Been many years since I read the VN, but I remember my impression of her being the exact opposite of this. She wasn’t so much inspiring as something to look down upon, and she always felt very… fake… to me. Maybe it’s just the voice performance or something, but she always rubbed me the wrong way. I don’t think it was a malicious or even self-recognized sense of “fake”, but a sort of stubborn ignorance or maybe even just a desire to emote.
Don’t wanna say too much since I haven’t read it in so long and I really don’t wanna bog down the bookclub with negative junk, but I think it’s interesting that we had such different base interpretations of her.
Even if her trauma was the reason she developed that personality, I don’t think she would change much after getting over what happened to her. Even if she’s come to accept sad things instead of shutting them off, I believe she’d still face them with a smile.
She certainly is very naive in many aspects. Those aspects make her seem younger than she is, and I can see why people would feel that kind of behaviour was forced, but I feel she’s very genuine in that regard.
With her behaviour and way of thinking, the people she affected the most were the pure shonen hearts: Riki, Kyosuke and, in a different way, Rin are those who we know were touched by her words. The others mainly lovingly bullied her, but she still brought happiness to everyone.
I also didn’t dislike the VA. I know, her voice is borderline ear-piercing most times. I handed the headphones to my brother when Komari was about to enter Kojiro’s room, and his comment was “great, now I’m deaf”.
But I loved especially how in some sentences her voice didn’t go up at the end, but instead went down and became a bit faster. I’m not sure if I explained myself properly, but I think you know what I mean (totemo puraisuresu). She doesn’t do that in the few episodes of the anime I watched, unfortunately.
I also liked how her voice changed a bit after you enter her route: it becomes a little less GENKI and a little sweeter.
Now I’m scrolling and reading a bit of the above comments…
I think the reason she couldn’t get over the trauma even though it wasn’t the first time it had surfaced is that her family mostly agreed with her brother’s final wish, and didn’t want to make her feel sad. Also, even though she’s always talking with other girls, we learn that she never really had a close friend before joining the Little Busters.
Refrain thoughts:
I don’t have much to say here, but I wouldn’t like to believe Kojiro was just part of Kyosuke’s scheme. Seeing that Komari and Kojiro basically never really meet, couldn’t Kojiro be just a part of Komari’s personality, who was actually fighting to overcome the sadness? But then again, what girl has a grumpy old man side?
But then again, she worked quite a lot with old people.
EX scene thoughts:
Oh boy. For those who don’t know, Komari’s Ecstasy scene (that is, R18) only happens if you choose to pretend not to notice anything. Yes, Riki and Komari get intimate together only when she believes Riki is her brother and Riki accepts it. I mostly skipped over it (don’t like bad endings) and didn’t read much, but I personally believe there’s more to it emotionally than just incestuous depravity.
Real talk though, Yanase Natsumi is a great VA. While Komari’s voice is pretty hit-or-miss, it takes a great deal of skill to pull off that sort of whimsical flair in Komari’s voice. And for that, I respect her.
That’s pretty normal, right? The closer things move to an extreme, the more controversial they become. In Komari’s case, you could either admire her for maintaining that childlike naiveté and purity or look down on her for being unrealistic or ‘immature’. I guess it boils down to whether you’re willing to “buy into” certain attitudes, behaviors or ideals and that, in turn, depends heavily on one’s own personality and experiences.
To be honest, she wasn’t that much of an interesting character for me during the common route. Sure she was a fun character but she never really appealed to me too much.
Then things changed as I got into the actual parts of her route. On the surface she was a bright, happy girl who seemed to be almost untouched by sorrow but deep inside, she was actually burdened with the sad memories of her childhood. Especiallly :
This scene; it made me feel like her whole joyful nature was just a mask which she was wearing until now just to keep herself emotionally stable.
Due to this, I would have originally agreed with
but thinking back on it,
she is finding happiness in a lot of things and that’s a good thing but she is denying sadness completely in order not to break and this is not a good thing to do since you’re just avoiding reality completely which is a mix or rather a balance of the two emotions.
It is true that she did learn to accept sad events at the end of the route but she needed Riki’s help to do so and wouldn’t have actually managed on her own.
