Little Busters ~Refrain~ - Episode 3 Discussion / Poll

[Tempester]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Spoiler for Reply to spoiler:

So does that mean that Kurugaya is not full Japanese but is part-Japanese and part some other nationality (probably British)?

In any even, thanks for the info! I guess Kurugaya is truly the Queen of this show.

Spoiler:

She's completely Japanese. Her family just has a history of traveling.

And you're very much welcome.

Originally Posted by kitten320

Also Anego was always smiling during whole season 1. It is kinda hard to take her words seriously when they were never shown to be true until this flashback.

I assume she learned to force a smile at some point before she met the Little Busters. If her laughing face ever looked awkward at any point, that was probably deliberate on the animators' part, since her VN's sprite was drawn to be awkward when laughing. The stoic sound she makes when laughing is also deliberate.

Here's the sprite for anyone who's interested:

Images

Kurugaya laughing in the VN

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[Reckoner]

Really couldn't of asked for much better, perfect episode and the feels. ;_;

And yeah, while it might be difficult to talk in absolutes, I think the general idea regarding Yuiko is that she had trouble experiencing different emotions since she was young and the Little busters, and especially riki, gave her a place to feel home.

[Triple_R]

Well, to be fair, I took Kurugaya's comment to mean that she never smiled until she met the Little Busters. And Season 1 doesn't really contradict that, imo.

And even in Season 1, Kurugaya's smile was usually pretty slight and her laughter often had this "Star Trek's Data faking laughter" feeling to it.

[Deathscyther]

That was a beautiful episode. Kurugaya's route was handled much better than the routes of season 1. While executing Kurugaya's route very nicely, JC Staff managed to turn her route into some kind of prologue to Refrain as well. Well done. I'm having high hopes for the last two routes.

Kurugaya's route was animated without delving too much into romance, but JC Staff still got the message across that Kurugaya indeed has feelings for Riki. This made the ending of her 'wish' really sad. I wasn't expecting 'Song for friends' at this point, so it kind of surprised me, but it really fit the moment and made me feel even more depressed. Thankfully, they left out the ED after this. (There's a certain studio that could learn something from this...)

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by Deathscyther

Thankfully, they left out the ED after this. (There's a certain studio that could learn something from this...)

Good point. This was not the time for a blissful happy ED.

Although I'm curious about the studio you're referring to.

[Klashikari]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Although I'm curious about the studio you're referring to.

KyoAni with AS ep16 & 21 ending with Torch.

[taichi-kun]

Yeah Anego's laughter sounds weird(and awesome) indeed,so this is the reason... It wasn't something natural..

Also "Protect Rin " wtf!!??? I need refrain...

[kitten320]

I guess I'll have to skip through season 1 again. Her laugh seemed fine to me.

[AP24]

Originally Posted by Eater of All

I like this adaptation more than the actual arc in the game. GJ JC and staff.

Was there anything different in the main plot of this arc?

I expected this would be the last episode for Yuiko's arc because all the other arcs each had 3 episodes.

[Sound of Azure]

That was quite well done, and fairly subtle. That's something I wasn't sure I'd ever say about this show. I clearly need to watch more Key-based anime, because the magical-seeming nature of the mystery, and many of the girls' problems and/or solutions have a largely unreal aspect to them. It still seems weird to me. That's just a personal issue though, not an actual problem with the show.

Originally Posted by Reckoner

Really couldn't of asked for much better, perfect episode and the feels. ;_;

This has nothing to do with your point (which I agree with), but that should read "couldn't have asked". I realise that it's not the end of the world, but it's a pet peeve of mine when the shortened have ('ve) becomes "of". It seems to be getting increasing common online, sorry to go all grammar nazi.

[Reckoner]

Originally Posted by Sound of Azure

This has nothing to do with your point (which I agree with), but that should read "couldn't have asked". I realise that it's not the end of the world, but it's a pet peeve of mine when the shortened have ('ve) becomes "of". It seems to be getting increasing common online, sorry to go all grammar nazi.

I tend to omit words when I type in general, so you'll probably be annoyed more than once when reading my posts. My typing doesn't match up with what is going through my head a lot .

[Sound of Azure]

Originally Posted by Reckoner

I tend to omit words when I type in general, so you'll probably be annoyed more than once when reading my posts. My typing doesn't match up with what is going through my head a lot .

