Little Busters! - Kudryavka Noumi Route & Character Discussion

Key Discussion
#66

In Kud’s case, it’s more of an optimistic worldview than an outright denial of all malice in the world.

In her route, Kud faced what could be malice two times.
The first one was during her route, when people in school were, well, making fun of her. She never really held it against them because she thought it’s natural for her to be made fun of, and told “the tale of the bat”. Basically, she’s fine with being treated differently as long as it ensures peace.
The second time was when her countrymen went crazy and put her in chains in a cave in order to offer her up as a sacrifice to appease god(?) - which she also didn’t hate them for, again, thinking it would give her a meaningful role.

Now in order to interpret that line correctly, we need some additional information. While you’re at it, @Rincchi could you tell us at what point Kud said that? This timing should be part of what determines this line’s full meaning.

2 Likes
#67

It’s pretty early in Kud’s route, before the exam I believe, when people are making fun of her for being a funny foreigner. Here’s the context, if you want.

// <1662> A couple of girls who were apparently from another class giggled to each other as they spotted Kud.
// <1662> クドに気がつくと、他のクラスの生徒だろうか、彼女たちは小さく笑いあって歩いていった。
<1663> \res{1343}
// <1663> {Riki} (Kud’s kind of a celebrity here.)
// <1663> {理樹}（クドはちょっとした有名人だからなぁ）
<1664> \res{1344}
// <1664> I was sure she stood out in the school and in the dorm alike.
// <1664> 校内でも寮でもクドは目立つことだろう。
<1665> \res{1345}
// <1665> {3rd Year Girl 1} “Hey, there she is.”
// <1665> {三年女子１}「あ、いるいる」
<1666> \res{1346}
// <1666> {3rd Year Girl 2} “Oh my god～, she really is eating with chopsticks.”
// <1666> {三年女子２}「ほんとだぁ～、お箸で食べてるー」
<1667> \res{1347}
// <1667> {3rd Year Girl 1} “Told ya. And I saw her making a kombu dish the other day.”
// <1667> {三年女子１}「でしょ。それでこの子ったらこないだ昆布の煮染作ってたしねー」
<1668> \res{1348}
// <1668> {3rd Year Girl 3} “In the cafeteria kitchen?”
// <1668> {三年女子３}「食堂で？」
<1669> \res{1349}
// <1669> {3rd Year Girl 1} “Yeah. She was even wearing a chef’s bandana on her head. It was super fun to watch.”
// <1669> {三年女子１}「そうそう。もう三角巾使っててほんと面白いのー」
<1670> \res{1350}
// <1670> {Kud} “…?”
// <1670> {クド}「……？」
<1671> \res{1351}
// <1671> Kud eventually noticed those girls and looked up.
// <1671> 周りが騒がしいのにクドはようやく気がついたのか、顔を上げた。
<1672> \res{1352}
// <1672> {Kud} “Um, can I do something for you?”
// <1672> {クド}「あの、何かご用でしょうか？」
<1673> \res{1353}