The bad end
Something I made it a habit to always check on. This bad end seems to be bright but if you pay close attention, it is actually really really really scary in its own way. Here’s why :
Notice how it’s sunny? It’s actually raining/pouring over there in reality. This was proof enough that Riki and Komari chose to deny reality. If this wasn’t proof enough, wait for number 3
I’ll never forget those eyes…
Is it really raining there? I only read some pieces of the bad end, because I need to prepare before facing it, but this reminds me of one of the scenes shortly after her breakdown, when it was raining buckets and Komari was just casually saying “it’s such nice weather today, isn’t it?”. It was already a powerful scene, but if Riki falls into that trap and becomes like that… it holds even more meaning now.
and they lived happily ever after. medetashi medetashi.
Refrain spoilers: a fake reality inside a fake reality, how much meta does it get?
Notice what’s missing? it’s the shine in her eyes, its a common trope used to reflect a characters mental state, in this case to further drive the point that she is denying reality.
I just felt it was worth properly pointing this out.
Alright so reading the route again, I still think this is the weakest route in the game. But I do love Komari She is adorable!
While I enjoyed the whole picture book and everything in the respect and even the relationship of her brother. The whole disappearance of him and her forgetting feels like it was trying so hard to be a KEY story but lacked all originality. Even on this read through it felt so forced and I honestly couldn’t really get any emotion that I usually feel in a KEY story. The part with the blood was just really out of place too, in retrospect is comes of comedic to me and it shouldn’t.
Not to mention the part where Riki is like, dead kitten, why is that sad? Not to mention if it were someone like Rin, she’d be really sad too. Something I know Riki could’ve related to that scene. For someone like me I’d be devastated, having just lost my own cat. His thought process seemed off for me. Though I appreciate he buried the poor thing.
As I did say, I liked the story book idea and Riki creating the story. I did love the scenes you get with her and the parfait, the star gazing, and the park was super sweet and fleshed out her side. How the trauma affected her becoming a blank state was appreciated too and contrasted so well to her normal persona.
When I was making my way through the route I made a tweet that her eyes looked “like a dead fishes’” which I find to be especially appropriate given that her memories are said to be held in a lake (deep water is commonly associated with memory in story telling). I would even make the leap as to say that Komari has become as one of those fish lost in the deep sea of memory, totally consumed by her trauma and her memory that she can never truly accept for what it is, Takuya’s death. She instead supplants Riki into his position. There’s a lot of parallel characters in this route, with Kojirou representing a ‘bad end Riki’ in this route, and Riki being in a similar position to Takuya, having to choose between presenting Komari with the truth of his circumstance or prolonging her delusions in the hope that she will be better equipped to deal with it later (spoilers: she won’t).
Also with Komari being very much associated with ‘the Sun’ (note the yellow name on the Batting Practice level-up screen, some very nice details on that splash screen) I like the idea that Komari is remembering herself as she looks down into the water, though unable to reach down where the light cannot touch. I also think that the Sun (Komari) being reflected in water (someone’s memory) is a very interesting little bag of motifs.
Komari is certainly trying to avoid looking too deeply into her past, trying to completely deny the existence of death in this world. There was a scene in the common route even, where Komari remembers having a goldfish, and no longer having said goldfish, but doesn’t remember what actually happened to it. Komari is truly a tragic character needing the help of those around her to pull her out into reality. In the bad end, Riki believes that he cannot help her, and, contrary to everything Komari has told him about trying new things and trying to bring happiness to others, selfishly focuses on himself and his own comfort. Right up until the very end.
^^^This combined with Riki’s comment about being only a short while too late to save the kitten in the rain gutter pretty much consolidates my theory about theory spoilers?
Theory Time
Riki causing something awful to happen to Rin, it seems that they’ve very deliberately chosen a kitten and with core clue about the overarching story being “Dreams are made up of bits and pieces of your memory, Riki” and rain being a motif associated with bad things (it’s in the OP, the characters have to cancel the batting practice when it rains, the dead cat, Komari’s triggering, the destroyed picture book) all of this points to Rin having something very bad happen to her while in the rain and Riki blames himself for not helping her. I’m still not ruling out the van or a rooftop as possible culprits:
I’ll admit it, when I first when through the common route, Komari didn’t interest me at all. Her voice was high pitched and grating, and she was something I had seen before in Ayu and Misuzu. That sort of character wore thin on me. Just like those two, however, that all changed once I reset the timeline again.
