". . . it's that point when something is so cute, it fills your mind with an overload of dopamine. You just feel an almost panic-y feeling trying to release all the cute. Like you wanna prance around and hit your head against a pillow. That you're just bursting at the seams with the feeling it's given you."
That's what happens to me whenever I perceive something cute. And it would seem that advertisers know that, for . . . I did it again.
I used utorrent.
I grabbed an English patch.
And you wanna know what I got now?
The original non-ero version of Little Busters! for the PC.
Sure, nevermind the fact that I haven't even come close to finishing the VN version of Clannad yet. Sure, also nevermind the fact that I'm only really playing LB to pass the time until the second half of Umineko is translated. Why nevermind all of this? Because cute girls, that's what!
Since there is no anime version (yet), and since the manga isn't exactly popular, LB is not quite that well known, despite being a product of Key Visual Arts, and being primarily scripted by Jun Maeda, the man responsible for Kanon and Clannad . . . as well as Air and Angel Beats . . . No no! Don't go! LB is (as of right now) better than Air and AB! Honest! And due to its cult status, I'm gonna describe it for you without spoiling.
LB is about a boy named Riki Naoe. (Cut the jokes about The Story of Ricky right this second.) He is a second year high school student at a boarding school. He is a part of a band of friends that call themselves the Little Busters. The LBs consists of the leader Kyousuke, Kyousuke's younger sister Rin, a musclebound doofus named Masato, and a kendo club member named Kengo. They've been friends since childhood, yet don't seem to be friends with anyone else. The plot begins when Kyousuke decides to start a baseball team. The baseball club is active, yet he wants his friends to start their own team, independent of the club. Only problem is, there's five of them, and you need nine people for a baseball team. So the LBs go through the school, trying to recruit new members, and this gets the plot rolling.
Now, LB does have something no other VN has. It is the funniest VN I have played. Right from the get-go, it was making me rolling on the floor in laughter. Holy shit, this game is funny! I can guarantee you that if there was an anime version (since otakus avoid anything that isn't an anime like the plague), several phrases would become memes, I know it! Just about every character does something at least once that will have you rolling, if not several times!
The artwork is pretty good. It's perhaps the second-best-looking VN I've played, behind only Fate/Stay Night. LB has the best male character art I've seen from Key. The female character designs aren't as good as Clannad's, or any of KyoAni's versions of Key franchises, but I still like it more than the original iterations of Kanon and Air. (Uguu . . . a version of Nayuki who's not cute is still hard for me to swallow . . .) Although it's only in a 4 by 3 ratio, the screen can go up to 1200 by 900 pixels, allowing for some clean and detailed backgrounds.
The music again does not disappoint. Not quite as spellbinding as Clannad or Umineko's score, but I definitely like it more than the soundtracks of Kanon, Air, and Planetarian. (Even though I only have the animes of Kanon and Air to go off of.) LB's music is mostly jovial. How shall I describe it? It sounds like the background music from kid-friendly video games that came out for the SNES and Sega Genesis back in the early to mid 1990s. Ever played the obscure cult classic Plok for the SNES? Or the underrated Ristar for the Genesis? Or the better known Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island, as well as Tetris Attack for the SNES? The music in LB sounds like the music in those kinds of games. Well, not exactly; most 16-bit games didn't have CD-quality clarity, but the style, man! The style reminds me of the happy moments of my childhood! Especially Haruka's theme! (more on the characters in a moment) Her theme really does make me feel like a kid again, and in a good way!