// <1673> Before I could break in on them, the third years continued the conversation.
// <1673> 僕が口を挟もうとする前に、三年生のひとたちはクドを覗き込むようにしながら会話を浴びせる。
<1674> \res{1354}
// <1674> {3rd Year Girl 2} “Haro-.”
// <1674> {三年女子２}「はい、ハロー」
<1675> \res{1355}
// <1675> {Kud} “Ha, haro-. Um, well.”
// <1675> {クド}「は、はろー、です、あの？」
<1676> \res{1356}
// <1676> The three girls got excited upon discovering that her pronunciation wasn’t very good.
// <1676> わぁ棒読み、ほんとだねー、と台詞が降ってくる。
<1677> \res{1357}
// <1677> I noticed Kud’s right hand shaking ever so slightly.
// <1677> その度にクドの箸を持つ右手が微かに震えた。
<1678> \res{1358}
// <1678> {3rd Year Girl 2} “Your Japanese is good. Where did you learn it?”
// <1678> {三年女子２}「日本語上手いねー。どこで習ったの？」
<1679> \res{1359}
// <1679> {Kud} “Well, um, I didn’t really…”
// <1679> {クド}「え、えっと、その…習ったというか…」
<1680> \res{1360}
// <1680> {3rd Year Girl 3} “You like Japanese dishes? Look, she’s eating hijiki. You like it?”
// <1680> {三年女子３}「和食好きなの？ わ、ひじき選んでるこの子。ひじき好き？」
<1681> \res{1361}
// <1681> {Kud} “Um, I, er…”
// <1681> {クド}「え、と、好きというか…」
<1682> \res{1362}
// <1682> {3rd Year Girl 1} “Your hair will turn black if you eat that.”
// <1682> {三年女子１}「そんなの食べてると黒髪になっちゃうよ」
<1683> \res{1363}
// <1683> {3rd Year Girl 2} “What? That’d be no fun. You gotta stop eating that.”
// <1683> {三年女子２}「えー、そうなったら面白くなくなっちゃうじゃない、食べるのやめなよぉ」
<1684> \res{1364}
// <1684> Kud grew increasingly embarrassed until she finally blushed and cast her eyes down.
// <1684> クドは三年生たちを見上げていたが、そのうち真っ赤になって俯いてしまった。
<1685> \res{1365}
// <1685> {Riki} “Hey, you girls…”
// <1685> {理樹}「あの、それぐらいにして」
<1686> \res{1366}
// <1686> It was just when I opened my mouth.
// <1686> 僕が口を開き掛けたときだった。
<1687> \res{1367}
// <1687> {Kyousuke} “Noumi, what’s going on?”
// <1687> {恭介}「能美、どうした」
<1688> \res{1368}
// <1688> {Riki} “Kyousuke.”
// <1688> {理樹}「恭介」
<1689> \res{1369}
// <1689> Kyousuke showed up with a juice carton in his hand.
// <1689> 紙パックを手に持った恭介の姿があった。
<1690> \res{1370}
// <1690> The three girls were taken aback by his sudden appearance.
// <1690> 三年生たちはいきなり現われた恭介にびっくりしている。
<1691> \res{1371}
// <1691> {Kyousuke} “Hm?”
// <1691> {恭介}「ん？」
<1692> \res{1372}
// <1692> As Kyousuke looked at the girls, they blushed for some reason and left in a hurry.
// <1692> 恭介が視線を向けると、三年生たちはなぜか頬を染めてそそくさと立ち去った。
<1693> \res{1373}
// <1693> {Riki} “Thanks, Kyousuke.”
// <1693> {理樹}「ありがと、恭介」
<1694> \res{1374}
// <1694> {Kyousuke} “…Hm, thanks for what?”
// <1694> {恭介}「…なんのことだ？」
<1695> \res{1375}
// <1695> {Riki} “If you don’t know, it’s okay… Thanks a lot, anyway.”
// <1695> {理樹}「いや、わかんなくてもいいよ…とにかくありがとう」
<1696> \res{1376}
