[does this regularly with Ika for Czech words]
[sweats]
She’s just trying to practice as much as possible. Learning English is a top priority for her because of her career ambitions, and precisely because she herself knows she’s not good at it she’s taking every chance to practice it when talking to her friends. If I’m not mistaken, we don’t see her using random English when she’s talking to people she’s not familiar with.
4 Likes
Literally the first sentences she speaks to Riki. (Refrain spoilers) Although this might be because she already knew him from the original world
If you’re referring to when Riki bumped into Kud while she was carrying the box, they already knew each other before the start of the game, as Riki was the one who showed her around the school when she first came there.
3 Likes
So I have finally finished Kud route which is my last route before jumping into Rin 2 and Refrain (hype but I’ll save that for later)
Throughout my past common route playthroughs, I clearly remember calling Kud useless because of the baseball matches. This opinion did change quite a bit when I was reading Haruka route when (Haruka) it was foreshadowed that Kud had family problems of her own but it was quite not enough to convince me to start liking Kud.
However, reading this route showed that behind her childish looks and behaviour were problems she couldn’t share to anyone.
“A Declaration toward the Gear Wheel” - My interpretation of this message is that you should be yourself and never give in to society’s pressure and expectations and finally, show them that you are also more than capable of achieving great things in life.
It’s kinda explicit but since the world is described as a clock in the route, I am viewing the functional gears as society and the so called “rusted springs” as those who are made fun of like Kud.
In recent society, it is true especially in my country of origin (South Korea) a lot of students are forced into studying hard so that they can get into the top colleges of the country. Otherwise, you are either considered a failure or barely any company would want you as an employee.
Above is also the reason why I find the first half of the route (exam stuff) quite enjoyable. Sure enough there is a lot (maybe too much) of unnecessary kisses and hugs and other cute stuff but mainly I felt that it was there to show that Kud can also do well if she works hard (I mean she passed all subjects and that gets pretty hard from high school).
Also I really liked the scene where Kud breaks the chain with the gear because I felt it signifies something important.
First to begin with, chains commonly symbolize pressure, oppression, or lack of freedom. That oppression for Kud’s case will be the society telling her that she’s a fool and won’t be able to do anything right. That she’s a faulty gear and won’t become a cosmonaut. Therefore, the breaking of the chain would symbolize her shattering all those worries and continuing forward.
Another thing I would note here is that she used a faulty gear to break the chain meaning, she, a once considered a faulty gear, has finally managed to step up to society proudly as Kudryavka Noumi.
Overall, I felt the route was well written. As much as I enjoyed the cave/jail scene, it did break Physics a lot but it’s really not that serious of a problem since that’s not the reason the scene exists. A lot of Russian words I’ll have to research about came up. Maybe I’ll try to learn Russian as well 
)
Or those were my thoughts (obviously) , please tell me what you think 
All in all, I give this route a 9.5/10
…
Also, although I like Kud’s route, I still can’t stand Wafuu.
9 Likes
So Kud huh? I don’t know what to say. I can’t understand kud like i did other characters.
Most of her position as a foreigner and her struggle to blend in has already been explained by @Naoki_Saten.
That was a great post man.
I also had some problem of blending in. I was a loner before, i didn’t had much interaction with kids in my school and i was kind of a shut in so i didn’t know any subjects to discuss with them that were common with us.
Kud is much more better than me. I didn’t even have the courage to speak or start a conversation but Kud has that, she doesn’t hesitate to speak up and make connections with people, she is always eager for that. That’s something i very much admire in Kud.
At the first half of the route i thought her problem was blending into society. She was depressed when she was considered oddball. The laughs for her english only discouraged her and the way she viewed herself grew more negative. That’s why she was so happy when the Little busters opened up to her, when they helped her in test. She was happy to find a place to belong to. The tears shed by her after she passed the test by the help of little busters are the proof of that.
The story here got a little rough. The way they tried to take this route into romance was not smooth. I felt like all the other busters were ignored and Riki was then given credit that ‘You helped me the most’ and then love develops. Kud’s mom’s revelation was also like that, too sudden.
