave her, then? @EisenKoubu implied that she may be a construct of Haruka’s memories, but that is a bit too hard to swallow, especially in her route. In the Haruka route, that has more ground, as she seems quite one dimensional in that. But she exudes way too much personality in this one, personality that may not be known by Riki, the only observer at the time.

So allow me to posit my own theory: Kanata, in this route, is not simply a construct of Haruka’s memories; Kanata here is Haruka herself, controlled by what Haruka knows about her sister.

Trying to get evidence is a bit difficult for this but let me have an attempt at laying it on the table.

Point 1: We are only ever shown flashbacks and stories of Kanata that Haruka herself is aware of. (this might be the one I am probably wrong at) From what we see, all information about Kanata and her life shown in this route are event that, for some reason, also involve Haruka. Once Haruka moves out of the Futaki house, we no longer see much, if any, stories about Kanata’s life. This implies that what Kanata knows in this route is also limited by what Haruka also knows.

Point 2: The Kanata in this route and Haruka’s route are starkly different. It’ always bugged me how Kanata in Haruka’s route has always seemed so one-dimensional. She seemed like a stereotypical villain, doing odd things just to make Haruka spite her. If my theory is correct, this explains the sudden change in her personality; the Kanata in this route is the Kanata that Haruka accepts as not evil. Because in Haruka’s route, she could only see her as a one-dimensional villain. But once she learned from her route, she started to remember everything that happened between them, and started to remember what Kanata was really like.

Point 3: Haruka, in her own route, knows way too much. I refer, most specifically, to the bad ending of this route, where you choose Kanata-pretending-to-be-Haruka, driving Haruka to suicide. That isn’t something she would have known immediately, but the next thing we know, she loses her mind over it. It might be easy enough to chalk this to dream-world omniscience, but even the leader of the dream world himself, Kyousuke, needed a vessel (Lennon) to achieve this. And I’m pretty sure what happened in the nurse’s office stayed in the nurse’s office.

Those are my main points as to why I think Kanata in this route was actually Haruka donning Kanata’s identity. Haruka knew her well enough and accepted her true personality, enough to be able to interact with Riki as a completely different person. Which leaves one last mystery: her motive.

After Haruka solved her own regret, what other motive could she have to want to have Riki become aware of her sister’s problems? Well, exactly that; the fact that Kanata still has problems. She is still chained to the Futaki family, whether she like it or not. And that is something that Haruka herself could not battle on her own, especially considering her history with that family. Haruka wanted to save Kanata, and that alone was Haruka’s remaining regret, after solving her own, personal one.

Haruka invoked this route because she wanted to help her sister escape the struggles of being the Futaki family’s puppet. And because she needed the entire Little Busters’ help, she did it the best way she knew how: by tricking Riki. By having Riki learn from the Kanata route in the dream world, he would gain this additional strength and motivation to help Haruka save Kanata.

And we are lead to Wedding Busters, the culmination of this route. Not only is this a great finale, it is also proof that Haruka’s intents succeeded. She was able to convince Riki, through the dream world, that she needed to help her sister. It can be implied that the last choice in the story is her own doubt, wondering whether what she did to achieve this was the right thing. But Riki consoles her, and all is well.

So, that’s just my theory for now. Again, I would very much like this to be challenged, as I am not sure of all the details myself. Here’s hoping it can help bring more lively discussion as well~

(Obligatory HAH the Kanata you all loved was actually Haruka all along. We’re all Haruka fans!)8

[Phlebas]

Anyway, to start off my theory, I would like to put down one fact. Fact: Kanata is not involved in the bus crash incident, nor is her life implied to be in any danger. That alone says that it may be impossible for her to have even been in the world. So far, the Little Busters dream world (and the only other dream world shown in the series) has been a construct of minds that wished to solve their regrets on the brink of death. Kanata does not fit that bill.

That’s a nice theory you got there, would be a shame if something were to happen to it.

Just one word: Sasashigawa.

She’s not in the dream world on her route because she is in danger, but because she was pulled in by another who was and who shared a deep connection with her.

[BeanCurd]

I’ve been trying to understand this theory over and over again but I just can’t make up my mind out of it. It’s a possibility but kind of complicated for me. I can’t even accept the idea of ‘Kanata’ was a construct of Haruka’s memories, let alone ‘Kanata’ was Haruka all along. I can’t explain it but, it’s an interesting theory but it kinda doesn’t make sense at the same time?