// <1696> He gave a nod, sucking juice through the straw.
// <1696> 恭介はストローを咥え、頷く。
<1697> \res{1377}
// <1697> What he was drinking today was… fruit milk.
// <1697> 今日は…フルーツ牛乳だった。
<1698> \res{1378}
// <1698> {Riki} “Kud.”
// <1698> {理樹}「クド」
<1699> \res{1379}
// <1699> {Riki} “They are gone.”
// <1699> {理樹}「もう行ったよ、あのひとたち」
<1700> \res{1380}
// <1700> I said, suppressing the anger welling up out of somewhere deep within me.
// <1700> 僕はどこからか来る怒気をなんとかなだめながら言う。
<1701> \res{1381}
// <1701> {Kud} “Um, thank you, Riki.”
// <1701> {クド}「えと、どうもです、リキ」
<1702> \res{1382}
// <1702> Kud set down her chopsticks, which she had unconsciously been gripping tightly in her right hand, on the table.
// <1702> クドは握りしめていた箸を今気がついたかのように、指から離した。
<1703> \res{1383}
// <1703> She covered the hand which had been clasped in a tight fist with her other one.
// <1703> そのままぎゅ、と固めた右の拳を、左手で覆った。
<1704> \res{1384}
// <1704> {Kud} “I was surprised a little.”
// <1704> {クド}「ちょっと、びっくりしました」
<1705> \res{1403}
// <1705> {Kud} “Ahaha.”
// <1705> {クド}「あはは」
<1706> \res{1386}
// <1706> {Riki} “Kud, you…”
// <1706> {理樹}「クド…」
<1707> \res{1387}
// <1707> She looked at the food on her tray and let out a sigh.
// <1707> クドはトレイの上を見て、それからため息をついた。
<1708> \res{1388}
// <1708> She then unclenched the fist and picked up her chopsticks to resume eating.
// <1708> 握っていた手を開いて、再び箸を綺麗な形で握ると、食べ始める。
<1709> \res{1389}
// <1709> She didn’t speak again until she finished her lunch.
// <1709> クドは食べ終わるまで、ずっと無言だった。
<1710> \res{1390}
// <1710> {Kud} “I know people mean no offense.”
// <1710> {クド}「悪気はないのです」
<1711> \res{1391}
// <1711> She suddenly began to talk as we were waiting in line to return the trays and plates.
// <1711> 食べ終わった食器とトレイを洗い場へ返すためにクドと並んでいると、不意に台詞が聞こえた。
<1712> \res{1392}
// <1712> {Kud} “I know they mean no offense whatsoever.”
// <1712> {クド}「別に悪気はないのです」
<1713> \res{1393}
// <1713> She repeated the same line.
// <1713> クドは繰り返した。
<1714> \res{1394}
// <1714> {Kud} “Anyone would want to talk about it when they stumble upon something unusual and funny.”
// <1714> {クド}「誰だって珍しくてヘンなモノを見つけたら、話のネタにしたくなるものです」
<1715> \res{1395}
// <1715> {Kud} “That’s just the way it is.”
// <1715> {クド}「そういう、ものです」
<1716> \res{1396}
// <1716> {Riki} “…What are you getting at?”
// <1716> {理樹}「…だから？」
<1717> \res{1397}
// <1717> {Kud} “…I mean, you don’t have to be mad about it.”
// <1717> {クド}「…だから、リキが怒る必要はないのですよ」
<1718> \res{1398}
// <1718> She said that with her usual everyday smile.
// <1718> クドはいつものように笑顔で言う。
<1719> \res{1399}
// <1719> {Kud} “And those girls we just met, they had no bad intentions either.”

