While I do not think that the choice to save the rest of the Little Busters is a poorly written one, I do think that the choice to accept their passing is a stronger one given the ideas the story is built on. A bittersweet ending that tests the characters ability to live life held high with the memory of their friends in their hearts speaks to me much more, especially given the nature of the story itself being about coping with loss. As you say, I do believe they justify the happy ending well enough. But The other ending is more internally consistent with itself and would have made for a more poignant ending in my book.
Perhaps then it would have been more in the vain of AIR’s ending, 
Stay golden, though <3
A lot of talk has been had about the “It’s enough” vs the “it’s not enough” choice and much of it has boiled down to whether or not it would have been better for the rest of the cast to be saved, or if Riki and Rin should have learned to accept their passing after the accident.
If I may, I’d like to explore this from a different angle.
By the time Riki and Rin were left in that hypothetical hospital bed, one thing is for sure. At that point, Riki has grown immensely. He was able to bring back the Little Busters, and has improved to the point of becoming like Kyousuke. I don’t doubt for any second that, at that point in time, Riki would be strong enough to accept their death and move on. He would be able to live life without the Little Busters and help lead and protect Rin after all that.
But what about Rin?
Would she be able to accept their death?
Would she be able to continue living life, knowing that her brother and her friends are gone?
Considering her reaction to Masato and Kengo disappearing during the baseball game was complete obliviousness, I would wager that, no, she would not. What would happen, if you claimed it to be enough, is that Rin would tag along Riki her entire life, the same way she tagged along behing Kyousuke in her early life. She would be completely dependent on him, totally incapable of becoming an independent human being, perhaps remaining that way until the end of her life.
And, I have to ask you: Is that enough? Is it enough to leave Rin like that? Is it enough to leave everything that Kyousuke hoped for unfinished?
Whether or not you believe that, I won’t judge you. But from me, that is a resounding “No, it’s not enough”.
Immediately after you decide that “It’s not enough” we are brought to Episode: Rin. And one thing I’ve learned during my re-read of this story is that episode Rin is extremely important to her growth.
So, in summary, the angle I’d like to present here is that the “It’s not enough” choice isn’t to save the rest of the Little Busters; It’s to invoke Episode: Rin. And a huge argument can be made that Episode: Rin is at least half of what contributes to saving the Little Busters to begin with. (the other half being Riki’s narcolepsy issue)
But what about Rin?
This is the big one for me and one of the biggest reasons why I feel the “it’s not enough” ending is more strongly supported by the narrative (effectively making it the superior ending in every regard for me, and I’m normally someone who strongly prefers endings that are… less than perfect, especially given my tendency to analyze and overanalyze).
The “it’s enough” ending merely builds Riki up, as you said. It’s clear that Rin isn’t completely ready yet. I think the biggest counter to your argument is that yeah, that’s the whole point of it being enough - you’ve got all the time in the world, you just need to get to the start line. It’s not about having infinite strength, because if it was, Kyousuke would never have succeeded. Rin just needs enough strength to make it through this in one piece, and she’s got plenty of time on her hands to keep growing after that alongside Riki. The problem with that counter isn’t that it’s very difficult to judge how much is enough (aka Kyousuke’s failure in Rin2)… it’s that it flies in the face of Riki’s own development. He’s his own person, after all. That’s why he’s able to triumph against his obstacles in Refrain and bring Masato and Kengo back into the fold - he does what Kyousuke did, but he does it his way, with Rin, which allows him to do something that legitimizes him and the story as a whole more than anything else ever could: surpass Kyousuke.
Riki and Rin may be similar to one another (hence their exceptional chemistry), but they’re both also incomplete without the other, and none of the other members are complete without Riki and Rin’s contributions (as shown via Komari’s final story with the boy, the girl and the dwarfs), which is why I also feel the “it’s not enough” ending is stronger from a writing standpoint, as the other one leaves Rin as a mere plot device and discards the strength each of the other characters have gained all throughout.
