But I can’t.” It perfectly exemplifies Kyousuke’s agony at having to let go, which is the most unnatural thing in the world for him to do.
If there was one moment in the episode that really gutted me, it was Kyousuke’s “It’s all right… I’ll do something. But that’s no longer possible once the geas that he’s used to stop time runs out, and the idea that he has to turn Riki and Rin lose on the world without his protection is more painful to him that death itself. It’s what he’s done for his entire life, and all of the other Busters are much better off for it. All he wants to do is take Riki or Rin’s hand and say “Everything is going to be all right” – and then go make sure it is. He’s always been the guy who takes care of everyone – the big brother, the defender, the ringleader. If you look at all this from his perspective it’s pretty damn heartbreaking. It’s really Kyousuke’s tragedy that defines this episode, and in many ways Little Busters itself. Thus by delaying it for even a few moments (stopping a leak of gasoline that will presumable cause the bus to explode, for example) he gives Riki that one more chance to grow into the man Kyousuke believes can shoulder the burdens he’s going to have to carry. But whatever magic Kyousuke used to do all this apparently has limits – “My grip on this world is starting to weaken” (which in turn seems to explain the random character disappearances and weather irregularities) – and in a symbolic sense, these repeating false worlds seem to be contained in a single teardrop in Kyousuke’s eye as he’s waiting for the end on that fateful night. And of course, Riki’s narcolepsy – as always seemed likely, a kind of circuit-breaker that Kyousuke tripped whenever Riki was headed towards a “bad end” and needed a reset. Kud’s desire to be a “good gear that helps the world to move”. The seeming duality of Masato’s personality (“He played the idiot successfully as usual”). Kyousuke’s seemingly cruelty ( “I could punch myself”). And what of Riki and Rin themselves – did they survive the crash, or (as Kyousuke implies) were they not on-board that bus at all and would only find out what happens later? Somehow, Kyousuke – let’s just say using the power of love for now – managed to freeze time in an effort to try and help Riki and Rin grow strong enough to survive the horror of what they’re going to have to live with. But were Kengo and Masato on that bus as well? I presume so, but that isn’t explicitly spelled out. Obviously a bus crashed, obviously Kyousuke and the “outer ring” of the Little Busters – Komari, Haruka, Mio, Kuragaya and Kud – were on-board. In practical terms, I don’t think it’s wholly clear yet just what happened on the terrible night we finally see in detail this week. But I don’t think it’s as simple as him taking Riki’s hand and finally saying goodbye, the artificial world he built succumbing to the void and taking the others with it. Staff chose to end this episode with the OP rather than the ED, because in a sense this was the beginning that Kyousuke has been building towards all along – “The frozen time will start to move”. I think it was quite a fitting choice that J.C. We have three episodes remaining, and the next is titled “The End of the World”. You can start with the second question, which is obviously unavoidable. The way I see it there are two principal questions that are central to the story and likely to be addressed in the remaining three episodes: There’s still one big outstanding question – just how, exactly, did Kyousuke do what he did? But given Key’s track record I think there’s a good chance we’ll never get a definitive answer on that one beyond the usual Key “Stuff just happens, deal with it”. The general nature of what was happening has been pretty clear for a while now, and nothing that Kyousuke revealed will likely have contradicted what most new viewers had guessed was going on. But that didn’t stop it from being one of the best episodes in LB’s three cours of anime. I won’t say there were a whole lot of surprises in this episode of Little Busters, starting with the fact that most (but not all) of the secret of this world was revealed.