Little Busters - Weekly Episode-to-Game Comparison Thread [Spoilers Aplenty]

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Snuffle

BTW, I may not be remembering correctly... In the game, did Kanata even come off as a sarcastic person before entering Haruka's arc? I know she was extremely sarcastic during Haruka's route, but I'm not remember how she was during the common route.

Yup, she has the knack of using sarcasm comments. The non Haruka route part is definitely the scene where she shows up and tells Kudo she is fine to be her roomate. At that moment, she was more or less saying Riki had nothing to do with it, and could have problem due to "illicit sexual relationship", obviously not that serious, but catching Riki off guard.

Another moment would be when she confronts Komari and Riki, because the former was eating snacks on the grass outside of the lunchtime, then a follow up because of her shirt, until Yuiko arrives and save the day (which actually shows Kanata admiting she is a bit of a try hard).

Speaking of Kanata, I agree the way they handled her in Episode 15 was weird. Originally, A chan was the one who told the girls to pipe down. However, having Kanata missing not only an occasion to "abuse" Haruka, but also missing Riki's disguise despite being very sharp to begin with was just odd.

[Zankoku12]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Speaking of Kanata, I agree the way they handled her in Episode 15 was weird. Originally, A chan was the one who told the girls to pipe down. However, having Kanata missing not only an occasion to "abuse" Haruka, but also missing Riki's disguise despite being very sharp to begin with was just odd.

Isn't that just to show her soft side?
I actually think she realized it was Riki but pretend she didn't know(and she's a girl too,I'm sure deep down she also enjoyed seeing it as much as the other).Kanata admitted in her route that she know about several of LB! group's activities like paper swordfight(as you already know,it's different in the VN),test of courage at night,kick the can .... but pretend she didn't know and let it slide.

And as for "abuse" Haruka at the scene,if she punished Haruka now,she would have to punish Kud,Komari and Kurugaya as well whom she has weak spot/respect for. And if she made a big deal out of it,she would also have to expose Riki's cross dressing and sneaked into female dorm in front of the entire school.
Riki's school like is screwed if that happened

[Klashikari]

That's exactly the problem though: regardless if she "canonically" can recognize Riki or not, she usually doesn't care who are the bystanders when Haruka is involved.
So it isn't a matter how to make her fit the situation: to begin with, they shouldn't have tried to insert Kanata in there (or at least her cronies instead), unless they made Haruka go to the bathroom or something at that moment.

[Zankoku12]

Eh? I think she cared,especially when it come to Kud or Kurugaya.
But I agreed the scene isn't very fitting,then again it's the beginning of Haruka's arc, Kanata's appearance would make sense for anime-only viewers,it's like "ah,Kanata appeared alot in this ep,no doubt Haruka's story will be told next" or something like that.

[Klashikari]

The problem is that she would only back off when Yuiko actually tells her to drop her too-serious stance. As for Kud, Kanata reveals her soft side only when nonsense isn't involved in there.
So really, the very first thing Kanata would do would have been "Again you, bunch of troublemakers. Especially you, Saigusa Haruka." etc etc.

I think the bigger problem I have with Kanata's presence is that she hardly is shown outside of Haruka's route. They really should have shown another scene with Kudo and her books in a previous ep, and perhaps that confrontation with Komari and Yuiko (that one is really what is missing, even if they made a sort of "nice" mood with Kudo in the last episode, but the timing is just too tight).

[Zankoku12]

Haven't play Haruka's route in a while but did Kanata ever pick on Haruka in front of any LB! members beside Riki in the VN or is it just the anime ?
Like the bench scene,there were no Rin and Komari in the VN but they put them there in the anime.I know they're trying to make the whole LB group involved and help Haruka rather than just Riki but honestly it only made Riki less impressive compare to his VN version while the whole anime's bench scene is like "Hey Haruka ! You got bullied and insulted but don't worry,you've got your friends who couldn't anything but watch right here with ya !" to me lol

As for that Kanata's scene with Komari and Kurugaya,isn't that Kanata's common route event(I've only played EX version and the last time I played,that scene still haven't got translated so I figured it was part of the new contents in EX) wouldn't it more appropriate for them to show it during Kanata's arc ?

