Little Busters - Episode 6 Discussion / Poll

[Mcfart]

Originally Posted by flack

This episode gave me the most unnatural/cheesy/overuse and spam of OST/ drama I have seen yet. As someone already mentioned, the most unnatural (also cliched) way for a group of friends to interact.

Also why the he'll did Masato cry and say "I'm an idiot I don't know what to do?" and in a girly fashion. Jeez That just looks complete retard...The way they are depicting Masato is really pissing me off.

Also it seems like most of the anime only viewers dropped this.

While Masato hasn't gotten an accurate depiction, the reason for that was because he didn't know how to help, and felt useless. True, he should have sounded solem rather then wimpy, since that is usually how he's depicted in the VN (in serious conversations). The only times he is whiny is comedic moments.

Someone seems to think that he's the Sunohara of LB, but IMO not really, since his comedic character is comedic in a different way then Sunohara's was.

[Arturia Polaris]

I'm rating it 9 because I had a huge nostalgia attack with the whole OST thingy...

I'm also really liking the whole little busters + kurugaya thingy so far ^^.

Arty

[hussien-11]

This episode pretty much made it clear that the current direction is not up to par at capturing the story of this show.

while I agree that the direction for this show is not very sharp and not as good as I expected it to be, I also think the original source material is not that great either ( though I admit that I didn't play the VN so I could be wrong )
I think that the most important element of direction to get the "feel" right for a show like this, is the "timing" you use, the timing of playing a music piece and finishing it, the timing you choose to show characters facial expressions .. etc
it's clear that our director here can't match Ishihara's and other KyoAni's directors timing and sense of things, and the poor animation quality didn't help
but lets remember a show like Kanon, which was also directed by KyoAni, honeslty it wasn't that good even with great adaptation, because the original work wasn't great
I think that most of Key's writers sucks, they are not good really ( no offense ), Jun Maeda is the best writer there of course, and he didn't write everything
and even Jun Maeda himself isn't that good in my opinion, he knows how to write a touching and magical story, but he's not a great writer.
so when I watch a show from key, I always come for the emotions and the cheesy melodrama that we sometimes like in japanese animation : )
because that's what they really good for
maybe that's why I'm enjoying this overall, shutting down my "critical mind" a little XD

[Gohan78]

I can understand the complaints of anime-only viewers about the pacing of this arc.
In the VN you first go through all of the common route and then you delve into each girl's problem (depending on your previous choices). This way you really get the feeling that the Little Busters have become a close group of friends (outside of the 5 hystorical members).
By placing Komari's story so early, J.C. Staff missed a lot of interactions between Komari and the other Busters which would have made their concern more believable.

I still voted this episode a 9 because IMHO it was the best episode so far. It covered all of the important points, although the execution was a bit rushed (thus it doesn't deserve full marks).

[ronelm2000]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

If you were to compare this arc with other series, it is -really not- a matter of how weirdier or not Komari is, compared to the other "problem girls". The problem is how the arc is catapulted so early, with really not as much events and interactions as there should be.
Also, regardless of the "brand" of a given series, you usually have a better scope of the series with the full introduction of all characters before engaging in that kind of plotline. Having a half introduction, half main heroine route is just jarring and make the narrative highly disjointed. Every romcom/high school drama at least give enough room for character intro and interactions before having the serious business, and that's for good reasons.

That's like having Clannad with half the interactions between Tomoya and Nagisa, no intro for Tomoyo and Yukine, and then having Fuuko route kicking right in ep4-5.

Spoiler for A Clannad comparison:

Well, to give JC some justice, it really IS harder trying to adapt Little Busters than Clannad. Look at Clannad, they solved the plot-to-complete-the-other girls part by basically turning the non-fitting stories into OVAs and the kinda-fitting stories into an extended school year, when in the VN the common route was just a week. LB could do the same (in theory) but......... dunno, it's JC.

[Klashikari]

It isn't a problem of adapting anything due to the plot elements: it is damn pacing and interaction issues.
Romance/drama nonwistanding, the biggest flaw of the direction right now is to pull a heroine route there. And that's not a smart move, if you compare it to any story of this kind, Key or not.

