Little Busters - Anime Spoilers & Speculation (for experienced Little Busters only)

[DaBackpack]

That was a great episode, probably the best one of Refrain so far, but I really wanted to see the CG of Riki sitting in the classroom at the end of Rin2 animated... Also, I think they should have, for the preview, had the part with "Do you want to become stronger?" So at the very beginning of the next episode, they could have started with the overturned bus.

Also, I'm a little bummed they didn't include "Regret", but I'm glad how they did CHEAP TRICKS and CALLED GAME. Though I don't remember us actually SEEING what Kengo saw in Rin2? I thought that wasn't until Refrain where we find out what happened? I think this change is for the better, though.

[Zankoku12]

For anyone who is wondering about the OVA,it look like will ship it on 15th this month

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by Zankoku12

For anyone who is wondering about the OVA,it look like will ship it on 15th this month

It would be nice if it had kick the can in it!

[MCAL]

Originally Posted by Zankoku12

For anyone who is wondering about the OVA,it look like will ship it on 15th this month

Seeing this right after Rin's route is going to be a strange experience then.

[ronelm2000]

Originally Posted by MCAL

Seeing this right after Rin's route is going to be a strange experience then.

How about the people who finished the VN and is watching the anime right now?

[Aspirety]

http://litbus-anime.com/refrain/index.html#story7 Preview for EP7 out.
Man, that image of Kyousuke...

[DaBackpack]

They left out the promise and the wreck scene

...well, to clarify, they used an EARLIER "I wanna be Kyousuke" scene and used the "wreck scene" back in Rin2... both of which were not as effective as the game's counterparts...

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by DaBackpack

They left out the promise and the wreck scene

...well, to clarify, they used an EARLIER "I wanna be Kyousuke" scene and used the "wreck scene" back in Rin2... both of which were not as effective as the game's counterparts...

I'm guessing they don't want to draw too much attention to the accident so it will be more of a shock. That is my guess anyway.

I just hope they improve on the actual crash in the anime. The game did a pretty terrible job of avoiding the accident actually happening and the aftermath in some areas. It sort of ruined the actual reality of it because of some obvious parts missing. They also better use 何も起こらなかった世界 (Nothing Happened In This World) BGM at some point.

[Aspirety]

Looking back, the continuity of the anime really does match the VN, except for one key point. The finale of season 1.
All the girls talking about how Riki saved them, and him acknowledging it, kinda fucks with the idea of the time loop... If you rewrote that one episode, everything else fits. It's probably the most anime-original episode as well.
Maybe I should just try to ignore that episode ^^;

[Crashmaking Zoomatic]

Originally Posted by Aspirety

Looking back, the continuity of the anime really does match the VN, except for one key point. The finale of season 1.
All the girls talking about how Riki saved them, and him acknowledging it, kinda fucks with the idea of the time loop... If you rewrote that one episode, everything else fits. It's probably the most anime-original episode as well.
Maybe I should just try to ignore that episode ^^;

I actually think he has an implicit memory of helping them at some point, but by no means remembered everything. Either that, or he assumed they were thanking him for just being friendly/inviting him to the baseball team.

[Aspirety]

Originally Posted by Crashmaking Zoomatic

I actually think he has an implicit memory of helping them at some point, but by no means remembered everything. Either that, or he assumed they were thanking him for just being friendly/inviting him to the baseball team.

Hmm, not really. Rewatching it now, Komari specifically refers to how Riki taught her not to run away from hardship, and the picture book he wrote for her. Riki acknowledges it, as if the memory is clear to him. I was really hoping I could shrug it off as him misinterpreting it as his recruitment of the girls, but here he really seems to remember what happened with Komari...

[Klashikari]

The continuity was already messed up the moment you had Rin2 and Refrain parts in several flashbacks thorough the series anyway...

[Aspirety]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

The continuity was already messed up the moment you had Rin2 and Refrain parts in several flashbacks thorough the series anyway...

I'm kinda willing to let that one slide as some kind of meta foreshadowing or key magic precognition (even if Kengo's clothing was incorrect. Imprecise precognition!).

But this one is really unavoidable. It's a big continuity error.

