Little Busters! is an anime adaptation of the Key Visual light novel of the same name. It is the fourth visual novel to be adapted from Key's works, and it is the first one to be animated by a studio other than Kyoto Animation. Does this difference in studios affect the storytelling? Lets find out!
The series follows Riki Naoe and his group of friends whom as children called themselves the Little Busters and played at being Champions of Justice! The group consisted of Kyousuke Natsume, his younger sister Rin, Masato Inohara, and Kengo Miyazawa. When Riki was younger and dealing with the death of his parents, the Little Busters took him in, and he became the fifth member. Now in high school, they realize that Kyousuke will be graduating soon and decide to do one last thing as the Little Busters before they go their separate ways. What do they decide to do? Start a baseball team of course....
Now if you weren't able to make that assumption on your own don't be alarmed, Kyousuke is known for coming up with absurd ideas, but the Little Busters follow in his wake like good little sheep, and the story begins.
Now if the baseball team aspect has you worried that this will be a sports series, don't be. The baseball team is really just a plot device used to introduce new characters to the story. At the start, the Little Busters only consist of 5 members. It becomes Riki's job to recruit other members.
Now here is Little Buster!'s strongest point: its characters. Being based off a romance visual novel, this should come as no surprise, and it is through character interactions that the rest of the cast gets introduced. Each of these new characters has a problem that they are dealing with, most of them being tragic, and along the way Riki helps them overcome their ordeals. Because of this, a lot of the cast members are highly developed, and it helps to round out and give life to the cast.
It is also through these character interactions that another important plot element gets introduced: the notes. Rin and Riki begin to find these notes tied to one of the stray cats Rin watches over. Each one gives them a task to accomplish, and once all the tasks are complete they will learn "the secret of the world." Unfortunately, this "secret" never gets explained nor do we learn who had been writing the notes, but I am sure it will be explained in Little Busters! Refrain.
Animation is done by J.C. Staff who are known for Golden Time, Ano Natsu de Matteru, and more recently Selector Infected WIXOSS. The animation didn't stand out as anything SUPER eye-popping, but it was about as average as what I have come to expect from new anime.
The soundtrack has many different influences. One reminded me of the theme song from Sims 2, while another invokes awe. If there was one thing i didn't enjoy about the soundtrack, it would have to be the ending song. For whatever reason, it just didn't catch with me.
I would suggest watching this series subbed because the dub is god awful. All the voice actors sound emotionless which doesn't convey how the characters are feeling in the more tragic scenes. But hey, what else would you expect from a Sentai dub? I know I am being biased here, but there are very few dubs that I have heard from Sentai that were done well.
All in all, I really enjoyed this series. Although i wouldn't say it is the best Key adaptation, it definitely is a series to be watched by any Slice of Life fan. The characters are strong an well written, and the story has enough mystery to keep you wondering what will come next. If you enjoyed this series, I would suggest watching Angel Beats for its similar styled humor.
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