Tuesday, December 24, 2013

Little Busters Refrain episode 12

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BAWWW! Just one big BAWW!
Post 5 weee! Christmas specials are finally starting to roll on the television now. Time to start watching and vegging out in front of the tv. You know, not what I have been doing all day long already....Up now is Little Busters Refrain episode 12. Spoilers for many tears drowning everyone.
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Kyousuke is on the bus because..he is. End of mystery.
Episode Summary: Riki and Rin are running through the broken down world. Rin asks where they are going and Riki says to the real world. Riki sees visions of his friends (Masato, Kengo, and Kyousuke) one more time, with their goodbyes, before the world completely is erased. Rin and Riki walk through the nothingness for a while and poof they are outside. Hurt. Riki manages to get up first and located Rin under a tree. They are at a bottom of a mountain and were thrown from the bus and landed some distance away. They look around...and see the bus. It all comes back to them (well Riki first I guess) on how they all went on a school trip together. Riki was joking that Kyousuke somehow snuck on the bus despite being a 3rd yearer. He can't just leave them to have fun alone. On the bus are the rest of the girls but none of them are friends with the main Little Busters left so they are scattered throughout the bus. Riki is all smiles that this will be a great day when the bus is hit by something and off it goes flying down the mountain. Riki remembers Masato protecting him while Rin knows Kengo protected her. Riki goes towards the bus but sees the gas leaking. He then decides to listen to Kyousuke and his final request and live, to protect Rin. He pulls Rin away from the wreckage crying as Rin looks out of it. When Riki looks back at the bus though he doesn't want to listen to Kyousuke. He can't live without his friends and decides it is not too late. He tells Rin to stay put and he goes back to the bus the best he can due to his injuries. He wants to save ALL of the Little Busters, new and old. Since things are getting awful Riki starts to have one of his attacks but he pushes through. He will rescue everyone through the act of friendship. Only when he gets to the bus and looks inside it appears everyone is bleeding and looking...dead like. Riki then realizes that wishes and unicorn feathers don't exist. He can't save everyone.
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Masato went out smiling, protecting his best friend.
Riki starts to get woozy and then the point of view switches to Rin. She snaps out of her crazy and realizes what has happened. She looks towards the bus and is too scared to move. She starts to explain why she is the way she is. A bunch of adults were mean to her once. She tried to cut herself off from the real world and keep to herself. Only Kyousuke was there to always bring her along and make sure she stayed connected. Slowly Kyousuke started to introduce new people into her life. She was scared of Masato and Kengo but took to Riki fast. They had fun times together and that is how she wanted it to always be. Now they are dead. Rin just breaks down and cries. Cries her little eyes out. As she sits there and cries she seems to be taken to the fake world...that just got destroyed. She hears Komari calling out her name and looks around. She finds the drawing book with the penguins and how the special penguin was happy in the end. Rin starts to cry because she realizes she forgot about her friends because it was easier than dealing with the pain. One by one Rin visits the girls and they tease/talk to Rin. Some offer advice to Rin while others tell Rin to stay the way she is forever. Rin cries even more as she didn't get to say goodbye or thank you. Then Rin remembers when she first became friends with Komari, that there was mention of making promises on hair ribbons and Rin wanted Komari to make hers for her. Rin runs to the roof and finds Komari. Komari apologizes for not telling her the truth and that she just wanted to be with Rin to the end. But now Komari no longer exists and all she wants is Rin to smile again. Komari disappears and Rin falls down. She says she can't cry as she would be going against Komari's wish. But to smile again Rin would need to be with her friends again. Suddenly the ribbon powers up Rin super Sayian style and saying the good luck chant brings Rin back into reality. There is still time to save everyone ya'll. THE END!!!
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Somewhere awful...:(
X____X I think this post will be just as quick as the last one but I think it was just as traumatizing. Like there is not much to say because all there was to this episode was feeling? If that makes sense. Merry Christmas indeed.
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Riki really doesn't want to say goodbye but he has Rin to protect.
There was still bit of running through the dream world. The Kyousuke world if you would. Because there needs to be 3 episodes of goodbyes for us to properly cry our eyes out. I mean...I get that it is sad and super....depressing but the goodbyes won't mean as much if they keep repeating. Like okay I will say goodbye....one more time. And then one more time. Oh and then one more time. Almost like there wasn't enough material for this season and they have to stretch it out. Of course I could be a brat and just not understanding how traumatizing this is and that Riki just learned the truth 4 minutes ago and is still processing it. People are dead so I guess he needs to say all the goodbyes he can.
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Can we go back to the nice world now please?
Once the Kyousuke world was completely gone...POOF back in the real world our main characters find themselves. I wonder how much time passed in the Kyousuke world. How many times did each day repeat itself? Is Riki 60? In any event...Riki and Rin were pretty far from the crash site. If Kengo and Masato were protecting Riki and Rin from the blast how did they get so far away? Shouldn't they be under Masato and Kengo? Or you know...super duper hurt because being THROWN at that speed would cause more damage than the actual crash?
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Way out of the bus....
Details details. The point is Masato and Kengo did something to protect Rin and Riki. Everyone else is still inside the bus. Riki's first instinct is to go to the bus and rescue who he can. Which I think is the proper response even though Riki is hurt. Most people aren't going to stand by and do nothing. This leads to other people getting hurt or killed, especially when it comes to rescuing drowning people. Even though I am not very strong I would still try.
