• Visual Novel Little Busters Ex English Patch

Nov 01, 2017  Capturing the hearts of countless fans since 2007, Little Busters! Is an emotional visual novel from Key, the minds behind Angel Beats! This special English release supports touch controls and dynamic switching between English and Japanese text, and is. Little Busters! (リトルバスターズ！, Ritoru Basutāzu!) adalah game visual novel keenam Key/Visual Art's setelah Kanon, Air, Clannad, Planetarian, dan Tomoyo After yang dirilis tanggal 27 Juli 2007 kemarin yang dirilis untuk format PC dalam bentuk DVD. Little Busters bukanlah game Eroge dan dapat dimainkan untuk semua orang.

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Little Busters! is VisualArts/Key's sixth Visual Novel. Like CLANNAD and Planetarian, it is entirely 'clean', although an 'adult' version titled Little Busters! Ecstasy (also known as Little Busters! EX) was released which featured additional heroines.

Little Busters! tells the story of protagonist Riki Naoe, who is a member of the titular Little Busters, a group consisting of four boys and one girl who have all been close friends since childhood. The other members are the leader Kyousuke, his shy and quiet sister Rin, the muscle-obsessed Masato and the kendo user Kengo. The story begins one day in the Little Busters' second year of high school, when they decide to play a game of baseball but need more players. Riki recruits five new girls to join them: childlike Komari, troublemaker Haruka, big-sisterly Yuiko, frail Mio, and But Not Too Foreign Kudryavka.

And thus begins a laid-back and certainly not horribly depressingDating Sim-type Visual Novel with a touch of Fighting Game, wherein you (as Riki) try to befriend the various girls, while getting into fights with the other Little Busters and several other people at your school. Or at least, they'd like you to think that's what it is. But it's Key Visual Arts, so of course there's more to it than that.

(Before reading the list of tropes, note that some of them are, in and of themselves, spoilers.)

Not to be confused with the song by the pillows that was featured in FLCL

The characters sheet is under heavy construction here.

Little Busters! finally got an anime adaptation that began airing in October 2012 and is animated by JC Staff. Viewers living in the USA, Canada, UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Netherlands, and Scandinavia may watch the anime legally at Crunchyroll. A second season titled Little Busters! ~Refrain~ aired during the Fall 2013 Anime season, and an adaptation for Ecstasy was released as a series of OVA episodes bundled with the Refrain DVDs and Blurays. The adaption, entitled Little Busters EX, is composed of eight episodes. There are seven volumes of Refrain released in all, and one episode was released with each volume (except for the final volume, which contains the final two episodes). The first volume and thus the first EX episode was released on the 29th of January, 2014.

On October 31, 2015, VisualArts/Key announced plans to release the Updated Re-Release of Little Busters!, originally titled Little Busters! Perfect Edition, on Steam with localization work being done by Fruitbat Factory using the Fan Translation of the original Little Busters! by Team Fluffy, a fan translation group that many Fruitbat Factory staff members were a part of, being used as a basis for the official English release. On November 1, 2017, the Perfect Edition was released on Steam under the title Little Busters! English Edition. The new content in the English Edition includes the three routes that were included in Ecstasy alongside the original content, but with the pornographic content removed.

This game provides examples of:

• Accidental Pervert: Riki ends up in these situations a lot, particularly in Komari's route and the Ecstasy expansion.
• Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole: A few are caused by the anime. For example, in episode 7 of EX, Kanata is shown doing maintenance work, like checking on the lawns and setting up a new bulletin board, as part of her duties on the Disciplinary Committee. Shouldn't that be the job of the Maintenance Committee? This was explained in Haruka's route of the VN, where Kanata reveals that she had the Maintenance Committee disbanded and took on its duties on orders to take away everything that mattered to Haruka. That particular detail wasn't covered in the anime when that route was adapted.
• Akashic Records: How the dream world works. As all but Riki and Rin were Only Mostly Dead, their minds connected to each other's and to those of the other people in their lives with this. This forms the foundation of a number of routes and provides blueprints for the 'NPCs' created after real people, like family and classmates, who appear in the dream world. For example, Komari uncovering the thoughts of her family means that her route can tell Riki what happened from the perspective of someone who didn't try to forget Komari's dead brother, and Haruka connecting to Kanata's thoughts revealed that Kanata was trying to be Cruel to Be Kind.