I think Kud had two regrets. first was ‘Not being able to fit in’ and second was her mother’s words ‘I hope you become a useful gear too’.
The second one obviously the focus of the route. I like how they represented her the chains as her regrets holding her down. She wanted to be a useful gear, she wanted to be by her mother’s side but she couldn’t. So she punished herself for being afraid but Riki made her realise that punishing herself wouldn’t mean anything. Her wish was to become a useful gear and Riki told her that she can do so by being at his side.
People don’t have to worry about being useless because there will always be one person to whom they will hold meaning.
Now the most controversial topic of this route. (Warning :- after refrain spoilers)
This scene!. I dub this the Worst set of choices in a VN.
There is no way for me to put it in other than offensively. All these choices are made by Riki for Kud. We are choosing the path for her to take instead of her choosing what she wants to do herself.
I’m sorry but if you can’t even choose what to do with your life and just push it on others, do you even deserve this life?. This life is yours, the choices are yours and the regrets that come with it are also yours to burden. Pushing the responsibility on others is just cowardice on your part.
The one who has to choose for you is also forced in a pit. They wonder what will happen if they choose wrong. If that happens then that person would be in regret forever because of his choice and you’ll hate him for making that choice.
Even if they choose right, you are basically forced to face your fears. You never decided what was the right thing to do, you were made to do it. Is that truly strength?.
Kud is a weird character for me. Till now every character i saw in LB, i either hated him or liked him. But Kud remains neutral to me. This route is hard to understand.
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Is that third choice unlocked only after Refrain…? I don’t remember seeing it on my playthrough…
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Yeah you have to play refrain.
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Sure enough that’s true but I think I can understand how Kud and Riki feel
Kud already knows that she has two options fundamentally :
- Go back to find about her mother’s whereabouts and take the chance that she won’t be able to see Riki ever after again
- Stay with Riki and take the chance that she won’t be able to see her mother ever after again
Her mother and Riki are both important people in her life so she’s torn apart about what to do (I mean, why else will she be torn apart if she wasn’t aware).
But here, Riki also knows that she has the two options only and the last thing he wants is to see Kud suffer and so, all he did is try to help her come up with a decision because otherwise, it might be too late for either options and you might as well just end up regret not doing anything back then.
Besides, you won’t know which is the right choice until it eventually happens and that’s what the bad end of Kud’s route 1 basically is; Riki regretting the wrong choice and thinking “Should I have told her otherwise?” as he watches a depressed Kud unable to help her further.
Also, I don’t think it’s really weird for people to help those close to them come up with a decision. It happens a lot in real life too when you know the other person is suffering.
2 Likes
I’ll be honest with you guys. Most of the time I see someone talk about Kud, my salt meter goes over 9000. Because it’s usually pretty negative talk.
Kud gets a lot of hate. Part of it is due to Kud Wafter, which barely anyone has ever read since there’s no translation, yet everyone hates for some reason. Maybe because “It’s her fault my Waifu didn’t get a spin-off.” Taste is subjective, but what does make me mad is when people read through the route of a girl who was isolated for most of her life because everyone treated her like a weirdo, and then they still go “wow, she’s a weirdo!” when they finish reading. Many people are dismissive of this actually very well thought-out character.
Salt aside (and I assure you, I was planning on making it way more salty than this), let’s take a closer look at Kud and her route.
Kud says “wafuu” a lot, her english is bad but she keeps using it, she has some childish tastes but she also likes the Japanese culture. Her academic knowledge is way above high school level, but she struggles with tests in Japan due to their restrictive structure. She’s pretty agile and quick on her feet. She loves dogs, but also cats. She practices cooking at a regular basis. Her dream is to become a cosmonaut, like her mother.
