Little Busters!

2012
Little Busters!

Seasons & Episodes

  • 2
  • 1
  • 0

EP1 It Struck Without Warning Oct 05, 2013

Following the loss of their first baseball game, the Little Busters have a pancake party. While returning from the party, Yuiko overhears some girls badmouthing her, claiming that they will pay her back for being humiliated in the past.

EP2 It Was Raining Back Then, Too Oct 12, 2013

After waking up, Riki learns from Yuiko that she was taking care of him while he was asleep and cannot shake the suspicion that the whole situation has happened with them in the past. Some time later, Kyousuke and the other boys point out that Riki is behaving strangely since his last encounter with Yuiko.

EP3 I Wanted to Stay Here Forever Oct 19, 2013

The day of June 20 keeps repeating without anyone taking heed of it, except for Riki himself, and no one else seems to find it strange even when it starts snowing. Riki decides to look for Kyousuke to ask for his advice but he is nowhere to be found.

EP4 Riki and Rin Oct 26, 2013

While thinking about what Yuiko said to him, Riki is approached by a girl who confesses her feelings for him, but claims that she knows he already likes someone else and flees. Wondering what she meant, Rin's image come to Riki's mind.

EP5 The Final Task Nov 02, 2013

Members of the Prefectural Assembly are expected to make an inspection of the school and realizing that it is part of the "final task" Riki and Rin volunteer themselves to guide them around. Despite Rin's shy demeanor, she manages to guide the visitors properly and they later invite her to take part in a student exchange program to help the students of another school overcome a tragedy that claimed the lives of some of their classmates.

EP6 After the Escape Nov 09, 2013

After Riki and the others watch Rin leave the school without a word, Riki is then left with the impression that Kyousuke sent her away and that he is trying to break apart the Little Busters. Riki continues getting text messages from Rin saying that she does not know what to do at the school, and he all he can do is tell her to 'hang in there'.

EP7 May 13 Nov 16, 2013

Riki awakens several months before, with no memories about what happened during that time. Riki goes to stop Masato from fighting Kengo, but neither of them listen to him and Kyousuke is nowhere to be found.

EP8 Proof of the Strongest Nov 23, 2013

Determined to reform the Little Busters, Riki attempts to invite Masato, who refuses, claiming that what only matters to him is to 'become the strongest'. Soon after, Riki and Rin hear news of Masato attacking other students and devise a trap to stop him.

EP9 A Friend’s Tears Nov 30, 2013

Riki's next step to reassemble his friends is to convince Kengo to join their side, but Kengo refuses to listen to him, claiming that all Riki and Rin need to do is to rely on their friends. Riki visits Kyousuke, who hints that Kengo is lying about something and Riki realizes that Kengo's arm is not injured as he claims.

EP10 And Now, I Repeat It All Dec 07, 2013

Having assembled the rest of the original Little Busters, Riki intends to save Kyousuke from despair the same way he did for him when his parents died. Meanwhile, Kyousuke reminisces that in fact the world they are living in hides too many things that can change the course of Riki and Rin's lifes.

EP11 The End of the World Dec 14, 2013

After having the Little Busters once again reunited, Riki suggests for them to play baseball, and the others accept. During the match, Kyousuke reveals to Riki all the truth about the world they're currently living in.

EP12 One Wish Dec 21, 2013

Riki and Rin awaken in the real world and recall that during their field trip, their bus got into an accident and Masato and Kengo used their own bodies to protect them. Despite being injured, they flee from the site of the accident to avoid being caught in the impending explosion, but after reaching a safe distance, Riki leaves Rin behind to return and attempt to help the others. However, he starts suffering another attack of narcolepsy and struggles to keep himself awake.

EP13 The Little Busters Dec 28, 2013

Having another attack of narcolepsy, Riki realizes that he always falls asleep at the sight of unpleasant situations, since he saw his parents' dead bodies in a car accident when he was a child, and determined to overcome this weakness, he awakens with Rin's help. Knowing that the bus will explode, Riki and Rin start rescuing the other students from the wreckage only to discover that Kyousuke is using his own body to prevent the gas from leaking further.
6.7| 0h30m| TV-14| en| More Info
Released: 06 October 2012 Ended
Producted By: VISUAL ARTS/Key
Country: Japan
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website: http://litbus-anime.com/
Synopsis

Riki was a child when his parents died, leaving him hopeless and depressed. What saved him was a group of four kids calling themselves the Little Busters. They took Riki out and played with him during his time of need. He really enjoyed being together with them, and his grief gradually faded away. Now in his second year of high school they still hang out, fight and live together, and enjoy their school life.

