Little Busters - Episode 5 Discussion / Poll

[Kairin]

Welcome to the discussion thread for Little Busters, Episode 5.

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[Serphirs]

Episode 5
Script: Shimada Michiru
Episode director: Matsuo Kenichi
Storyboard: Matsuzawa Kenichi
Animation director: Yasuno Masato

Curiously the animation director for this episode, never has done a "direction" before. That means, this is his debut. For me, the art looks average just like ep-2, but could have some nice "Key animated" moments, since JCstaff tends to look very good and very bad in a single chapter.

The same with Masato Kenichi (ep.director) he not even has information in ANN. xD That's worrying considering that we already are in important chapters. Could be a hit or miss.

Matsuzawa Kenichi (story) did directions to Okami-san, Moshidora, Sola, Ef: tale, but commonly just a single chapter.

In general, an average (or inexperienced) staff this week.

[totoum]

Originally Posted by Serphirs

Curiously the animation director for this episode, never has done a "direction" before. That means, this is his debut.

He's been animation director on a couple episodes of sengoku paradise so technically it's not his debut,not that it changes much but I figured I'd point it out anyway.

[Serphirs]

Originally Posted by totoum

He's been animation director on a couple episodes of sengoku paradise so technically it's not his debut,not that it changes much but I figured I'd point it out anyway.

I am basing in the information in ANN.
So, if it didn't appear there. I wash my hands of it. xd

[matrixhazard]

OK, I think it's somehow looking better from the preview pic comparing to the last episode.

Better watch this first and the comment. Looking from the pic, maybe this episode will end in the point just I expected.

[Jasque]

It was good, nothing that I didn't expect.

[tsunade666]

the episode was good but it felt lacking. Specially in emotion. Its fun and cute to see Komari in their date but the scene within the rooftop to see meteor fall and the scene after the date which ended up with broken Komari is totally lacking in emotion. Specially the final scene. Lacks impact for me. It looks good but the progressions seems the problem for me or maybe how they do it. I can't explain but it lacks something for me which unlike past key works which hits the spot on your heart.

[OPN]

Very good episode this week. JC used some nice effects for the flashback at the end. And yeah the episode did lack something but next week should be better in that aspect.

[VRMN]

They could have "broke" her better, I suppose, but I don't think I've ever seen that kind of breakdown done especially well. I had a similar reaction to Kotomi's self-destruction in Clannad.

The core of the arc's emotion should come next week. More important to me was the establishment, without embellishment, of some of the romantically-tinged scenes in the arc. They downplayed the romantic aspect without eliminating it and that's really all I can ask for in this kind of a series.

All in all, a great episode that builds my faith in this adaptation.

[Serphirs]

Very good episode this week. Probably the best.

I really think that this "lack" of something, you mentioned, it has indirect relation to the unwitting mental comparison with past "Key" works. It's inevitable.
At least, regardless to that, little by little I'll finding certain positive aspects in visual topics, that flashbacks at the end had some nice crayonist effect. And even better, it seems the next chapter was quite good produced, seems they really put more effort (budget) on it. Leastways the climax chapters gonna have better treatment, that is a great detail in my opinion, at least if they don't have enough budget to do twenty something chapters at superb quality like K****i, the outstanding ones must have conscientiously treatment. Talks about a good organization of the resources.

Finally, good to hear this awesome track.

If JCstaff manages to reach people hearts somewhat with the next chapters, they throw them into their pocket to the end.

[tsunade666]

JC staff always put their budget and time on the climax of the arc so at least I will expect something great next episode.

Indeed if JC staff manage to throw a curveball or an arrow through my heart then all problem and doubt will be washed away. Still I liked the date. Komari was extremely cute

[AngryDango]

The anime is been pretty disappointing to me, it really lacks impact and emotion and can't set the mood. It's even boring at times. My hopes for it getting better are quickly fading.

[Triple_R]

It's very fitting that this episode featured an unexpected thunderstorm that came out of nowhere to spoil the atmosphere, because that's much like how Komari's emotional breakdown felt to me here.

Don't get me wrong, the brother issues were certainly foreshadowed well enough, but I felt that there was just something lacking in the overall execution here.

Is it that the transition from happy-go-lucky/whimsical/lighthearted to heavy/dramatic was a bit clunky? Is it that Komari's arc is feeling rushed in general? Is it because Komari's core issue (losing a brother at a young age) is sad, but just isn't as easy to get worked up about as some of the sadder Key narratives? Is it because Komari's "Special K" nature makes it harder to take drama surrounding her seriously (speaking of which, I literally loled when Komari called herself normal)?

I'm not sure which it is, or if it's some combination of the four, but the emotional impact of the drama sections just isn't there for me in the Komari arc so far.