In the period between my readings of Mio’s route and Komari’s route, tragedy and misfortune struck my life like a paintbrush whips across the canvas. It turned out that Komari, this bright and innocent ball of sunshine was what I needed to disperse the clouds that rained so suddenly on my upturned chin. Like her, I too had lost a family member; one that helped raise me, and taught me the meaning of love. So as I read through this route, I felt Komari holding up my heart as Atlas held up the Earth. I remember repeating to myself that I would never give up hope; that life was always worth living and what I have yet to lose must always be cherished. That my memories may still be few, but I will go on to make many more, with the friends and family I have with me, with Key and the Kazoku Collective. This is what Key has taught me. This is what is only reinforced as I read through Little Busters.
I’m not sure if this is relevant to Komari’s route or not, but it was during her common route that I got the iconic photo op of all the Little Busters together.
Komari holds an optimistic and caring outlook on life, eager to help those around her and strive to make the world a better place. I simply cannot hate or even dislike anyone who pursues the path of altruism and self sacrifice. So many things she says strike me deep, less like a hammer and more like a rapier. “I’m an only child, so I may’ve been yearning for siblings for a long time," particularly. I always wonder if I would have been a good brother.
So, as her relationship with Riki develops, I wonder, is Riki stupid? This is a thing in Rin1 and Mio as well, where a heroine asks him out and/or clearly shows interest in him, but he seems incredibly apathetic to it. At least twice Komari says she loves him, and he responds in the most terse way possible. He helps her in the nursing home, watches shooting stars with her, and goes on lake adventures, but it was kind of cringeworthy how he went from an actual character to a nukige protagonist. It isn’t until the climax that he shapes up. Ominous rain approaches, they find a dead cat, and Komari’s Keyaids flare up.
(One: Kagayaku Kisetsu e general spoilers) So far, Little Busters seems to draw heavy inspiration from One; in Mio’s route, the nature of reality and the concept of receding into oblivion is explored, while Takuya’s death here in Komari’s route mirrors the death of Misao in One, causing Komari/Kouhei to repress their pasts. I love it. I am so glad to see parallels between Key’s contemporary works and their roots.
The message of this route is simple to me, and again one I wholeheartedly agree with: you should not run from reality. It must be faced, and sorrow must be dealt with. Life is at times painful, difficult, and will more often than not kick you when you are down. I’m sure all of us wanted to run away, hide, or keep our eyes locked to the floor, letting the cutting gales of struggle sweep past us so that we may taste the settled morning air untainted. This reminds me of (Tomoyo After spoilers)the main message of Tomoyo’s arc; where life is still something beautiful and worth experiencing no matter what grief may come. The message here is my favorite thing about Komari’s route, especially since at the time of this writing I must light with the torch of love this very message carved on the walls of my soul.
It seems the old trope of earning your happy ending is in play here. Riki giving up leads to perhaps the creepiest and most disturbing things I’ve ever seen in a Key novel. If you choose not to give up, however, Riki fights. He calls upon the help of Kurugaya and Rin, while receiving morale support from Kyousuke, Kengo, and Masato. He helps Komari up from the pit she’s in, with the unending and immaculate power of friendship being the rope.
Therefore, I can say that while the route itself wasn’t amazing or innovative by any of Key’s standards, I think of it like a meal I like. I know I’m going to enjoy it, and I’m not expecting anything else. Standing above all else is the message, and this is where Key succeeds. Again they wrap a meaningful, personal message in a good story.
Going into Little Busters, I followed my gut instinct that I would love it and that it would change my life, just as Key’s other novels have. So far, that still stands. The future is bright. I am in love, and I’ve only scratched the surface. I think this will be my favorite novel from Key. It was Air that gave me life, and Tomoyo After that taught me how to live. I wonder what Little Busters will continue to teach me. I, like Komari, have friends and family like Kaza beside me to help me face the harsh realities that await, so that I may see the clear skies beyond, and for that I am incredibly grateful.