Episode: Rin is masterful in a lot of ways. I could go on and on about it. It’s what made me see LB! as the magnum opus that it really is, and it fills the biggest hole that I thought LB! would have in the end by permanently solidifying Rin both as a character and as a member of the cast.
(Coincidentally, my start line quote / potential counterargument is also why I feel very strongly about Riki x Rin, unlike seemingly most people here, but I’ll save that for a different post. And damn, do the forums really mark post edits as activity on the frontpage? That’s a bit unfortunate considering all I did just now was change a word… and then write this after realizing it.)
I feel like this way of looking at the ending comes from all the worst aspects of Rin2 and Refrain. Namely, the treatment of Rin’s character. Had Rin2 actually been about Rin, and had Refrain respected her agency, this probably wouldn’t be an issue. They could probably have even integrated a slightly different version of the roof scene between Komari and Rin in Episode: Rin into the boys’ farewell to keep the emotional release factor for Rin.
To look at it cynically, I might even say that the removal of Rin’s agency earlier in the story was a pre-justification for the “It’s not enough” ending, hence Episode: Rin.
On the other hand, looking at it this way, this wouldn’t have been as good a set-up for the “It’s not enough” ending. The way Little Busters is actually written, it’s hard to deny a lack of respect for Rin’s character in the “It’s enough” ending, but I feel that had “It’s enough” been canon, Rin would have received much better treatment in Rin2 and Refrain. (It’s actually one of the reasons I’ve moved to the “It’s enough” side over time.)
Rin might have actually been the reason why it had to be one ending or the other. Because for each ending to be as powerful as it could be requires different treatments of Rin’s character in Rin2 and Refrain.
If you support the “It’s enough” ending, I think you should recognise that it may be the reason Rin2 and early Refrain were written the way they were in regards to Rin. On the other hand, if you support the “It’s enough” ending as it exists, you probably have to admit that it completely mistreats Rin’s character.
I’m a bit torn on what to think of this as well. I know nothing about the development process of LB!, especially since I only went through Refrain a couple of days ago, but it certainly does feel as though the “it’s enough” ending was intended to be the original one.
I’m not sure if they really did write or even rewrite elements of the story specifically to account for the “it’s not enough” ending though. Given that Maeda largely repeats a big mistake he’d made before (the other members of the cast often not showing up in routes that weren’t theirs), almost through no fault of his own (can you really fully control what the other writers ultimately write about? if so, you might as well just write the stories yourself), my feeling was ultimately more that something was added to the events leading up to the “it’s not enough” ending, rather than something being taken away from the events leading up to the “it’s enough” ending just to strengthen the other one.
In fact, all the way to the end, I expected Maeda to only give her the “good enough” treatment, which would’ve made her a much more tragic character, but would’ve suited Kyousuke’s goals a lot better, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw that the “it’s not enough” ending fought really hard to make up for that. That’s why, even if you’re right, I’m okay with it, because it makes Rin an infinitely better character and, through going beyond what Kyousuke had hoped for, it greatly strengthens Riki as a character as well. I wouldn’t think that if I didn’t also think that her ending up as a “good enough” plot device was the original canon goal.
There are big strengths to both endings and the way they were written. It’s just that I feel Maeda, for the most part, covered his tracks so very well with the buildup to the “it’s not enough” ending that I feel it overpowers that argument.
Oh I definitely agree with everything you’ve said right there. In a sense, I’m trying to justify Rin’s lack of agency in Rin2 and Refrain by saying it was necessary for Episode: Rin to have any meaning whatsoever. If she had any agency to begin with, its message would not have been as powerful, and there would be more justification for the “It’s enough” ending to be the better ending.
Very controversial opinion incoming here but if you read between the lines of what I’m trying to say, I am claiming that the reason why Rin had no agency during Rin2/Refrain was not because the story or the writers failed to showcase it. It’s because, at that point in time, she was useless as an independent human being. She had to be useless to grow, and she had to grow for everyone to be saved.
prepares to be mauled by a horde of Rin fans
It’s because, at that point in time, she was useless as an independent human being.