• Alpha Bitch: Sasami
• All Just a Dream: Almost the entire story takes place in a dream world formed by the Little Busters as they lay about to die in the real world, minus Riki and Rin, with Kyousuke directing the world and Masato and Kengo acting as his subordinates to keep the plan going. The events of the girl's routes appear to be based on wishes or desires of theirs.
  • Or Was It a Dream?: But is that all there is to it? Taking a closer look at Kud's route implies that the rioting in her home country already took place and the shuttle already failed with her having her mother's dog tag and a half melted gear. So those wishes and desires appear to based on real events. Taking that into account, some routes like Kurugaya's, Mio's and Kud's only seem possible in the Dream World, since they involve a lot of symbolism and Mind Screw. Haruka's and Komari's are the opposite, since these routes use little to no symbolism and throw the harsh reality in the faces of the characters. Yet even Kurugaya's route, one that surely takes place in the dream world, explicitly has a post Refrain epilogue/alternate ending! How much of the story only happened inside the dream world, how much outside it? Of course, Ecstasy goes the other route with Sasami's route taking place post Refrain, and Saya's route being entirely in the dream world.
    • To add even more Mind Screw into it, Kanata's route in Ecstasy goes the same way Haruka's and Komari's, i.e., it's down to earth without supernatural things happening, but Sasami's, even if set after Refrain, uses quite a bit,since she transforms into a cat and can't turn back anywhere but in Riki's room.
  • It can also apply to the epilogue: Did Riki and Rin really save everyone via a reset button to the moment of the crash, or did they just build a new dream world more stable than the last? One that wouldn't collapse with a few minor contradictions like Kyousuke's.
    • Kyousuke denies that theory in the Drama Disc, but it's plausible that Kyousuke wouldn't be able to detect it, given that he didn't create that world (after all, Riki had no idea that he'd been in a dream world the whole time).
• Alternate Universe: Almost the whole story (including all the girls routes) is set on one.
  • Except for Sasami's route, in Ecstasy, that happens after the events of Refrain.
• Ambiguous Ending: It's not really clear if Riki and Rin managed to save everyone in the real world, or if they created another, better Dream World.
• Animal Motif: Komari has one for every Little Busters member - Kyousuke (Wolf), Masato (Bear), Kengo (Tiger), Rin (Kitty), Komari (Penguin), Kurugaya (Leopard), Haruka (Duck), Kud (Puppy), Mio (Owl), Riki (Pelican)
• Anti-Frustration Features: The Replay segment of Saya's route skips any floors of the dungeon already cleared after she dies and resets, that way the player only ever has to worry about the current floor's puzzle, instead of having to remember every previous floor's puzzle.
• Apocalypse How: Haruka thinks of this when cleaning too much.
• Arc Words: Do you know the secret of the world?
• Ascended Extra: Kanata and Sasami went from supporting characters to heroines with their own routes in the Ecstasy version of the game.
• Big, Screwed-Up Family: Haruka's family. Though it's unclear how much of this is real and how much of it is exaggeration in Haruka's mind.
• Bilingual Bonus: The Portmanteau Series Nickname, acknowledged by official sources, is 'Litbus.' Seems pretty normal, and in Japanese it is. It becomes painful for Anglophones, though, when it comes out that a 'lit bus' rendered most of the cast Only Mostly Dead.
• Bishounen: Kyousuke. Apparently, people visit his classroom to watch him read manga, fascinated by the sight.
  • Riki, heck even Kyousuke calls him cute, and when he is forced to crossdress, he looks like a girl (those twintail wigs from Saya help too)!
• Bleached Underpants: Inverted with Ecstasy, which added graphic sex scenes to a previously all ages game. And then played straight with the PS2, PSP and PSV versions, along with a limited edition rerelease of the PC version - they have all the extra routes and other content of Ecstasy, excluding all of the porn.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: After a 'Mission Failed' screen shows up:
  Riki : No, we weren't on a mission.
• Bi the Way: Riki seriously admits, on several occasions, that he does indeed feel romantic love towards Kyousuke. In fact, everyone has some sort of either text or subtext with at least two people of two different genders.
