Little Busters - Episode 1 Discussion / Poll

[Hiroi Sekai]

Originally Posted by Julio C

The original VN was never an eroge.

But there was an "Ecstacy" version which was an eroge.

[Kimidori]

never played the game and my reaction to this ep is... dafuq did i just watch? things seem to go all over the place and nothing seem to make sense at all... all the character feel 1 dimensional to me.

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by Kimidori

never played the game and my reaction to this ep is... dafuq did i just watch? things seem to go all over the place and nothing seem to make sense at all... all the character feel 1 dimensional to me.

What didn't make sense? It starts with their group of friends being introduced basically and then gives us a glimpse of their day to day interactions.

[Ascaloth]

Okay, frankly? I could add to the chorus bemoaning the animation quality in comparison to KyoAni's, but that would be all old hat and pointless at this stage.

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.



As for the content itself, hmmm. That was different for sure, compared with the previous Key works. It's early days yet, but I'm not getting the "Key vibe" that the previous KyoAni adaptations would usually have, and I'm not really sure why.

Let's see how this goes.

[Rising Dragon]

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

[sona-nyl]

Well Little Busters has a completly different vibe from the older Key works. The closest to Little Busters is probably Angel Beats!.

[Dizzyworld2]

I'm guessing that most people are saying that Little Busters! feels different than other kyo-ani key animes because

Spoiler for just a little comparison:

the protagonist actually has a group of friends while the others are just snarky lone-wolves.

I think that people are just surprised or didn't expect 5 childhood friends fooling and playing around in a key work :/

[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.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

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.

And budgeting a flashback is pretty darn common practice,PA works does it too

Spoiler for angel beats:

(fandub but the point here is the visuals)

though you could say PA does it better.

Not that the animation is great or anything and I am somewhat disappointed because I've seen better from JC staff (though far worse too) but yeah it's being blown out of proportion (as expected really)

[Kimidori]

Originally Posted by Xacual

What didn't make sense? It starts with their group of friends being introduced basically and then gives us a glimpse of their day to day interactions.

the episode start with that Kyousuke walking around somewhere, and then "Kyousuke back" (so? what the big deal about that guy?), 2 guy suddenly fight and say that can't stop because "Kyousuke back" (who is he anyway, the later part about his "divine reading looks" doesn't make any more sense). flashback, then they start talking about graduation and do some thing together, the kyousuke propose that they start a baseball team, the baseball scene is completely random and senseless. then the kyousuke guy give a speech that even the character agree about how little sense it make. night come, that kyousuke guy start collecting some random quote, the catgirl and kendo guy come out of no where and start butmonkey on the muscle guy, they out of nowhere again start talking about recruit member for the baseball team, the catgirl is given the job, disagree at first and then suddenly do it when given a headset (why?). they start giving random and senseless advice about greeting, a trio of "bad girl" come and fighting out of the catgirl respond to some random thing the muscle guy said...

above is what i think didn't make sense... it feel all over the place and like a buch of random scene that have nothing to do with eachother slapped together.

[bhl88]

Originally Posted by Kimidori

the episode start with that Kyousuke walking around somewhere, and then "Kyousuke back" (so? what the big deal about that guy?), 2 guy suddenly fight and say that can't stop because "Kyousuke back" (who is he anyway, the later part about his "divine reading looks" doesn't make any more sense). flashback, then they start talking about graduation and do some thing together, the kyousuke propose that they start a baseball team, the baseball scene is completely random and senseless. then the kyousuke guy give a speech that even the character agree about how little sense it make. night come, that kyousuke guy start collecting some random quote, the catgirl and kendo guy come out of no where and start butmonkey on the muscle guy, they out of nowhere again start talking about recruit member for the baseball team, the catgirl is given the job, disagree at first and then suddenly do it when given a headset (why?). they start giving random and senseless advice about greeting, a trio of "bad girl" come and fighting out of the catgirl respond to some random thing the muscle guy said...

above is what i think didn't make sense... it feel all over the place and like a buch of random scene that have nothing to do with eachother slapped together.

the guy's random.... reminds me of Haruki minus the supernatural lurve. It wouldn't make sense.