Is that really controversial? I came out of the whole thing as a diehard Rin appreciator and that’s exactly the feeling I got from her all throughout, with it being completely intended.
Probably the only other thing I can think of is that Kyousuke only planned for her to grow enough (which means far less than it does for Riki due to her starting point being so much lower) and left everything beyond her survival up to Riki, which is what makes her final realization (and by extension the “it’s not enough” ending) so powerful as her finally becoming aware of how much she’s changed thanks to those around her allows her to exceed Kyousuke’s expectations and be a driving, equal factor in everyone’s salvation. In doing so, she both mirrors Riki and complements him at the same time.
From what we know about the earliest drafts of the story, Rin was described more similar to Kyousuke: an onee-san character who’d see Riki off in the end. (Maybe the idea was that all the things Kyousuke does would’ve been split between the two siblings?) The ending was then of course that everyone but Riki died. As far as we know, that would’ve just been it, though Tonokawa talks about the current “it’s enough” as quite benevolent in comparison to the earliest version. The game had like a more than 3 years long development time, so a lot of things obviously happened.
Ouch. I’ll be honest - I can’t think of much of a way to make that earliest idea work anywhere near as well as the two endings we got in the end, even accounting for potential major changes like Rin’s character and role being completely different. I guess that’s how drafts ultimately are, but damn, it’s a bit depressing to hear that they originally planned for it to be even more grim.
I don’t know if I’m saying something obvious but I want to clarify this hahaha:
If I remember correctly that was something intended, the game suggests that every time you complete a route the heroine of that route disappears, that’s why there are a lot of scenes that you can only get if you complete the routes in a specific order.
That makes Komari’s farewell in Episode Rin even better, as she is the only girl that decided to wait until the very end. It is foreshadowed (eg: Kurugaya’s route, during the Love Love hunters, Rin can only find the girl’s that you have not helped yet, but she will always find Komari), that’s why I don’t think that it was an error hahaha.
Yep, originally when I first thought about what to reply with I included that, but forgot to add it back when I made huge changes prior to posting. It pretty much feels as though Maeda thought, “you know what? I’m actually going to roll with it and make it part of the story in a way that the other writers can easily work with as well”, and it works really really well.
And damn, I never actually noticed that bit in Kurugaya’s route, probably because I’ve only done it once and thought it was predetermined. Very nice touch.
That certainly is an interesting angle from which to view Rin2 and Refrain. After reading through this part of the discussion, I think we can conclude that Komari is the secret MVP of Refrain.
Well, that has been said before, but what I’m referring to in this particular context of respecting one’s agency is that Komari was the only one who, throughout Rin2 and Refrain, has consistently treated Rin as an equal. Kyousuke wanted Rin to develop according to his design, Kengo wanted her to just sit there and let him protect her, Masato followed his policy of acting like he always did - which included never disclosing the truth - and even Riki gave up on expecting anything from her after realizing how immature she still was. But Komari talked to Rin properly, face to face. And in the end, although all of these people have loved Rin in their own way, Komari’s way of handling their relationship was the one to make the most impact. She was the last one to believe in Rin and she gave her the decisive push and the tools to make something happen - and that ended up making the difference between tragedy and miracle.
I just wish we could’ve seen this a bit more prior to that excellent scene with Komari and Rin. Yes, they do spend a lot of time together in the VN regardless, but that’s mostly just from a relative standpoint. The anime adaptation of Komari’s route at least does a great job of getting that off the ground. It’s one of the reasons I’m not a big fan of Maeda’s (perhaps Key’s as a whole) tendency to not show other characters much in routes that aren’t their own or the main one.
I wouldn’t outright say Riki gave up on expecting anything from Rin though. He just couldn’t stomach the idea, whether in Rin2 after seeing those mindscarring texts or throughout the majority of Refrain.
