A fair majority of anime releases seem to be based on manga or light novel series if they are not completely unique. Despite this, there are and have been many strong performing series that have been published even internationally in recent years which have been based off visual novels.
For those who have not ventured far into the Visual Novel section of this site, VN’s are essentially the product of a novel merged with background artwork, character portraits, voice acting and music. These titles often put an emphasis on character dialogue and narration, and most of the time provide players with the option to choose their own route – from bad endings to character specific ones. As an example, check out my 2011 review of Deus Machina Demonbane.
The market for visual novels is huge in Japan, with dozens of professional and indie titles being released each month. Most of these tend to be adult oriented and NSFW, however there are also several releases that do lend themselves to highly successful all-ages releases. I have reviewed both types on this site, and personally appreciate them as a medium which can deliver the best from both novels and video games alike – the ability to deliver a storyline without having to make sacrifices for gameplay but not just relying on words but imagery as well to set the scene.
I personally think that anime adaptations when done correctly can provide a fantastic viewing experience even if it isn’t always possible to be completely faithful to the source material. Given the writers need to provide a single linear plot in a short number of episodes, ultimately it can end up near impossible to adapt multiple character arcs flawlessly into a series.
This is where my new article series “Making the Jump from Anime to Visual Novel” comes in. The articles are for those who want to expand their experience with a particular series through picking up the visual novel, and allow them to find out a bit more about what each visual novel offers that is different from its anime adaptation. These differences won’t generally be in relation to the storyline which runs the risk of spoilers but instead will highlight some of the different gameplay mechanics, features or approaches which stand out.
These articles will be based on titles that can either be purchased through one of two currently active publishers in the English-speaking market (MangaGamer / JAST USA) or at the very least import friendly in Japanese with little to no difficulty.
Little Busters!
Developer: Key
Publishers: Visual Art’s (PC) | Prototype (PS2 / PSP / PS Vita / PS3)
Age Rating: All-Ages(Select PC Releases / Console) | Eroge (PC – Ecstasy Edition)
Language: Japanese ONLY – Unofficial English Fan-Translation for Original PC Edition
Import (Play-Asia): PS2 | PS3 | PSP | PS Vita
Review Conditions: Original PC Release, Purchased back in 2010 when I was getting into visual novels.
Synopsis
When tragedy struck Riki Naoe as a child, he was rescued from grief over his parent’s deaths when four other kids “recruited” him for their group – the “Little Busters.” Now in high school, Riki and the other Busters are still fast friends, and though their vision of being heroes for justice may have faded, they’d still do anything for each other. Which is why Riki is now on TWO special missions. The not so secret one: recruiting new members so the Busters can form a baseball team. Preferably FEMALE recruits, as the current dude/babe ratio is an inconvenient 4 to 1. The OTHER mission though, that’s the strange one. Because Riki and Rin, the group’s singular girl, are receiving odd messages, delivered by cats, concerning the existence of a “secret world” and assigning them tasks they have to complete. Were their youthful dreams of being crusaders not so fanciful after all? Or is there something even more vital at stake? Between steeling his courage to talk to girls and dealing with his own narcolepsy, Riki may just need the strength of a superhero to solve the ultimate mystery of the LITTLE BUSTERS!
(Source: Sentai Filmworks)
Little Busters! was the very first visual novel I reviewed on The Otaku’s Study back in September 2010 where it walked away with a score of 9/10. More recently I have had the opportunity to review the artbook White Fairy: Kudryavka Noumi Photo Album which contains most of the visual novel promotional artwork featuring Kud and both seasons of the Little Busters! anime adaptation from Sentai Filmworks / Hanabee Entertainment which scored a phenomenal A across both half-season collections.
As you can most probably tell from the number of Little Busters! releases I have covered on this site, I really think highly of this series. Wondering why? Take a look at this list before for a look at what has always stood out to me as the notable features of the original visual novel.