Most of her childhood, Kud was traveling around the world with her grandpa, because her parents were too busy with work. When grandpa was too busy with work, too, he had her play with dogs to kill some time. I don’t think it’s been stated explicitly anywhere, but it’s not much of a stretch to assume her “Wafuu” is the result of spending so much time with dogs. Her grandpa was a japanophile who didn’t seem to be particularly well-informed of the modern japanese lifestyle. He put Kud through some harsh training on using the chopsticks. He collected edo period paintings and insisted that Kud should sleep on a wooden pillow that made her neck hurt. Isn’t that the kind of ‘pillow’ Japanese women used in order to not ruin their special hairdo that took several hours to make? It’s not for everyday use!
I attribute Kud’s childish tastes, and even her manner of speech, to the way she grew up. With no peers to play with, she didn’t get to grow tired of certain pastimes like shadow tag. Due to sparse contact to others during crucial stages of development, she didn’t adjust her manner of speech.
Kud was supposed to pursue higher education in Japan. Therefore, her grandfather taught her Japanese through textbooks. The problem is, Japanese and English are fundamentally different and have different alphabets. Kud struggles a lot with English, even moreso than the average Japanese person. And from what I’ve heard, they’re pretty damn bad at it, especially with the pronounciation. But she still keeps trying, because it’s a requirement for becoming a Cosmonaut. Therefore, she speaks english on a daily basis in order to get some practice.
That’s right. She’s getting a lot of shit and sneers for trying to acquire a valuable skill.
The next screenshot looks to me like an implication that her grandfather might have taught her Japanese in order to keep her away from the Tevuan space program.
Kud loves to learn new things. She even reads through technical books and certification test reference books. This is something I find particularly admirable because most students outright hate studying. Speaking of admirable, did I mention that Kud knows exactly what to do with her life and become a cosmonaut, which requires a tremendous amount of effort, talent and luck?
That dream, however, is a double-edged sword. Every failure to get closer to it weighs heavily on her and makes her feel more distant to her beloved mother. In fact, what made Kud return to Japan was that she was doubting that she might be Mom’s real daughter, probably due to the disparity in their abilities.
Since she grew up in a rather unique way, the vast majority of people she encounters find her strange. So much that Riki, whom she met in high school, was the first one who didn’t laugh when she told him her name. She fell in love with him right then and there. It seems like the only people who treat her like a normal person are Riki, the Little Busters, Kanata, Sasami, (A-chan?), and some embassy officials. That doesn’t mean everyone only ever makes fun of her, and it is said she’s somewhat of a celebrity in her dorm. But they don’t seem to realize she’s an actual person with more to her than just exotic things. But Kud believes that nobody in the world is truly evil, refusing to blame anyone for the pain they inflict on her.
Yes.
In the first place, that scene started with the other person pretty much picking a fight. Kud was friends with both parties, knowing that both of them are good people, so she tried helping both. She had experienced the pain of loss first hand and didn’t want her friends to cherish what they have while they still can, rather than suffering like she did. It was by no means a lecture. If anything, I think you have mistaken the actual ‘aggressor’ in that scene.
Rather than the similarity to my arbitrarily constructed user name on the internet, I find the similarity of her name to Kud’s last name, “Noumi”, more intriguing.
The differences in our situations would be too many to count, but if I were to point at what I think made the difference, I’d say it’s the people.
In Germany, schools past the 4th grade are divided in three tiers. I ended up in the lowest tier since I couldn’t speak the language. My changing schools was due to advancing through the tiers from the lowest to the highest one once the language stopped being an issue.
While I started out with 5th-graders with the lowest tier of education, your friend entered the 8th grade. According to my experience, kids usually get more tolerant and tactful with age, though it’s not proportional. But as I said, this attempt at an explanation is hardly more than a guess.
It doesn’t seem like you have read through the new part, so I suggest you do just that.
That aside, I believe you are being too harsh. You are expecting a young girl who was deprived of a normal life to make a life-changing decision and choose between leaving her lover to get a chance at, in second-best case, dying along with her family and ‘betraying’ her family, then blaming herself for whatever happens to it next, possibly for the rest of her life, since she tends to put a disproportional amount of blame on herself for things she has no control over.