Well actually he wants to do something like in the old days (aka do random stuff).
Random stuff they will do? Form a baseball team.

[Marcus H.]

If it doesn't fit in that episode, it will fit somewhere along the series.
It's a 2-cour series! Let the pieces fall into place.

[thundrakkon]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

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.

Well, if you didn't *snip* what I said was wrong with it, then it would have responded to what you wrote.

Also, Kimidori also did a fine job of stating what was wrong as well. As stated from a lot (not all) of anime-only viewers on the thread, they seem to have similar problems with how the story is presented in the episode.

When you state friendship, well, essentially most high school anime is about friendship in one form or another. It is the direction of that friendship that determines the series. Right now, things are very random and out of place, with no sense of direction. I'm sure things will eventually be explained later on, but for a first episode, this was very underwhelming.

[relentlessflame]

I think basically that the first episode feels a bit like you're walking into a story that's already in progress (which you are). Rather than starting at the very beginning (a "prologue") and explaining in a methodical and sequential way who the protagonist is, what his goals are, who all his friends are, and what this story is about (the way many anime start), it all comes out as a sort of by-product. I think it is all covered, but you kind of have to roll with it a bit, and you have to sift through the different things that are going on to prioritize them.

The key theme (supported by the OP/ED, the flashback, and the monologuing) is that their time together as a group of friends is running out, and they want to have one last hurrah before they all part ways. And to do that, they're going to wrap in a bunch more people and their "adventure" will unfold. All the rest of the elements in the episode support this theme.

Of course there are still questions about how that will unfold, but we'll have to wait and see. In the meantime, I think enjoying the episode may also have depending on how much you liked the sense of humour. I personally liked it and found it pretty funny, but humour is such a personal, subjective thing...

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by thundrakkon

Well, if you didn't *snip* what I said was wrong with it, then it would have responded to what you wrote.

Also, Kimidori also did a fine job of stating what was wrong as well. As stated from a lot (not all) of anime-only viewers on the thread, they seem to have similar problems with how the story is presented in the episode.

When you state friendship, well, essentially most high school anime is about friendship in one form or another. It is the direction of that friendship that determines the series. Right now, things are very random and out of place, with no sense of direction. I'm sure things will eventually be explained later on, but for a first episode, this was very underwhelming.

I only snipped it for space, I didn't ignore what you said.

Friendship is a very basic theme in a lot of shows - yes, that is easy to see. If you want to criticize it for being a mundane topic, well sure, go ahead.

The direction of the friendship? So far we got a basic introduction episode with a bunch of random hijinks played for laughs, for which people choose to complain that somehow this obfuscates the entire point of the show.

This is where your argument totally loses me because you try to paint these different scenes as disconnected when in reality the group of friends titled "Little Busters!" were always people who went off and did wacky things. In the very first scenes with the fight between Masato and Kengo and Rin, Riki goes on to talk about how "this is a perfectly normal scene for me."

There is a whole flashback sequence that Riki narrated about his childhood and how he was befriended. How they would go on random little adventures as a group of friends is also talked about. And in many ways they are still the same group of people, always going off and doing wacky things and having fun as friends.

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

So far we got a basic introduction episode with a bunch of random hijinks played for laughs, for which people choose to complain that somehow this obfuscates the entire point of the show.

This is where your argument totally loses me because you try to paint these different scenes as disconnected when in reality the group of friends titled "Little Busters!" were always people who went off and did wacky things. In the very first scenes with the fight between Masato and Kengo and Rin, Riki goes on to talk about how "this is a perfectly normal scene for me."

Keep in mind, Reckoner, that the thematic significance of the events that unfold in this first episode is necessarily completely obvious to you because you know the game and where all this is leading. People who don't know the game (like myself) will necessarily have a harder time determining exactly what sort of show this is going to be based on what we see in this episode. Even understanding the friendship theme leaves a pretty wide berth in terms of the direction the story can take.

