Richdragon501's Blog

Anime Relations: Little Busters!, Little Busters! Sekai no Saitou wa Ore ga Mamoru!, Little Busters! Refrain

I don’t blog, but honestly I don’t really care how this comes out, since it’s the internet, and I am gonna do as I damn well please…. I may rant, I may praise, and I may just point out I am a little girly man and cry to Anime/Visual Novels (VN)…
Likewise, I will go ahead and say that there are likely MASSIVE spoilers, that will probably ruin your experience if you haven’t completed Little Busters ~Refrain~ AND the Visual Novel.

Reason: Little Busters VN– Complete (after 3-4 days straight)

Contents(in order):

• My LB Backstory
  
• Playboy Riki [VN Rant]
  
• No Rin-Love [VN Rant]
  
• My Walkthrough [VN Suggestion]
  
• MY VN / Anime Experience
  
• Character: Rin
  
• Character: The Bros
  

Backstory:

I started the VN for Little Busters (LB) just after Refrain Subs’ released Kurugaya’s end episode. I didn’t really get hardcore in to it until right before Masato’s episode, and I unfortunately still had Rin2 onward left before I finished the VN.
Also, I had the story spoiled by my anxiety, which caused me to read the spoilers on Natsume Rin’s MAL page. I also read someone’s post about 2 endings to Refrain in the 13th episode discussion, damn you….
AKA, my viewpoint is totally fucked, but that is just how it is, now you may know where I’m coming from.

“Playboy-Riki” VN Venting:

I absolutely HATE what happened in each and every goddamn route, AKA, Riki falls in love with a girl, kisses them (sometimes in far too much detail or far too often [Looking at you innocent little Kud]), and then restarts the world just to go chase after another hussy (Though I do love them all) and do it all over again. Isn’t that all the same as a “bad” end? I got so fed up with the intimacy and use of “love” or “beloved” that I would just roll my eyes and click through it.
The world is created to make Riki grow stronger by helping each character through their trials, but if their relationship ends, and Riki really doesn’t seem to grow from love, then how does he grow from overcoming the trials?
Why does love and kissing have to be used for everyone? JC’s adaptation flawlessly brought out the same emotions in me without having little Riki be a playboy. I just don’t understand it.
I will accept Yui-Chan and Rin-Chan’s routes though, as they are about love, and it makes no sense for Riki to love anyone but Rin if all the Little Busters are dead…..

“No Rin-Love in the End” VN Venting:

I was built up to love Rin from Little Busters Season 1. I was built to love Rin through both Rin 1 and Rin 2 (why have 2 routes if she isn’t the most important?!?!?!). WHY COULDN’T WE SEE THEM TOGETHER IN THE REAL WORLD?!?!?!?!?
Anyways, I really feel like Little Busters took the cowards way out when they pretty much decided to take the “Anything is possible” route. (Stone me if you will, but I prefer the Anime’s allusion to Riki and Rin’s almost-kiss)

General VN Praise:

Ok, I don’t want to say much here, since I am cooling off, and will likely get bored with this, but I loved the VN so much that I literally played it for about 3 days straight to crank out all the paths. (Thank god I am on a break and was sick).

VN + Anime Experience:

I am so torn here. I really watched and played(experienced?) the Anime and VN at the same time. So I can’t say that I really liked one more than the other. They totally intermingled with each other and made for a pretty good experience overall, honestly.
The VN, obviously, had more details, and even had quite a few different takes on the stories I had seen in season 1. Also, there were massive amounts of love letters to the people who played the VN (especially the OVA), and I enjoyed understanding them when they showed up.
I am very visual, so I loved actually seeing the interactions, and having a reference point when I went through the VN. It also helped that I hadn’t seen LB for a while, so they really were reference points only.
Also, Rin. I loved the Anime Rin much more than the VN Rin (well, at least the Riki X Rin aspect)

”The only cat for me”: Rin:

I loved Rin. Everything about her was extremely well done, and I thoroughly enjoyed her character progression. I was crushed when she wasn’t proposed to in the VN ending 1, and I was devastated that she and Riki aren’t dating in the real world (Why the hell not? She needs Riki more than Kyouske! They need to be together forever!)
Also, special shout-out to Rin for making me consider liking cats. I am a hardcore dog person and I definitely like Rin over Kud.

”Going beyond the Bro-Code”

Being able to keep up going through each of the hard times over and over again, that is above and beyond anything I could have ever dreamed. Episode: Kengo really gave me a ton of insight in to how crazy it must have been to say the exact same things, over and over again. Through each playthrough. Not changing even when you hit a “bad end.”

Masato:

Honestly one of the most genuine characters in the whole thing. He was easy to understand, but one of the easiest to love. He added great comic relief and had a truly compelling story during his episode. I want to think of Masato as a bit of a mad genius for adding such perfect comic relief but having such conviction to his beliefs that he is able to clearly convey when we switch to his perspective.

Kengo:

OK, Kengo is a totally different subject. His devotion to Riki was commendable, and his actions totally understandable with what he went through, but he really is, as Kyouske says, the biggest crybaby of them all. Kengo has such an analytical mind that he was able to figure out everyone’s plans almost immediately, but he was too blind to see that he needed to let Riki grow. However, I can’t blame him really. Since he WAS stronger than Riki and Rin combined, and once Kyouske fell into despair, he was the next logical leader.
I also loved how Kengo was able to switch back and forth between his serious side and the fun-loving, childish, real side that adored the Little Busters. It helped the story become so much more jarring, and drove home some real hard hitting points near the end.

Kyouske:

I don’t know what I think here…. I like Kyouske….some. I obviously hate what he did to Rin, I obviously love the fact that he sacrificed himself to stop the gas leak (Both different takes on this were fucking AMAZING, btw), but I just still have this odd taste in my mouth when it comes to the founder of the original Little Busters.
Kyouske just seems too… something. It’s somewhat a mix between contrived, static, over-the-top, too omnipotent, and just plain cheesy. But he is not actually any of those things. I can’t explain this too well really…

I raise a glass you, brothers.

My Dignity

Ok, well I just really added this because I could, but I definitely cried hard during Little Busters, and I think it has been a really great experience. Little Busters drives home the importance of friends, and I seriously had the longest sobfest I’ve ever had during the “Departing of the Bros.” This just hit so hard I literally had to stop clicking through the VN until I could see through my the tears and begin to breathe again after the lump in my throat cleared (I didn’t know that was a real thing, btw).
I want to mention that this is like, but different than my experience with Clannad. LB had long, extended tears, but they were sometimes from joy, sometimes from sadness, and sometimes from seeing direct reflections of my life. There is really something to be said about that, and I honestly think (as cheesy as it sounds) that Little Busters has changed my outlook on life and Anime/Manga/VNs in some small way.

OK, it is 2:30am now, and I am totally beat. This is posted with little to no proof-reading, and I am not sure I really feel like doing any. It is, after all, about 1500 words, and I am not an English Major..