Sure, it’s cowardice, but it’s understandable that she would be unable to just up and decide between two horrible options. Thus she asks the only person she could turn to to help her.
You could also take the situation as her already favoring one option over the other, but wanting to share the burden of the decision to make it bearable. And even if as we see in the bad ending, the consequences are unbearable even if someone else does decides in her stead.
10 Likes
By no means do I think the other person was blameless in this situation, they are the one who picked the fight. As for Kud, just by knowing both doesn’t mean she knows literally anything else about the situation. She’s in no position to lecture her. Altruism and arrogance are not mutually exclusive. She’s still trying to force her solution on someone else without taking into account her complete lack of information. It would’ve been fine if it was just a suggestion or something, but she basically calls her a spoiled brat and tells her to suck it up. Not to mention, she does her
“talking down to a child” face. (This isn’t from the exact scene, I just found an example.)
Edit: Rereading the scene, it feels like it really was much more of a suggestion than I remember, and she doesn’t really tell her to “suck it up” or anything like that, but I still think she was being intrusive with her own solution, and she was warned by Kurugaya in advance not to do so, so she can’t exactly claim ignorance.
And the main reason I feel she’s arrogant is the “talking down to a child” face, as I’ve said, and accompanying change in tone of voice
Well, she is pretty weird in some ways, by most English-speaking fans standards, at least… But weird isn’t even on the same scale as good-bad, and lotting them together never ends well. Even if I were to call her a weirdo, I’m not trying to insult her. Of course if she were a real person I wouldn’t say that, because even if I mean no ill will by it, she’ll obviously interpret it that way.
Real quick, I don’t actually hate Kud. I just like ripping on her. Though she is my least favourite LB! character, that doesn’t say much.
The reasons people actually hate Kud
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Over the top loli pandering. Yeah, this one isn’t the actual characters fault, so I’m not personally bothered by it.
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“Wafuu.” Different people are obviously going to have different reactions to this verbal tick, but you can’t really blame someone for finding it annoying.
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My own reason - arrogance. I’ve already talked about why I think this.
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Being one-dimensional. Some people think Kurugaya has this problem too, but I don’t think so. Every other character just has such depth - there’s so much more to them than what you see. But not Kud.
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She pushes the most important decision of her life on someone else. I get why she did it and everything, but it is cowardice, and imagine being Riki in this situation!
6. She’s useless in the baseball practices and games. Fuck her.
Sorry if I missed any.
But yes, I don’t think many people have such petty reasons as Kud Wafter (unless they actually have read it, in which case I can’t say either way) or that she’s a weirdo.
3 Likes
Oh believe me i read it and it further solidified my thoughts. In fact this choice is what made me think of it as this way.
That’s what we call character development. To make a decision and stay firm on it. She was afraid to choose before and she’s afraid to choose now.
I wish that were true. Take a look at these pictures.
(Warning after refrain and haruka route spoilers -)
What’s the difference between them?. The choices with Haruka’s are only an opinion while with kud they are a statement. Haruka had already made a decision that she was wanted to know who she was, that she wanted to know her identity. Our choices were to only support her or discourage her, the decision was already made. Kud on the other hand asks us 'what should i do?. She as @machelmore said.
Haruka also asks Riki this in her route and his reply is what I’m going to use here.
Stop asking me what is good for you and ask yourself. Only you can tell what’s good for you. I have no way to understand your life or your situation, the one who understands you the most is no one other then yourself.
Here one came up with a decision and one failed to do that. Indecisiveness is a bad trait.
You can expect someone to support you in your decisions but it is cruel and selfish to put them in a position like this. I know kud loves Riki and Riki is the one whom she can take most support from but there is a fine line for dependency. I’ll end this with a final picture.
_“When people help you in hopeless situations like that, there is no resolve in your decisions”. _
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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.
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Bruh kud is amazing if you know where to place her. She works best when placed on the outfield. She literally stopped the enemy team from getting a home run
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And yet you claim the opposite of what’s been slowly explained throughout the whole thing?