I’m actually referring to an even earlier point in time in Rin2, namely when Riki realized that Rin was incapable of romantic love and that in order for her to mature, he needed to let her go - and let her take on the challenge of the sister school. I’m saying he gave up at that moment because he didn’t explain to her why he had changed his mind and now wanted her to go.
He does realize he was wrong after the (T.T) moment, hence why I didn’t take it into account, but you have a strong point regarding him not explaining his reasoning to her in the first place (and it makes it all the more sad when you account for the fact that he and Komari effectively became the only ones Rin trusted anymore, with Riki being the only one she could reach). I’m still not sure if I outright see it as him giving up on Rin at that time though - it’s more that he still trusted Kyousuke and his plan at that point and, as you said, didn’t want to stop her from something that both he and Kyousuke rightly felt she had to do (go so she could become stronger).
It’s funny because, by turning against Kyousuke, he still treated Rin as less than an equal, but it’s also depressing because both before and after that he did it because he felt it was necessary at the time (first to let Rin grow despite his own complaints, then to protect her despite fully acknowledging that both of them needed to become stronger).
Don’t forget guys, we’re hosting a Little Busters freetalk on Discord voice at 3PM Sunday UTC. That’s 9am CST. Hope you can make it!
Refrain as Told by Images
Refrain is all about callbacks–natural with “refrain” meaning repeat and all–but I wanted to focus specifically on paired visual compositions.
The Fire Fades
Comparing Kyousuke from the start of Common and the start of Refrain isn’t pretty. The key component of these images is lighting. We can see there is a difference in the natural light streaming through the window. The Refrain pic looks to have been taken later in the day with orange tints starting to take over. Now we actually seem to have more than just natural light here. In the Common pic we see the manga volume is shaded from the light of the window, but then how come Kyousuke isn’t shaded in the same way? It’s as if Kyousuke has a separate light shining on him from behind the camera or possibly he himself has an innate glow to him. Since we’re talking about fabricated images, we don’t need to concern ourselves with how this lighting is accomplished; Kyousuke simply isn’t the same radiant super human he once was in our eyes.
From Bad to Worst
A completely different transition Kyousuke goes through in Rin2 is from suspicious schemer to oppressive ruler. These images are then about escalation instead of contrast. When he’s first confirmed as the one behind the letters, he looks cool, in control and like he knows way more than he’s telling, but he’s still pretty much the same Kyousuke as he pull Riki into the woods. That is all stripped away as we see him stand up as a completely unopposable deity. These images have a similar composition: medium shot, tilt to the right. We go from a level camera to a low angle to emphasize Kyousuke’s power. Normally I’d say the tilt is about making viewers feel uncomfortable as their worldview is broken down; HOWEVER, most CGs are tilted between 30-45 degrees, so the conventions of Dutch angles don’t really apply here.
Full Closure
Now to talk about something happy for once. The end of Rin2 and the “intended” end of the dream world mirror each other with the same shot of Riki’s school bench. But whereas Riki’s world fades into black in complete failure, Kyousuke’s world disappears into a white light, its duty fulfilled.
Contrast
Okay, we’re getting a bit looser with the connection here, but my post my rules. I just want to talk about posing and contrast in images.
- First we have my favorite Rin CG by far. The energy and joy when she turns around combined with how much her reds and black pops against the colors of the background leave such a strong impact.
- Second we have a similar composition with a large focus on Rin’s hair, but her pose isn’t as much about energy. The text in this scene refers to Rin as “transient,” and it’s true that she doesn’t pop as much here. I believe this is due to how the light makes the color of her bangs look a lot more faded. She also has this light blue aura around her which blends her into the sky more.
- Speaking of fading into the background, when we see Rin in Episode:Kyousuke as she’s about to be shipped off to the other school, she’s literally being melted into the white void. She’s completely alone with no way to resist.
The Culmination of Everything
So this is the big visual representation of Riki’s growth. He gently but firmly takes control of the screen and reaches out towards a downtrodden observer. All of this obviously a callback to when we saw young Kyousuke do this at the beginning of the game. (What do you mean they didn’t make a CG of that? It’s the foundation of Riki’s entire character arc, and stretched out hands is the biggest motif in the whole narrative. Why would they not make a CG for that?)
