Little Busters - Weekly Episode-to-Game Comparison Thread [Spoilers Aplenty]
 

As the title of this thread suggest, the purpose here is to allow discussion which compares the content between an anime episode as it aired and how it is laid out in the source material the anime was adapted from. All spoilers are allowed as long as it is relevant to the discussion at hand. It will be helpful if the posters clearly indicate the episode number before engaging into a detailed comparison to the source material. Obviously you are required to watch the episode prior to posting here. This thread is open to everyone, but since game players are expected to participate, anime-only viewers are advised to use discretion before venturing into this thread.

For the Little Busters VN Readers: Please do your darndest best to stay on topic when engaging into these comparisons. Whenever you see one of your fellow game-players spewing spoilers for no apparent reason, please report these off-topic posts so a moderator can delete them.

Have fun!

My biggest adaptation problem with episode 1 was the lack of describing Riki's narcolepsy.
Unless that did happen and I missed it? Pretty sure it was absent though. I wonder how they're going to incorporate it from here out.

Wow that's...kind of a defining part of Riki, and one which greatly affects the overall story, as I'm sure game readers already know. The game established that before the first evening, if I remember correctly? Or was it before meeting the first girl (Komari)...

Yeah, if they're not going to mention that... One wonders how they'll be dealing with some things near the very end of the story.

I was hoping to hear Rin's theme, "Ring Ring Ring!" while watching her play with the cats, that's one scene I remember from the game vividly. Since they skipped to meeting Komari I guess her first meeting with the neko-jyarashi is out of there :(. Maybe later...

Speaking of Komari, her line in her introduction got too abridged. Without the 「別にいつも出てるわけじゃなくて...あ、　そう！　きがつくとここにいたんです！」 It just sounds weird to jump from sorry sorry to talking about mysteries like sweets falling from the sky. It sounded so weird I had to turn the VN on just to see if it sounded so weird when I played :P.

Doesn't Riki have an attack when he first meets Komari? So I guess they will explain his circumstances there

No, it doesn't happen then. At the very least, I don't remember any of the recruited girls ever being introduced to his condition (and thus, possibly just implied in the background, as seen with Kurugaya's route).

This. So much. It's all I wanted. Hearing "RING RING RING".

But then again, we might get it next episode.

RE: The Narcolepsy, I believe that it can be told later on, it doesn't have to come up immediately, even if the vn told us fairly early on.

Arty

No he definitely collapses on top of Komari at one point decently early on.

I don't much recall that specific part with Komari, but if he did, it must've been in her route and not when they first met.

Edit: To add, I'm not going to press forward with this point, as it is a particularly minor one to dispute . The fact that remains is that apparently as anime watchers have observed, the narcolepsy point hadn't been touched yet, when it had been made early on in the game.

I thought Riki's narcolepsy attack in Komari's presence occurred during their second or third time meeting up on the rooftop?

Yeah, I think they were trying to find the right balance of stuff to adapt into the first episode. Obviously, you can't have too little nor can you have too much crammed in there. Actually, Rin's problems with getting to know people is shown a bit during the scene where Kyousuke wants her to recruit girls from her dorm into the team. I think she says something about "I'm not good with talking to strangers."

I didn't even remember that about him until you mentioned it.

Maybe they'll bring up the narcolepsy later, as a dramatic end to an episode?

If they use it as a dramatic end to an episode, I think most people will probably think that he just fainted.

Rin's voice wasn't tsun enough. Sasami's voice wasn't dere enough. Riki's voice sounded forced, which made the narrated parts awkward. Characters' reactions, especially Rin's seemed odd. Komari's tone was weird, but then again she was always like that. :P

I never though of Rin as being tsun at all during the novel. She's pretty straightforward.

lol, same here. I didn't remember Riki had this condition.

Btw, I was a bit disappointed that they show Kyousuke's manga-reading straight to the smile. The disparity when he was looking all serious and then smiling like a boy, it isn't there but they did manage to convey this "divine" feeling I guess.