For example, “It’s easy to tell someone to stand up and fight. It’s really easy… to just say it.” For example, how much time, effort and support it takes to actually come to terms with a decision of this magnitude. Even if Kud does decide, she’s unable to stick to it if left alone. And the whole point of this ending is to help her accept it. That’s the character development - to deal with that bad trait you’re so focused on. Why in the world are you blaming her for not having finished her development in the middle of the route, right when the actual conflict has only just begun?
While the choices in Haruka’s route are worded differently, it comes down to the same thing. Haruka doesn’t abide by her decisions if Riki doesn’t agree. She gives up instantly. Both girls demand Rik to tell them what to do and Riki is still the one making the decisions. Riki is the one who decides on the options. He’s the one who decides to force Haruka to make her own choice, but does not do so with Kud pre-Refrain. It took Haruka a long time to realize her actual problem step by step, while Riki carefully guided her. It didn’t all come crashing down on her with a decision she had to make in a short amount of time. Yes, Kud kept demanding Riki repeatedly to make the decision in her stead. But her decision was on a different scale entirely. While other girls were just facing their inner fears, Kud had to choose between abandoning her family and death. Between the the most important people in her life. And she only has three of those! Do you realize why making her stay is a bad ending, while letting her decide to stay is not? Because the burden of that decision is too much for just one person to bear.
And don’t even get me started on selfishness when there are girls who would (Refrain spoilers) try keeping Riki all to themselves, thus not only denying him his growth, but also denying other girls the salvation from their heavier-than-death regrets. I think you are being unfair.
A lot of the details you name are still mostly overinterpretation. There were no ‘faces’ in that scene. It was a complete black background. And of course Kud’s voice would be different because she just lost her family! Her face was described as pale! Kud told Haruka that her friends were still supporting her. She didn’t want her to go through the same experience at her and regret distancing herself from her family. She’s not a family issue expert. She’s a family appreciator. And she’s not an uninvolved party. Because Kanata already got her involved. Kanata made Kud her little sister. And at this point, Kud is on good terms with both. She knows both are good people. She has the opportunity, thus she tries helping as much as she can. All while also having to deal with her own trauma. She never ‘lectured’ anyone! She kindly offered an advice and then left. And in the end, it turns out Kud was absolutely right.
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By the time I mentioned this part, I was no longer talking about that specific scene any more. I meant this as a general thing.
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At the humble request of our modest leader @Aspirety, I’ve elected to post my thoughts on my second reading of Little Busters (or in this case, my first reading of English Edition). To paraphrase what I’ve said in my earlier posts, my thoughts are always subject to change, and that was certainly the case with my second reading of Kud.
Kud, as far as I could tell, is a literal mixed bag of influences and interests. Despite her heritage, she’s rather tied to Japan through her grandfather’s hobbies and her grandmother’s culture. She’s well-rounded, skilled in many things but not proficient in any of them. She has issues trying to fit in with everyone at the school since she’s so decidedly foreign. Being foreign is part of her individuality, and she’s proud of it, but she would rather not let that part of herself interfere with her friendships.
This and her textbook politeness is partially why, when the old dorm is repaired, she is unable to find a roommate by herself. Nevertheless, she has a hero in Riki, the only person who didn’t laugh at her eccentricities. With his help, she is able to feel included in the Little Busters, a group full of weirdos who can’t help but compulsively kill each other and hit cats with baseballs after school because it’s fun.
For most of common, Kud serves as a beacon of joy and positivity for Riki and the Little Busters, although her personal issue are far from solved. Although Kud’s interactions with them fulfills the female nature of gathering allies around herself, it doesn’t provide the kind of close interaction she’s been yearning for. There’s a rather large disconnect between herself and the students at her school, although it’s not necessarily from bad intent like the faceless bullies in Kurugaya’s route. It’s precisely because her existence is so entertaining (similar to how Masato is always trodden upon for being stupid) that she feels she can’t find anyone who will see her as nothing more than a plucky mascot. That’s such an intelligent commentary on the nature of token mini-moe as a trope; how does one feel in those shoes? Someone as insecure as Kud wouldn’t feel comfortable around anyone who sees her as nothing more than a novelty, or in her own words, ‘a foreigner who’s gotten the wrong idea’. I certainly wouldn’t!
