LB, Rewrite, School Days?!?!!?!

Ok so I love Little Kud. Her route showed so much promise and I was really really hoping for great development but I was super disappointed. So much that I got really depressed at the end. Why did Key butcher such a great character with such a incohesive plot and ending? It bugged me the rest of the night and all day the next day, so I decided a little blog writing might help.

When I first played through Little Busters, I wasn't that much interested in Kudryavka Noumi. She was kind of depicted as a dog character, and animal girl thing isn't really my type. But she was quite charming with her engrish haha. My first play through, I actually went through Nishizono Mio's route. I recognized her voice from some other VN I played, and when I looked it up, it was Aeka from YMK. I was pretty disappointed from her route as well. She was mysterious and held a secret as a proper quite book loving girl was. But it turned out it was her shadow and she wanted to disappear and some other supernatural shit. I enjoyed the memory description and how your memories can change so very quickly just by words from someone else. Other then that, the story arc and development was pretty bland. I don't really like the "supernatural" for the most part (combine supernatural and animal girl equals </3 looking at you Sawatori Makoto). Like I didn't really enjoy Fuuko from Clannad or Makoto from Kanon. I feel it has to be done right, kind of like Nagisa/Ushio from Clannad. Even then, I like the realistic problems better for the most part. Like Shiori Arc from Kanon was incredible. And this is where Kud comes in.

She is this bright cheery girl who is 1/4 Japanese and 3/4 Russian. Although she looks like a foreigner with her flaxen colored hair and blue eyes, she is very poor at English? (which is kind of normal since she is Russian lol) but good at Japanese. She feels that she should be good at English and poor at Japanese as a foreigner and tries to fill that role. However, it seems to be impossible no matter how hard she tries. She has weird quirky habits such as bringing her own pair of chopsticks to the cafeteria and liking a particular Japanese FOOD. Also her home country is Teva, a small island country.... She was brought up by her grandfather since her parents were too busy with their work and traveled the world.

Anyways to include background to the story for those who have not read, I'm going to do a summary of Kudryavka's Arc similar to my Yume Miru Kusuri review, but I will try to keep it brief... This takes place after the baseball game and is focused entirely on Kud and Riki. (Spoiler for huge text/pictures)
+ Show Spoiler +

So here we have few issues that can be delved into. One is her international background. Two is her inability to accept who she is (again related to point one). Three is her issues relating to mother/father. I was so excited for this development when it was hinted at (particularly the international issues). I am have been thinking about my nationality as well, being Korean-American. Born and raised in America, but raised with Korean Parents and culture. I am still unsure of what I identify myself as. I am definitely more American but at the same time, my parents have raised me with very strict Korean cultural identity. Even telling me as a child while I grew up that I am a Korean, not an American. I feel almost lost, growing up with mostly White Americans, and while it may not be so black and white at a younger age, I definitely started to have more Asians friends in middle schools. While it may be due to there being more Asians in middle/high school, I could've continued to have only Asian friends. Of course I didn't think about this back then but looking back upon it now, I realize the gap between myself and America. No matter how natural my English is, no matter how long I lived in America, no matter what college I graduated from, I still won't be fully an American, just because of how I look on the outside. Nor can I be fully Korean. Even if I were to move to Korea right now, while I may look on the outside like Korean, inside I am American. One of my Korean friends called me a Twinkie and I was like ????, and he explained it as Yellow on the outside, White on the inside (so basically a banana, which sounds much better ) While thinking about this, I was hoping that maybe this arc would show some light/perspective on this issue but alas, I was sorely disappointed.
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Anyways going back to the three points, I can see all of these points being combined into one beautiful conclusion (while the parent issue might be harder to include) where Kud finally overcome and accepts who she is with the help of Riki of course. However, none of this is explored. Her international background explanation leads to her parents. And her parents lead to the Space Mission, and the Space Mission leads to her being captured, and that leads to her return. I was flabbergasted at the abrupt change in development, basically ignoring EVERYTHING that the arc was hinting and pointing too (except for that one foreshadowing part) in favor of a family issue that isn't even tied to the previous story line. The ending was ridiculous and vague. Even when she got back, there is almost no resolution to the event. I was in shock at the ending; at how bad Key butchered this story arc. What happened at the end was so unpolished and rushed. You had no clear understanding of what was going on at the while she was away on the island. I guess it is to build tension from Riki's point of view.
The ending was so half-assed that I doubt the developers put any effort into this. It's like they were working hard in the beginning and then they ran out of time and made up an ending. Just exactly WHAT happened on the island? She got captured and martyred as a sacrifice? How did that even work? I understand there was civil unrest but was it ONLY her that was captured like the scene depicted? The story made no clear reason why she was chosen as a sacrifice, only just because her mother was "at fault".
She seems to be accepting her fate as well in the cell, hoping that she fulfilled her purpose as a useless cog, but really, was she satisfied? Clearly not since she wanted to escape in reality. And when she does, this issue is never dealt with. What happened to the island and her family is left untouched. More importantly what happened to her is left untouched. She just returns back and Riki is there for her. And Credits... No conclusion, no reconciliation, no effort.
I was absolutely disgusted with this ending. So maybe I thought the bad end would be better.

Nope, it's almost as bad, with her going into hysteria and you falling asleep at the worst possible moment remembering some vague quote Kousuke said... (Probably has something to do with the true story arc)

I'm so upset at how they ruined such a beautiful character. She had so much going for her; from her international background to her social problems due to her foreign nature. All these are dropped and neglected for a rehash that seems to address none of these issues that were semi developing.

About the arc itself, before the horrid ending, while I read many complaints at how most of it was just studying for the test, I didn't mind it as much. And it became a way to learn more about her background and the issues she is facing with. When they got to the point where Kud was avoiding studying with Riki because of the other classmates, I was like YES CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT TIME. But it was solved with one or two simple lines and never explored any further. Like it was basically no big deal or issue ALTHOUGH IT FUCKING IS. It is then entirely dropped for an oversea family matter into a ridiculous ending that makes no sense

However, there is one thing that attached me to Kud. Putting aside her international origin, her expression towards Riki. Maybe it is because she is "foreign" that she does this but, never have I seen in any VN character where she is able to be so straightforward towards Riki. Maybe this is because Riki is dumb and has no clue, but she in her times with Riki just seems so earnest. She clearly shows what she wants and while embarrassed does what she wants as well. It's hard to put into words but the relationship she shared seemed so real to me

I understand there is an expansion/extension called Kud Wafter, but there is no translation yet and moonrunes are moonrunes. Perhaps this addresses the issues that I have with the original arc, and if it does, I guess I'll just wait warmly for the English patch.

There was my rant have a good day

I feel much better after writing this haha