CD: The notebook/story/dwarfs are discussed in little bits throughout the VN. The whole thing is a huge symbol of the Little Busters - the people themselves, the story, and the transcendent being that is the Little Busters. They really could have done a better job with focusing on these more so there was more effect when Rin found the notebook in Refrain, because it could have meant so much more to me. But anyways, its a great ānot a spoiler unless you know its a spoilerā, and has a bunch of meaning, so its fitting for the OST cover.
Game cover: That scene is pretty much a secondary climax to the whole story (at least it was supposed to be). And it perfect for the cover since its another ānot a spoiler unless you know its a spoiler.ā So if youāve read the VN, you see the cover and remember the scene and remember the meaning behind it; and if you havenāt read the VN, it looks like a scene that might be important, but it all doesnāt reveal anything at all.
Komariās importance is probably the biggest screw up of the entire VN IMO. Its very clear to me that the scene with her and Rin on the rooftop was supposed to be very meaningful, and that she was supposed to be Rinās best friend. But they didnāt really have much build-up with Rin or Komari previous to that scene to show how they had become friends and how Komari had helped Rin.
I would say that her intended importance, though, was to be the one who truly helped Rin to become strong, and to be able to live on when the āWorld Where Nothing Happenedā collapsed.
Komari is indeed an important character to the whole Little Busters world. She is to Rin as Kyousuke, Masato, and Kengo are to Riki. There was a reason why she didnāt leave even after her route was finished because she wanted to be there to keep supporting Rin. I agree with @yerian98 that they werenāt able to make it as meaningful as it should have been. While I did get the point, it still didnāt strike me as emotionally as the scene with the Boys did
I think itās mostly because Komari is just a way better heroine than Rin in every aspect, including looks and wardrobe. Also, Komari is the āhealingā type, with an aura of kindness, while Rin is the feisty, childish type, so Komari is kind of more fitting to represent key.
Story-wise, she simply stands out due to her role as Rinās best friend.
ā¦I really want to disagree with youā¦ but all youāve done is state an opinion with no evidence so thereās nothing to argue about.
I will say though that I donāt think you can say that any one girl is more fitting to represent Key, or any single character for that matter. Maybe when only Kanon and AIR existed you could say just Ayu or just Misuzu represents Key, but ever since CLANNAD I donāt think its possible anymore.
Not only has Key always focused on groups of people within VNs since then, but it also feels very wrong to choose one VN to represent all of Key. Think about it. If you see Ayu or Misuzu at all in marketing these days its almost always with the other and Nagisa. You probably wonāt see Nagisa without Tomoya or the other main CLANNAD heroines. You never see the Little Busters separate, or Rin without Komari or Riki. Key no longer has, if it ever did have, just one emotion, personality, etc. associated with it.
This is my opinion of Komari and her route before reading Refrain. It is subject to change.
Komari is the very definition of a moe character: short, cute, always happy and innocent. She loves sweets, and does act like a little girl sometimes. But sheās also very insightful and helpful, and sheās very friendly. Sheās also quite clumsy. All this combines into the most moe girl Iāve seen in a Key game, even more moe than Ayu. While this does make her different enough from Kud, I kind of wish they were more different. But enough of that. Time to talk about her route.
Compared to Kudās route, the pacing and romance in this story is quite slow, and it did get boring at times. But the strangest thing about this route is how extremely similar it is to Kanon. Thereās a huge central theme of dreams, memories (particularly bad ones), and thereās even a Sayuri dump in the middle of it. Almost everything in this route seems like it was borrowed by something else. Itās a very safe story. But that doesnāt mean it wasnāt enjoyable. Oh, heck no. This route is the most immersive and heartbreaking I have read so far. Sure, it didnāt make me cry, but then again, nothing really does. It doesnāt just copy Kanon, it exceeds it. Thatās an impressive feat in my book.
One thing about Komari, which I learned from the LB short stories, is that sheās self aware. Sheās not like other ditzy characters who make mistakes and see nothing wrong with them; she makes mistakes and tells herself sheās being stupid againā¦ Kinda sad, yeah, but it adds a lot more character depth to her
Moe is a very subjective thing I wouldnāt consider Komari as most moe, for example. And many others would flock to Kud for that, I think.
Oooh that puts very well into words what I feel about this route. It is a very traditional Key route, and I think, one way or another, the writers try to put one in in all of their works. Kinda like Shizuruās route in Rewrite.
This is one thing that I have always appreciated about Key. They seem to understand that you donāt have to be the main route in the story to be a good route. Yes Refrain is amazing but that doesnāt mean that they put any less work into Haruka or Mioās routes which makes it seem like less of a slog dredging through the common and side routes to reach the main.