Kud’s route begins with the simple goal of everyone gathering together to study for an exam. Naturally, Kud sucks at English, so many of the members (especially Riki) offer assistance. Coming into this second reading, it’s interesting to see how the other Busters interact with Riki and Kud as opposed to the other routes. It’s more or less what I’d expect a group of true friends to accomplish, and it’s always sweet to see Kud and Masato showcase their amazing chemistry. 
But I digress. As far as the romance with Riki and Kud are concerned, I take back what I said about it being forced garbage. Kud’s romance actually reminds me a little bit of Nayuki’s interactions with Yuuichi in Kanon, which I was of the opinion that she was slowly manipulating him into the relationship they shared during her route. Unlike Nayuki, however, Kud’s efforts to bring Riki closer don’t seem underhanded; in fact, they’re coated with an innocent puppy love that soon blooms into a quiet passion that can’t even keep up with Riki’s efforts to love her back by the end of the route. Her reasoning for roundabout tactics is quite understandable when you think about it. Unlike most of the other girls, who can hold their own in stature and forwardness, Kud is small and shy, so she resorts to being clever. She makes efforts to further her relationship with Riki, but she also knows when to step back and let him breathe. It makes me think a girl like Kud could hold a relationship well, even past the point where sexual interest is lost.
On another note, I both hate and like the fact that parts of the route change depending on Kud’s choice of roommate. It offers extra replayability, but it also requires careful observation of every single line of dialogue to see what’s different. For a casual reader like me, it sounds rather tedious to go through all the effort to read a route three times just to see all the differences. That being said, my choice of roommate in this playthrough was Haruka, as it felt like the most fun and safe (for her) way to go. Being spun around a few times a day is a small price to pay for keeping her pure. 
A major theme of Kud’s route is finding one’s identity, which manifests itself in multiple elements. The first is the picture book about the bat and the platypus, where Kud directly correlates herself with the actions of the bat. It foreshadows the inevitable decision she will have to make, one that may end the conflict between forces inside and outside of her sphere of control. It is also, in my point of view, one of the turning points of Riki’s relationship with Kud, as his answer to the question of making friends with the ‘bat’ helps her to understand how valuable an ally he is.
I want to make a quick shout-out to Kud’s voice actress, Naomi Wakabayashi. She gives a stellar, Oscar-worthy performance of Kud, showing complex, human emotions at just the right moments. This is especially prevalent in Kud’s answer to Riki asking her out, which is full of quiet, anxious joy that feels so heartfelt and genuine, it moves my heart. Her voice acting is also part of the reason the last moments of the route are so infamously sad, as it perfectly sells how broken and conflicted a person she has become.
Going back to the theme of identity, we come at last to the coat-of-arms scene. It seems to be a rite of passage in that it signifies the sacred bond between a man and a woman, almost like a marriage custom. We see in Kud’s ‘good’ end that this isn’t necessarily the case, as it’s more of a means of identifying someone based on the basic but powerful emotions of love and hate. It shows to both a single corner of one’s life and the entire world what you represent in their eyes. To Kud it’s representative of a shackle that she can’t loose from herself, the identity that she’s created for herself. She compares herself to a twisted gear, which in her view serves no purpose in the greater clockwork because she ‘doesn’t fit in.’ (Kurugaya and Refrain spoilers) It also calls back to the concept of gears in Kurugaya’s route as a metaphorical building block for the world in which Riki and the Little Busters live in. Despite that, Kud is one of the pillars holding the world together along with Kyousuke and the rest of the Busters besides Riki and Rin. Finding herself at odds with her function in the world because of her regret, as either Kurugaya or Kyousuke might have put it, is dangerous to the integrity of the world itself. But again, I digress.