[hussien-11]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

It isn't a problem of adapting anything due to the plot elements: it is damn pacing and interaction issues.
Romance/drama nonwistanding, the biggest flaw of the direction right now is to pull a heroine route there. And that's not a smart move, if you compare it to any story of this kind, Key or not.

true, but the first episodes were going to be sooooo slow and this is another problem, there is many people dropped this show after 1 or 2 episodes, now imagine 7 or 8 episodes of introductions *_*
maybe the pacing could have been better if they just gave Komari one more episode.

[Klashikari]

You are again missing the point: an additional episode for Komari's route would give more exposition for her broken state and Riki's attempt to snap her out of it, but that wouldn't fix the "relationship" issue she has with other characters, as she barely interacted with them, Rin included (barely 3-4 times).

Also, 5-7 intro episodes is the norm for a Comedy/Drama of 26 episodes, it is up to the director to make it so the initial episodes aren't boring or disjointed together. Heck, even adventure and all don't always jump on the main plot before that treshold.
And the number of intro episode has nothing to do with how boring those were: it is a matter of direction and storyboard (sorry, but a full episode for Yuiko's fight and enrollment is way too long, regardless how I'm biased towards that character). In fact, some people weren't expecting drama that early, but more antics with the group, so huh.

[hussien-11]

but that's why the direction of this series isn't that good, they have many problems and I don't think it's just pacing issues, comedy wasn't funny and drama felt forced, everything felt forced from the start.
even if they have more interactions with Komari I think the episode wasn't going to left a bigger impression, I didn't have any problem with the little busters team helping Komari because they were helping Riki in the first place
anyway they will have more introduction episodes now, lets see if this will help the other stories *_*

[kitten320]

To be honest a lot of author's drama's are not that much believable.
There's always something not fitting properly.

If you say that Komari barely knows them then how much did Naomi know Otonashi back in Angel Beats? None at all yet his words were enough to wake Naomi's sense back.
Yes, his and Komari's stories are different but for biggest part principle is similar.

I won't deny, I did expect more from this arc but it wasn't that bad.
But I do hope that others are deeper than that and with better resolutions.

[flack]

After seeing "Sakurasou No Pet Na Kanojo" I realized that the following:

1) Can JC do a better job of animation quality? Yes
2) Is it possible to make character interaction feel natural (in an anime)? Yes
3) Is it possible to not play the OST majority of the show to cover up for the awkwardness but instead do a better job of directing? Yes
4) CAN JC MAKE THE CHARACTERS BLINK THEIR EYE? YES
5) Can JC USE LESS STILL IMAGES? YES
6) Is it possible that WHEN A GROUP OF CHARACTERS interact that each of them atleast move instead being stuck in still image for the entire time? **** YES.

That is all.

[eplipswich]

My impressions of this episode:

It's good overall, though I have some issues like Komari's voice being inconsistent, like there are times when the VA doesn't sound sad at all, particularly the beginning. The whole episode also felt a little awkward and rushed, there are like a number of key missing links in the story, and so I have mixed feelings about this episode and the conclusion to Komari's arc, but it's good overall.

By now, though, I'm sure those who have never played the VN would have figured out what the theme of Little Busters is. IMO, it's all about "friendship". LB is all about what friends are for, and how important being sociable is.

I'll still continue to watch Little Busters, but really, to be honest, I'm starting to get lesser urge to watch this anime, unlike others...

[Hiroi Sekai]

I liked it.

Just one question though, can someone confirm/check this for me, please? "Alicemagic" at the end of this episode...did Rita just sound REALLY off-key for the first bit? I was sitting there watching the arc end when I felt a jarring pitch in my ear; don't know if it was just me going crazy or not.

[minhhuywiki]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

I liked it.

Just one question though, can someone confirm/check this for me, please? "Alicemagic" at the end of this episode...did Rita just sound REALLY off-key for the first bit? I was sitting there watching the arc end when I felt a jarring pitch in my ear; don't know if it was just me going crazy or not.

ED song is Alicemagic Original ver (visual novel 2007), not TV Anime ver.
And I love both ver

[Sound of Azure]

I certainly liked the moments where the Little Busters banded together. Those moments seem to be where this series shines the most. The conclusion was fine, though simplistic- Riki really should go into some kind of therapist job- seems he's quite good at it.

