Little Busters ~Refrain~ - Episode 4 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Little Busters ~Refrain~ -, Episode 4.

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[Zankoku12]

Is it just my bad eyes or the art quality in this episode just drop back to 1st season standard ? lol

I don't like Rin's romance so

Kana Hanazawa's character made a much better love confession than Rin ever could.

[Yye1]

good change of pace episode, of course you still get the feeling something is gonna happen

[MCAL]

Not exactly a good episode to have watched right after the Mashiro-iro Symphony...

Truth be told this was probably my least favorite episode of this season, but truth be told I could say the same for the source material, although the anime was slightly better due to Rin's difference in character. The scene with the other girls was definitely the best part of the episode and another "JC Staff improved things" moment.

EDIT: Having watched the episode again, I liked it better the second time. Enough to give it a 7/10 instead of a 6/10.

[Reckoner]

This will probably be the season's weakest episode (Or second, depending on something down the line...). This just comes down to Jun Maeda not understanding how to write in romance into his stories whatsoever. How he pairs up in Rin and Riki in the story is fairly worthless, especially after we see the great chemistry he had with Kurugaya last arc. The rest of Rin's arc should be fairly engaging though, but it's not because of anything romance related lol.

[Randrak42]

Oh fuck off JC Staff, if you're going to take out the romance from every other girl route then you should damn well take it out of Rin's route too. If you could make the other routes "work" without romance (I say "work" because I still believe it made the routes much weaker), then you could have done the same with Rin's route.

I like Rin and yes I'm a Kurugaya fanboy (hard to tell I know) but this bullcrap is unfair for all the other girls (and fans of the other girls/shippings).

[MCAL]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Oh fuck off JC Staff, if you're going to take out the romance from every other girl route then you should damn well take it out of Rin's route too. If you could make the other routes "work" without romance (I say "work" because I still believe it made the routes much weaker), then you could have done the same with Rin's route.

I like Rin and yes I'm a Kurugaya fanboy (hard to tell I know) but this bullcrap is unfair for all the other girls (and fans of the other girls/shippings).

I see nothing wrong with JC Staff's decision here (And I am a Kurugaya fanboy of the highest order). Rin is still the main girl and no one ever complained when romance was taken out of Clannad with all the other girls. The problem lies squarely on Jun Maeda himself, not JC Staff.

[Crashmaking Zoomatic]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Oh fuck off JC Staff, if you're going to take out the romance from every other girl route then you should damn well take it out of Rin's route too. If you could make the other routes "work" without romance (I say "work" because I still believe it made the routes much weaker), then you could have done the same with Rin's route.

I like Rin and yes I'm a Kurugaya fanboy (hard to tell I know) but this bullcrap is unfair for all the other girls (and fans of the other girls/shippings).

This isn't really different from any other Key adaptation. Kurugaya is my favorite too, and I think Rin x Riki is one of the weaker romances, but I still have no problems with this. I mean. It was expected. Plus, I think Rin's a lot cuter in the anime, so I look forward to seeing how that goes.

People seem fairly underwhelmed with this episode, though, and I suppose I can see why after the last three, but I think it was a solid start for Rin, and overall a cute episode. No complaints here! Their clearly saving on budget here, but I expect it to pay off later down the line.

[Randrak42]

LB isn't Clannad (and just because you didn't complain doesn't mean nobody else did) but then again I can't discuss any further without falling into spoilers so I'll just say it again.

It's unfair and a stupid move on JC Staff's part.
Randrak, OUT! (unless you wish to take it to the spoiler section)

[Team Rocket Elite]

I'm guessing they took romance out of the other routes largely because the plot wouldn't work very well if they had Riki romantically involved with more than one character. If there was only going to be one, it would be with Rin.

[ChampDream]

this episode was ok, but it could have been better.

[MartianMage]

I don't know what to make of Kurugaya's sudden disappearance and they all seem pretty casual about it.

[Narzia]

I really don't see how this is different in any way from every other game adaption ever made where the romance from all routes but the main girl's was removed.
But then again, I haven't played the game. Maybe there is a miraculous reason for it!

At any rate, this was a rather tame episode, except for the unsettling part where another batch of people seem to have disappeared (what, they don't get a good-bye scene?)

As for the main point of the episode.... well, Kyousuke wasn't the only one waiting for it.
Still, the transition felt kind of weird. I won't say out of nowhere, it wasn't, but it struck me as kind of sudden.
And as funny as Riki's pondering and reflecting on the matter were, the way he acted made me think he was a completely different character at first.

Looks like next episode could be cataclysmic. I have a feeling either this one or the next one contains the last lighthearted material we're going to see until the end.

[novalysis]

I have to agree. Riki's characterization felt astonishingly off, compared to the character he usually is in other arcs. It's one of the weakest episodes - even weaker than a good manny Season 1 Episodes, and after the tightly written and plotted Kurugaya arc, the writing and chemistry between Riki and Rin feels very lacking. It's as if the authors are trying to shove the main girl pairing right onto us. And the scene with the other girls feels disappointing. They've all been reduced to a Greek Choir who bows in characterless unison before leaving the stage.