You could possibly make the argument that for Komari, Riki remembers what happened without being aware that it happened in a different timeline. But that's stretching it pretty far to cover a glaring mistake in the continuity...

In future if I ever show Little Busters to people, I'll skip half of that episode under the justification of "continuity errors that'll fuck up your understanding". Heh.

EDIT: So now we're at a point where the canonical looping is pretty obvious for VN players, but completely lost in the Anime. I mean, the evidence is there, but it's so subtle that I doubt many people would notice. That and the aforementioned continuity error screwing up people's understanding...

I'm just wondering if they ever plan to explain the time loop to Anime viewers. If there's any explanation, it'll probably be a very vague "time has been repeating since then", implying that there could've been any number of loops the audience may not be aware of, without specifically stating that each girl's story occurred in as separate loop. Not expecting much from them in that regard.

[MCAL]

Originally Posted by Aspirety

I'm kinda willing to let that one slide as some kind of meta foreshadowing or key magic precognition (even if Kengo's clothing was incorrect. Imprecise precognition!).

But this one is really unavoidable. It's a big continuity error.

You could possibly make the argument that for Komari, Riki remembers what happened without being aware that it happened in a different timeline. But that's stretching it pretty far to cover a glaring mistake in the continuity...

In future if I ever show Little Busters to people, I'll skip half of that episode under the justification of "continuity errors that'll fuck up your understanding". Heh.

EDIT: So now we're at a point where the canonical looping is pretty obvious for VN players, but completely lost in the Anime. I mean, the evidence is there, but it's so subtle that I doubt many people would notice. That and the aforementioned continuity error screwing up people's understanding...

I'm just wondering if they ever plan to explain the time loop to Anime viewers. If there's any explanation, it'll probably be a very vague "time has been repeating since then", implying that there could've been any number of loops the audience may not be aware of, without specifically stating that each girl's story occurred in as separate loop. Not expecting much from them in that regard.

I've been watching episode 26 and while Komari does show Riki the picture book, JC Staff is careful not to have any form of recognition on Riki's face (His face is sort of emotionless at the moment). And any chance Riki gets to actually think for a second is interrupted by a "Because you brought us together." Combine this with the fact that he was able to remember bits and pieces from Kurugaya's arc during her arc and Riki feeling that he has played baseball before in the latest episode and I feel everything is okay on this front. But definitely wait until the anime is done before we make any implicit opinions.

[Leo_Otaku]

Screen shots for 8 is up http://litbus-anime.com/refrain/index.html#story8 Masato rampage coming up

[MCAL]

Originally Posted by Leo_Otaku

Screen shots for 8 is up http://litbus-anime.com/refrain/index.html#story8 Masato rampage coming up

I just like that Rin seems to be showing some actual emotion here. It will make those farewell scenes all the more better most likely.

[Tempester]

I find it amusing how many anime-only watchers think that the show only looped back to May 13th once. The 7(!) exact same shots of Riki waking up throughout the anime were done pretty cleverly.

[Reckoner]

I just find it amusing how some of them are like "ah hah! I Knew it all along that it was some time loop bull shit *yawn*."

Yeah good job man, JC staff only threw like 10000000000 hints at you and you still don't understand why anything is happening exactly!

Some people have predicted the bus crash though, but that was equally obvious in the VN when it was mentioned.

[Leo_Otaku]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

I just find it amusing how some of them are like "ah hah! I Knew it all along that it was some time loop bull shit *yawn*."

Yeah good job man, JC staff only threw like 10000000000 hints at you and you still don't understand why anything is happening exactly!

Some people have predicted the bus crash though, but that was equally obvious in the VN when it was mentioned.

Me too! It is a bit saddening too, in a way since Refrain is like the meat of the story. I'm pretty sure you guys don't know everything yet Also, it isn't as if Rin and Riki are doing nothing, they are being proactive and trying to figure things out. So I don't get what people are complaining about. Maybe they aren't seeing any sense of urgency?

Sort of sucks about the bus crash being obvious. But do you think it will ruin the impact for anime only viewers?

[elior]

here the next episode titles

Spoiler for episode 10-12 titles:

10: And Again I Repeat
11 : The End Of The World
12 : A Single Request

looks like the big event will happen in episode 11