The key issue faced with visual novel to anime adaptations is that with so much potential source content within a title that can take dozens of hours to read through, there needs to be content cut in order to make the 20-25 minute deadline for each episode. This can make for a jarring experience that fails to bring across just what makes the source material so great. An example of this would be Umineko: When They Cry which attempted to adapt four significantly long arcs into a single 26-episode season which lacked content balancing and key plot elements.
Visual novels produced by Japanese development studio KEY have long seen themselves adapted into anime series. With the exception of possibly Air, these anime adaptations have often been of a high standard and manage to encapsulate all the drama, relationships and school-life elements into one linear storyline with that little twist that separates their titles from others. Their most recent release has been Little Busters!, based on the 2007 VN which has been long overdue for an adaptation.
The first collection was released over here in Australia back at the beginning of the year, and now going into May we have had the opportunity to sample the second half of season which goes through an additional two character arcs, the continuation of Rin’s arc and a few of the general events that highlight the daily, fun-filled lives of the Little Busters. While most international fans will never get the opportunity to pick up the original visual novel given KEY’s reluctance towards publishing outside of Japan, Little Busters! (the Anime) still makes a good alternative.
Storyline
This second set of episodes build upon the original “Little Busters” arc which sees the protagonist Riki and the rest of the Little Busters continue their baseball training, school life and take part in various events often initiated by team leader Kyousuke. Continuing from the first half-season release are the mysterious messages left for Riki and Rin by cats, which foresee the future and promise to let the duo know about the “Secret of the World” should they complete all the tasks assigned to them. Unlike the other female characters, these “missions” which build upon Rin’s arc are dispersed throughout the entire season. While more general than other arcs, these are nevertheless still enjoyable to watch – from Rin putting on a puppet show to the duo trying to help a guy with his love sickness.
The second half-season starts off by wrapping up the supernatural Mio Nishizono arc which has left Riki being the only one to remember her when she is replaced by a more outgoing alter ego named Midori. This arc concludes in a single episode and follows on with multiple episode arcs for Haruka Saigusa and Kudryavka Noumi. Both arcs primarily focus on the key characters involved rather than the cast as a whole, and once again focus on personal issues for each of the heroines. Both are generally more serious and darker than the arcs before them, but in turn are two of the better handled arcs in this reviewers opinion.
By the end of Episode 26, most of the general events from the visual novel have been covered, leaving the second “Refrain” season to wrap up remaining character arcs and then conclude with the Refrain arc where everything is made clear. While there are sure to be a handful of heart-warming moments throughout Refrain, expect things to get more solemn from this point forward.
Unlike the first half-season which paid fitting homage to certain “gameplay systems” present in the visual novel release, the battle and title systems don’t really make much of an appearance. An extra OVA episode unofficially localized as I’ll Protect the Saito of the World! (世界の斉藤は俺が守る!) was released in Japan last December which embraced the gameplay systems. However despite being related to the first season, this episode was not localized for the collection. There is no word if or when they will be made available. My best guess given the original distribution method in Japan would be a dedicated release alongside the EX episodes currently being released alongside the Japanese physical volumes of Little Busters!: Refrain.
Design / Music / Voice Acting
While this may be a KEY anime adaptation not being handled by Kyoto Animation, J.C. Staff have continued to show that they are more than capable of handling this renown title without any dips in quality as the episodes continue. While I would still loved to have seen Kyoto Animation handle the series given their previous portfolio of titles which have received constantly high scores in “Design” on this site, the visual quality is still of a reasonably high standard.
As with other KEY anime adaptations, they also draw from the existing pool of music available from the visual novel. While this could be seen as a cost cutting measure, the music is of a solid quality from the main instrumental music tracks played throughout the episodes to the new edition of the opening theme “Little Busters!” performed by Rita. While the opening animation does change slightly after Mio Nishizono’s arc, the opening and ending themes remains the same.
I personally prefer the Japanese dubbed vocal track for Little Busters! rather than the newly produced English one, although most of the voice cast do provide at least a satisfactory performance for their respective characters. Once again my biggest cause of concern was Kud, who they chose to give a strong Russian accent for and played up her characters difficulty / desire to speak English. This differed from her Japanese counterpart which struggled to speak English but spoke relatively fluent Japanese. It ended up growing on me as her arc continued, but Sentai Filmworks could possibly find themselves in a spot of trouble should an adaptation of Kud Wafter ever be released.
Extra Content
First print copies of Little Busters! Season One Part Two in Australia will net anime fans a small collection of stickers featuring official artwork for Riki Naoe, Kyousuke Natsume, Kudryavka Noumi and Haruka Saigusa. Still have no idea what you would actually use them on yet, but nevertheless is still a pretty nice freebie. On-disc content is still pretty slim consisting of a small selection of Japanese promotional videos and clean opening / ending sequences.
Final Words on Little Busters! Season One Part Two
Now that we are more than half-way through the Little Busters! anime series, it is clear that things will begin to become more serious as the “Secret of the World” begins to be brought up much more frequently and most core events have already been dealt with in the last 26-episodes. The series has continually proved to be a competent adaptation that is up to the standards set by previous KEY titles with well handled character arcs balanced with more standard school-life events in addition to good design / animation quality.
As someone who has been waiting for this since I first reviewed the visual novel back in 2010, this fan is so far impressed. It would just be nice if KEY began to more actively target the international audience, with their pre-existing and evidently strong fanbase based on the anime releases alone.
Acknowledgements
A blu-ray copy of Little Busters! Season One Part Two was provided by Hanabee Entertainment for the purpose of this review.
Synopsis
With all odds stacked against them it’s time to play ball!
The first official baseball game, for the fully-fledged Little Busters team, is drawing near but there is a lot to do between now and then and it doesn’t only include training.
Riki is tasked with unraveling the mystery surrounding Midori and Mio’s missing shadow. But it isn’t just her that has personal dramas waiting to be solved. Haruka’s family has some secrets that could have devastating consequences on all who are involved and there’s a sleepover that is sure to go awry with Rin at the helm.
But in between all the drama, Riki still needs to figure out what’s with all these messages delivered by cats truly mean.