[Tempester]

I agree that Riki's infatuation with Rin was too out of the blue and out of character. If I recall, there was no such scene in the VN. It was probably added into the anime to make their relationship progress more smoothly, but it ironically feels more jarring to me.

And Rin's confession is supposed to be weird. With the way she speaks to Riki just as she normally does, you're supposed to get the impression that she has no idea what she's getting into. Like a certain awesome bro somebody persuaded her to say that. Rin only starts getting flustered and treating Riki differently after the other characters acknowledge that they are going out, as the implications that she and Riki are "lovers" become apparent.

But yeah, the romantic side of the Riki/Rin relationship isn't all that necessary to the story, and I hope the staff doesn't waste too much time focusing on it.

[Deathscyther]

Good solid episode. 8/10. I guess there will be a lot of people with mixed feelings after watching this episode, but that can't be helped. People who wanted the Riki-Rin relationship to happen will be happy (like me), while others might be less happy with this development. Still, this episode will probably be one of the weakest ones of this second season. This is mostly because the source material for this section wasn't the best part of the VN, so this was to be expected. The episode was still very enjoyable to watch though, mostly because of some changes and added scenes.

I liked it that Riki told Kyousuke in person and that Rin told Komari in person, before telling the others together. This shows how important those two are to Riki and Rin. The scene in the baseball room after Riki and Rin left was really good too.

Originally Posted by novalysis

I have to agree. Riki's characterization felt astonishingly off, compared to the character he usually is in other arcs.

I actually liked seeing a new side of Riki. It just shows that Riki never had to deal with these kind of feelings before. He was shocked by the fact that Rin was the one on his mind and actually tried hard to deny it.

Originally Posted by Tempester

I agree that Riki's infatuation with Rin was too out of the blue and out of character. If I recall, there was no such scene in the VN. It was probably added into the anime to make their relationship progress more smoothly, but it ironically feels more jarring to me.

Riki's infatuation with Rin was quite sudden, but I feel that the anime gave a good explanation for this. As Kyousuke told Riki, they never noticed their feelings for each other, since they were always together. Riki said it himself too: 'She's always there, like an obvious thing.' They just never thought about love before. Also, in the anime Riki was confronted about liking someone at two occasions. This episode and during Kurugaya's route. In both instances Rin was the one who came to his mind and in both instances he was kind of surprised because of that fact. So I have to give JC Staff credit for making Riki's feelings for Rin a bit more obvious. He just needed a little push.

Originally Posted by Tempester

And Rin's confession is supposed to be weird. With the way she speaks to Riki just as she normally does, you're supposed to get the impression that she has no idea what she's getting into. Like a certain awesome bro somebody persuaded her to say that. Rin only starts getting flustered and treating Riki differently after the other characters acknowledge that they are going out, as the implications that she and Riki are "lovers" become apparent.

Yeah, Rin's confession came out of nowhere and was quite weird, but this is actually in character. Rin is bad at showing her emotions and keeps a lot to herself. Because of this it is quite hard to read her. Also, during the anime we have learned that Rin hardly even knows what love is. She always had that confused look on her face when the others were talking about love (like during Kurugaya's route). All she knows is that she wants to be with Riki and that's why she decided to confess, not knowing what she's getting herself into.

[MCAL]

I thought the way Riki acted was the most believeable part of the episode (Along with texting at night in bed). He just got confessed to and this was his first, so of course he'd be experiencing several ranges of various emotions. And its not like he doesn't possess a libido (We have poorly tacked on H-scenes to prove it).

[AC-Phoenix]

Kurugaya suddenly vanishishing and no one caring looks a bit random, and makes me ask if this was really intended that way, especially since everyone (bar Riki) still seems to remember her, yet casually takes her disappearance.
I didn't read the VN but it somehow feels like this was not intended...


Kyouske's words to Riki kinda imply that he is Little Busters 'Ushio', and thus doomed to die sooner or later. (Probably sooner than later)

[Deathscyther]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Kurugaya suddenly vanishishing and no one caring looks a bit random, and makes me ask if this was really intended that way, especially since everyone (bar Riki) still seems to remember her, yet casually takes her disappearance.
I didn't read the VN but it somehow feels like this was not intended...

I won't say too much, but I can say that it was intended this way. I think that this episode made that pretty clear.

BTW, Rin actually asked about Kurugaya when she saw her empty seat. Riki also thought about Kurugaya after this, but he was also confused about some parts of his memories at the time and the confessions of Suginami and Rin happened right after this.

[MCAL]

"Am I going to live my life alone in a Concrete Pipe?!”

I never realized how incredibly hilarious and sad this line is. Don’t worry Masato. You’re too good to be abandoned.