#68

To get this out of the way first, Kud is technically not wrong about this cafeteria scene. Those third year girls aren’t evil, they’re just stupid. They’re not making fun of Kud cause they want to see her suffer (it’s not like they’re jelly cause she’s eating with Riki). They’re just having fun while either not realizing they’re hurting Kud or they simply don’t care. Her suffering is not their goal. It’s a byproduct.

Okay, so the line originated from early in the route, before Kud’s character development happened. In this case, her belief is most likely part of her naiveté, the same line of thinking as “it’s fine for me to suffer, because I’m weird.” Kud’s route is all about discarding that line of thought that’s tied to her self-deprecation.

At the end of her route, Kud never adresses the question of whether or not the people who hurt her are malicious or generally bad. So we don’t actually know what she thinks about it. In the first place, her route was never about other people. It was all about herself and her personal image of herself. It was about forgiving herself and (re)gaining her self-worth.

4 Likes
#69

Well it’s the moment for this, let’s see. Here is where the magic begins.

Kud is a character “impossible to hate” with many different “likeable characteristics” , she’s a foreign, clumsy energetic, loli with bad english and really friendly, yeah nothing special or uncommon, well she is your average character, nothing else to add, let’s go with the route.

She has some troubles at school, so the busters start studying together in order to help her with her difficulties and of course help Haruka and Masato as well. Then the test are finished and Kud passed them luckily and by this time she and Riki develop their relationship and had to deal with bullying related to Kud being not Japanese.

Their bond get stronger after spending more time together and doing some kind of ritual until Kud receives a letter related with her mother. During the route Kud explained how she had been living visiting different countries together with her grandfather and the relationship with her mother, of course mentioning their jobs and some details. At this point things starts to get weird, since Kud had the chance to go with her mother, but the decision is up to you.

If you decided to stay with her, she will get traumatized and if you let her free things will not get better. In both situations Kud’s hometown is in riot and a crisis is taking place, Kud’s mother and her organization is taking all the blame. The citizens will make everybody pay the consecuences meanwhile back in Japan, Riki does not know what will happen, neither what he can do about; since their communication had been having a lot of troubles.

So Riki at the end of the day could save Kud and the 2 get back together, yeah really anticlimactic.

Let’s see the route had some good points, but yeah in the end everything is meaningless. The bad end looks way better than the good one, Kud’s bullying problem isn’t solved exactly, but she’s so good that she doesn’t care, ok let’s move on. Due to her personality she asked you about what she should do, ah well lets pass that but logically Riki should be the one accepting her decision to go or not. Then the moment she’s gone, she realized she had made a huge mistake and yeah she should have taken the bad end instead. Then of course giving her situation she try everything she could and fail, so she just decided to cry for Riki who magically saved her, yeah what a mess.

Do not misunderstand me, the problem was kinda ok, the route was not that bad neither memorable, but yeah everything ends good and happy, well not exactly but you get what I’m saying. Is good to face real problems, but if you’re not going to have a good resolution then why did you put them in the first place. Of course I’m not saying that the problem has a realistic solution, it was impossible the only outcome could have been Kud’s death. However, we get the happy ending, yeah this route was a downfall , could it have been better ? Maybe I’m not that sure, but yeah It was bad.

Thank you, very much

#70

shrug

While I’ve grown more appreciative of Komari’s route over time I still don’t know what I’ll be thinking of Kud’s route when we get to it. I’ve never been the biggest fan of Kud, though I also don’t dislike her and would totally read/watch Kud Wafter if I could. Really, I have no idea if this route will trigger any sort of response from me. Worst case scenario it’ll just be another shrug. We shall see.

I am interested in seeing what Aspi teased, and also the new ending that this route gets post-Refrain in this version. So I guess that’s some things to look forward to =P

1 Like
#71

I analyze real people and characters very differently. If Kud existed in real life, we’d probably be best friends because of her interests and I’d completely overlook all of her quirks and verbal ticks or whatever.

However, as a character, she is for some reason very annoying to me. I think the reason for this is that she has an “outer” personality that is extremely childish, while she also has an extremely appealing (at least to me) “inner” personality. During common route and a fair bit of her route, she’s almost exclusively only showing this “outer” personality that I can’t cope with. It’s not that I hate her accent or that she is hard to understand. The reason why I complain about “na no desu” is that most of the time it’s used as an exclamation, and I find it childish to be using exclamations everywhere. Now, if that was just a verbal quirk but she was actually not meaning to be euphroric about pretty much anything, I wouldn’t mind, the same way that characters with verbal ticks like Misuzu don’t bother me at all.

So to clear it up, I’m not complaining about Kud for being unable to speak a language as a philologist would. I’m ultimately complaining about her rather childish “outer” personality.

4 Likes
#72

Writing this without any knowledge of what happens after Refrain, so…

I actually quite like this route even though the first half is in a way rather “mundane” i.e. exams and budding romance I found it all quite sweet ( I can’t believe I just used that word!). I like Kud in a kind of little sister or “vulnerable person that needs to be protected” way, but I wasn’t bothered by the romance seeming plot driven or somesuch. The further on into the second half I was finding it harder to rationalise quite what was going on - apart from the all too obvious happy ending.