I agree with you to some degree that it isn't necessarily quite as mysterious as some make it sound... but by the same token, I think what you see is as obvious is partly a function of your (unavoidable) bias. So there's a bit of a balance of understanding you'll have to take (keeping in mind that anime-only viewers aren't necessarily supposed to know exactly what's important and what isn't at this early juncture). If that means that some people will find the anime a bit hard to follow until everything is cleared up... well, that's a valid opinion.

[Blaat]

Yui Horie as Riki has to be biggest miscast of the year, unless Riki is a crossdressing female.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Blaat

Yui Horie as Riki has to be biggest miscast of the year, unless Riki is a crossdressing female.

Not a VN player but someone posted this earlier

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

Keep in mind, Reckoner, that the thematic significance of the events that unfold in this first episode is necessarily completely obvious to you because you know the game and where all this is leading. People who don't know the game (like myself) will necessarily have a harder time determining exactly what sort of show this is going to be based on what we see in this episode. Even understanding the friendship theme leaves a pretty wide berth in terms of the direction the story can take.

I agree with you to some degree that it isn't necessarily quite as mysterious as some make it sound... but by the same token, I think what you see is as obvious is partly a function of your (unavoidable) bias. So there's a bit of a balance of understanding you'll have to take (keeping in mind that anime-only viewers aren't necessarily supposed to know exactly what's important and what isn't at this early juncture).

Well sure, but I am not drawing from any information that is not presented in the episode already. I am aware it might be easier for me to understand and see what's going on because of my knowledge, which is why I said earlier this he might not get it now, but he'll probably get it later (With previous mentions that people could stand to be a little more patient IMO).

More than lack of clarity though I think it's lack of time to absorb the ideas of the show. So if people want to make a criticism I am going to point out things in the episode they watched that I don't think they gave their full due consideration towards. I am not sure what the exact expectation here is for some, but at the very least I do not think it is fair to say something like the show is devoid of any cohesive meaning so far, which is all I am trying to explain.

[Xacual]

Originally Posted by Kimidori

the episode start with that Kyousuke walking around somewhere, and then "Kyousuke back" (so? what the big deal about that guy?), 2 guy suddenly fight and say that can't stop because "Kyousuke back" (who is he anyway, the later part about his "divine reading looks" doesn't make any more sense). flashback, then they start talking about graduation and do some thing together, the kyousuke propose that they start a baseball team, the baseball scene is completely random and senseless. then the kyousuke guy give a speech that even the character agree about how little sense it make. night come, that kyousuke guy start collecting some random quote, the catgirl and kendo guy come out of no where and start butmonkey on the muscle guy, they out of nowhere again start talking about recruit member for the baseball team, the catgirl is given the job, disagree at first and then suddenly do it when given a headset (why?). they start giving random and senseless advice about greeting, a trio of "bad girl" come and fighting out of the catgirl respond to some random thing the muscle guy said...

above is what i think didn't make sense... it feel all over the place and like a buch of random scene that have nothing to do with eachother slapped together.

Most of that was explained in the episode almost right around the same time as the events were taking place. Kengo and Masato can only fight when Kyousuke is around because he always keeps its from reaching a dangerous level. Kyousuke just got back from Tokyo looking for a job, and like Kengo says next year Kyousuke will be gone since he'll have graduated. Riki who seems very disheartened at this thought brings up the idea of just doing something like they would have when they were kids.

The baseball thing might be hard to pick up but if you notice they were at the baseball diamond and Kyousuke as you yourself said is whimsical so he just went with what was at hand.

The quote thing was Kyousuke's homework as he said, though you can assume the teacher probably meant looking up famous ones rather than writing down random things his friends said, but this is just you know friends hanging out and messing around doing their homework together. Not anything complex at all.

The whole "mission" with Rin recruiting was just funny antics / trying to see if they could get girl members for their team, guys aren't allowed in the female dorm so Rin is the only one that could ask other girls in the evening.

This was all in the episode.