• Bittersweet Ending: Saya Tokido's true route turns out to be this. She even comments on it when they finally find the treasure. While she still takes her own life, it is implied that Kyousuke either activated a 'time machine' after all similar to the supposed 'reset button', or the combined strength of Saya and Riki's wishes created a more stable dream world for her. Either way, her soul gets to live out the life she wanted.
• Broken Aesop: Mio's route tries to end on the aesop that people can't naturally understand one another no matter how close they are, so they need to talk about their problems with one another to avoid misunderstandings spiraling out of control. However, the start of Kurugaya's route treats telling Kurugaya about the girls harassing Riki as the wrong choice since it leads to an early bad end. The correct choice for that situation is to keep her in the dark about what's going on, yet despite keeping it a secret from her, Kurugaya still manages to figure out what's troubling Riki without any misunderstandings. Haruka's route also breaks this aesop because at one point in her route, you have to lie to her about how you learned what class she's in since telling her the truth leads to a bad end as well.
• Broken Bridge:
  • Riki lampshades on how he's just like an RPG protagonist who can't cross a river with anything other than a bridge when he finds himself in a situation where he is mysteriously unable to exit the school.
  • The Ecstasy heroine routes remain locked until Refrain is completed, which itself requires completing the original six heroines' routes.
• But Thou Must!:
  • This happens when Saya asks Riki about his opinion on Kyousuke (and subsequently, how it would turn out if she challenges him). Riki mercilessly lampshades on it after both 'choices'.
  • Kengo will overrule you if you say you don't want to go to Kyousuke's room when he's bored, and at another point you are asked if you want to go to town with Kyousuke and can refuse up to three times before you're still forced to go anyway.
  • The choices in Refrain have only one correct option, and picking a wrong option will just send you back to the selection of choices while getting rid of the wrong choice you made. However, after Riki and Rin escape the artificial world, wrong choices can lead to bad ends.
• Catchphrase: 'Mission Start!'
• Cerebus Retcon: A few, naturally. Some of the easiest examples are realizing the actual significance of several scenes in the opening song.
• Cerebus Syndrome: Once you reach the 1/3 mark or so of Rin's route (which can't be reached until all of the other routes have already been completed) things start going wrong and apart from some brief high points in the first half of Refrain only get steadily worse and worse until the very end.
• Chekhov's Gun: In the anime, if Riki mentions narcolepsy you can pretty much guarantee he'll be out by the end of the episode.
• Chick Magnet: For once not limited to the protagonist. In fact, Kengo and Kyousuke are both more popular. Kurugaya says he attracts people that want to mother him rather than Kengo's stoicism and strength and Kyousuke's good looks and innocence.
• Childhood Friends: The eponymous Little Busters are five childhood friends and more or less inseparable.
• Class Trip: Kickstarts the whole plot. Not that we find out until near the very end.
• Cry Cute: Haruka
• Cuteness Proximity: Yuiko when it comes to anything Moe
  • In one battle scene of her vs Komari, after Komari starts calling her Yui-chan, Hilarity Ensues.
  • The manga version explains the scene◊ further.
• Daddy DNA Test: Haruka's initial goal in her route is to try and get one of these done to prove whether she or Kanata is the family's rightful heir and who is the 'bad one.' Their parents refuse to submit one unless they're approached by both sisters, because they know the family has kept the girls apart and turned them against each other and that submitting a DNA test would just encourage that.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype:
  • Butt-Monkey: Flashbacks of Masato's childhood in Refrain reveals that he was bullied by other kids for being stupid, but that in turn led to him becoming violent to scare people from mocking him anymore, which still alienated him from other kids until he met the Natsume siblings.
  • Funny Foreigner: Kud's route reveals how alienated she feels from the other students because they see her as one of these, even though she's been exposed to Japanese culture most of her life because of her grandfather and genuinely considers Japan her home.
  • Heavy Sleeper: Riki's narcolepsy is shown to be an issue that seriously limits his options in life. One example of it coming to haunt him is late in Rin's second route after the two have run away. Riki decides to help a lady out on her farm because he needs to make money, but his narcolepsy triggers on him, causing him to lose a whole day's work. The woman he worked for then forbids him from working on her farm afterwards out of fear for his health. He ends up in tears over the fact that the most he could do with his life is office work.