I did note that the bad ending seemed in many ways a more logical choice, so for the moment I shall consider it more as allegory than literal as the good ending just seems too convenient (?) and yes a little anticlimactic.

There is one thing I’d like to throw out here, and that is whether this line from the epilogue is really the crux of the story as far as Riki is concerned… (no doubt I’ll be shown to be massively wrong, but anyway)

important copy
important copy.jpg720×155 23.2 KB

2 Likes
#73

“I washed the world of tomorrow in which that was showing a peace sign!!” :earth_americas::v:t2:

Finished Kud’s route a few minutes ago.

Honestly thought of her as an overly popular character/ mascot, but now I have found a new found respect for our beloved Kuu-chan. It invoked a more darker side torward the end, making it kind of hard to watch. It really separates it from the games other routes so far.

At times her voice was annoying, but its just cause I haven’t gotten used to it like the other characters.

(Should have found her a roommate sooner :wtf:)

Her route was short like Komari’s which isn’t a bad thing.

Her character is unique, very cultured and used English whenever she could. (A̶s̶ ̶a̶ ̶n̶a̶t̶i̶v̶e̶ ̶e̶n̶g̶l̶i̶s̶h̶ ̶s̶p̶e̶a̶k̶e̶r̶,̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶m̶a̶d̶e̶ ̶i̶t̶ ̶s̶o̶ ̶m̶u̶c̶h̶ ̶e̶a̶s̶i̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶o̶ ̶r̶e̶a̶d̶ ̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶u̶n̶d̶e̶r̶s̶t̶a̶n̶d̶ ̶h̶e̶r̶.̶)

Surprisingly I noticed during Haruka’s route, there are references to Kud’s route When She is throwing things away in the trash outside.

On a side note, when Komari gives you one of Kud’s favorite candys, Riki doesn’t accept it because of Kud, he does so because (It was in Komari’s skirt pocket, thus warming it with her feminine body heat and made it everso delicious

1 Like
#74

Really liked this route, because it went really far as to a point I actually got interested about the history of the country the place that was mentioned in the game, however i read a French blog saying that in the anime some of the references of what is happening is more clear in the anime.

Is it true that the anime goes more in depth about Kud’s home country problems?

1 Like
#75

I don’t remember it too well, but at the time the anime was airing, I much preferred the anime Kud route to the VN’s. I think that depth about Kud’s situation was one of those reasons, and I definitely remember it revealing more about Kud’s family. If you aren’t 100% on what exactly happened in Kud’s history and in Tevua, the anime helps.

Looking back…

I imagine the simple visual presentation of the events in Tevua was enough to make me understand the whole thing better.

3 Likes
#76

I love Kud, I think she’s precious, so I was really excited about this route. I liked most of it because it showed a deeper side to her and I found a lot of it very motivating. How hard she works to be who she wants to be is inspirational. She also reminds me a bit of myself in how open she is in a romantic relationship by just running in to Riki’s arms and giving him hugs. I also liked seeing the different cultural traditions.

It was heartbreaking watching her be made fun of as she struggled to fit in and pretended to be okay with everything. And I WISH they had kept the route on that track because I did not enjoy the way it ended. It went from a heartwarming story of a young woman trying to find where she fits in while wearing the identity of a few different cultures and aspiring to be more to like a supernatural prisoner rescue thing and just… eh. I didn’t much care for the way the story went personally.

I still love Kud though

4 Likes
#77

Kud’s route was emotionally stimulating for me from start to finish. However, the ending is rather nonsensical until the reader learns the Secret, then the whole nature of it changes.

One thing that can be said for certain is that Kud is the only LB girl that had feelings for Riki before the route even started.

There’s more to say, but I’ll leave it for later.

1 Like
#78

After playing refrain I replayed the Kud route:

When Kud asked what she should do the new option ask her what she wants to do and apparently this part of route explains allot about what happened in Kud’s home country during the cold war and where Belka and Strelka’s name came from.