But again, I liked the lighthearted scenes well enough, and Komari/Riki had some nice, cute moments together. Komari is just as much like sugar to me as her voice in general is - Very endearing and likeable in small amounts, but I'd probably find it a bit nauseating in heavy, continuous quantities. So while I do like her, I'm kind of glad she's (presumably) not the main heroine here.

There's also the fact that I kind of hope that Riki is paired with someone other than Komari or Rin... because those two girls are causing my yuri goggles to swoon. Honestly, I can't remember ever seeing a female anime character blush so much over pronouncing another female anime character's name. That's usually reserved for het romances in anime, so I can't help but to find it pretty yuri here.

[flack]

Pretty good episode. They did a pretty good job with the scenes. If only they'd introduced the characters better and made less awkward/disjoint scenes in earlier episodes I might have felt something at the end of this episode. This episode felt underwelming for me emotionally. I probably won't feel much next episode either. They really need to work on developing the characters prior to their routes. Ah well other than that it looks like this shortage of budget will continue to the end...

[VRMN]

The actual breakdown was sudden, but they're always sudden. It had a clear trigger in the cat and a buildup before that, so you could see the threads starting to fray around the edges, and it just took a little push to bring everything back.

[totoum]

That seemed like the best looking episode to me so that's a nice positive and some parts were fun,enjoyed the visit to see the old guy.

Now the Komari breakdown scene,I think it would have been more effective had they shown the first part of flashbacks of her brother before she starts crying.To be more precise:have her fall to her knees but not cry yet,then use a thunderstorm to transtion into the first flashback and then have her cry once the flashback is shown,that way the flashback would serve a buildup for the crying.
Or hell,if it were just me,I wouldn't have her cry at all and just stay in stunned/shocked state,I tend to think crying is overused in anime,but that's just me
That being said,no matter how they arranged it Komari's VA really isn't doing much for me so that alone was going to limit the impact the scene had on me.

Despite that I enjoyed this episode much more than the common route episodes and I'm curious to see what's in store next week.

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by VRMN

[mod edit: Quoted part removed from post]

That's... odd sentiment coming from someone with a Nagisa avatar.

Spoiler for Comparison to Clannad anime:

If an anime moves me to tears (and Clannad did so more than any other anime I've watched) then it's doing something right, and accomplishing something pretty rare (I can count on my fingers the number of times an anime has made me cry). Personally, I value that a lot more than an anime just intellectually connecting with me.

I would argue that Clannad earns its "melodramatic" moments (or "tear jerking manipulation", as you put it) by having extremely good buildup for them. Unlike what I'm seeing so far with Komari's story in Little Busters!

Heck, even Fuko's arc had a couple goosebumps-causing scenes for me, although I admit Fuko's arc never made me cry.

You yourself compared Komari's breakdown to Kotomi's, but I felt that Kotomi's was more effective because the implication behind it made more sense to me.

When Kotomi broke-down, I felt that the anime was saying "Shock and awe! Why is Kotomi cracking like this?!", and this was reinforced by how the other cast members were reacting to Kotomi.

With Komari breaking down, I feel like LB! is basically shouting at me "Cry, viewer, cry! Don't you feel sorry for poor Komari?!" And, frankly, there's just too many hidden details for me to feel that sorry for poor Komari yet.


So here, I just don't see that smooth, sure, steady buildup to a high drama climax, like the crescendo of a magnificent musical piece. That's what I found in a lot of the Kanon and Clannad arcs, but I'm not seeing it here in Komari's arc so far.

But, in fairness, maybe this comes down to JC Staff vs. KyoAni more than it does Little Busters! vs. Clannad and Kanon.

[Snuffle]

Originally Posted by Triple_R

Spoiler for Comparison to Clannad anime:

When Kotomi broke-down, I felt that the anime was saying "Shock and awe! Why is Kotomi cracking like this?!", and this was reinforced by how the other cast members were reacting to Kotomi.

With Komari breaking down, I feel like LB! is basically shouting at me "Cry, viewer, cry! Don't you feel sorry for poor Komari?!" And, frankly, there's just too many hidden details for me to feel that sorry for poor Komari yet.

Spoiler for Reply to comparison:

I don't think that's the objective of that scene. It's more like we have a girl that is always happy and tries to be positive about everything. She lives off her own saying "Turn the negatives into positives" which was demonstrated during the retirement home visit.

So now what we see is that happy go lucky girl all of a sudden break down abruptly. To see that girl whom appears to be all sunshine turn into a rainstorm is meant to raise questions on what is wrong with her to put her into such a state.
(I felt the same way with Kotomi)

[Divini]

Animation was top notch this ep. So different from the 1st episode.

Can't wait to find out what happens next ep. I'm hopefully preparing for something that I'm not expecting.

[relentlessflame]

I want to remind game players to not discuss your impressions of the overall game route in this thread, as it is not yet complete in the anime. You can do these sorts of comparisons after the route is completely animated.