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「5月13日」 (Gogatsu Jū-san-nichi)
“May 13”
And so it begins… Again.
A while ago – it may even have been in the first season – I mentioned that Riki’s narcolepsy struck me as being something like a circuit-breaker – a switch that trips whenever he gets too close to the truth. I think the reality is somewhat more complicated than that, but I feel as if I got a piece of it with that observation – and the events at the close of last week’s episode (I heartily recommend you watch the readily available footage of Riki and Rin’s time in her Grandfather’s house which leads up to them – no real spoilers) seem to bear that out. I do think Riki’s “fail-safe” switch tripped there, but it wasn’t so much the truth as the fact that he’d taken this train as far as it could go – there was no more track, the end of that spur line, with no rails left to ride.
Cue this episode – the 7th of the season, the 33rd of the series – and we find ourselves back on May 13, where it all started. It’s clear enough that this is a new start, a reboot if you like – but just as clear that things are very different this time around. I will say that more so than at any time during Little Busters’ run, I found myself genuinely confused about what was happening here, but I think that’s exactly how a new viewer is probably supposed to feel at this point of the story. It’s at times like this that I remember that LB is a VN adaptation, and that we’re effectively in the same shoes as Riki – we see what he sees, and we know (and don’t know) only what he knows. If Riki is confused, it’s only because he, like us, doesn’t have access to all the information – or at the least, has yet to put all of it together.
One approach one make take would be to encyclopedically list all the ways this episode differed from the first, but that doesn’t sound like much fun to me and my memory isn’t that good anyway. So instead, I’ll say that what it felt like was a sort of photo-negative of that episode. There were obvious similarities, but the emotions were completely flipped. You began with “Kyousuke’s back!” – back after walking home from Tokyo (supposedly) where he was job-hunting (supposedly). There are some interesting other similarities, too – Kyousuke spends much of his time reading manga in both cases, for example – but in the series premiere they’re gag manga and he’s constantly smiling, surrounded by other people. Here, he reads somber dramas (“Have you ever been freed from everything?”) in silence in his darkened dorm room, refusing to come out.
Indeed, it seems that the two people most changed from then to now are the siblings, Kyousuke and Rin – while the two who seem to be the only principals who don’t know what’s really going on are Rin and Riki. I remember a scene from early in the first episode where Kyousuke was looking down from a forested hillside – or rather a clearing, perhaps the same one where he and Riki met last week – and the lights of the city below only flickered on when Kyousuke arrived to see them, as if this entire world only existed in (or because of) his perception of it. Now we have Kyousuke dour, depressed and completely anti-social and Rin skittish as a kitten and terrified of everyone except Riki, cats and small children (i.e. cute and harmless things). And then there’s Lennon, who likewise appears from nowhere in both timelines – only this time, he seems to be bringing a baseball with him.
It seems clear that a memory is retained whenever time seemingly resets itself – either a complete recall, which Kyousuke and probably Masato and Kengo too seem to have – or a kind of emotional memory, which Riki and Rin seem to have. It’s easy to surmise that Rin is so timid because of her harrowing isolation at the other school (even if she doesn’t remember it), but is Kyousuke so somber and angry because he’s not happy with the way that last world worked out? Does it somehow represent a failure for him, as if all his cruelty and coldness towards Riki and Rin at the end was for naught? Or is this all part of his larger plan to force Riki to be the strong one?
“I wish things could stay like this forever – that time would stop.” It’s something that’s part of the cultural mythology of every country but it seems to have a special resonance for the Japanese, and it seems to be at the heart of everything LitBus is about. In this new world the fight between Masato and Kengo seems to have an anger to it the ones in the last world lacked, Rin is more scared than ever and Kyousuke like an angry ghost. But Riki seems himself – if anything, more determined and bolder than the Riki that started the series (if not the one that stole away with Rin and tried to protect her from the world). And when Lennon rolls that ball into his feet, he definitely remembers, even if he doesn’t realize it. He senses the elemental importance of the place he’s standing, and he has an awareness of how much things have changed even if he doesn’t remember exactly how they were before.
It seems to me that it’s in Riki that hope lies for something that isn’t a tragic ending – in his earlier promise to Kyousuke to grow stronger, which he seems to be acting on now. Masato always manages to toss in at least one line of dialogue that seems loaded with significance – here, it’s when he tells Riki “It seems as if you’ve come far enough. I’m the only one left. I’ll take my leave, too – take care of the rest.” That comes in response to Riki’s question – “If the answer isn’t to be found in this world… Is it in another world?” Indeed it truly seems as if we’ve entered another world as of this episode, one quite unlike any we’ve inhabited up until now.
Author’s note: Please “refrain” from posting any unmarked VN spoilers (or hints, or confirmations or denials of guesses, or clever spoilers disguised as jokes) into the comments section. I don’t want this experience ruined for me, and I don’t want it ruined for any other new viewers. Read the comments at your own risk,. Zephyr has kindly offered to pop his head in here and look for spoiler comments, but that will not necessarily be before any potential spoilers have been posted for a while. Untagged spoiler comments will of course be deleted, and serial offenders will meet with further and more decisive response. Let’s be respectful and keep this a safe place for people who want to experience Refrain to the fullest without having to worry about that experience being spoiled because they want to participate in a discussion.
After 6 episodes “Refrain” finally starts!!!
After 6 episodes “boringness” finally starts!!!
Show Spoiler ▼
How is this a spoiler? Just curious though.
Enzo, this is the 33rd episode in total, not the 20th.
Yes, of course – mental slip there, thanks.
