“You are NOT the father.”
What They Say:
Naoe Riki was a boy living on the brink of despair. The one to reach out to him was Natsume Kyousuke, a just boy who called himself the leader of the “Little Busters.” Every day from then on was like an endless carnival, and the pain in Riki’s heart slowly ebbed away. A few years later, the five of them are living in the same school dorm, still living every day like a carnival. But when Kyousuke starts to look for a job, Riki worries that the five friends will drift apart. “Let’s start a baseball team. We’ll call it… the Little Busters!”
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
These two episodes complete Haruka’s arc and reveal even more Saigusa family drama. It turns out that Saigusa Shou, Haruka’s father, was only arrested because he was attempting to protect his daughters. Haruka’s three parents couldn’t continue living under their family’s oppressive rule, and when they attempted to leave, the Saigusas came to take Haruka and Kanata back by force. Shou only acted in self-defense, and it was the Saigusa family’s political influence that landed him in jail.
As it turns out, Haruka and Kanata are twins by different fathers. This means that only one of them is the biological daughter of Saigusa Shou. Of course, the proud Saigusa family needed to know which girl was the tainted spawn of a criminal, so they compared the two children in all aspects of life to try to make a decision. Kanata excelled in both academics and athletics at a young age, so they assumed she must be the good one. This created a horrible competitive dynamic that continued throughout their lives: Haruka was constantly abused for being a criminal’s daughter, she acted out in response and hated Kanata for receiving all of the family’s praise, and Kanata was punished severely for failing to keep Haruka in line, as well as any time the family thought she was being less than perfect.
This might be a matter of cultural difference, but personally, I didn’t understand the importance everyone was placing on genetic heritage. There’s no reason to think that the child of a criminal is going to be equally predisposed to such behaviour; genes are so much more complicated than that. And either way, nurture certainly far outweighs nature in this respect. Even the other Little Busters seem to think it’s a big deal whose biological father is whose. Instead of reassuring Haruka that she might not be his daughter, they should have been saying that her personality is her own and not that of her parents.
Anyway, all of this has a happy ending, as usual. Kanata’s despicable treatment of Haruka at school was partly due to the orders of the Saigusa family and partly to protect her sister. She accepted the responsibility (and beatings) for all of Haruka’s misdeeds. Though, Kanata isn’t totally blameless: one of Kanata’s main reasons for staying with the family is that her defection would cause them to label her as the new “pathetic Haruka,” and she couldn’t handle that view of herself. There was also a vague threat that if neither of the daughters were an acceptable heir, Haruka would “disappear” (so that’d be, what, first degree murder?). In the end, Haruka and Kanata have a tearful reunion and promise to be good to each other from then on. Kanata finally leaves the Saigusa family, and the two are reunited with their real parents, as well as the recently released Saigusa Shou.
What I’m wondering is, how on Earth is the Saigusa family allowed to do all these things? From the sounds of it, there’s more than enough evidence of child abuse, harassment, repeated assault, arson, and attempted murder. These people should be in JAIL. Why has no one called the police?! On the other hand, if the family is so powerful and influential that the police can’t stop them (making them basically mafia lords), then what makes the happy ending possible? Couldn’t the Saigusas have sent out an army of assassins to slaughter the defecting children? I suppose this is another case of Little Busters presenting an inconsistent reality, though it doesn’t bother me as much as Mio’s arc. Confusing cultural politics are a bit more excusable than supernatural shadow people. And the oppressive violence of the Saigusa family is ultimately just a plot point which is used to set up Kanata and Haruka’s rivalry, which was itself a worthwhile story.
In Summary:
In spite the efforts of the villainous Saigusa family, Haruka and Kanata are together once again. The two sisters had been oppressed for far too long by people with way too much pride and a poor understanding of genetics. We never do find out who Saigusa Shou’s real daughter is, because in the end both girls realize what was probably obvious to the audience from the start: you are who you are, regardless of your family history. …Still, I’m kind of curious.
Grade: B
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Insignia 1080p TV, PS3 with Crunchyroll App; Occasionally 17” Toshiba Satellite Laptop, 2.13 GHz Core i3, 4GB RAM, Windows 7