It was fun to know that the visual novel actually contains more information about Kud’s home country even if you have finish Refrain first to get to read it.

Then I went and replayed the good end everything was the same except after the credits, we see a white world and Kud starts talking. I must say you definitely want to read this.

I definitely recommend anyone who finishes Refrain to replay the Kud route after and play all possible endings.

3 Likes
#79

It has taken me longer to read Kud’s route than it took for the first three I did, this bodes well.

I’ll start off with something positive cuz oh boy is it downhill from here, Exotic Toybox is one of the best themes in the game, with boundless enthusiasm and whimsy, I really enjoy it, well that’s over with, on to Kud herself.

Kud, Exotic(Self-Proclaimed) Mascot

So Kud is pretty trashy, she can be cute, but it’s mostly overplayed moemoe bullshiiiit that, while your average Japanese loser might furiously get off to this, is simply asinine as far as I’m concerned, it takes up such an unignorablely huge part of her character that I cannot find myself to take her serious in any capacity. I’m sure the route is trying to say things about fitting in and all that but it’s in one ear and out the other. She’s nice and can bounce off other, better, characters, but I just cannot attach to this character.

So with that said, what is there to say about the route, with Kud taking up basically all of it and me having zero investment in her, it’s just skimming though some boring dialogue about rockets and studying and dogs and some shit, laughing at Riki’s furious hair fetish, and enjoying the two extremes endings.

First, the bad ending, first of all, who the hell airs live executions, jesus christ. Honestly I burst out laughing during this ending because of some unfortunate wording(tweet for context) which only goes to show how uninvested I am in Kud and her route. While this ending is pretty dark, I’m sure that though the power of Riki’s Diki(holy shit the lewdness of the relationship is so far ahead of the other routes) I’m sure she can recover.

Next is the good ending, where though the power of muscle, the world is saved, the rocket has a successful launch, discontent in the Tebwa or Tevua or whatever it is is erased by the mutual love of muscles and everything is fine and dandy, frankly its the best ending in the game and I cri every time. Overall, the route is pretty dull, but the good ending really makes up for it.

…

…

…

Huh? You’re telling me there is another ending where you actually send her off to the fucking war torn hellscape where public fucking executions are happening?
What absolute incomprehensibility dumb idiots would do that?

6 Likes
#80

To be fair, that’s the only part of her that’s “grown” if we exclude the Fuckher spin-off. :smug:

2 Likes
#81

Да, конечно, я действительно планировал следить за этим.

Я понимаю, почему вы должны отправить ее сейчас, я не получил это в первый раз, я посмотрел на нее слишком буквально, подземелье изнасилования метафорично, она бросилась в подземелье изнасилования, это ее наказание для себя не для того, чтобы идти видеть ее мать все это время. Выход из метафорического подземелья изнасилования символичен тем, что она понимает, что это не ее вина, поэтому я понимаю, почему это происходит.

Тем не менее, это все равно чертовски глупо, я боюсь, если вы не понимаете, что подземелье изнасилования является символическим, как и я все эти годы, тогда оно становится поразительно глупым концом и в буквальном смысле, это не черт возьми чтобы отправить ее в rapescape, я нашел ее глубоко глупым, это поставило ужасный кислый вкус во рту, который был там годами. Я думаю, что это слишком суровая метафора, особенно потому, что я честно считаю, что подземелье изнасилования является слишком тревожным и неприятным, Широкири, похоже, любят писать темное дерьмо, оно работает с Харукой, но здесь это слишком мало для меня. Deus ex с шестерней служит только для того, чтобы выглядеть как дрянной хук.

Таким образом, в заключение, при ближайшем рассмотрении я могу восхищаться написанием окончания этого маршрута, я нахожу большую часть маршрута скучным, но я могу по крайней мере понять, почему он заканчивается тем, как он это делает, немного меня обдумывая.