It's feel like the director of this show is trying to cramp all the heroine's events in their arc and rush it instead of showing them one by one during the common eps

[Klashikari]

Actually, I have to read it once again, but Kanata never had the "chance" to show up in front of Haruka when there are other LB members. In fact, just like other routes, most basically vanish from Riki's sight, save Kudo due to her scenes with Kanata.

And no, that scene with Komari and Yuiko facing Kanata is from the original VN.

[Kudryavka]

Seeing how it's getting licensed, I watched an episode.

And, I like that the background people actually look like anime , not like realistically weird Asian caricatures like they do in the game... I love Asians, but seeing a handful of mukoku seki (sic?) anime main characters in front of the realistically proportioned, short haired and small eyed human looking masses was extremely weird and annoying to me (I think all humans have extremely tiny eyes compared to the main characters in LB). And not funny, I think it was meant to be humorous, but it ends up just creating a huge unseemly art rift (especially when the Asians magically turn into mukoku seki anime characters for the event CGs).

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Dragging the conversation here as points are getting quite on the different tangent as this rate.

There is a drastic difference in term of execution and pacing to me: whereas the formula is the same from its very fundation, LB anime currently has very very little tone shift outside of the girls route. In fact, that relates to the comment I've made regarding the foreshadowing, with the exception with Mio.

I don't really remember the VN ever getting that serious outside of the girl's routes save a few scenes from the common route. Examples being like the Kengo school jumping scene. Are you sure this isn't just an inherent problem with the source? Correct me if you can think of too many actually serious scenes in the common route.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Actually, the problem is more than just that for Haruka.
Some terms are just missing that make the treatment from some persons quite differently. For instance, Kengo's behaviour in the anime basically doesn't have any interaction with Haruka one bit (in fact, Kengo got quite the short end of a stick in general), whereas he made clear back in the VN that Haruka is borderline a pest (he got quite pissed off by that bucket prank).

Likewise, Masato reactions were also quite dry, even if we know the guy is not really any close to be someone who can throw mean stuff for nothing.
Whenever Haruka shows up, he either thinks she is useless, or thinks she is yet again going to mess around their classroom, which is quite different in the anime as Masato only react this way in a exaggerated fashion when he is on the receiving end.

But the real problem with Haruka is her own foreshadowing as in her utter lack of reactions when anything close to her twin problem shows up. In fact, the anime makes it like she is in the receiving end and hated Kanata only starting from the latest episode, whereas she has shown some scorn/hatred way before that initially.
At least, they did adress the problem child part by using the vending machine event earlier.

I'll agree that Kengo has been getting the short end of the stick so far in the anime, but assuming that they do loop the story (I have a feeling this second cour will end with Yuiko's route and the world falling apart), then he may get more moments hopefully. Though this also has to due with the source and its "everybody disappears" in other people's routes phenomenon.

As for Masato I feel like we're watching different shows here since more than one Masato has expressed annoyance towards Haruka when she appears in the classroom. If I have to I'll give you the times in the episodes, but I am fairly certain that this happened. If you feel that maybe they got the tone off, well I can't really say anything there.

Now I don't really remember Haruka's route well enough to comment too much here. But assuming that this anime has to cut to the chase a bit more than the VN, I think the approach they took is acceptable. Haruka was already shown in a previous episode to have difficulty dealing with Kanata after the vending machine incident and was emotionally unstable. Here it just came out stronger and I think that's fine.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

Actually, the problem is how it was cut dry into 2 episodes each. The "third" episode is more or less events that where blended in the common routes. And frankly, it was the opposite: they dragged the irrelevant parts too much ironically.
Really, was that necessary to drag Yuiko's intro as a full episode? What about the test of courage?