  • Jerkass Façade: Due to having to be harsh and cold towards Haruka all the time by orders of their family, Kanata ends up Becoming the Mask due to the front she has put up and comes across as cruel and distant even in situations where she doesn't intend for it.
  • The Pollyanna: Komari maintains her cheerful and optimistic personality because her older brother Takuya didn't want to see her sad. When her brother realized he was going to die, he told Komari that his death was just a dream. This causes Komari to have Trauma-Induced Amnesia and any indicators of death will trigger a Heroic BSoD which causes her to see the first guy she sees as Takuya, and it takes weeks for her to snap out of this. This whole situation makes her unable to deal with death or anything sad.
  • Shrinking Violet: Rin's shyness only applies to strangers, but it gets to the point where she freezes up in fear around them. However, given that everyone she knows besides Riki would've died in the bus explosion, the only way she would be able to get by in the aftermath of their deaths is by learning to overcome her shyness.
• Defeat Means Friendship: Kyousuke and Rin were able to recruit Masato to Little Busters by defeating him when they're all young. Riki lampshades on this when he hears of it. And then he and Rin re-recruits Masato to their cause via the same way, and Kengo too.
• Different as Night and Day: Subverted. Haruka seems incredibly irresponsible, carefree and social while Kanata is uptight, tense and shut off. However, Haruka cleans up the school grounds simply because she wants to, has a lot of emotional issues and is more timid than she looks. Kanata on the other hand will often overlook the rules when she can, often slips up on her controlled facade in little ways and is shut off and grumpy for basically the same reasons Haruka is. Both of them are just gravitating towards different extremes from their normal happy mediums.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: Bits and pieces here and there, but the award goes to a scene in Haruka's route before they go to fix the bench.
  Haruka : 'Wanna do 'it' with me?'
  Riki : 'Do what?'
  Haruka : 'When I say 'it', I mean 'it'. First it's like 'nnh', then there's 'hnng', and then its time for the sticky stuff.'
  Riki : 'nnh, then hnng, then sticky?'
  Haruka : 'And it'll feel really good~'
• Downer Ending: Kurugaya Yuiko's route ends in failure the first reading as a way of giving the reader more information about the story. There is an alternate True Ending after the game has been completed, however. Also, the first ending is slightly ambiguous anyway, so not a complete downer.
  • The endings of Rin's routes (both the first playthrough and second) are complete downers. Good thing there's refrain after that...
    • In fact, the 'Rin epilogue' after refrain is the most horrific downer of them all. At least, there is the option of romance with Rin in the final (general) ending.
• Dungeon Bypass: The dungeon that Saya's route features needs to be passed through twice to access the end. The game is merciful enough not let the player pass through it a third time - by giving Saya a heavy machine gun that she uses to simply blast through every floor by making an entrance with it.
• Dying Dream: The entire world of the visual novel is one created by Kyousuke and the rest of the Little Busters save for Riki and Rin, the survivors of the bus crash.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: In the final ending for the game, everyone is rescued, but it requires you to have Riki live through the 'real' events where the bus crash killed everyone but him and Rin, and then fix that reality so they all live.
• Everybody's Dead, Dave: It's revealed that only Riki and Rin survived the bus crash initially.
• Everybody Lives: Apart from Miyuki Koshiki, who committed suicide before the story begins, Riki and Rin manage to save everyone in the end.
• Everyone Is Bi: There's both subtext and outright text for both same-sex and different-sex attraction from a lot of characters, the protagonist included (even if the game only has het romance routes). For a bonus, both Riki and Komari either seem to be or outright are attracted to both Natsume siblings.
• Exact Words: One of the missions Lennon gave Riki and Rin involved curing a student named Aikawa of his love sickness towards Sasami. It got to the point where he was too distracted by her to be able to focus on his studies. At first, Riki and Rin interpret this as playing The Matchmaker for the two. However, because of Sasami's interest in Kengo, they fail on that end, though in the process, Aikawa manages to study properly once he realizes Sasami isn't interested in him. Riki realizes this still qualifies as completing the mission since it said to cure Aikawa's love sickness, not get him a girlfriend.
