LITTLE BUSTERS! EX

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME DramaLittle Busters!: Refrain
MANGA ComedyLittle Busters! Ecstasy

REVIEWS

• 

  capeseverywhere

  65/100
  Three Little Busters side characters get some much welcomed representation in these enjoyable short stories.

  Behold, Saya's iconic GUN

  It may seem odd for me to say that these Little Busters specials make for a worthwhile Little Busters ‘test run’ for any interested newcomers. But believe it or not, these specials don’t require any prior knowledge of the series to enjoy, nor do they spoil anything major from the main story (except for one of the routes, which I’ll explain later). To summarize the existence of these specials, you’d need to know that the Little Busters visual novel had two major releases. The original Little Busters was released in 2007, and the first two seasons of the anime slim down most of its content into one viewing experience. In 2008, another version of the visual novel was released, named ‘Little Busters Ecstasy’. This version added new 18+ scenes for every character (lol), but more importantly, it introduced three entirely new character routes. One would focus on Haruka’s twin sister, Kanata. The second would focus on Rin’s baseball rival Sasami, and the last one focused on a brand new character altogether, Saya.

  The contents of these specials focus exclusively on these three new character routes. That might not seem important in the grand scheme of the anime, but consider that back when these specials were first released, these new routes had not yet been translated into English. For the first time in the 5+ years since Ecstasy’s release, a subtitled version of these episodes were the only way English speakers would get to experience these stories! It would remain that way for another three years afterwards, so whether or not you liked the Little Busters anime adaptation, you’d have to admit that this was a tempting offer.

  Two of my favorite Little Busters routes are Ecstasy exclusive, meaning they’re both in this little collection. Saya’s is one of them. In the game, you’re led on a wild puzzle/action adventure that involves navigating through underground mazes and shooting at ghosts. You will end up dying many times. This is all highlighted with Saya’s cartoonish sense of humor and many goofy slapstick scenes along the way. It’s by far the most ridiculous, nonsensical route in all of Little Busters. It all ends with an emotional parting with Saya, leaving her to exist only within this strange story. I could only wonder how in the hell this route would be translated into animation, let alone four episodes of it.

  Saya cannot grasp her newly animated existence.

  Turns out my question was answered quickly, as Saya’s route is the first that the anime covers. You’ll have to believe me that as little sense as this route makes in the anime, it’s comparable to the intended experience in the visual novel. Unfortunately, much of the fun that comes with playing this in its original form is lost in translation. You’ll have to trust me that I’m not a VN elitist, but this route was not intended for any other format. In the game, you’d need to choose the correct option or risk dying over and over again. You could even purposely die multiple times on each bottleneck to get some amusing extra dialogue where Riki starts to enjoy being killed. Seeing as Riki doesn’t die once during these episodes, his whole ‘trial and error’ part of the process gets cut, and thus you lose a lot of the fun that comes with it. With our four episode limitation, Riki and Saya fluke every obstacle they run into.

  Of course, the whole ‘game reset’ aspect gets explained eventually, though it’s a bit tricky to try and piece together what exactly is happening within Riki’s universe during Saya’s route. In true Maeda fashion, it’s been written backwards. It doesn’t make any sense until you hit the ending, and ultimately, it ends up being about as hacky as his usual stories. But it’s interesting, and I still end up watching them anyways. Can’t complain too much about it, though viewers looking for something with logical structure might not be amused by Maeda’s writing style.

  Up next: My favorite Little Busters character!

  Sasami’s route is the next one, and it’s short, as it is in the game. As far as Little Busters goes, this is my favorite route, and Sasami is my favorite character. Her story isn’t impossible to translate into anime form, so I was looking forward to seeing this one in motion. It’s basic, but also silly, with a bittersweet ending. As the episode title indicates, Sasami indeed turns into a cat at times for unknown reasons. Riki is left as the only person who can understand her, and so it is once again up to him to figure out what to do!

  But now that I have more time to focus on the story rather than trying to piece the events together, I start realizing the main reason why Little Busters feels like a downgrade in anime form. It’s the perspective! Before, I couldn’t pin down why the anime felt less exciting despite having the same stories and even the same music as the visual novel. Now I see that watching this story unfold from a third person view is like watching a race from the stands rather than being on the track. Riki is not an interesting character, mainly because he’s intended to be experienced from the player’s point of view. Watching him from the outside zooms us back and takes a chunk of the focus away from the central character of the route. In short, these stories make less sense from this perspective than they already did in the game. Unfortunately, Sasami’s route, ending and all, ends up not being as memorable here.

  That leads me into the last of these stories, Kanata’s. This is the one that spoils some of the story, that being her sister Haruka’s route. Their backstories are shared, and Kanata’s story is essentially expanding on the ideas that were already laid out in the other one. Not that you need to see Haruka’s route to understand what’s happening here… Once again, I do like these characters, but their routes were some of my least favorite from the game. They both involve a ridiculous ‘kids being treated like lab rats’ backbone with a sister sacrifice twist reminiscent of a situation that was laid out in an earlier, popular visual novel, Tsukihime. However, Tsukihime involves vampires and oni, whereas such an abusive upbringing feels out of place in the Little Busters world.

