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Little Busters! + Refrain (TV).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:26 am Reply with quote


Little Busters!
Genres: Comedy, Drama, Romance, School

Plot:

Quote:
Riki was a child when his parents died, leaving him hopeless and depressed. What saved him was a group of four kids calling themselves the Little Busters. They took Riki out and played with him during his time of need. He really enjoyed being together with them, and his grief gradually faded away. Now in his second year of high school they still hang out, fight and live together, and enjoy their school life.


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After watching several of the promotional videos as well as other related works from Key, I am pretty excited for this series. J.C. Staff will be handling it but I have confidence in them this time around. The characters and theme of the series sounds interesting and some of the characters reminds me of other Key's works.

This series definitely has my attention so far.

Episode 1
Loved the visual artworks tbh even though I initially had some doubts in J.C. Staff. The OP was pretty catchy. The characters' design are a bit moe especially with the flashback scenes but I can live with that. There were also some priceless expressions on some of the characters' faces so that was also amusing to watch. Only problem I had was with Rin's voice..that part kinda got to me.

The baseball game was amusing as well and the ED is just so-so. It gave me some nostologia of Clannad and Angel Beats! as well as a little of Kanon. But pretty good for a pilot episode so far and definitely going to keep watching this series.


Last edited by Stark700 on Tue Oct 01, 2013 11:23 pm; edited 2 times in total
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Ringking



Joined: 14 Sep 2009
Posts: 338
PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:15 pm Reply with quote
Boy oh boy, were to begin.

Might as well get it out of the way first and say that when JC Staff said that they would be sticking to the original story closely, they really meant that they would be sticking to the original story closely. I dont speak much Japanese, but I watched this episode raw, and I could still follow more or less everything being said, because this episode was practically verbatim to the parts of the game it covered. So much so that it was to the point that they might as well have not hired voice actors at all and could have just saved some cash by lifting the lines from the game instead.

Whether that's a positive or a negative I still haven't really decided yet. Its not just the dialogue that's direct from the game either, many of the effects and stuff like the 'nickname changed' popup and the way it comes in from the bottom are the exact same as the game as well.

I have no complaints regarding the changes to the cast so far. I was a little apprehensive about the idea of Horie Yui as Riki, wasn't terribly impressed by the voice work in the trailers, but I think she's perfectly fitting for the role now that I've heard it.

As for the soundtrack, love the new rendition of the OP song, new version of Alicemagic isn't bad either though I still like the original better), but it would be nice if they would tone down the use of the BGM (all of which is, also, from the game). I swear they had one song or another playing in EVERY. SINGLE. SCENE. and more often than not it was when people were talking, kinda annoying.

Character designs are pretty good. Still not 100% sold on what I've seen of some of them so far in the trailer (Cant escape the feeling that Kud is somewhat lacking in facial definition) but they worked well enough so far, and I do like Komari's redesign alot now that I've seen it in action, very cute( I always thought her eyes were a bit weird, same goes for Haruka...)

Animation wise...well...its not Kyoani. Lots of still images with mouths moving. Not a particularly impressive display, not unwatchable.

But regardless of any faults, perceived or actual, I really enjoyed finally seeing this story in motion and am very much looking forward to more of
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:28 pm Reply with quote
Episode 1

So this is the Key series that everyone has been wanting to be made into an anime. Personally I am not impressed, undoubtly I am going to compare this to the shows KyoAni did, and Angel Beats done by P.A. Works, it just does not have the visual flare those series had. I would probably say some problem falls into lack of Moe, the first episode was largely a sausage fest, except for Rin who was probably the best part of the episode. Although Rin's title of being an idol seems to be rather contreived, especially since she seems to be a bit awkward, I liked things from her pitching, and the whole recruiting bit. Riki seems good too, not too much manliness, and being voiced by one of my favourite seiyu is a plus.

I saw that I will need to see more girls foe me to feel this a real good Key show, J.C. Staff often does some nice female characters, so I hope I will enjoy it more.
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ZorgonXtreme



Joined: 23 Feb 2004
Posts: 251
Location: Anchorage, AK
PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 6:24 am Reply with quote
So, this is Key, right?

Yes, the animation isn't amazing, but it gets the job done. I guess.

There was some good laughs (I especially enjoyed that chicky trying to recruit players.

I suppose that since this is Key, things are gonna get sad near the end? I dunno if I'm going to like this group enough for that...

Either way, I'll watch it through.
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ookamigirl



Joined: 15 Jul 2012
Posts: 2274
Location: Croatia
PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 11:59 am Reply with quote
Episode 1

spoiler[Cafeteria fight was awesome!!
Flashback to childhood days was nice too.
It explained some things about their group.
That Kyousuke really is a weird guy with all sorts of ideas.
Recruitment for their newly founded baseball team was another weird one.
Guess Kyousuke wants to do something memorable his final year.]
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getchman
Space Cowboy



Joined: 07 Apr 2012
Posts: 9117
Location: Bedford, NH
PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 1:32 pm Reply with quote
i know nothing about this series, so this will be an interesting experience.
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HikariMike



Joined: 11 Sep 2012
Posts: 9
Location: Melbourne, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Oct 07, 2012 2:09 pm Reply with quote
Having just finished the visual novel again recently for a second time, my hype levels for the anime were extremely high, as it literally had me laughing straight out loud for most of the duration of the game. The characters are just too damn hilarious. So high expectations for the anime.