Shortly after that scene, we discover that the land of her birth, the country where her mother lives, is under attack. Kud dumps information about herself and her homeland to us in a distant, monotone voice, clearly tortured from being torn between obligations to her mother and her new boyfriend. Kud wordlessly leaves the choice to stay or leave to Riki, and her reaction differs significantly depending on the choice.
- If you choose to make her stay, her eyes droop immediately, and she accuses Riki of betraying everything that they’ve ever worked for in mending relations with her immediate family, but unable to choose for herself, she concedes to stay because she doesn’t want to lose Riki. Naturally, her mother is killed on live television and Kud breaks down, with Riki succumbing to his narcolepsy soon after.
- If you choose to let her go, her eyes droop when she begins to speak, and she accuses Riki of betraying her feelings for him, and the final scene with her and Riki in her bedroom takes on a whole new meaning. Nevertheless, she concedes to go on the same principle that she can’t choose for herself. In Tevua she is accused of being a failure and is chained up as a sacrifice. Through (Refrain spoilers) the power of the world’s secret she is able to communicate with Riki in her most desperate moment, and in a powerful act of resolution, she breaks free from her physical and self-imposed metaphorical chains and returns to Japan to tearfully reunite with Riki.
- (Post-Refrain content) If you give the choice to her, she becomes frustrated because Riki is her hero, her only means of progressing forward, and she’s too afraid to act on her own terms. With Riki’s encouragement, however, in a surprising twist, she elects on her own terms to stay behind with Riki. The bad ending happens as it normally would, but like Rin2 it continues forward, giving us a resolution to Kud’s route that is both inspiring and sensical within the context of the rest of the VN.
To close things off, Kud has gone from perhaps the most divisive route in the game to one of my favorite Key routes ever. Although long-winded and full of filler at times, Kud is a standout example of drama and intrigue that has captured my heart and dragged it across real and fictional nations. It seems unbelievable that such a small, cute character would be given so much attention and care and not be given a trash route, but Kud has a lot of heart. Kudos to Chika Shirokiri for giving her one, and for setting the storytelling bar high for Key novels today.
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That’s one hypocritical commentary considering that’s exactly what she is in the eyes of VisualArt’s.
Though Haruka actually pushes you towards the bad end. On the other hand, Mio is like a cheat sheet for a bunch of Kud’s motivations.
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While other girls have a variety of scenes in the common route that allow the reader to see different sides of them, Kud’s scenes are focused on very few points. Her events mostly revolve around moving in and finding a roommate. That’s because the most important things for Kud are to find a place to belong and to make connections. Think back at what we’ve learned about Kud’s situation. She failed at becoming an astronaut and gave up, distancing herself from her mother, whom she thought she had disappointed. She doesn’t have a real “home”, since she was constantly on the move throughout most of her childhood. Her grandpa is traveling the world. Kud truly is all alone in Japan, save for the dogs. Kud is always upbeat and lively, so you don’t actually notice on first glance, but the isolation she must be feeling is immense. And now that I think about it, it ties really well with who her potential roommates are:
- Mio, who (minor Mio route spoilers) is also seeking meaningful connections.
- Haruka, who (Haruka route spoilers) is also isolated and needs a sister.
- Kanata, who (Haruka route spoilers) definitely needs a little sister.
Both sides truly have a lot to gain.
What a meaningful relationship it is, being roommates! It’s on a whole different level from standard friendship, sharing your living space with someone else. Imagine the hell it could develop into if things go bad, especially for a foreigner who’s all alone? But Kud wants those connections and she doesn’t slack off.
I know that feel. I know it couldn’t have posibly been easy for her.
So, concerning roommates. Let’s take Kanata as an example. With her, Kud’s roommate dreams definitely come true. Kanata is kind to her, but also strict, which shows that she definitely cares. She always offerst help if asked for it. She keeps an eye on Riki, acting as a chaperone. She would lecture Kud, but keep her out of trouble with the other prefects, even turning a blind eye sometimes - which is an unbelievable thing for Kanata to do normally. I was quite surprised with Kanata’s reaction to Kick the Can, but I realized that’s how she acts around Kud.