That's one of the things that grated for me though- this whole "only Riki can 'save' Komari" thing. Having not read the VN, I suspect this is part and parcel of the source, that Riki and Co "solve" each girl? It's natural to want to help out your friends, but how much should that be emphasised? At least that was one of the good messages that this arc showed- finding comfort away from pain is fine, even understandable, but running away from it isn't helpful in the long run.

I don't know if that was simply because of the anime's direction (or the VA's performance), but I can only hope the other girls have more complex personalities than Komari shows. I've heard a lot of good things about Key works, so I hope Little Busters matches the hype.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Yeah, some of the criticisms I'm reading on this thread seem odd to me.

Is Komari's arc perfectly realistic? No, of course not. But when has Key ever been perfectly realistic?

Key has always specialized in very eccentric female characters who either have unique problems, or have basic problems that are developing in highly unusual ways due to how eccentric the female character is (Komari is the latter case). There's the odd Key arc that feels like something one could reasonably expect to run into once or twice in real life, but they're the exception, not the rule.

Most Key arcs are honestly much weirder than what we faced here.

As you know we had an "execution" thread in the general anime section and this is a great example of where me not liking the way something was executed completety lowers my enjoyement of what is an interesting concept,because a girl forgetting her brother to forget his death is definatly an interesting concept.
What you say is true for key dramas as well as a whole lot of fiction,it's the staff's job to deliver the story in a way that makes it easier for the audience to accept to more or less suspend disbelief.I'm not going to go into details about everything but there's one point I want to adress.

I can't say anything about Lukeman1884 but Kanon had expressed how much trouble buying into Yanase Natsumi's performance as Komari and it seems to me that how critical someone is of this arc depends on how critical they are of Yanase Natsumi's performance.

On my part it's honestly one of my most disliked performance I've ever heard in anime,and I'm not saying this on a whim,I've really honestly tried remembering when I had such an allergic reaction to a voice acting performance and there's nearly none.So really,going from there this arc was a lost cause for me,it really shattered any will of suspension of disbelief I had,and when that happens anything "unrealistic" that I might have been willing to oberlook just jumps out and I start being critical of them.

Of course I'm not going to put all my blame on her for me disliking this episode but she definitely had a big part in it.It's pretty telling that the parts of the episode I enjoyed the most such as the little busters gang helping Riki out,were the ones where Komari wasn't on screen.I feel those that enjoyed the episode more than I did are people that weren't allergic to Yanase Natsumi as Komari as I was.

[minhhuywiki]

Originally Posted by totoum

I feel those that enjoyed the episode more than I did are people that weren't allergic to Yanase Natsumi as Komari as I was.

And I am an example of this. I love Komari, her seiyu and all story of this route

[Benigmatica]

Originally Posted by eplipswich

It's good overall, though I have some issues like Komari's voice being inconsistent, like there are times when the VA doesn't sound sad at all, particularly the beginning. The whole episode also felt a little awkward and rushed, there are like a number of key missing links in the story, and so I have mixed feelings about this episode and the conclusion to Komari's arc, but it's good overall.

Don't blame Komari's VA just because she's the only actress returned from voicing the VN. She did her best, and she's just human.

But anyways, I expect J.C.Staff to improve as they move on to later episodes!

[relentlessflame]

Originally Posted by Benigmatica

Don't blame Komari's VA just because she's the only actress returned from voicing the VN. She did her best, and she's just human.

? Perhaps I've misunderstood what you're saying, but I'm pretty sure the entire cast is the same as the VN except for Riki and Sasami (which were only changed to have different actors for each role).

But, by the same token, of course you don't blame the VA in any case. They are only following the direction of the sound director. If they told her to act the part differently, she'd do another take. So whatever fault there is isn't "her fault"; she acted as she was directed to do.

[Ringil]

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

? Perhaps I've misunderstood what you're saying, but I'm pretty sure the entire cast is the same as the VN except for Riki and Sasami (which were only changed to have different actors for each role).

But, by the same token, of course you don't blame the VA in any case. They are only following the direction of the sound director. If they told her to act the part differently, she'd do another take. So whatever fault there is isn't "her fault"; she acted as she was directed to do.

Mio is also different I believe. But, Komari sounds just as... unique in the VN haha.