There is voice-acting in LB. Sadly, I don't like it as much as Clannad's. It's only in Japanese (obviously), so it's difficult to judge, but I'll say what I do like. I do like the voices of Kyousuke, Masato, and Kengo. As for the girls, I like the voices of Yuiko, Mio, and Kud. However, there's something weird. One actress does the voices of three characters: Riki, Rin, and a girl named Sasami. Rin sounds rather childish, and honestly, I don't think it is a good fit for her. You only hear Riki's voice during the mini-games, and he (a 16 year old dude, mind you) sounds exactly like Rin. (It should be noted that the characters do note that Riki has a feminine voice, and I'm guessing he hasn't finished puberty yet, but the vocal resemblance to Rin is bizarre.) The voice for Sasami is actually quite good; not a stereotypical moe voice like what most of the other female characters got saddled with. Okay, it would make sense for Komari and Kud to have moe voices, but Rin and Haruka, too!? If there is an anime version, I do hope for a partial recast. But you know what's cool? Just like in Clannad, you can actually disable certain characters' voices in the options menu if you want. Didn't think I'd actually use that.
Unlike other Key products, there are mini-games to play, offering a little more gameplay, on top of choices for Riki to make in the story. You can play baseball. All you can do is bat as Riki, but it's entertaining. You can build up the stats of the Little Busters through baseball. Hit the ball, and also hit the other members (whether they catch the ball or not), and their stats will also increase. I wonder why EA Sports never thought of advertising with cute girls for a game of theirs.
There's a couple of random mini-games for events, but the most common one is fighting. Characters can get in one-on-one battles with each other, for whatever reason. Battles happen automatically. If you have items or accessories, they are used automatically. At the start of most battles, a weapon is randomly chosen. Most of the weapons are innocuous; you can fight with liquid soap, paper airplanes, toilet paper, chopsticks, all sorts of odds and ends. The weapons have different effects, and it influences the luck. If a strong character picks a sucky weapon, even a weak character could still win. There are also certain weapons only certain characters can use. In fights between the Little Busters, whoever loses receives a title by the victor. Titles are chosen randomly, even if you win a fight. Then again, if I was Riki, and I could give whatever title I want, I imagine my friends would receive the following titles:
Kyousuke = Light Yagami's Inferior Clone Brother.
Kengo = Failed Tsukkomi.
Rin = Stereotypical Tsundere.
Masato = Moronic Jockstrap.
Komari = Useless Moeblob.
Yuiko = Girl Who Failed the Mai Kawasumi Audition.
Haruka = Air-Headed Rulebreaker.
Kud = Dog of the Loli Brigade.
Mio = Rei Ayanami/Ruri Hoshino Ripoff.
But like I said, I actually like most of these characters, so it's just a joke on my part. Now, we get to the most important part, the thing I like most about Key's products, the characterization. First, let's get the obvious out of the way. There is only one reason I was initially interested in Little Busters. Here is that reason now.
She looks so pitiful, I want to take her home with me! And I'm not alone, either! On the tvtropes page, it says this!
"Moe: Admit it, you want Kudryavka."
YES! But yeah, most of these characters are very likable. Kyousuke is a diabolical mastermind, Masato is an idiot jock who's awesome, Kengo is a smart jock who's awesome, Rin is a tsundere who's also moe and quite complex, Kud is cute and moe, Haruka is cute without being moe, Yuiko has a twisted sense of humor, Mio is a lot like Rei Ayanami, (she even has short blue hair and a voice uncannily similar to Megumi Hayashibara's!) albeit with some emotional display. The only character I don't like so far is Komari. She's moe . . . and not really that cute. She's a character that reminds me why some fans hate moe.
And guess who's route I'm starting with?
"Oh why oh why did I choose the moeblob!?"
Though to Komari's credit, there is a hilarious sequence with her and Yuiko. On my next playthrough, I'll probably go with either Rin, Haruka, or Kud. So many choices.
This isn't the Ecstasy edition, and as such, there are three less routes. However, there's no smut, and less sexual fanservice in my edition, so I guess it balances out. As of right now, I wouldn't say LB is as good as Clannad, but it certainly has more stuff than Planetarian. Expect more articles in the future.
Next time! I won't have to pointlessly introduce Little Busters, so I can just ramble on about it like I normally do! Oh what fun!
