Little Busters - Episode 5 Discussion / Poll

[Shimapan]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

As an anime-only viewer, I've found the show to be a largely decent watch. Admittedly, I'm not quite getting what all the hype was about, but I don't think this show is downright bad. The comments I've seeing from many VN players is not just that this show isn't matching the hype, but that it's downright bad.

My sentiments exactly. While I really don't see where all the hype is coming from, it's a decent watch and certainly not a bad show. Thus I also don't see this flood of whining here justified.

My favourite so far is Komari, especially after this episode. You simply want to cuddle her
Haruka and Yuiko also seem nice, but need to see more of them.
Kud is a bit to loli for me (btw, her name suggests she's Russian, but in the anime she says she's coming from Finland... So what is it now?)
Can't say anything about Mio or Sasami yet.
Rin, on the other hand, is so far the most boring girl. Bleh
I really hope that Riki *doesn't* end up with Rin, that would be a massive failure.

[TJR]

Originally Posted by Shimapan

My sentiments exactly. While I really don't see where all the hype is coming from, it's a decent watch and certainly not a bad show. Thus I also don't see this flood of whining here justified.

It's the royal treatment that Kanon, AIR, and Clannad got. Among existing fans, there's some expectation that Little Busters deserves the same care, whether it's in the generous budget or in the attention paid to the scripts and storyboards.

Nevertheless, in the wider context of visual novel adaptations, LB stacks up fine. Regardless of popularity (i.e. To Heart 2, the Da Capo series, Amagami, and Fortune Arterial were all chart toppers on a comparable level), these projects rarely get top notch treatment, and there are understandable reasons for that. The KyoAni shows were exceptions, and if Warner's offer happened to be the best, it's easy to understand why VisualArt's had been holding out for so long.

Originally Posted by Dizzyworld2

There is an excuse for the fast pacing. All the heroine routes (although we're not 100% sure with Rin), and the common route needs to be crammed in 26 episodes.

The fast pace is inevitable. One problem is that many strengths of LB are hard to present in abridged form, something that isn't as true for other visual novels.

As for the story itself.....I won't elaborate much on what I thought of the VN, but I feel that these early episodes cut down on what I disliked. It's a shame that certain strengths are gone too, but that was something I already expected.

Originally Posted by papermario13689

Be glad something's finally happening- isn't this what everyone wanted?

It depends on whom you ask, doesn't it? Several anime-only viewers have expressed this desire, but vocal VN fans seem to want the opposite.

[Aspirety]

Originally Posted by Shimapan

My favourite so far is Komari, especially after this episode. You simply want to cuddle her

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that loves Komari XP

Also, they're not cramming it into just 26 episodes, the series has been indirectly confirmed to go longer.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by papermario13689

Wait, are people still complaining? Be glad something's finally happening- isn't this what everyone wanted? We're on Episode 5, damn. Fair evaluation is not possible at this stage, especially for a 20+ episode series.

I'm an anime-only viewer, and I was really disappointed in the first three episodes, for humour, script, and voices. Episode four was up and down for me. And I enjoyed episode 5 quite a bit.

I think it's fair to judge a show based on five episodes: no matter how long it is, they should be able to get their act together by this point. The dialogue, voices, and humour are not that likely to change. What can change is the forward drive of the plot, and it does seem to be coming around now. But I have still found just about nothing of interest in any of the baseball or classroom scenes.

TJR makes a good point that we might better compare this to Da Capo, Fortune Arterial, or To Heart 2, rather than to Kanon or Clannad, because of the amount of money and effort that went into those KyoAni versions. That being said, I'm a fan of some of the Da Capo series, and I enjoyed Fortune Arterial. I hope this show comes around for me, and ep5 made me think it just may.

[minhhuywiki]

Originally Posted by Aspirety

I'm so glad I'm not the only one that loves Komari XP

Also, they're not cramming it into just 26 episodes, the series has been indirectly confirmed to go longer.

Nope, me too. Komari is my most favorite character in Little Busters!, and episode 5 is great

[dark998]

Great episode, now Komari route is in full drive. That final scene when the lost memories finally come back was heart-wrenching. Why did you have to pick up that cat, Rikki?