Really? I liked Riki's voice over the one from the VN, now he sounds more like a young boy.

The original voice for Riki was more helpless and adorable. The new voice sounds way too determined.

I don't remember Riki's original voice anymore, but I think Hocchan is doing a pretty decent job.

It's better for anime viewers anyhow.

Epi01 didn't have shaka-shaka-hey. =[

So regarding Episode 2, I'm glad we got our narcolepsy explaination. A lot of people are complaining about the emphasis on it, like it was way too dark.

My initial interpretation to it is that this is the substitute we get for missing Rin 1. Remember Rin 1? Everything was rosy and things were going great until suddenly, abruptly, Riki's narcolepsy struck, and the game ends as it fades to black. And that disturbing music plays... It puts a serious and unsettlingly dark twist on the up til that point perfectly fun and carefree story.
I think this was the closest we're gonna get to that. They're getting it out of the way early, before Komari's route. I'm sad that we won't have the time to fully grow attached to the characters and the world before this could happen, but this is the anime adaptation, they're minimizing the story to the bare essentials and, it would appear, trying to fit it into a single 2 cour season. If this is any sign that they can make something good of it regardless, I'm content.

I'll leave the rest of my thoughts on episode 2 until after I've watched the sub.

The problem I have with this setup is how it makes the illness rather "unsettling" despite it is really the bad end itself and the world "rewinding" that leads to that.
So basically, I wasn't surprised they would make such mood, but that's way too early, so it paints Riki's narcolepsy overdramatic, or even fishy if you think about it.

In the vn, the narcolepsy felt a bit mundane, albeit crippling for Rikki, until WHAM, you got Rin1 bad end. And that was the shock factor imho, hence why Rin1 is almost unavoidable when you read LB the first time: you think it is the usual narcolepsy period, then you realize there is "something more".

Klashikari, might you be thinking too much into it? I assume you've read the VN so the presentation of plot points itself is no spoiler; but for anime first-time viewers, Riki's narcolepsy being as emphasized as you say instead of Riki himself just spelling it out within a few lines of the opening song in the game would be more "flashy" if you will - clueing them in to a greater happening waiting in store for the anime. Which is, I think, something that's done exclusively for the anime target, because game veterans are here virtually to see their characters in animated form and watch hawkishly if the anime is "faithful" to the game.

It's why I'm even here on an anime sub-forum: it'll be interesting to hear opinions as the plot progresses from TV viewer's point of view as I did with the game section.

Ok this is out of curiousity due to the slideshow scene when Riki saw a flashback after reading the letter midway through the episode 2.

Is JC staff going to do each of the routes through a flashback?
Cuz that would make it REALLY confusing to those who haven't played the VN and not very emotional.

Moreover, they showed Refrain scenes, does that mean it already happened?

Late game spoilers. Regarding the "secret of this world" note scenes.

I think that slideshow was the highlight of episode 2 for those of us who've gone through the VN.

Doing each of the routes as flashbacks...I'm not sure how I would feel about this. Yeah, it would certainly be confusing for non-VN people (heck, the pacing of it would probably mess up some of the VN people too). But it's still one of the ways JC Staff could do things.

Other than the slideshow of scenes from numerous routes, everything else about the episode was nearly spot-on with the VN. I'm content with that.

I'm really curious on why that slideshow showed specific scenes from specific routes. We see slides of each of the Little Busters members, then we see some scenes from Refrain, both of Rin's routes, Haruka's route, and Komari's route. My question is, why only those routes? I'm hoping there's some significance to this, and the answer's not just, "We just needed some scenes for that so we just picked whatever."

Late game spoilers. Regarding the "secret of this world" note scenes.

Good to see Riki still has a boner for Kyousuke in the anime adaptation :I

I thought Key's formula was light & fluffy to get you hooked in the start, and have people die off at the end. LB's anime seems to leak some dark stuff right from the start.

A little cameo in episode 2? The three girls asking about Rin's whereaboutsn during cleaning duty...

I do believe you're right.