Really, what I meant with my initial rants was how they didn't make a proper pacing with more level headed and balanced common route WITH the damn baseball arc, and then pulling progressively the heroines arc.
They don't have to have all girls arcs done by the first season: they should probably have gone with Komari, Haruka, Mio and Kud, leaving Rin, Yuiko and Refrain for the second season. But as far as it goes, the anime has a very unbalanced way to present events.

It is even more obvious when the episodes are segmented as "heroine of the week" for the casual events, instead of having a natural flow of several events that show characters little everyday.
The prime example of that would be Haruka's pranks multiplying starting in Episode 7. Prior that point, she only appeared 1 or 2 times, leaving little impression that she is doing that all the time, until you finally reach that episode.
Actually, only 4 episodes, 2 each for Mio and Komari.
Episode 4 was a common route event involving the LB with Komari's volonteer work, with only 1 single point from her route: her grandpa.

Likewise, Episode 10 was part of Mio's intro and how she joined the LB. So her route only spanned for episode 13 and 14.

So far, the problem is how unfinished the intro for the whole group was, and went scattered across due to having Komari inserted this way, to which Mio's route was far less an issue, save her absurdely belated intro.

But whereas the actual heroine routes aren't that butchered, it is how they were inserted in the ongoing plot, along with little details and usual interactions (a ton of which are from the baseball practice sessions).

I don't think they should put Yuiko's route in the second season unless they plan to combine it with Rin 1 route. The second cour should have a natural break off point, and I think Yuiko's route would fit really nicely for this purpose.

I think a lot of what you're asking for is unrealistic for the anime's scope. The visual novel had the common route first, then the girl's routes. So we already had a good idea of every character's ticks and got plenty of foreshadowing like you are wishing for, but this only works in the VN. The anime has tried to spread out the common route stuff for the most part between the heroine's arcs, and honestly they haven't done too bad of a job IMO.

The sleep over episode brought back Kanata into the picture right before Haruka's route started back up and so it felt more natural for her to appear there.

Before Mio's route we had her introduction in episode 10 and her appearing at the end of episode 11 with a common route episode before segwaying into her arc. which spanned episodes 12-14 (Not just 13 and 14 s you said) I thought it worked out nicely.

Komari's arc I don't have much of a comment for because I thought it was clumsily done. Though her route was pretty crap to begin with personally. It did come in after her introduction though so it wasn't too unnatural though. Though I object to the claim that the episode revolving around the retirement home was not part of her route, it was clearly an episode focused solely on her and tied directly into her arc.

ANYWAYS, I do think you have a point (I'm not dismissing what you're saying, but I think you're exaggerating quite a bit), but I think beyond Komari's route we haven't quite seen any other real negative effects in the anime. Personally I thought Mio's route went quite well (And she is is my favorite LB heroine so I don't say that lightly), and I believe Haruka is off to a good start. I think the whole "girl of the week" appearance is just inevitable with any VN adaption that chooses to put all the girl's routes. I felt the same in Clannad, and especially in Kanon2006.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

I disagree. Masato often plays the Boke, but did he often go hyper with food and muscles in the VN? (important note: yes, Masato interjecting muscles is a daily occurence. What is different is the way it is played between the VN and anime. In the VN, Masato boasts about muscles as if it is natural and thus with a normal speech, whereas in the anime, he is portrayed as if he was to promote muscles as the best thing at every occasions possible. The biggest example would be his random muscle song during the volonteer work).

So you think Masato has been flanderized by the anime? Yeah, he has been a little bit, I won't deny that. Although I do think the increased silliness of his character comes across this way from the difference in mediums more than anything else. Reading about Masato lifting vigorously all the time with him making sounds and seeing it in motion in animation creates an entirely different effect.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

I personally didn't have that much "goofy comedy" impression with the way how Riki was describing things from his perspective, especially how things go out of hand/serious (especially that thumbnack part).
I'm not claiming that every parts involving the commitee without Kanata were serious. Far from it. However we are shown only the "fun side" of the pranks without much the afterthought behind them (be it the commitee or the other characters).