Keep calm and trust Key. They know what they're doing.
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RGaspar



Joined: 04 Oct 2011
Posts: 235
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 10:57 pm Reply with quote
(For the guys that already know the story)

I'm curious about this show, but I have a couple of questions:

Is this a story like Clannad? I mean, in the sense that they make you laugh at first, lots of jokes and cute girls, and then the hard-cold truth arrives and strikes really, really hard with either a catastrophic past or a terrible present for each girl.

Because if that's the case, then I might watch it. I didn't like Clannad's visual novel all that much (waaaay too long) but I totally loved the anime, that condensed the best bits.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 11:02 pm Reply with quote
RGaspar wrote:
Is this a story like Clannad? I mean, in the sense that they make you laugh at first, lots of jokes and cute girls, and then the hard-cold truth arrives and strikes really, really hard with either a catastrophic past or a terrible present for each girl.


That's Key's MO. All their stuff is like that.

Anyways, I thought it's off to a good start. I was never doom-and-glooming over the studio choice so everything sat with me just fine. My only complaint, not enough Komari! Episode 2 should fix that!

While I have yet to play the VN (waiting for Ecstasy), I have read pretty extensive spoilers. The main manga adaptation aside, the version I've been familiar with for years is the 4koma.
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ShinnFlowen



Joined: 07 Feb 2012
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 11:57 pm Reply with quote
I really like how this show has a good group dynamic where the friends are all likeable and are not all "super nerdy" or ultra pervy stereotypes in most high school visual novel games. I only hope the other females they introduce are not bland.

Be warned this show is more than what it seems. *Wikipedia should not have spoilers Mad damn it
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walw6pK4Alo



Joined: 12 Mar 2008
Posts: 9322
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 12:49 am Reply with quote
ShinnFlowen wrote:
Be warned this show is more than what it seems. *Wikipedia should not have spoilers Mad damn it


Anyone should be aware of what they're getting into here. I can't imagine how one wanders into Key anime these days without knowing what it'll be. Maybe I shouldn't expect people to be familiar with Clannad, Kanon, Air, or Angel Beats, but they're kind of a big deal. You don't even need to have played the game to guess where things are headed just based on prior experiences. To highlight this, no I have not played Little Busters, and I really haven't read up on it either. But I do know Key and Maeda Jun, and have no reason to expect something else.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 1:05 am Reply with quote
Can we agree right now, and I know I said this in the SAO thread (which has not worked out quite right) but NO SPOILERS from the Visual Novels or other media! This is especially important in a Key anime due to how it works so well at lowering you guard and then hitting you in the right spots.

Their anime are experiences, and I want to enjoy the experience entirely.

And to ShinnFlowen, at least I know now to avoid wikipedia, *salute to face being in the sky* we will not forget your sacrafice. I think I may have read a spoiler when I was passing by TV Tropes earlier, but I have tried hard to forget it, but writing this now is not helping.

If I want to discuss the characters I will only use Myanimelist so I can remember who is what, the spoiler should be covered there right? Anime smile + sweatdrop Right?
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ShinnFlowen



Joined: 07 Feb 2012
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:34 pm Reply with quote
DuskyPredator wrote:
Can we agree right now, and I know I said this in the SAO thread (which has not worked out quite right) but NO SPOILERS from the Visual Novels or other media! This is especially important in a Key anime due to how it works so well at lowering you guard and then hitting you in the right spots.

Their anime are experiences, and I want to enjoy the experience entirely.

And to ShinnFlowen, at least I know now to avoid wikipedia, *salute to face being in the sky* we will not forget your sacrafice. I think I may have read a spoiler when I was passing by TV Tropes earlier, but I have tried hard to forget it, but writing this now is not helping.

If I want to discuss the characters I will only use Myanimelist so I can remember who is what, the spoiler should be covered there right? Anime smile + sweatdrop Right?


I only wanted to know if funimation or sentai licensed the show and I ended up looking a bit too far near the bottom and got spoiled. I still think this show is going to do a good job with the comedy/slice of life moments as long as the other females aren't as annoying as the purple haired girl with a lame laugh.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13224
PostPosted: Wed Oct 10, 2012 9:40 pm Reply with quote
ShinnFlowen wrote:
I still think this show is going to do a good job with the comedy/slice of life moments as long as the other females aren't as annoying as the purple haired girl with a lame laugh.


I think Haruka might be the only one to give you problems in that regard... unless you don't mind hyperactive troublemakers.
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ShinnFlowen



Joined: 07 Feb 2012
Posts: 141
PostPosted: Thu Oct 11, 2012 2:34 am Reply with quote
Vaisaga wrote:
ShinnFlowen wrote:
I still think this show is going to do a good job with the comedy/slice of life moments as long as the other females aren't as annoying as the purple haired girl with a lame laugh.


I think Haruka might be the only one to give you problems in that regard... unless you don't mind hyperactive troublemakers.


I don't remember seeing Haruka speak in episode one. (Had to google the name.)
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