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I must do this...for Kyousuke.
But Riki stopped. The gasoline was leaking. I see that Kyousuke dragging himself back to the leak was just metaphoric as I didn't see him. Well I guess he could have been on the other side.....Still Riki saw that the situation was still dangerous. And in case of emergencies you need to make sure you are okay. Move any injured individuals off to the side (Rin). And in case of magical worlds and promises...it would really do Kyousuke a disservice if you know...Riki and Rin died after Kyousuke went through all that hard work to rescue them and make sure they were taken care of in the living world. It might be just a giant EFF YOU if Riki and Rin died 5 seconds after everyone else did. Not that Riki and Rin asked for all this hard work but still. Just the idea that these were people's last wishes and if they disrespected them it would be awful. So Riki took Rin so they could live.
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I can rescue everyone because I believe!
This lasted about 5 seconds. Rin is safe, Riki is going back to rescue his friends. Because that is how this show is. Doing things for your friends. And if anyone thought Riki was just going to walk away when MAYBE he could save his friends...well you are on crack. That is not the person Riki is. Especially after all the trials Kyousuke put him through. He used to look away when things got bad or allowed his narcolepsy (which wasn't why he lived...) to take over. Kyousuke has taught him how to be a stronger person. He will fight through these awful feelings and save his friends. He can do it. He can drag everyone out of the bus and save them all! GO RIKI!
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Or...maybe not....
Or you know....everyone is dead. Seriously hurt but on their way to dying. I am not sure if it was censored or just meant to be dark but whatever Riki saw brought him back to reality. Kyousuke was able to do magic things...because it was his own world that he created. In reality land Kyousuke couldn't help Noumi escape those awful people. I am guessing that Mio might have been a lose cause too. Riki thought that just doing your best and wishing hard enough would make things happen. But in real life when vans fall off a cliff....people die. Riki has to accept reality now.
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Stop being so mean to me!!! I'm just a little kid.
Back on top of the hill Rin has woken up from her well deserved moment of sadness. The kind where you look off into space and wish it all away. Rin woke up and realized that Riki had gone off towards the bus and she was all alone. And was going to be all alone (with Riki) for the rest of her life. Time for sobs. And even if Rin wasn't emotional stunted or whatever is wrong with her I think it was time for a cry. I mean look at all of this craziness. There was a bit of a moment where Rin tried to explain why she was shy and cut off from the world. I guess some people aren't equipped to deal with...much. I know a few people like that too. It is frustrating but sometimes people are just fragile. And now fragile Rin has more to deal with. Time for crying.
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Twice the tears!
Since this show is about magical and people's wishes I guess there is no point in wondering how Rin got back into Kyousuke's made up world. Because this show needs to end happily. Perhaps someone is still alive left in the van and their wish is keeping the world running for a bit longer. Because Kengo, Kyousuke, and Masato aren't the only ones that matter to Rin now. No no, thanks to Kyousuke making this world Rin has a whole bunch of new friends that are now in different states of dying. This was the best plan ever Kyousuke!
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Next I am going to visit Tenchi since she likes messing up my name.
I thought Rin taking the time to say goodbye to all the girls was nice. Well I just typed that and it wasn't really true right? More like all the girls came and said something to Rin as their final goodbye. Because Rin didn't know what was going on in the baseball field and hadn't said goodbye to anyone. So technically....she was going to have regrets too if this didn't happen. It just felt a bit much, the goodbyes that will never end again. Some girls gave advice while others were just being themselves around Rin. Because everyone needs closure. And Rin needed to cry some more. Thanks for the memories.
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You can't even say that without crying!
Komari was always special to Rin. Perhaps because she was Rin's first friend or maybe they just spent more time together. While Rin felt bad about forgetting all the girls she was especially upset about Komari. So Rin sought Komari out herself. I need to find Komari. Of course Komari was on the roof like usual. I like that she actually felt guilty about all this lying. All the other girls just smiled. Komari's main thing is smiling though....Anyway Rin remembers the wish that Komari wanted Rin to make and I think Rin wanted to make that wish for everyone to live. Only Komari has accepted what has happened and just wants Rin to smile again. I am not sure how much smiling Rin is going to do. Her brother is dead, not just some friends. Friends are important too but Rin's main family member is gone. So...this is a very strong wish that might never happen and hopefully Komari will be okay with that. Or guilt Rin into it, whatever works. Live on Rin.
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Um...how about no?
Okay...so there have been other shows with similar plots. Sad things happen, miracle occurs, everyone lives. I accept that this is going to happen with this show but almost all the seriousness of the series was erased in 5 seconds. I wanted Rin to get up and have the resolve to save everyone on her own. To find some inner strength. Instead it got a little cheesy. Okay a lot cheesy with Rin saying Komari's catch phrase and striking that pose. Things are still VERY bad. Why the happy face and smiles? Just...yeah I think the episode would have been a lot stronger without that scene. Almost ruined it for me.
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Oh look everyone is wearing their winter uniforms and Kyousuke has his diploma. ALL IS WELL!
I guess I wasn't very short with this post was I. XD Well watching it was fast I guess. And not much seemed to happen. This series is wrapping up. Will Riki and Rin muster up enough magic to bring people back to life? Or at the very least drag all their broken bodies from the van? With the gas leaking? Um...I am guessing yes. Christmas miracle!

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