Новый эпилог с DVD ее матери был фантастическим, хотя и хорошим хорошим дерьмом (кроме ее матери по-английски), мы могли бы все это прекрасно справиться с «плохим» окончанием, хотя без каких-либо неприятных образов я действительно не хотел видеть или думать.

EDIT: Apparently there is a rule on Kaza that all posts must be in English or provide a translation.

3 Likes
#82
These are some of my thoughts on the latter portion of her route.

It seemed to me that Kud’s imprisonment in the dungeon was a form of self punishment. While she was there, she directly stated that in the real world, similar events transpired but she chose not to go to Tevua. Of course, not going was the logical choice, but the resulting guilt never left her. As illogical as it was, Kud’s “good end” required her to go back. Riki rationalized it as Kud needing to reunite with her family so as to leave no regrets, but Kud had to go in order to have her own wish granted like the other heroines. But like Mio, the wish she thought she wanted was different than what she truly desired.

In order for her to make peace with the choice she made in the real world, she had to throw away her past, symbolized by the melted gears. At this point, a deux ex machina appears in the form of both Riki and Kud twisting the world to save her. Riki isn’t sure what happens and believes it to be a dream. Kud however, knew what had happened and why because she remembered the Secret. With Riki’s help, she became stronger mentally and overcame her regrets. Riki on the other had, gained the willpower and mental fortitude to unconsciously shape the world that he was placed in, not unlike Kurugaya in her route.

Just an afterthought, there’s no way she was raped in that dungeon. Even as a form of self-punishment that’s just crossing the line.

5 Likes
#83

Subsequent playthroughs really help…
The first time I read this route two years ago I was confused as fuck. Now that I have read refrain and then got to come back to this route fresh, it made so much more sense. One thing I would like to address that was pointed out earlier was Kud’s optimism. She believes that no one in this world is truly malicious in this case, some said she was naive. I for one thought she was actually mature in this sense for understanding empathy, especially for the people of Tebwa.

Anyways, before this reread I really didn’t like Kud that much but this playthrough really helped me feel for Kud as a character. She doesn’t seem all that bad now.

1 Like
#84

Kud as a character has a uniqueness that I think is very easily understated, that being how I believe her to be one of the games greatest supporting roles. What I mean when I say this is that the ways in which Kud plays into other routes as a supporting character are individually fantastic and deeply moving in a way that most of the other members of the cast just are not. That isn’t to say that her arc is any worse off, mind you. But if you compare, say, Nishizono, who has a fantastic and deeply moving arc, but then often minimal emotional play as a side character to Kud, who shines in her role as a support, you’ll find some interesting trends. Logistically, I am bound by spoilers as to give specific details, but it is fascinating that one of my most emotional moments in Little Busters came from Kud acting as a supporting character in Haruka’s route wherein a single line from Kud, with refrain context, almost drove me to tears in a story that wasn’t even hers.

Kud does a fantastic job at building the idea that the Little Busters are a group, that the new members all care for one another in the same way that the original five do, and it specifically through these small moments that that is able to occur.

basically Kud is a genius.

8 Likes
#85

As with all of these first posts in the LB topics, I have no Refrain knowledge yet.

I don’t think I have too much to say about Kud as a character herself. My first impressions of here were pretty high, she had best girl potential. However, even before getting to her route, that potential was more and more lost.
Kud is still adorable and quirky, things I liked about her at first. Unfortunatly, she ended up not being much more. Her route showed she is open, not shy and also has a darker side, but most of this was not really interesting to me. As such, I still like her, but think she is a pretty boring character otherwise. She ended up in the lower half of my best girl ranking.