As for Kanata, she is actually more sarcastic and less aggressive in the VN, leaving some implication that sparked Riki's attention, to which he could conclude Kanata's true intention at some point. In fact the tone is slightly different, since she lost her taunting edge and went more straightforward with her verbal abuse in the anime.

We already have had a couple moments in the anime where Yuiko calmed Kanata down and got her to be a little more easy going and rational (One of them in the sleep over scene, and another in an earlier episode). We also had the moment Kanata helped Kud out by letting her be roomates with her. I think the anime has done some good to show that Kanata is not all bad and gives reason to believe that Kanata has a reason for her actions.

Of course somethings are always going to be lost because unlike the visual novel, we don't get all of Riki's internal narration. Obviously this makes reading the visual novel a smoother, more detailed, and wholesome experience. But from an adaption perspective I thought they captured quite well a little of both sides of Kanata so far.

Anyways, again I bring up the point with Haruka's character that we already had an earlier episode where she got harassed by the disciplinary committee, so I don't see a reason why we would need even more.

[Kudryavka]

@Reckoner I think Klashikari was saying about Masato, that they didn't transfer over his true loathing of Haruka. Sure in the anime he shows moments of discontempt for her, but then in the latest episode we see him trying to cheer Haruka up and give her some marbles so that she'll feel better. Game Masato would never do that, especially since she pulled a prank that ended up ruining Kengo's kendo uniform and him blaming Masato for it until she confessed.

It becomes clear that these moments of him disliking Haruka are actually true loathing, not just joking, in her route. When Riki invites her into his dorm room to get an alarm clock so she can wake up on time, she snoops around playfully. Masato ends up getting extremely angry at her and yelling, then kicks her out the second she finds some clocks. She was trying to joke, but Masato obviously wouldn't have any of that.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

I don't really remember the VN ever getting that serious outside of the girl's routes save a few scenes from the common route. Examples being like the Kengo school jumping scene. Are you sure this isn't just an inherent problem with the source? Correct me if you can think of too many actually serious scenes in the common route.

There isn't any numerous "severe" seriousness part in the common route, but several stuff are addressed for each girl or even guys at some points. I honestly don't feel like reading everything again to make a list, that wouldn't be the most efficient way to spend my time and yours.
That being said, it is more a matter or how they execute the comedy in very prominent way that makes people think they are watching something primarily comedy or something.

I'll agree that Kengo has been getting the short end of the stick so far in the anime, but assuming that they do loop the story (I have a feeling this second cour will end with Yuiko's route and the world falling apart), then he may get more moments hopefully. Though this also has to due with the source and its "everybody disappears" in other people's routes phenomenon

. The problem right now is that Kengo has little to no involvement with the LB, be it comedy or serious stuff. Really, his screentime is close to 0, with Masato being nearly as present as the girls, which is quite a feat considering his role in there.
At this point, I have no idea if they will introcude Koshiki in there, and I wonder if they will play out "LB mode Kengo" at this rate.

As for Masato I feel like we're watching different shows here since more than one Masato has expressed annoyance towards Haruka when she appears in the classroom. If I have to I'll give you the times in the episodes, but I am fairly certain that this happened. If you feel that maybe they got the tone off, well I can't really say anything there.

It wasn't only with Haruka, but that's definitely the main problem I have with "this" Masato: from the very very beginning in the VN, Masato is frankly not a fan of Haruka and hardly interact with her save very few instances. He never make a "joke" followup to hers, and often makes comments like "...you came again? what are you up to now? -_-".
Even for an open guy like Masato, he often states his displeasure towards her, even before Haruka does anything and that's in a calm and even serious way (aka pissed off). In the anime, it is more like a boke/exaggerated fashion, and undeniably less often.

It was a bit the same than with his fight against Yuiko: he was -really- pissed off to the point she is the only character, save Kengo, that he wanted to use a silly weapon to -directly- hit them. Afterwards, he considers Yuiko as a woman not to triffle with due to her skills and way to handle Rin etc, so half respec, half scared of her.