  Nom

  Either way, Kanata’s route ironically seems to work better in the anime, with a fitting end to cap off this series of specials. Not as much focus is left on the backstory, meaning we get to spend more time developing Kanata’s character. It’s only two episodes, but it’s just enough to make a point. Riki and Kanata make for an oddly fitting pairing, more so than with Sasami or Saya, making the third-person perspective work better than before. Whether or not I was a fan of the adaptations of these stories, I have to admit that they’re all balanced well against each other.

  Nowadays, you can experience those Ecstasy routes in English on the Steam version of the game, so there’s no real reason to have to rely on these episodes anymore. Though, they remain as a curious attempt to adapt more of Maeda’s bizarre stories into a watchable format. Despite being watchable in isolation, it isn’t entirely worth seeking out for those unfamiliar with the series. After all, with such a limited focus, you’ll be left wanting some more interaction with the other set of characters. But getting to see these side characters and their little moments put into animation is worthwhile enough by itself. They truly feel as out of place as they were intended to be in the visual novel, and for what it’s worth, I enjoyed it.

  We truly are the J.C. Staff Little Busters……
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• 

  cringeylazy

  35/100
  Only 1/3 routes are well adapted. Why bother...

  This is a spoiler-free review from the perspective of a fan of the visual novel who read EX routes in the VN before watching (Thank god).

  The Ex routes in Little Busters are three additional routes unlocked after completing Refrain. In my opinion, they feature some of the best stories in Little Busters, but unfortunately, this anime adaptation of 2 of them is awful.

  Saya:
  Saya's route in the VN is one of my favourite works from Maeda, despite its quirks. However, this route is already, from the get-go, very difficult to adapt arc because of how it's structured into the VN. But that still doesn't forgive the poor, low quality adaptation that we're offered.
  The anime adaptation for this route has major pacing issues because of its time constraints. While yes, it does follow the story, it rushes through it very fast, not giving time to develop Riki and Saya's feelings, resulting in their relationship feeling too comical and overall flat. While a lot of people agree Saya's ending in the VN is one of the highlights of reading it, the anime feels like a rushed mess that makes very little sense. Giving so little time to try to figure out what's going on for yourself in the plot, to become familiar and attached to the characters, and this results in a very weird story that feels not thoroughly thought out. It's not the worst adaptation in the world, but it's bad enough that I would rather you not watch it than only watch it over reading the VN.

  I do want to mention some positives though, it does reference some CGs use the same soundtrack, including the infamous ED. I also much prefer Yui Horie's voice for Riki.

  Sasami:
  Thankfully, ironically, albeit sandwiched between 2 awful adaptations, Sasami's arc is probably the best adapted route in the whole series (including S1 and Refrain). In the VN I found that this route went on a bit too long for what it was, but the anime gives the right amount of time for everything without leaving anything out. In fact, I even think it improved upon it by removing the weird sub-plot of Sasami suddenly loving Riki despite loving Kengo the entire rest of the series. The adaptation faithfully uses all the CGs and plays the story out faithfully, and it feels just as good as reading the VN. I can even recommend watching it over playing the route as it's significantly shorter, saving people time. Unlike every other arc/route in Little Busters, this is the only part I can confidently say that you wouldn't be missing out on anything (aside from the more charming art style, I suppose).

  Kanata:
  Unfortunately, the good ends there. Kanata's route in the VN is my personal favourite route (aside from Refrain, of course), and its treatment in the anime is quite frankly an abomination. Kanata's route is probably the deepest, darkest-toned story in the game and has way too much content to cover  within the time the anime offers, which ends up coming across as insensitive and unwatchable to VN readers. The anime does cover all the key scenes, but it's like a highlight reel, leaving out all the substance that makes this route so good and makes those scenes so impactful. Leaving an awful aftertaste to end the series on, unlike the VN which was the complete opposite.

  To Finish:
  I do like the new opening and ending sequences (using songs from the VN). The things this adaptation does carry over are good and fairly faithful. Like I said in my previous reviews, the art style loses the charm of the VN and the animation isn't anything to celebrate. I do think production quality is a bit better than Refrain, less weird editing and using more of the source materials CGs to go off was a welcome change. But the stories aren't given enough time at all; it ends up feeling insulting to fans of the VN and makes Little Busters look a lot worse than it actually is. Overall, I recommend watching Sasami's arc, as it's fun to see it faithfully animated, but for Saya and Kanata's, I'd rather you not watch them at all than choose to watch it over the VN

  My Anime vs VN Ratings:
  Saya route - anime: 3.5/10 VN: 9/10
  Sasami route - anime: 7.5/10 VN: 7.5/10
  Kanata route - anime: 2/10 VN: 8.5/10

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