[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Ascaloth

However, I was expecting that J.C. Staff would at least do Little Busters! the respect of at least Toradora! animation quality. This? Wasn't even that. Sigh.

I always got the impression Toradora had pretty average animation as well. Not that I am justifying the high amount of still abuse in the beginning portions.

Originally Posted by Rising Dragon

I get the feeling that I'm the only one who didn't have a problem with LB's animation.

There were a couple moments throughout the episode (The flashback and the Sasami vs. Rin fight) that reeked of budgeting, but I think people are exaggerating a great deal about it.

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

The problem is, the first episode of any series should set the tone and direction of that series. It does not need to answer any of the questions, but it at least needs to convey to the viewers what it plans to do with the series.

*snip*

No, it does not need to answer everything, but a first episode should at least set a premise for the show.

I am not even sure we saw the same first episode. There was an extremely heavy emphasis on friendship and the importance of the bonds of the Little Busters! in Riki's narration. They also brought up the growing concern that these days were not going to last forever, hence Riki's proposition that they try to live like the old days. This motivated Kyousuke to form a baseball team at Riki's behest.

The basic thematic purpose of the work has already been set quite clearly IMO. If you don't quite "get it" now, then perhaps it might be made clearer later for you, but I think there was enough time spent in the episode detailing what this will all be about.