The other major connection she makes is more obvioius: her relationship with Riki.
I actually expected way more people to adress what I believe is one of the, if not the smoothest confession in all of Key.
At the end of their date, spendig so much time with Kud made Riki light-headed, so he stepped out to calm down a bit. Kud not only becomes unexpectedly bold here, but also employs clever tactics, as @EisenKoubu pointed out. Like a huntress, not letting her prey escape and recover, she uses the opening to trick Riki into looking down, then kisses him and confesses. I was really blown away by how smooth and sweet it all was. And personally, having her confess in one of my native languages also added to the impact.
Incidentally, I found the way Kud and Riki expressed their feelings throughout the route to be very sweet. I didn’t find Kud’s boldness out of place. Reading a route with this level of intimacy on a regular basis was a pretty new experience to me, compared to the other Key routes I had read so far. It fits with Kud’s desire to hold onto the people she loves and to show just how precious they are to her.
Soon after becoming a couple, Kud solidifies the connection with her lover with the body painting ritual. Both of them engrave a part of themselves upon their partner and it really pays out! The symbols connect the two lovers when they are continents apart, allowing Riki to support Kud and help her overcome her self-deprecation and encourage her to live on and return to his side.
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That is a pretty interesting take on things! How does a character, aligned to such a stereotypical representation of a trope, truly feel about being such? Take the tsundere archetype for example: it has gone from being a fad (back in the louise/shana/taiga/tohsaka rin era of anime) to being a metajoke (with MCs outright calling tsunderes as “tsunderes”) to god-knows-what it is right now. But writers never really take the chance to look into how being assigned that specific archetype represents the character’s motivations.
In a way, Kud’s does. Her stupid english and multiple quirks (wafuu excluded) are well-explained as being part of her social strain. In a way, it also doesn’t, as she still keeps some quirks unexplained. And even if Helios says
That’s pretty bullshit, because the views of the writers do not represent the views of VisualArt’s as a business. Perhaps they designed a mini-moe trope to begin with, but Chika Shirokiri went above-and-beyond, and went in to explain how being like that really affects her as a person.
That’s one thing that I like about the romance: it is, without a doubt, innocent. Kud is a pretty clingy girlfriend, and, considering the background of her “love at first sight” with Riki, it gives context as to why she was always so eager to invite him to hang out with her. She’s aggressive with the way she expresses her fondness for Riki but, at the same time, she isn’t forceful about it. It’s a kind of fondness that we don’t see from most characters in this medium. Most other “anime girls” would be shy and sweet about it (which the fans go crazy over), or aggressive but in denial about it (which the fans also go crazy over…?) or just outright tells them to come along (a la Tomoyo and Kurugaya).
It’s a unique perspective and it would have worked really well… It’s just that there were about 2-3 scenes too many after they already made that point clear that it personally got tiring to read
but one thing is true, continuing from both @EisenKoubu and @Naoki_Saten ‘s thoughts: Kud’s route is all about identity and all about connection. This entire route journals kud’s own discovery of her own identity, through her trials and tribulations. She learns that, at the end of the day, as long as she can find what is important to her, that will become her identity, and she doesn’t need to follow others’ identities. This identity itself is shaped by her connections: Riki helps her realize this, as does her roommate, no matter who she ends up staying with.
I’ve recently finished the additional scenes post-refrain and I have to say, it does make things much more impressive in this regard:
Before Refrain, when Riki chooses for her, she needs to sacrifice herself, and realize that that is wrong in order to find her own identity. Now that you let her choose for herself, there is a different spin on this! She makes the decision to abandon her family, throwing away her regrets. But Riki makes her realize that she should not do that. That she should accept her family as her identity, no matter what may have happened in the past, and continue striving to be her own gear in her own way. The problem does not change, but the solution does, and I know I did say that if she ends up staying, she’ll end up blaming herself to the point of no return; but Riki finds a way to help her overcome that, and it’s just beautiful.
This ending changes the route from a good one to a very good one, in my eyes
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