Hah, I know how that feels. That particular thing- I get where it comes from. It is the same sound, after all. I get annoyed about lot of inconsequential things- "PIN number" instead of PIN, "ATM machine" instead of just ATM, incorrect use of "your", "their", or "it's", and bad apostrophe use. It's probably just my perfectionist streak at work. I should stop being off-topic though.

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by AP24

Was there anything different in the main plot of this arc?

I expected this would be the last episode for Yuiko's arc because all the other arcs each had 3 episodes.

Spoiler for Anime/VN comparison:

Aside from the lack of romance?
Well the thing is that since they took out the romance they had to change things around a lot. In the fireworks scene Riki does confess. In the game Riki and Kurugaya actually start dating and the repeating days mainly focus around them being together rather than involving the whole LB crew like it did.

One important part is that Riki and Kurugaya meet each other every day, however only Riki truly remembers the events of the previous repeat. Kurugaya on the other hand isn't able to retain her memories, however before every repeat she takes notes of everything she needs to know and makes it look like she remembers everything. This shows the dedication she has for Riki even more. Also the repeats end because the world becomes unstable and she can't control it anymore.

Riki was also the only one being bullied and, like I said in episode one, it was done so that Riki endured several days of bullying in order to protect Kurugaya and the others. It made Riki look awesome, very hero like in a way.

They didn't leave in the Love Love Hunters part which is infinitely important for the arc and the series as a whole (not really...but it's one of the funniest parts of the game where the guys "test" confessing to each of the girls and the answers are hilarious).

Kurugaya does not tell Riki to protect Rin.

And above all, there's the ending...of which there are two.

Spoiler for First Ending:

In the first ending Kurugaya confessed before the end of the dream that she wanted to confess to Riki the same way he did if they ever meet eachother again. It is implied that Riki and Kurugaya never met and she never join the LB, they were actually from different schools altogether. The dream world was created because she wanted someone to be with, feel emotions and laugh, Riki just happened to enter the same dream for some reason but when she fell for Riki she didn't want it to end. She also says that neither of them would remember anything from the dream.
After the dream ends we see Kurugaya with another school's uniform and receives a message from a person she doesn't know (Riki) saying that he's coming to her. She smiles.

Spoiler for True Ending (comes after Refrain is completed):

In the second AND TRUE ending (which you can only get after Refrain) after the dream we cut to Kurugaya calling Riki out to the classroom where she confesses in the same way he did in the dream (My signature is from that scene).

[AC-Phoenix]

Ok I kinda don't get what happened here?
Its extremely hard to get what happened to her there even though I watched clannad oO

[Randrak42]

Originally Posted by AC-Phoenix

Ok I kinda don't get what happened here?
Its extremely hard to get what happened to her there even though I watched clannad oO

Kurugaya and Riki wished the fun days never end -> Days start repeating, only they remember -> Riki confronts Kurugaya -> Kurugaya explains that she only started being happy when she joined the LB -> Kurugaya tells Riki to protect Rin -> The days stop repeating -> Riki forgets everything

What hasn't been explained...well, you've watched Clannad and we're only 3 episodes in. You do the math.

[DaBackpack]

9/10 because Song for Friends

[AC-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Randrak42

Kurugaya and Riki wished the fun days never end -> Days start repeating, only they remember -> Riki confronts Kurugaya -> Kurugaya explains that she only started being happy when she joined the LB -> Kurugaya tells Riki to protect Rin -> The days stop repeating -> Riki forgets everything

What hasn't been explained...well, you've watched Clannad and we're only 3 episodes in. You do the math.

I got it up to that part, but I was actually expecting her to die or something now.
Some kind of explaination what happened to her in the first place. Or a world that has already ended >>

[Flower]

The storytelling thus far is really well done - am enjoying the series! Wish other VN's could get a similar skilled adaptation.... Ah well.

[Ceral]

Good job, might as well use Kurugaya's arc as a stepping stone for Refrain, seeing as how they already botched the other arcs. In all seriousness, this was a great episode, especially if contained in just the anime. Looks like Refrain is going to be a solid stand-alone anime, worthy of an 8-9 rating at this rate. As opposed to the 5-6 the first season almost universally gets on vote sites. They're actually telling an intriguing story now, good stuff!

[Archon_Wing]

Holy fuck that ending was ;; It was just a little wish for Yuiko, but nothing lasts forever and as we could see the dream world was decaying. She really didn't have too much emotion until she met the Little Busters and we could kind of see it that her behavior was somewhat forced. And then she finally reveals her true colors, but it doesn't seem like anyone will remember. Tragic really, and is this really the last of her? :S