Now I don't really remember Haruka's route well enough to comment too much here. But assuming that this anime has to cut to the chase a bit more than the VN, I think the approach they took is acceptable. Haruka was already shown in a previous episode to have difficulty dealing with Kanata after the vending machine incident and was emotionally unstable. Here it just came out stronger and I think that's fine.

I don't mind how they cut the chase with her route. The only problem is how they showed Haruka's resentment differently: generally speaking, Haruka doesn't hide her loath for Kanata, even if the latter wasn't after her. However in the anime, Haruka was shown persecuted/victimised, only showing her hatred starting ep 16.
To give a better point in the whole mood, I would have expected a 10 sec short scene much earlier than episode 7. Aside of Kanata issue, Haruka was, as I explained, barely introduced before episode 7, so her antics didn't feel like a "daily troublesome mess".

I think a lot of what you're asking for is unrealistic for the anime's scope. The visual novel had the common route first, then the girl's routes. So we already had a good idea of every character's ticks and got plenty of foreshadowing like you are wishing for, but this only works in the VN. The anime has tried to spread out the common route stuff for the most part between the heroine's arcs, and honestly they haven't done too bad of a job IMO.

Actually, that's the opposite: the way they spread it out just make several interactions awkward at best. Episode 17 is a glaring example of that with Mio, Masato and Kengo "caring" about Haruka despite -they just didn't have any interaction with her-.
It is even worse when baseball practice were skipped altogether (despite being the -main catalyst- of having such group) in favor for more silly antics taking full episodes.

Frankly, I didn't expect the full common route to kick in completely before engaging the girls route. Far from it. However, other adaptations proved that having a full intro and a third of the common route is -doable-.
Clannad had a proper intro for most heroines and even some extra before tackling Fuuko's route. And as much as I think they spent 1 ep too much on Fuuko, they definitely could squeeze many casual events as well as intro, for a cast of the same caliber as LB, even if it means that ep1 was quite fast for clannad.
That's why I kept repeating that the adaptation pace is a mess, as the "general pacing" is iffy slow, but they really jump left and right regarding the girls, leading to a lessened impact in general.

Before Mio's route we had her introduction in episode 10 and her appearing at the end of episode 11 with a common route episode before segwaying into her arc. which spanned episodes 12-14 (Not just 13 and 14 s you said) I thought it worked out nicely.

That's my problem with Mio: exactly because her intro only started at episode 10, and due to that it has to be dragged afterwards. Episode 12 was not part of her route, exactly because the book incident happens -in every route- assuming you stumble on the correct flags.
It is exactly a common route portion since it is a scene you can get regardless of the heroine you are aiming for, and contributes to Mio's characterization (and being a device for her route much later on).

Really my biggest gripe of the adaptation, pacing/content wise was the timing of Mio's intro and Komari's route, because these 2 were completely done upside down.

Komari's arc I don't have much of a comment for because I thought it was clumsily done. Though her route was pretty crap to begin with personally. It did come in after her introduction though so it wasn't too unnatural though. Though I object to the claim that the episode revolving around the retirement home was not part of her route, it was clearly an episode focused solely on her and tied directly into her arc.

The episode served for her arc, what I actually means is that event isn't solely for her, as it also involve the LB and whatever they do on some occasions.
Simply speaking, it is similar to Mio's book scene: it is obviously focused on a specific heroine, but it doesn't go too deeply with them and does involve other characters for various reasons.
And surely Komari's route is one of the reason why I just don't like Tonokawa's writing at all.

ANYWAYS, I do think you have a point (I'm not dismissing what you're saying, but I think you're exaggerating quite a bit), but I think beyond Komari's route we haven't quite seen any other real negative effects in the anime. Personally I thought Mio's route went quite well (And she is is my favorite LB heroine so I don't say that lightly), and I believe Haruka is off to a good start. I think the whole "girl of the week" appearance is just inevitable with any VN adaption that chooses to put all the girl's routes. I felt the same in Clannad, and especially in Kanon2006.

