Little Busters! Episode 10: Shadowless

Does not a white bird, feel within her heart forlorn?
The blue of the sky, the blue of the sea. 
Neither stains her; between them she floats. 

Impression

The absolutely beautiful OST I noticed this episode turned out to be “Approaching Light”, which seems to be Nishizono Mio’s theme song. It sounds amazing – and for me, it goes straight to the heart. There’s a hint of wonder yet loneliness in that theme, and it seems like it’d fit with some breathtaking countryside scenery or something xD Speaking of which, the music in this show is generally just really fitting to the situation – tracks like “Two Sugar” are ones you’d recognize instantly, and “In the Town of Incessant Rain” is that heartbreaking one where Komari just loses it completely.

Anyway, this episode had us focus on what I’m sure will be the last member of the Little Busters – Nishizono Mio, fairly different from the rest of the group in her character and probably her background as well. As a person, she seems really lonely, never actually speaking to anyone in her class and eating lunch outside by herself with her parasol under a tree – and even in class, no-one (not even Riki) actually realizes that she’s sitting there. Her lack of presence resulted in her classmates quite cruelly nicknaming her “shadowless”, which is just uncalled for. It’s not like she’s got a bad attitude or anything, but instead just someone that’d rather keep to herself for personal reasons. She interacts perfectly well with Riki when they end up talking to each other, and while still fairly polite to him, there’s that sense that she’s starting to open up to Riki as well.

Her classmates seem to all collectively interact against her, and as they’re in their second year, friendship groups have long formed and it’ll be harder than it was before for Mio to make friends. Even with the incident with her lost book at the end there – I did think someone had taken it as a spiteful prank towards her (or just because they could) but part of me was thankful to learn that it was just an accident instead, and that something as precious to her as that book wasn’t damaged. What a deduction Kurugaya, what a deduction. Mio wouldn’t have acted even if she didn’t find it in the end, but the Little Busters might have made an incident about it, which wouldn’t have been too good for her reputation. Mio’s favourite poem in the book turned out to be really deep as well – about a seagull flying in the air, over the sea yet untouched by the clouds. Riki sees it as being a sad poem, however Mio’s take on it is interesting as well – perhaps that, by being untouched by either yet experiencing both, you aren’t subject to influence and stay yourself?

Either way, it’s still lonely, and I have to wonder why Mio ended up declining Riki’s invitation to join the Little Busters (though she’ll probably change her mind in the future). There’s probably a reason behind her constant parasol as well. Overall I did like this episode, though it’s striking me that we’re flitting between a few characters (Haruka, Kud, Mio) and not really falling into anyone’s “arc” as far as I’m concerned, as I haven’t gone further than the anime with the VN yet. I still remember those Komari feels ;_;

Also, Masato can’t count xDD Typical muscles.