Baseball Mini-game
For those who have been following the anime series at least, you will already be aware that the group leader Kyousuke Natsume decides that the Little Busters will practice and ultimately play a proper baseball match and serves as the foundation for Riki going out to recruit new members for the team. However this isn’t just a concept that is textual only, and every day after school the player is presented with an opportunity to practice baseball with the rest of the team.
With Rin serving as pitcher and Riki as the batter, the player must hit the balls towards other players who will then return the ball to form a combo. The greater the combo, the higher the statistics will rise for each of the characters. This system culminates in a single Baseball match against the captains of other sports teams, and is something that only recently I found out is actually possible to win.
While as with most features it is possible to disable the system, it can prove to be quite fun and challenging should you decide not to skip it.
Battle System
While featured prominently in the earlier episodes of the anime adaptation and the OVA episode “世界の斉藤は俺が守る!” (Currently unpublished internationally), the battle system plays a much bigger role in the visual novels.
The core concept behind the system still stands: two members of the Little Busters pick a fight with each other, the duo quirkily fight with quirky weapons including 3D Glasses, Hand Soap and Marbles until one remains standing. This winner bestows a title of great humiliation upon the other and they go back to being friends again. The visual novels also integrate an accessory system, stats system (With certain characters seeing their stats rise each playthrough) and a ranking system which when certain criteria are met, unlocks an 11th fighter with exceptionally high stats. While there are no controls involved with the system, they are oddly enjoyable to watch.
Unlike the baseball match, the battle system is used occasionally during the core storyline including several fights between Rin and her rival Sasami Sasasegawa, a side battle with a shadowy creature and the “cuteness” fight between Komari and Kurugaya. These battles or just the ranking system can be disabled near the beginning of the game.
Routes
Little Busters! is split into three different sections, the first being the core Little Busters route where Riki begins recruiting new members for the team and them taking part in several activities culminated by a major baseball game. Secondly there are the individual character routes for each of the core female characters. After completing all the character arcs at least once, the player is given access to the final ‘Refrain’ arc which begins to uncover the “Secret of the World” to those who hadn’t already guessed it.
While ‘Refrain’ is mostly linear, as with most visual novels unlocking the character arcs requires the player to navigate through a series of dialogue options throughout the entire game. There are plenty of different routes to go down even during the main arc, so if you decide to be very nice to Komari over other characters then you may eventually forget about Rin’s missions and take part in more events with Komari – unlike the anime series which did a fair attempt at merging most of the events into one linear stream of events.
But what impressed me was when they decided to give the player more than one or two options during dialogue options. For example, during the anime adaptation of the “Test of Courage” in Episode 11, Riki is automatically paired up with Kurugaya and Haruka. While this was a fun pairing, in the visual novel you can choose to work with pretty much any duo of female characters or a Masato / Kengo pairing. Each of the routes are fully dubbed and provide unique dialogue. There are a few examples of this throughout the series, and proved enjoyable during multiple playthroughs to pair different characters in these scenarios.
Ultimately, You Do Get the Full Experience
I would like to reiterate my point that the Little Busters! anime adaptation in my mind was good at keeping the fundamentals of the storyline and providing an all around enjoyable experience from start to finish. However with six primary character arcs (Nine if you pick up a console / later PC edition), a lengthly main arc and the concluding ‘Refrain’ arc which is still of considerable length, there was ultimately a tonne of content that was cut from the adaptation. If you enjoyed the TV anime then there should still be a lot to enjoy in the visual novel.
Later releases also include the Dungeon Crawler and Shooting Mini-Games, which for the purposes of this article I have been unable to cover. These mini-games will be adapted in the Little Busters! EX episodes which to date have not been announced for distribution outside of Japan.
But unfortunately it doesn’t seem like there will ever be an official English release of Little Busters! as with most other KEY visual novels. Personally I think it is a shame given the fanbase built off the anime adaptations, but until the developers / publishers decide to fully embrace the international audience, importing is currently the only available option for fans to enjoy the full storyline.