Right now, the adaptation is not exactly the best I could have expected, especially that some characters like Masato and Kengo are just being screwed hard, leading to complications if theykeep going this way.

OTOH, Riki is -way- too strong willed as of now. It just makes you wonder why the loops are necessary consering how reliable he was shown right from the get go (from suggesting a LB activity to other stuff).

So you think Masato has been flanderized by the anime? Yeah, he has been a little bit, I won't deny that. Although I do think the increased silliness of his character comes across this way from the difference in mediums more than anything else. Reading about Masato lifting vigorously all the time with him making sounds and seeing it in motion in animation creates an entirely different effect.

Except that his "muscle muscle yay!" dance only happen when... you actually aim for the muscle sensation ending. To begin with, Masato is more like a boatsing poser like I said. The VN hardly shows any motion, unless real antics are shown. But as far as it goes, I really can't imagine Masato going panzer, and that refrain scene might look quite off as result.

We already have had a couple moments in the anime where Yuiko calmed Kanata down and got her to be a little more easy going and rational (One of them in the sleep over scene, and another in an earlier episode). We also had the moment Kanata helped Kud out by letting her be roomates with her. I think the anime has done some good to show that Kanata is not all bad and gives reason to believe that Kanata has a reason for her actions. Of course somethings are always going to be lost because unlike the visual novel, we don't get all of Riki's internal narration. Obviously this makes reading the visual novel a smoother, more detailed, and wholesome experience. But from an adaption perspective I thought they captured quite well a little of both sides of Kanata so far.

Anyways, again I bring up the point with Haruka's character that we already had an earlier episode where she got harassed by the disciplinary committee, so I don't see a reason why we would need even more.

Actually it is a tad more subtle than that. The anime shows rather how Yuiko can stand against Kanata, to an extent the latter has to circumvent a bit what she does, otherwise it isn't going anywhere. the scene I was talking about actually make Kanata admitting herself she shouldn't go ahead of herself all the time, and let of some "steam" a lil bit.
That being said, I guess I'm way too used with the way how the voice acting was in the VN, because the differences are glaring to me: it isn't about the length of the speech etc, but the actual tones and slightly different words as well.

[Tempester]

Ugh, I hate how episode 17 ended. I know the staff were going for a cliffhanger ending, but the full impact of the scene just doesn't work when it's split up like that. Either put everything at the end of this episode or the start of next episode. Not to mention how Futaki was caught immediately after like one minute instead of the gradual reader's realization in the VN that something was "off" about Haruka.

Originally Posted by Klashikari

OTOH, Riki is -way- too strong willed as of now. It just makes you wonder why the loops are necessary consering how reliable he was shown right from the get go (from suggesting a LB activity to other stuff).

There is also the problem with Rin, who is an inconsistent character whose development is progressing like a zigzag instead of a gradual line or curve. One episode she is asking girls she hardly knows for help, the next episode she runs away when Komari draws near.

[Snuffle]

Okay... What the heck is the anime trying to do here???? They purposely make the viewer take notice that Kanata is spinning a pen with her right hand but they totally ignore that the point of knowing that piece of information is to help Riki realize that something is strange "Haruka." That along with the eggs and citric fruits, although citric is not mentioned. But instead of going along with those hints, the anime throws all that away and reveals right away (avoiding all buildup) that Haruka is being impersonated.... What the heck!? My favorite route just got butchered.

[Zankoku12]

hahaha...I feel you,I was also looking forward to the switch and hoping that they made it less obvious than in the VN.

I followed closely with Haruka's behaviors in this ep thinking there might a hidden switch at some point but boooooom! the switch come and they didn't even bother to hide it

High expectation lead to high disappointment.

[Snuffle]

Well maybe you had high expectations but I highly doubt that I did.

They were obviously not going to go with the romance type scenes, although some of them could've been adjusted to fit the friendship style theme. And sure, they're doing that, but it's done so horribly that it feels like another version of Komari's anime route.

