Sunday 3 February 2013

Little Busters! - Episode 17

The climax to last week's episode brought us to the crux of Saigusa's story as her arc gets into gear - and what a torrid tale it is too.

There's really no surprise as to her emotional state given the circumstances of an over-bearing family concerned only with their own reputation, and one of a pair of twins seemingly conceived by different fathers before being set up to compete against one another at every turn.  It's this constant content between Saigusa and Futaki that has turned Haruka into the troublemaker that she is, as she knows that every chink she reveals in her sister's armour will get her into further trouble with the family which she seeks to inherent.


In spite of these admissions, Naoe and the other Little Busters care not for such politics, and continue to accept her as part of their group unequivocally, meaning that they all live happily ever after.  At least, that's the theory, but the rivalry between Saigusa and Futaki isn't resolved that easily, and as Saigusa's resolve to find out the truth about who her father is grows, so does that rivalry yet further.  It's enough to split a person in half... right, Haruka?

Having been left unconvinced by last week's episode, I have to admit that this is one of the stronger instalments we've seen from Little Busters - Haruka's emotional turmoil is tangible, as is the ice cold relationship between her and her twin sister, and it feels like a story arc with plenty of places to go.  The trouble is, I'm not convinced that this story is going to go to the places we need to, and the climax to this week's instalment feels far too similar to the way things panned out with Nishizono to feel particularly compelling.  Hopefully the next episode can prove me wrong, as Little Busters sorely needs a strong story arc to rekindle my interest in it.

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