Now, we get to delve into the childhood friends, and see the story of Refrain unfold.
Re: Masato
Show Spoiler ▼
Enzo, I think you linked the wrong picture for the Masato and Kengo fight, and also the first season was 2-cour, so this would be the 33rd, not 20th episode of the series.
That’s one of the biggest things about the series.
Re: Masato
Show Spoiler ▼
7th episode of the season, 20th of the series…
Wait, didn’t the original season have 26 episodes?
True arc of Refrain begins.
I’m a VN player, but if you asked me how’d I fit the Refrain arc into 7 episodes of about 22 episodes each, I wouldn’t have a proper answer I guess.
Though this episode of May 13th is a rather good adaptation already in my opinion. 🙂
This episode would be the best experience for VN players too I guess.
Since Show Spoiler ▼
I’m a VN player, and I can take a stab at how they will fit it all in.
Show Spoiler ▼
I will say this, and I’ll spoiler tag it even though after this episode it really isn’t a spoiler anymore, but…
In Regards to VN and How Its Routes Go:
Show Spoiler ▼
This is the final step for Riki.
well, refrain has officially started. and like the previous ep, the beginning of this ep gave me chills.
I don’t have much to say in terms of what’s going on as a VN player. but I am enjoying it of course. being a veteran VN of LB, doesn’t make the experience ‘light’. on the contrary, watching refrain now really enhancing my feelings. moreover when considering the fact that this year was full of LB for me. anime started a year ago, VN, and now refrain..it’s good to have everything in some sort of on-going sequence. not only for VN-veterans, but also for anime-viewers-only.
p.s
I assume you all know it, but let’s make the point behind the name of the ep “may 13”. it indicates, as most of you(even non-VN player) probably figured, the starting over.
in most VNs, dates are kinda crucial for scenarios, routes and choices. so basically everything we saw in ep01 of s01 has started in may 13. that’s why the name.
there was no mention to it till now in the anime..so I thought making the point clear here.
I think it’s kinda cool name for those of us who played the VN, those who did not, fear not.
Well this two are still a Big Secret
https://randomc.net/image/Little%20Busters/Little%20Busters%20Refrain%20-%2007%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
The Ball and the Cat…
Who roll the Ball to his feet?
Where this Cat came from?
Hope this is no Spoiler, but for me the “core” Questions
Epic start
Love what they have done with Rin lost eyes. Reminded me a lot to AIR ;____;
Next episode start the epicness.
Ahh…an episode mainly about a certain character eh?
Looking forward to it too 🙂
Hoping that episode might spawn lots of cosplays of that character.
I’ve only seen one version of him so far…
Spoiler cosplay: http://bit.ly/18GnRGJ
Yup. He is TEH BRO.
I also have not seen many cosplays of him. I think because of dat hairstyle.
…
…this had to be the most confusing episode to date, and thus, the one I have the least things to say about. A hint at an answer to why this is so can be seen in this episode’s title, appearing before the end credits.
Has Kengo been wearing the school uniform in the ED the whole time? =/
Yes.
I don’t remember being ‘confused’ going into Refrain when I read the VN, so I’m slightly surprised that it’s the reaction to the anime. Many things started to come together in Rin 2 and from the start of Refrain both the reader and Riki should have the sense that something is very wrong. Our internal cries of ‘what happened?’ were directed less at the series events (after all, we remember even if Riki doesn’t) and more to the logic underneath them; why has this come to pass?
I suppose the looping was handled slightly differently in the VN, but not drastically. And Riki is the protagonist and all, we always knew far more than him. This should be more so in the anime than the VN, in which Riki is not a first person protagonist but more third person protagonist with a dash of narrator. And even to the naive Riki it is readily apparent that something broke. But his question is ‘when’. Our question is ‘why’.
I would assume at least some of that confusion stems from the confusing end of the previous episode.
I think that would be mostly due to the anime not being very clear on the timeline/dates.
May 13th was the very first episode of the first season, but the only mention of it then was a slight glimpse of the alarm clock in Riki’s room.
VN version already has most dates stated at all times.
If you were to factor in that the episode aired about a year ago, of course most people wouldnt remember that well..unless they just watched Refrain, and rewatched the 1st episode overall like I did yesterday :p
I think the VN had a great way of making the time reset/loop in Refrain obvious in the early parts just by the statement “What was once the Little Busters..”
I’ve only just started watching the first season, due to reading these reviews and deciding to try catching up. But seeing Rin in this review and comparing her to what I’ve been watching… She looks… broken. What have they done to her? 🙁
While fully explaining would require some insight on the “secret of the world”, catching up to the episode prior to this one should give you some clues about that.
What else? They broke her. And btw, you’re spoiling yourself a bit hard if you’re going to read all these write ups before watching the episodes.
I wouldn’t have watched any of either season without reading these reviews, so it’s sort of a catch 22.
Seems like everything that happened didn’t actually happen… and this is the real Rin
I don’t believe that. I just watched Rin in the first episode of the first season, and she didn’t look… like that. This is more than just the progress over the series coming undone. Even when she was being shy, she didn’t look the way she looks here. Something inside this girl has been broken, and that is one of the most horrible things I have yet seen in this series.
ok so if it that what you want i say it….
Show Spoiler ▼
And thats the result why Rin is very broken in EP 7
Not confirming or denying anything (especially if you hate spoilers),
but if you have the time, (6 more episodes should mean at least 6 weeks before series end)
you should check out the Visual Novel that spawned the anime adaptation. :p
http://bit.ly/1fmrCZL