All I expected was a friendship version + decent execution.
It didn't even have to be great, just bearable. But it's not even that, since they're using a scene from the story that doesn't even have the prior buildup. Kanata impersonating Haruka doesn't even make sense anymore since Riki and Haruka don't even appear to be close friends. So why would it really matter if Kanata wants to impersonate Haruka? By removing all those scenes before the revelation of the other "Haruka," we don't even get to see Riki and Haruka become at least close friends. From the way Riki's and Haruka's relationship is portrayed, there is very little if any reason for Haruka to become upset.

Now, the anime is most likely going to something really original here. Maybe something like Haruka becomes pissed that Kanata is interacting with her friends. If that's what they're doing, they could've done a better job. We'll see next episode I hope...

[Zankoku12]

Well,by high expectation,I mean for the twin switch part....I thought we were only talking about that part LOL

And yes,I agree this show have horrible execution,they've wasted too many precious time for common ep and just rush it in heroines arc....honestly did Key or Jun Maeda really overlook this ?
I don't wanna compare it to the VN anymore so I will just stop here.

But I hope they do the Rain scene well at least. And from the review, I think that part is where Haruka gonna bring her friends to confront Kanata so it sound like it will still be like in the VN but with more "audiences" lol

[Klashikari]

And one thing I don't get with the latest episode: why did they make Kanata surprised and drop the chiffon cake dish? It almost sounds like they messed up by adding Haruka's reaction

No really, even with VN knowledge, that reaction just doesn't make sense at all.

[Kudryavka]

Originally Posted by Klashikari

And one thing I don't get with the latest episode: why did they make Kanata surprised and drop the chiffon cake dish? It almost sounds like they messed up by adding Haruka's reaction

No really, even with VN knowledge, that reaction just doesn't make sense at all.

I'd guess because in the anime Kanata assumes that Riki will see through her act eventually, so it'll be all for naught. So she just cuts to the chase and skips to the part where she gets found out?

Or maybe instead because she saw the real Haruka right behind him, which would automatically blow her cover, so she fast forwards us to the part where Riki gets double vision.

[Klashikari]

No, considering how Suzuki voiced that line, Kanata was shocked to learn that Haruka tried a chiffon cake before, which is the one thing that doesn't make sense at all.

[Triple_R]

Before I reply, I should say I haven't played the game, but some of the replies I've read on the Episode 17 thread prompted me to check this thread out to see what differences there might be between the Haruka anime arc and the Haruka route in the game.

Originally Posted by Tempester

Ugh, I hate how episode 17 ended. I know the staff were going for a cliffhanger ending, but the full impact of the scene just doesn't work when it's split up like that.

As an anime-only viewer, I have to say that I disagree with this pretty strongly. That was one hell of a cliffhanger, and I wouldn't have it any other way. It has me very eagerly anticipating the next LB! episode in a way that I haven't anticipated any other LB! episode. And that scene might be the most impacting scene I've seen in Little Busters yet. It was just such a WHAM! moment that shouted "You thought you had Kanata and the Haruka/Kanata sibling rivalry figured out? Well THINK AGAIN!"

I thought it was an awesome scene. That being said...

Originally Posted by Klashikari

And one thing I don't get with the latest episode: why did they make Kanata surprised and drop the chiffon cake dish? It almost sounds like they messed up by adding Haruka's reaction

No really, even with VN knowledge, that reaction just doesn't make sense at all.

Well, two things here...

1) In retrospect, I took it as Kanata being shocked that Haruka had already baked some food for Riki. Kanata then asks Riki if he likes "her" to determine if Haruka has already established herself as Riki's girlfriend.

2) While watching that specific moment when the plate was dropped, I honestly was (for a couple seconds) expecting Haruka to go "So... you were lying to me before. You didn't really like the food I baked for you before did you? So how can I trust what you and the Little Busters said to me yesterday? How can I know that you're not just pitying me, huh?!" And then for Haruka to run off in tears with Riki flailing to try to explain himself.

That expectation took hold in my mind very quickly... which made the Kanata reveal feel even more like the ultimate curveball to me.