I’ll try to address some points here as much as I can.

Fact: Kanata is not involved in the bus crash incident, nor is her life implied to be in any danger. That alone says that it may be impossible for her to have even been in the world. So far, the Little Busters dream world (and the only other dream world shown in the series) has been a construct of minds that wished to solve their regrets on the brink of death. Kanata does not fit that bill.

(Someone posted it ahead of me haha, anyways… I’ll just elaborate it I suppose.)

That might be the case but my theory is that Kanata’s consciousness was brought in the dream world due to her strong connections with Haruka. While indeed Kanata is not part of the construction of the world because her life wasn’t in danger, it may be possible Haruka, whether she intended to or not brought Kanata to the dream world or maybe Kanata herself, sensing the danger of her twin, subconsciously or consciously went to the dream world, probably the former. Or probably both happened. Let’s just say Kanata was an outsider and not part of creating the dream world, but she’s an integral part of Haruka’s regret.

I thought of this similar with Sasami’s route: Kuro brought Sasami in the dream world but Sasami’s life wasn’t even in danger at all, but still managed to enter the dream world due to her connection with Kuro. I thought of this slightly similar with the twin’s case, but of course humans are far more capable than cats so even they’re not on the same place, it’s a possibility that the consciousness could travel faraway.

Another reason why I thought of this theory is because of the drama cd.

Point 1: We are only ever shown flashbacks and stories of Kanata that Haruka herself is aware of.

Not really? I re-read this route a lot of times so I’m sure that’s not the case
I can point out some few scenes that Haruka was not there.

• The beginning of the flashback when Kanata was in school or something. It’s a very small scene, just implying she doesn’t have any friends.

• When she received the package that was addressed to her. Haruka was not there at that time.

• When the Kendo members congratulate her and inviting her to have fun/party, but Kanata refused their invitation.

• The final flashback when she finally meets the dad and mom for the first time. This was the time when Kanata was asking them a favor to take good care of Haruka

Another thing to point out is does Haruka knows the story Kanata told Riki about that girl she’s classmate with before or that certain boy confessed to her before? If yes, how? (Well I mean you can say they made that up but…)

Point 2: The Kanata in this route and Haruka’s route are starkly different

I get the idea but Kanata has to be that ‘evil witch’ to Haruka in Haruka’s route because she believes that was the right thing to do. But I’m sure others can see that there are some small scenes when Haruka was not there, she was toned down a bit. Even the part of the poster and the graffiti and the slip-up of Haruka’s name, there are small glimpses that she does indeed care for her sister.

But what about the Kanata in Kud’s route? This Kanata is relatively close to the Kanata of her own route. There was this certain kindness to her especially with Kud but still maintains her strict personality, usually when Riki is around. Riki comments that she’s not really a bad person, just very difficult to approach.

So the villain persona of Kanata was for Haruka in Haruka’s route alone, outside of that, she’s toned down a bit in front of Kud and even with Riki actually most of the time.

So the Kanata in the Kanata route still make sense but a more toned down than Kud’s route or Haruka’s route. It made sense for me because aside the she’s the main heroine of this route, I think she doesn’t need a reason to be that super strict villain like in Haruka’s route because it’s already over, for the most part of course. There are still some regrets left there and a wish that still needs to be fulfill that’s why this route exists.

Point 3: Haruka, in her own route, knows way too much.

To be honest, I don’t get it? Like how Haruka knows exactly you choose the fake Haruka immediately? I mean maybe she just saw them somewhere from the distance?

Though one interesting thing is that new bad end scene in Haruka’s route when you play with Haruka-who-is-actually-Kanata together with Strelka up until the infirmary scene is a bit similar to a certain scene when you choose the romantic route in Kanata’s route.

I think this route exists not just because of Haruka wish for it alone but Kanata as well. I can’t say the actual reasons but it’s on the top of my head (I’ll probably edit this once I word it out properly)

I have fun reading this theory but it’s just really difficult to wrap it in my head…

There’s one thing I want to left here. I don’t know why some people think there’s no bad end in Kanata’s route, but there is actually. It’s not that bad, but rather, a normal end?