No, this one doesn’t count. It’s a completely different image.
Fuck it, here’s the anime version. I seriously forget that this CG doesn’t exist. The text constantly refers back to that moment with Haruka and Mio for example. In LIttle Busters!, being like Kyousuke = helping people = reaching out your hand. It’s everywhere.
Let’s talk about Cats!
Sometimes, something about the cats in LB is strange, but we’re usually too busy with the story to notice. Admittedly, most of the stuff I’m going to talk about happens in Rin2, but also requires Refrain knowledge of the world.
Kyousuke brings cats as presents for Rin when he returns from his trips. The latest addition to the gang in school, Lennon, is a part of Kyousuke - and the one bringing his mysterious missions to Rin. But what about the other cats?
The first time I’ve noticed strange behavior was when Riki tried following Lennon to find the mastermind behind his missions in Rin2. The one who brought him to Kyousuke wasn’t Lennon, though - one of the other cats has deliberately led Riki around the school grounds for a while, as though beckoning him to follow, before finally arriving at the place Lennon’s been waiting at. Lennon “thanked” the cat by licking its head. So, does Kyousuke indirectly control the other cats through Lennon’s actions? Or does he have a more direct method thanks to his position in the world?
Next, when Riki and Rin make a run for it, the cats follow them up to the gate, but none of them cross it, as if they know what their owner is up to. And not only that. Riki, while ignorant of the secret of the world, is wary of those cats. Though it sounds ridiculous, he thinks Kyousuke could somehow be keeping tabs of them if they take any of the cats along. Well, maybe it doesn’t sound too ridiculous considering the behavior of that one cat just a week prior. As we know, though, his guess was actually spot-on.
After running away, Riki and Rin find themselves a bunch of new cats like Guts, Irfan, Akutagawa, Shumacher, etc. Pay attention now.
- Schumacher - was seen sleeping with Rin at least once
- Akutagawa - makes quick, delicate meows
- Irfan, the first cat Rin had caught. Manly, perfect, has a massive body.
- Guts was caught by Riki. He’s ugly and rough, has a deep, raspy voice. He seems to have gotten attached to Riki, because that’s whose futon he was sleeping in from then on - and he refused to leave it!
So, don’t the last two seem awfully similar to Masato and Kengo? Especially Guts and his strange attachment to Riki. The counterargument to that would be that Riki has never specifically mentioned Guts and Irfan fighting. But let’s think of it this way: Kyousuke must have been somehow observing Riki and Rin. There’s no way he wasn’t - those two are the reason the world was created. He could have been watching them through cats or maybe some other way. We’ve never been told what other stuff he can do. (Also, I have originally assumed that Kyousuke was the one who made the police move in, but now I suspect an alternative possibility.) So, could the other dreamers have been doing the same for the same reason? Could Schumacher have been Komari? Or rather than stand-ins, could those cats simply have been created by the world itself while borrowing some characteristics of the dreamers?
Lastly, Refrain. Now Lennon is the only cat left in the world. Could the drop be related to the departure of other dreamers? It’s not exactly proportional, and we’ve never been told about a decreasing number of cats after the completion of other girls’ routes.
According to Riki’s “memory”, Rin used to have more cats than just Lennon, “But they had left one by one, as if fleeing from the Rin who had changed so much.”
Why that specific wording? To keep the setting consistent after a faulty reset?
EDIT:
Here’s the line by Kyousuke that I mentioned on the podcast
Well, we obviously barely get any worthwhile info on the cat mysteries, but what do you guys think?
Definitely an interesting take on things! I don’t doubt that the Riki/Rin batch of cats are somehow connected to Kyousuke (either through dream world control or projection), but this is the first time I’ve thought that they could be connected to the other members. I’d have to review how they act around the two, for sure.
But where does that put dorj? 