[hussien-11]

best episode yet : )
I liked the stars scene especially with the music
I don't like Komari ( sooooooo moe ) but her story is not bad at all, her breakdown was good but not as good as Kotomi's in my opinion

[Hiroi Sekai]

Hello plot, I missed you. Let us link arms, for I wish for us to never part again.

Nah, I played the VN, so I have a general idea of how things are going. As overblown as the concern was for this series, I'm enjoying it.

Originally Posted by Kaoru Chujo

I'm an anime-only viewer, and I was really disappointed in the first three episodes, for humour, script, and voices. Episode four was up and down for me. And I enjoyed episode 5 quite a bit.

I think it's fair to judge a show based on five episodes: no matter how long it is, they should be able to get their act together by this point. The dialogue, voices, and humour are not that likely to change. What can change is the forward drive of the plot, and it does seem to be coming around now. But I have still found just about nothing of interest in any of the baseball or classroom scenes.

TJR makes a good point that we might better compare this to Da Capo, Fortune Arterial, or To Heart 2, rather than to Kanon or Clannad, because of the amount of money and effort that went into those KyoAni versions. That being said, I'm a fan of some of the Da Capo series, and I enjoyed Fortune Arterial. I hope this show comes around for me, and ep5 made me think it just may.

Almost missed this, my apologies. I will agree with you that it had a slow start, but so did Clannad, Air, Kanon and well...most series that run past the half-cour length. This is why I run by my 7-episode rule which I adapted from watching K-ON (which I almost dropped). It just kicked into Komari's route and will only get better from here; it seems unfortunate to drop it here.

The baseball and classroom scenes definitely didn't have as much emotion invested into them as the VN did, but they're still there as placeholders for character development. Little Busters never exactly excelled in the comedic sense as my opinion of Clannad's did, but where it gets really good is when it gets down and dirty with the story. I'd give it just a bit more time until you fully decide, but that's if you were planning to leave now. I'm not exactly sure of your intentions, so that's why I'm just leaving a generalization.

[Marcus H.]

They can't get no, satisfaction
They can't get no, satisfaction

Five for five for the flak.

As an anime-only viewer, I'm starting to lose my patience not on the below-average direction and problems with handling the adaptation per se, but to the fans of the original visual novel that can't seem to stop complaining on each episode!

Jeez, if you don't like how J.C. Staff has been handling the series, either deal with it or drop it. The constant flak this series has been receiving has been grinding my gears since the "WAH WHY ISN'T THIS PRODUCED BY KYOANI?" reactions before Episode 1, and I hope that I don't explode as the latter episodes go under fire by the unsatisfied viewerbase.

That rant aside, I think they have handled Komari's breakdown well. However, I doubt that she actually lost her memories like total amnesia. It's more like "you know what happened, but the details are too vague". Honestly, it was brave of Komari to face her memories head-on, and I hope that after this storm of sad memories, she would be able to smile like the sun again.

EDIT: On Episode 4, I have suspected that Komari has been hiding something when she was shown in complete shadow right after she made that radiant smile. It was like "seeing the dark side of the moon at a glimpse".

[RandomAvatarFan]

Did everyone forget that Riki has narcolepsy? Why is he staying up all night to watch the shooting stars when it would probably be healthier for him to have a regular night time sleeping pattern.

I'm not a medical expert, but I'm pretty sure staying up until sunrise will not help Riki's condition at all...

[ronelm2000]

Originally Posted by RandomAvatarFan

Did everyone forget that Riki has narcolepsy? Why is he staying up all night to watch the shooting stars when it would probably be healthier for him to have a regular night time sleeping pattern.

I'm not a medical expert, but I'm pretty sure staying up until sunrise will not help Riki's condition at all...

I'm not a medical expert, but I'm pretty sure that sleeping for vast amounts of time will not help either. Nacrolepsy seems to be "plot-based sleep"... or in other words, totally random.

[s07195]

The plot in this episode is ok, but I thought that on an emotional level it felt dull. I've only played the first twenty minutes of the game, and so haven't gone down any routes yet, so effectively I'm an anime-only viewer. However, I didn't really manage to empathize with Komari this episode (thought the flashback animation being done in a storybook-like way was cool though).