I’ll just leave it here for the people who haven’t read it yet for convenience sake. (This made me actually think that this is the real Kanata)

[adeptArcanist]

So! I finished the route like right now and I don’t really have time to organize this into a full-blown route thoughts post (or, uh, read through the other posts and give them consideration yet, sorry!) But I kinda enjoyed trying to work out the timeline mid-route, so I kinda wanna jot this down somewhere before actually well-considered theories blow it out of the water.

So, to start with the obvious - the second-last scene clearly branches Haruka deciding to vanish and then waking up post-It’s Not Enough, and the last one has got to be the latest point in the timeline, since Riki was still at school in Sasami route. (come to think, does this mean the Little Busters spend the last half of Kyousuke’s last year of school split up? That’s kinda sad, haha…)

Add to that the fact that Kanata route has to directly follow Haruka route for Haruka to not have vanished - and it just making sense that it would, since it really feels like a “Haruka route part 2” - sort of like Kud’s alternate ending, maybe? - and we just have one last question: when is Haruka route?

I’m disregarding the fact that all of the girls are present in this consideration, because a) it’s an EX route, and b) c’mon, where’s the fun in that? However, I’m nonetheless of the opinion that canonically, the ending of this route places Haruka route as either the first, second, third, or possibly fourth route in the story. Haruka’s decision to leave the dream at the end, with the way it’s framed and dropped in an EX route and everything, feels like it ought to be the first person to leave; if she wasn’t, her making that choice would feel more like following the others, rather than forming an impetus herself. Ergo, I think the only routes that can precede her would have to be Rin1, Komari, and Saya. Saya I don’t know about since Kanata and Kyousuke seem to be dropping references to the events of her route here and there (which is honestly just weird, since these two routes can’t possibly happen concurrently), but the point stands that Rin1 and Komari don’t end with anybody leaving, while Saya is an interloper who doesn’t really affect the Busters apart from by pulling Riki into her orbit for a loop or so.

This has been the Adept Arcanist’s Completely Unedited Thoughts Hour! My deep apologies for the mess!

[emilevnp]

I’m slightly confused by the ending. Riki, Kanata, Haruka and the rest of the Little Busters tell the Futaki family to get lost when Kanata is about to get in their limo, but then she’s back with them for her arranged marriage and then the Little Busters show up to ruin it. Can someone explain to me why Kanata went back to the Futakis?

[BeanCurd]

Because Kanata was still chained up with the Futaki’s in real life. What happens in the limo scene stays in the dream world.

Someone said that when Kanata was about to go in their limo, it’s some sort of a metaphor saying that she was about to leave the dream world or something like that. I actually like this idea.

[Pik3rob]

To be honest, this was the weakest route of Little Busters!. I think the problem is that it doesn’t really feel like a route with a particular story in mind. It just feels like an excuse to explore more of Kanata’s backstory. The other routes at least had things happen in them that helped to personally explore the characters and create an emotional journey to go through. But with Kanata’s route, that doesn’t really exist. The best parts of it are the flashbacks where you see more of Kanata’s past and the role she plays in Haruka’s life. There isn’t much plot past that. This is especially apparent given what seemed like the climax of the route is Kanata’s whole arranged marriage thing, but that always felt like more of an afterthought given how quickly it’s resolved. The best stuff really is the stuff that connects her to Haruka, but when I look at the route as a whole, there isn’t any interesting core story or entertaining chemistry between her and Riki to justify it’s existence past giving Kanata more character development, which is a problem I don’t have with any of the other routes.

Someone said that when Kanata was about to go in their limo, it’s some sort of a metaphor saying that she was about to leave the dream world or something like that. I actually like this idea.

Kanata was never in the dream world though.

[BeanCurd]

Kanata was never in the dream world though.

Hm? How so?

[Pik3rob]

Hm? How so?

IIRC the people in the dream world are the Little Busters!. They’re the ones who created it, so they’re the ones able to leave it. Kanata isn’t part of the Little Busters and wasn’t in the Bus crash, so she’s not a character who can actively leave the dream world since she was never in it.

[Pepe]

I don’t think we’ve been able to prove or disprove that one. Because of one certain other EX character, that entire rule gets thrown out of the window.
(look at me, going against my own original theory now)

[Pik3rob]

We know that going inside the Dream World is linked to a living thing being on the verge of death. We have no indication that such an event happens to Kanata unless you make the argument that Kanata’s being on the verge of death moment is her future self being on the verge of death on the basis that she’ll die eventually like any other human. But I don’t think that such an argument would hold any water.