• Failure Is the Only Option: In Kurugaya's route, there's a segment called Operation Little Love Love Hunters where Masato, Kengo, and Kyousuke, each make a move on one of four girls (the choices are Komari, Haruka, Mio, and Kud) to give Riki an idea on how to ask out Kurugaya. No matter which combination is chosen, their attempts to hit on the girls end in failure, and Riki just asks her directly instead of relying on the other guys' shenanigans.
• Fat Cat: Rin's cat Dorj is fat enough that any baseballs that hit him during practice don't hurt him like the other cats, but instead bounce back to Riki.
• Final Speech: Kengo and Masato to Riki, after Kyousuke revealing the secrets of the world they are living in.
• Fission Mailed: The whole point of the 'replay' part of Saya's route. Arguably the point of the first playthrough of her route too.
• Foil:
  • Rin and Sasami. Rin's a Tomboy with a Girly Streak and a Kindhearted Cat Lover, while Sasami is a Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak who prefers dogs. Before the story, Rin's only friends were the male members of the Little Busters, while Sasami is the leader of a Girl Posse. Both of them are Dude Magnets who don't care about the attention, though for different reasons. Rin's unfamiliar with the concept of love, while Sasami is interested in Kengo. Their routes also serve as foils to one another, in that Rin's route has her and Riki running away from school, and Sasami's route has her remain holed up in Riki's room since she'll transform into a cat if she goes outside. Rin would be an example of First Girl Wins since she's the only Childhood Friend among the heroines, while Sasami would be a case of Last Girl Wins since her route is the only route explicitly stated to take place after the events of Refrain.
  • Masato and Kengo. Masato is the Dumb Muscle of the group, yet he can occassionally provide useful advice to the surprise of others. Kengo, on the other hand, seems like the most level-headed character alongside Riki, until he proves he's Not So Above It All in the common route, with his sudden change in personality throwing his friends for a loop. Masato is interested in muscle training to the point of obsession, while Kengo secretly resented his kendo training since it gave him less time to bond with his friends. Masato accepted his role in the artifical world and put up a front of Obfuscating Stupidity, while Kengo rebelled against Kyousuke because he couldn't stand how he was treating Riki and Rin for the sake of their growth.
• Foreshadowing: Heaps.
  • When Masato hears that Kengo has been talking with a girl on a bench at the back of the school, he suggests that he and Riki go scare them by tipping it over, and when Kengo complains, Masato tells him that he'd probably be okay even if he fell off a roof. Every common route except the first, he dives from the school roof to save his friend from committing suicide and is pretty much unharmed.
  • Each time you start the game again after completing a route, Riki and Rin's stats get higher, and there are lots of little changes in the common route scenes and dialogue. Specifically, Rin gets better at dealing with people. this foreshadows the fact that the routes all happen in succession as repeated timelines and that the purpose of the timelines is to make them more independent.
  • In Haruka's route, she and Riki have a conversation in which she reveals how sad she is that they won't be able to go on a fun field trip together where they can just talk and enjoy themselves. He assumes she means that they won't be able to do that because she's in a different class. Thus it foreshadows that the field trip is important for much, much more serious reasons as well as why Haruka snuck on to his class's bus instead of going on her own.
  • And, of course, the whole story about the 'other school' and the terrible field trip bus crash Kyousuke tells in Rin's route literally tells you the main facts underlying Refrain potentially as early as an hour or two into the first route.
• Funny Background Event: In episode four of the anime Kengo can be seen approaching a doorway, seeing Haruka arguing with Masato, and turning around and walking away without saying a word.
  • And again in episode 24, as the group members one by one jump on board with Rin's plans for a puppet show, Haruka holds her 'shocked' pose for almost a full minute, even after Kud is standing in front of her.
• From Bad to Worse: Rin 2 is pretty much made of this. Things start off in a worrying way, but the more Riki tries to fix things the worse things get.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Unlike the routes for most of the other original heroines, Komari's route doesn't get locked after completing it the first time. This is because even though Riki helped her accept the death of her brother Takuya, she still remains in the dream world, due to a desire to see Rin again.
• Girl Posse: Sasami's trio of softball juniors.
• Go Out with a Smile: The Final Speech.