The route itself I enjoyed quite a lot in turn. It had structure (being told in basically concluded mini-arcs), it had proper development of suspension, it even had a lot of the other girls especially in the first bit.
Maybe it’s just me having been in the right mood or simply not trying to think too much about it while reading leading to a higher enjoyment of the route.
The romance was one of the main highlights for me. I agree that was unnatural fast and it feld like Kud was pushing a bit too hard to be fully believable, but that did not really matter to me. Again, not thinking too much about it. I found it very endearing and maybe a bit cheesy, but I like cheesy romance in fiction.
Especially the nightly ritual felt very intimate without being a sex scene. I’d even say that’s picking the best out of a sex scene (and leaving it at that), especially when viewed in context of further developing a relationship. (And while I do not know for sure where the H-scenes are in EX, but I am aware that this scene is very likely to have one after the actual ritual, but that’s beside my point here).
The only thing I am not too sure about if I liked it was the scene in the clubroom. With everything happening especially after the choice I was not sure if they missed cutting out a H-scene there, because dialogue and CGs clearly were leading up to one. And I am pretty sure that sex was implied to have happened offscreen there. I am also pretty sure that there is an H-scene in EX.
I could not believe that was happening on-screen was actually happening. I mean, it ended up with nothing actually shown and I don’t even know why but it made me feel just very slightly uncomfortable, although the premise does not seem all too different from the nightly ritual scene. I think it’s the fact that she IS the loli of this cast.
Was the scene like that in vanilla? Was it even in vanilla? In the discussion so far, especially with @EisenKoubu mentioning NFSW CGs, a few people replied there would not be NSFW stuff and when trying to figure out what @EisenKoubu meant, noone even mentioned this scene. While it is not technically NSFW, just look (and zoom out!) at the final CG of that scene, where Kud is looking at Riki. That leads me to believe it was actually added in EX.

The big thing here however is the final part.
First of all, while I usually prefer more realistic routes, I really did “enjoy” the last part. Yet again, not thinking too much about it. Or rather, giving in to my suspension of disbelief. Especially considering that there is still Refrain for me to read, which will probably explain a lot of things a lot better. And with the theories I (and other’s) have about the secret of the world, it does not seem too unbelievable of a scenario.
What I did not realize before reading this thread, and what makes it even better, is the whole thing about that part being methaphoric and not to be taken at face value. This makes the writing quality for this even better.
The whole scene in the cave was really killing me on the inside. It did not make me cry (and I think it’s pretty much written to make you cry), but I felt so bad and helpless, t to the point where I could barely take it anymore and was about to just quit the VN to to take a break. Since the feels are an important part of a Key VN this made a great job at bringing me to this extreme level.
Shoutouts at this point to Suzuta Miyako, Kud’s seiyuu. While some don’t like Kud’s voice, and I neither like nor dislike her, the overall acting perfomance was pretty good. Not only in the cave, but especially there. And while I am at it, Komari as a character and her seiyuu Yanase Natsumi showed pretty decent english pronounciation. Much better than Kud’s mother :ohoho:
Speaking of her mother, the aftercredits scene (which I read was not in vanilla?) gave pretty good closure to her story overall, it’s almost a shame it wasn’t in vanilla. It was also a bit unexpected, as this was the first route to do this in Little Busters. But I see why they did not just put the credits after the scene - to really have it an epilogue, and end the actual story on a happy CG.
There are still a few things that I noticed in regards to the rest of the narrative. First off, the white uniform in the final CG, something we never saw before. But it shows in the opening, where Rin has a similar white uniform. There was also mention if a school trip, which might be related to what we heard in Rin1. This is going to be very interesting.

To wrap things up, while the route did not accomplish much in the end, I very much enjoyed reading it for the journey. It may be my favorite route so far, but that’s me speaking a day after finishing it, where it is still fresh on my mind. Nevertheless, it will probably end up in the upper half of my route preference in the end.
After all this, I am honestly interested in Kud Wafter. And All-Ages version of it though. The H-scenes would probably make me feel uneasy again, but as much as I enjoyed the romance, it would probably enjoy seeing more of it.

(while reading the route I though that would probably be my shortest route post so far. How wrong I was :haha:)

I was thinking if I can add a Key point, but I only got one idea for a decent one: What did you think about the ritual? What did it do for their relationship? Was it too intimate for your taste or just about right? (although I think that scene will get discussed in the thread and the podcast regardless, like most other points I could think of)

6 Likes