While other heroines have to deal with personal problems, the problems Kud is faced with are of a national scale. And due to her mother’s influence, the part about becoming a useful gear for the world, Kud feels responsible for things that are way beyond her power to change in any way.
When her country is facing a crisis, Kud feels the obligation to return and be with her family.
I remember how I felt back then. By how the story was going, I knew telling her to stay was probably the wrong answer. But I put myself in Riki’s shoes and quickly concluded that I couldn’t possibly let this girl go to such a dangerous place. At that moment, I simply couldn’t choose otherwise. So I just hoped my hunch was off…
The bad ending then was a huge shock. Not only the last two scenes, but also the ones leading up to them where you just watch Kud get taken apart by feelings of guilt. I felt guilty for doing something so terrible to her and cursed the fact that I only had cruel options to choose from.
While logically, sending Kud to her death made little sense, it was important for her character development. She felt this was something she had to face. That she owed it to her mother, whom she had previously run away from.
Curiously enough, there is one character who actually supports the option of letting Kud return, namely Kanata. She insists that it’s better to regret doing something, than to regret not doing it. I think it’s important to have a character like that around, even though her scenes can only be viewed under certain conditions. I’m assuming that Kanata wants for Kud to stick to her ideals, even if it means risking her life.
But here’s the problem: The responsibility Kud feels is self-destructive. She considers herself useless and thinks she has to do something. That she owes it to her mother and the world. That she needs to be punished.
There are several references to Laika. By Kud herself, and by Kanata.
Laika, also called Kudryavka, got chained up and sent into space to die there horribly, all alone. But the project itself brought glory to her nation.
Kud thinks a useless gear like her, someone who failed to become a cosmonaut, is a fitting sacrifice. But a sacrifice for what?
The insurgents in Tevua are represented by a former Colleague of Kud’s mother. A woman who was voiced by a russian native speaker in the anime (I’m impressed they decided to find one). Someone who lost her home due to global warming, blaming the space project for it because the funding was redirected to it. She calls Kud “The fake Laika.” and “The failure that ran away after all that money was squandered on her…” She refuses to believe that Kud is innocent and insists that someone needs to take responsibility for the catastrophe. That is what the masses demand.
That’s right. The people need someone to blame. In a desperate situation, they turn to their deities and hope for a miracle, offering up a live sacrifice. A ridiculous reasoning that reminds us of the message of a certain other LB route.
As Kud comments in the cave scene, “This is the only way to make everyone accept… the irrational. They can’t come to terms with how much they’ve lost. Hence, they pray to God.”
Kud is about to die. But she thinks that’s fine. That she deserves it. That this is her role. The actual problem is not that she is about to die, but that she has accepted it as the right thing. Even though she doesn’t want to die. Even though she wants to be by Riki’s side. And Riki convinced her to abide by her wishes, not by what she believes to be her role. Thus, she shatters the “useless gear”.
This route’s message is to not blame oneself. There are things beyond one’s control they must not feel responsible for. One’s role is decided by oneself, not by others.
It ties in with the message of another girl’s route, Namely Haruka’s, which is “To not blame others.”
The act of assigning blame itself is fruitless. Rather than burdening yourself with the past, you must move on.
In the epilogue, we find out that Kud had mistaken her mother’s words. Her mother did not mean to tell her to become a “useful gear” to the world that is indifferent to her as an individual. She should become a kind of gear she wants to be, for the things or people that are precious to her.