  • And Episode 4 of the second season, Refrain, in the anime, when Haruka, Mio, and Kud leave the dream world.
• Gone Horribly Wrong: Komari's brother tried to shield her from his death by making her think if it like a dream. She ended up heavily broken at the concept of death instead.
• Green-Eyed Monster: In the beginning of Kurugaya's route, the nicest of the three girls trying (and failing) to bully her is doing it because she's friends with Riki and likes him herself. So she envies Kurugaya and tries to drive the two apart.
  • Also supposedly the motivation of Saigusa Shou in Haruka's backstory. The story goes that he was upset, as an outsider, that the Saigusa family had a rule to marry all their female heirs to two people each, so he attacked the family heads because he wanted to keep his wife to himself. When you notice that all three parties in the Love Triangle were disinherited, it sounds a little off. Though the three parents' stories differ, all three of them agree that it wasn't a love-envy situation at all; all three had decided on the escape plan together and Shou attacked the family heads because they were treating their daughter like a breeding animal or a piece of furniture.
• Guide Dang It!: Saya Route. There are so many instances of Failure Is the Only Option in it, it's not even funny.
  • The first time you go through Rin's route, the end screen tells you to go back and make the choice you didn't made before. You think the game is telling you to start again and go through her route again using different choices, right? Nope. If you actually do this you discover that there's no choice screen at all at that point. You have to go through her route for the second time only after completing the other girls routes, so Riki can make the choice in question... automatically. Let Rin go to another school.
• Gratuitous English: Kud loves to drop random English phrases (with 'nano desu' for extra Moe). Haruka does it, too, but not as often, and usually with a better grasp of the language.
• 'Groundhog Day' Loop: Everything up to Refrain.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Riki, Kyousuke, Masato, and Kengo are this, it comes with being Childhood Friends.
• Heroic Sacrifice: Masato and Kengo protected Riki and Rin from getting knocked out in the bus accident, and Kyousuke blocked a leak of gasoline (that would've caused an explosion) with his own body.
• Hidden in Plain Sight: In Saya's route, she keeps watch on Riki's baseball practices while hiding behind a wooden barrel in a large grass field. It's kind of hard to say if she's trying hard to hide, though, considering that if the ball goes near her, she'll come out and shoot the ball with her gun. It's pretty amusing how nobody ever catches on at all.
  • Even more amusing since one of her own phrases during the baseball practice is somewhere along the lines of 'Perfectly hidden. No one can see me here.'
• Hope Spot: In Rin's route, when Riki and Rin run away and things seem to be picking up. And if you haven't been paying attention to the foreshadowing, you'd be forgiven for thinking that when Riki recruits Kyousuke back into the Little Busters in Refrain things will really pick up. Instead, what follows immediately after is quite possibly the single most Tear Jerker-y scene in the entire game.
• Identical Twin ID Tag: Haruka and Kanata have different hairstyles (with the same hair decs) and eye colours, looking the same otherwise, and they turn out to be twins.
• I Have This Friend...: Played with between Riki and Kud during Sasami's route. At one point, Riki can choose to ask either Kud or Haruka for romantic advice, which he plans to apply to Sasami and Kengo as The Matchmaker. If the player chooses Kud, then she gets upset because she still retains her feelings for Riki from her route inside the artificial world, and thinks Riki is using this trope to get advice for himself to use on another girl. Things get sorted out when Riki clarifies that this is advice for a girl (Sasami) to use on a boy she likes (Kengo), while keeping secret the names of the girl and boy in this situation.
• Is That Cute Kid Yours?: In Haruka's route, she and Riki find a lost child in the school when the disciplinary committee catches up with her. Haruka being an immoral delinquent who knows no bounds according to the prefects, they immediately assume that it's her kid and that she's 'flaunting her sexual deviance in school.'
• Joke Item: Basically every weapon except some of Mio's science team weapons and Kurugaya's machine gun (yes really).
• Karma Houdini: Haruka and Kanata's family as of the end of Ecstasy. Even though Kanata's Arranged Marriage was thwarted, the main characters decided just to lay low after rescuing her from the event, rather than to pursue legal action against them for all the years of abuse the two girls endured.