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Reviews

Mercy Anne Wow, let me just say this, I am shocked by the amount of work that was put into the animation of this anime but the lack of intelligence of the argument...If you want to slowly die of boredom this is the perfect anime, during 13 episodes of pure nonsense I guarantee best results.With a story that COULD have been good if the producers didn't sub-estimate the overall IQ of their spectators ( or maybe they didn't and we are all dumb after all) they managed to ruin my day, thanks for that by the way. (SPOILERS START HERE) So the story is about a couple of children (god knows how old they are, yes because in 13 episodes all you know is there is a class 2 and a class 3 but no ages are mentioned) that are best friends for ever over 13 episodes of gayness, fillers and more fillers, a guy stroking another's guys face, a couple of children who "need to behave as a couple" (even though they look like 10 years old and have no idea what being a couple means) and they urgently need to " grow up and get strong".This argument, is repeated so many $#%$#%#$ times " grow up, be strong, behave as a couple" that not only it becomes annoying but morally itches on my back.Why not let children be children? Thank god they didn't start having sex all over the baseball yard although they managed to put them BATHING together in the same bath tub in some shrine in the #"$"#$ mountains.But the BEST argument of all, which really makes you LOVE this anime is the sentence " Life is made of losing", like if having ALL YOUR FRIENDS DEAD IN A BUS ACCIDENT wasn't enough you get to hear this crap only to find out that this was just a JOKE because in the end (after surviving a gas explosion aha...too good) the retarded brat and his dumb girlfriend manage to save them all ( yes, they manage to save a bunch of people that are losing liters of blood and manage to carry all of them away from the gas / explosion) even though they are only children, I bet they must have Hercules as their father.Another sentence you will adore is when Rin talks one supposed "last time" to her best friend, Blondy, and after all her friends are DEAD Blondy then says " Don't be such a cry baby" yes, because a "10 year old kid" just lost ALL her friends in a bloody accident, I mean WHY IN THE WORLD WOULD YOU WANT TO CRY RIGHT? This argument meanwhile goes completely against her OWN PURPOSE because she returned to the " created dream world " precisely to HELP Rin and her boyfriend not to sink into depression after they return to the real world where the accident happened....What the Duck.Now check this last precious one out, the red haired leader guy ( and no I did not botter to register his name because it was too boring, sorry) is in a coma so BADLY that he moved to another hospital and NO ONE is allowed to see him (wow sounds harsh right?) BUT WAIT, a few episodes later HE COMES TRHOUGH THE SCHOOLS WINDOW LIKE SPIDER MAN MAKING A FLIP IN THE AIR AND GREETING HIS FAG FRIENDS!And if THAT super power wasn't enough, now after the come he also knows how to drive a "$"#$" car.Congratulations, IF you ever want to participate in gaining a price for dumbest execution of an argument, I admire your dedication, really.Now why did I give the anime 2 stars and not 1? If we ignore all those "little details" the anime still has a very nice soundtrack and animation, to be fair, the soundtrack was my fav. part of those 13 episodes, I even put it on repeat because well...I was getting used to the "repeating" thing I guess.My fav. character, miss piano at the start just made a short appearance, too bad because she was the only one who made me watch the anime, THAT and the fact I was expecting maybe a plot twist that could save how bad this anime is something like Rin and fag-boy save their beloved friends and end up dead themselves or...Maybe they could have locked them in their own dream world once again and it would always stay in that cycle for ever....and ever...and ever.... (then again PLEASE NO MORE 5 EPISODES OF JUNE 20TH PLEASE I BEG YOU).I never write reviews, but I think this is so priceless I needed to, sorry if I offend any of the very happy lovey dovey fans here but if you got brains...this #$"#$ is not for you, watch 13 episodes of Elfen Lied instead and come back with a depressive YET satisfied soul.