There is a VN called G Senjou no Maou that I love (probably partially because it was my first VN), but all of the payoff in G Senjou comes in Haruās route (the main heroine). The other routes at times feel like after thoughts, almost like they are there just to take up space and extend the VN. They arenāt bad, but you can tell that they same amount of effort given to Haru wasnāt given to the rest of the heroines.
So I have only seen Refrain in itās anime adaptation so Iām not sure if Refrain in the visual novel clears this up so forgive me if it does, but is Komari aware of the secret of the world? If she is aware, (which I believe she is because she drew the picture books and during the scene with Riki where they are watching shooting stars she gets sad when she sees the 8 shooting stars) then she must be aware that the Little Busters are going to die in the bus crash. But if she knows they are going to die doesnāt this create a plot hole in her story arc because wouldnāt she already be thrown into a state of despair much earlier than when she finds the dead kitten? But if she is not aware of the secret of the world then how does she know the significance of the 8 shooting stars she sees and the picture book of the dwarves sheās drawing??
This very well could have happened in previous loops. We donāt know what loop the story actually starts at, there were likely ones early on where it was more chaotic and people were getting to grips with the world. Komari probably was in despair many times, but managed to recover from that despair and manage to set her mind away from that. In the route itself, her despair is likely very much amplified by it not only making her remember her dead brother, but making her remember that most of the little busters are going to die too.
@Bonecuss and @Misuzu: This is probably more of a Refrain discussion, but hereās something I dug up that I wrote down awhile ago that has relevance to this topic:
I think it would make sense if the first time you, as the reader, go through was not the first time for the characters. In Kyousukeās chapter of Refrain, he says he cant count the number of times itās repeated, and while Iāve never experienced such thing, I wouldnt think that 7 times (he thinks this at the beginning of Rin2 IIRC) would be so many that you would lose count. This would also allow time for Kyousuke to realize what all the best ways to strengthen Riki and Rin would be (āof course it had to be funā) and to realize who else had created the world.
Of course then, Komari must have found out at some point, or her scene with Rin never would have happened. Maybe Kyousuke told her at some point because he noticed what good friends she was with Rin, and wanted to use her towards his goal of strengthening Riki and Rin? And then of course Komari also had her second wish, insert star symbolism, which was ironically similar to Rikiās wish, to preserve Rinās smile.
I think the thing is even if she becomes aware of death, she might not have been triggered. From her route, the only thing we can confirm is that seeing something dead is what triggers her mental breakdown. I would think that the mere thought of death causing her to break down would cause her to be quite ineffective in school, because there are plenty mentions of death in history or literature, and we see that to not be the case.
Thus, in Refrain, she may be aware that they are going to die but she hasnāt witnessed said death yet. This would mean that she hasnāt been triggered by it yet, and such, she wouldnāt suffer a mental breakdown.
Actually I just realized a glaring inconsistency. In Komariās route, if you get the bad end, she doesnāt fully recover yet from her breakdown. However, when you start a new game from that bad end, Komari is back to normal. This goes against the whole idea of Rin2 and Refrain, where Rinās state of mind at the end of Rin2 carries over to Refrain. No such thing happened in Komariās route if you reset. Could be just something the writers neglected, or it could mean more about Komariās state of mind
(Refrain) Ah, thatās because the world starts to break at the end of Rin2. Kyousuke (and Kengo for that matter) thinks itās completely his fault for pushing Rin and Riki too far. And he realizes its happening as soon as Riki and Rin run away, as evidenced by his comment we hear during Episode: Kyousuke about how heās never seen the gears of the world so messed up before. I have personally begun to wonder if it wasnt completely his fault, and part of it was the fact that the world was already starting to break from the dreamers (as Taka calls them) having their regrets removed and no longer having control over the world.
Refrain Spoilers Iām not entirely sure we can assume that Kyousuke resets the entire world after a bad end. I could easily see the āin-universeā timeline being that if Riki reaches a bad end, Kyousuke just resets the world to a point where it can still be averted. I think the anime made it seem that way too. In Rin2ās case, that was just an impossibility.
Okay, so I was told that Komariās bad ending was almost as bad as Harukaās, and since I hadnāt experienced Komariās bad end yet, I decided to test that for myself.
After reading it, I was rather disappointed.
I donāt think Komariās bad ending is all that bad. I mean, itās bad because nothing is resolved and the characters donāt grow, but itās not as emotionally crushing as Harukaās bad ending.
The real kicker is in EX. They thought it was a good idea to put the sex scene right when you make the wrong choice in the end. Riki basically rapes the emotionally broken Komari. Reading that thing is something I wouldnāt wish on my worst enemy.
( Ķ”Ā° ĶŹ Ķ”Ā°)
I wouldnāt consider Komari as most moe, for example. And many others would flock to Kud for that, I think.