It all started when Komari went off to an isolated place on her own and Riki followed her in secret, like a stalker…
It’s troublesome if other people find out about Komari’s favorite place, but the thoughts of driving Riki away never crosses her mind. She makes him an accomplice, sharing a secret, and explains him how to get in. She later gives him the screwdriver she uses to get onto the rooftop as a present. Komari loves chatting with people - and Riki sees her do just that a lot in their classroom. So it would make sense for her to want to chat with someone at her favorite place.
Two birds with one stone.
Not to point out the obvious, but just in case some people didn’t catch on:
Komari’s favorite place is the roof because a roof (to be precise, the hospital roof) is where she used to play with her Onii-chan. As chance would have it, it was a forbidden area in the hospital, too.
It could be said that almost every part of Komari’s current personality was shaped by Takuya in one way or another.
Takuya knew he would have a short life. And yet, he spent whatever time he could with Komari. Takuya always cared more about Komari than himself. And so, Komari always helps people out or tries to make them happy, even if it’s to her own detriment.
Pretending like bad things didn’t happen is pretty obvious.
She also picked up making picture books as a hobby, just like Takuya.
This doesn’t look like much, but let me ask you guys: Which parts of Komari’s personality do you think were NOT influenced by Takuya?
Her sweet tooth is linked to her childish personality, but I’m not sure if we can say it’s been influenced by Takuya.
Her airheadedness is something she developed on her own too.
She’s very extrovert, and while it can be seen as close to her desire to help others, it might be something not related to Takuya.
Just a thought, but if we don’t count the money spent on sweets and the time she (happily) spends helping others, I don’t think there’s any detriment to her. She even tells Kyousuke “Don’t make yourself unhappy” when he was about to donate a full Yukichi to her cause.
She gives Riki her screwdriver as a present so that he can enter the rooftop on his own. The next day, she forgot her spare screwdriver and couldn’t get onto the rooftop without Riki, which he remarks as her kindness backfiring at her.
These things keep happening. She lends Riki her book and notebook when he forgets his, even though she also needs them for class. She gets called on and self-destructs.
She gets Donuts as a thank-you for doing volunteer work and shares them with the original busters.
Eating with the little busters in the cafeteria, she gives Kengo some pieces of her own cutlet when Masato steals his, secretly. When pointed out, she tells not to mind it and when Kengo and Masato start fighting over it, she’d rather give out her cutlet to make peace.
Riki suddenly wakes her up as she’s sleeping on the roof and even though she hits her head twice, the first thing she asks is if Riki is ok.
She helps completely unrelated people carry books for reasons she doesn’t even remember. When Riki helps her, she says she wants to compensate him for it.
Just to name some instances. Sometimes, it ends with Komari losing out, sometimes, she doesn’t expect a compensation for helping others, but insists on compensating those who help her.
There’s a scene on May 28th where Riki succumbs to Narcolepsy when he and Komari are on the roof. He ends up falling on top of Komari and immobilizing her until he wakes back up.
Now, we all know Riki couldn’t help it, but at that time, Komari was completely unaware of his narcolepsy. For different reasons, this is an uncomfortable situation for her. A male ends up pinning her to the ground for an hour, but she’s so worried about him that she forgot how embarassing a situation it was until it’s pointed out.
Normally, and especially with a tsundere heroine involved, Riki would probably get hit and called a pervert a few times, not because said heroine makes a logical conclusion, but simply as her way of dealing with the embarassment. Komari is super embarassed, but she does none of that.
But what I find even more remarkable is what comes next:
Komari finds it necessary to point out she did not take advantage of him while he was unconscious. It sounds funny here, but if their roles were reversed, it may have become necessary for Riki to clarify the same thing and clear himself of any suspicion, which is why I find it an admirable thing to do on her part.
I’ll admit that I didn’t notice this. It is such a good touch. I think Riki and Komari have such a nice and natural (if one-sided at first) dynamic that even before they started “dating”, they were considerate of each other. Komari was more forward than I ever expected her to be and that’s refreshing to see from a Key heroine. Makes me excited for Kurugaya.
The only person Riki is ever straightforward with in a relationship is Kyousuke, anyway. The rest of the girls HAVE to take initiatives otherwise the relationships would never get anywhere.
She is adorable!