Savo (There are no spoilers in this review)So, Little Busters. It's a visual novel adaptation that fans have been demanding for many a year now. Long regarded as one of visual novel developer Key's finest works, and seeing as how most of their other works have received adaptations, it was a foregone conclusion that it would be animated some day. That day has come, and boy, was it ever a disappointment for some of the fans. Being as how Key has yet to disappoint me, I set off into Little Busters with reasonably high expectations.And you know what, I enjoyed it. Little Busters may not have lived up to the mountains of hype, but it's still a good way to spend twenty-six episodes.If you've seen any of Key's previous shows, you know the drill: You have your male main character who is surrounded by various quirky individuals, all of whom have their own problems the protagonist must help fix. Along the way, he will undergo some kind of personal growth himself and may even fall in love. The main way in which Little Busters differs from the usual Key formula is that there are noticeably more male characters in the cast to help balance out all the sickeningly sweet girls we meet along the journey.The cast is a ton of fun once you get to know them, but the main problem that Little Busters slams up against is that our protagonist Riki just isn't that interesting of a guy. He's a nondescript nice guy who acts as a foil for the insanity of the rest of the cast, nothing more and nothing less. He lacks the biting wit or interesting qualities of previous Key protagonists and the show suffers as a result. We're never given much of a reason to care about him, as his only real purpose on the show is to run around fixing other people's problems. By "problems", I mean that everyone in this story has some kind of ridiculously tragic past that they must overcome. Tears are shed by the bucket, melancholy music is played, and many a heart-rending speech is delivered. And that's not a bad thing. If you're watching a Key adaption, chances are that you love this kind of exaggerated drama that Key has become famous for.If you want a show to tug on your emotions, Little Busters is more than capable, but it does rank by far as the worst Key adaptation yet. It's got Jun Maeda's signature style of drama stamped all over the story, but it rarely reaches the emotional heights and lows seen in his previous works. Certain parts of the various tragedies contained in the series are hilariously illogical, even by melodrama standards, and some of the drama feels strangely hollow. The quality of the drama is enough to keep you watching, but it isn't exactly what I would call heartbreaking.When Little Busters isn't hammering its way through character arcs, we are treated to episodes centered on comedy or light drama. Your mileage will vary with the humor in Little Busters—certain jokes are repeated until they utterly lose all meaning—but I found myself laughing quite a bit throughout the series. Just watching the characters goof around with each other makes for some fantastic entertainment. I was surprised to find myself enjoying some of the in-between episodes just as much as I did the character arcs.Beyond the character arcs, there's an overarching mystery throughout the series, but it isn't the focus by any means. It becomes deliciously intriguing in the last few episodes, but it will sadly remain unresolved until the sequel series is released. Speaking of the sequel, I sincerely hope the producers at J.C. Staff steps up their game in the animation department.Let's just be blunt, the animation isn't all that great. Lower your expectations at the door, this isn't Kyo-Ani or anything close to it. There's a worrying lack of detail in many of the drawings, character motion is often stiff, and then there's the occasional goof in the animation to laugh at. I'd peg the overall animation quality at slightly below average compared to other modern anime. It's not bad enough to distract you, but it's not going to sweep you off your feet like the Kyo-Ani adaptations.All in all, this is a good series, even if it doesn't live up to the lofty Key standards. You won't be on your knees in front of your monitor sobbing your eyes out, but there are plenty of emotional moments, and there's even some great comedy to break things up. The series has its share of problems, most notably the bland protagonist and the weak animation quality, but there's a lot to love here too. It's not representative of Key or Jun Maeda at their finest, but Little Busters is a great way to scratch your itch for melodrama if you've already exhausted Key's other adaptations.
lumosat This show doesn't quite measure up next to titles like Angel Beats! and Clannad. It was fairly enjoyable, but in terms of writing and animation, it was just slightly above average. The animation had it's moments but while the trees and mountains in the background looked gorgeous, some other simple things like grass and walk cycles felt neglected. The writing was pretty average, but it felt like it focused too much on the theme and cramming as many optimistic and important messages into our heads that the actual story lost focus and felt a little too far fetched at times.The character design and the characters themselves were some of my favorites, and it was a blast to watch them interact, with just a few notable exceptions like Kurugaya (one of the worst Mary Sues I've ever seen in any anime).I do understand, however, a lot of the flaws in the story really aren't flaws. Instead they are dependent on the story of the second season, Little Busters Refrain, which isn't out yet. I have high hopes for season 2, and if it meets my expectations, I'll be able to ignore a lot of season 1's problems. I'd recommend it if you're a fan of the genre. Otherwise, wait and see how the second season turns out.