• Lampshaded Double Entendre: Seen only in Rin's route where Kyousuke give Masato a certain role. If you know what I mean. No really.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: All three Ecstasy heroine routes expect the player to have finished the other routes and Refrain. In order to avoid spoiling newcomers, these routes are locked until the original six heroine routes and Refrain are completed. However, this can be ignored in the Japanese version of the game. When the game is started up for the first time, the player is asked if they know the secret of the world. Answering yes gives the player access to the new heroine routes from the beginning. However, the prompt in the Japanese version does not exist in the English Edition.
• Left the Background Music On: The end of Kurugaya's route with the song Kurugaya played on the piano. Riki doesn't know how to make it stop.
• Lethal Joke Item: The paper-made items are surprisingly powerful. Once the user manages to fold them in time, their opponents' lives are counted.
• Licked by the Dog: Or cat, in this case.
  • Dog too, to Sasami.
• Mind Screw: A lot, and in many many routes. Whenever the music 'Thin Chronicle' plays, chances are you have one on your hands.
• Multiple Endings: But not in the way you'd think. All of the route endings are canon as different iterations of the timeline - except Sasami's, which, as explained above, happens after Refrain - but Refrain's epilogue is slightly but importantly different the first and second time you play through it. In the first, Rin asks Riki who he likes, and approves of all of the other girls, while he is too flustered to respond, which all seems to indicate that at least he and Rin aren't going out. But the second time around, you are shown a scene in which Rin kisses Riki, which naturally indicates that they are.
• Mundane Solution: During Operation Little Love Love Hunters, which takes place early on in Kurugaya's route, Kyousuke, Kengo, and Masato hit on the other girls (A combination of Mio, Kud, Komari, and Haruka based on the player's choice) to teach Riki how he should approach and ask out Kurugaya. Every possible combination ends in failure, and Riki decides to just directly ask Kurugaya if she wants to go out with him, which works.
• My Parents Are Dead: Sasami and Mio both end up on the receiving end with Riki at different times, as they both make assumptions that his parents are alive, only for him to correct them.
• Named After Somebody Famous: Rin's cats. A list of their names - Lennon, Hitler (replaced with Isoroku^note in the anime), Audrey, Cobain, Tezuka, Gates^note , Einstein, Fyodor^note , Aristotle, Hokusai^note , Jackie, and Yuusaku^note . And those are just the cats in battle ranking plus the plot-important ones...
• The Nicknamer: EVERYONE, after the battle the winner chooses a humiliating nickname for the loser.
  Schoolboy : 'Now, Rin-sama, pick a title for that loser.'
  Rin : 'Waste.'
  Masato : 'Uwaaa! I don't want this title!!!'
• Noblewoman's Laugh: Sasami and her followers.
• Nonstandard Game Over: By choosing to hang out with Masato at every opportunity and following the Kud route, you open the Muscles Sensation mini route, which starts the Muscle Revolution! Kurugaya will stop you the first time, but if you choose to do it a second time the revolution apparently takes over the world.
• No Romantic Resolution: Refrain route ends up working out like this which may come as quite the surprise considering the heavy Rin emphasis that had dominated the last route and the first half of the route itself. Thus, the story itself becomes an example.
  • It's actually kind of confusing, in that there are two different, contradictory Refrain epilogues: the first one, which heavily implies that Riki and Rin aren't going out, and the second one that can only be seen by playing through Refrain again, which heavily implies that they are. Pick and choose, maybe?
• One-Liner: Mixed in with variety of utterances made by participants engaged in baseball practice, in the visual novel.
• Only Sane Man: Riki
• Only Six Faces: Somewhat averted, at least when compared to prior KEY games. Little Busters! is a unique game in that there were actually two character designers working on the project, each working on three of the six heroines; Hinoue Itaru (who was the primary character designer for Kanon, AIR and Clannad) designed Komari, Haruka and Kurugaya, whilst Na-Ga (Angel Beats) was responsible for Rin, Kud and Mio.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Subverted during Sasami's route. Masato tells Kengo that he was kicked out of his room by Riki, and has to stay with him. At first it seems like Kengo believes Masato, but it turns out he was humoring him, as Kengo knows Riki well enough to know that he would never do something like that without a good reason. Masato soon slips up and admits he's too scared of the cat that beat him up twice (In truth, it was Sasami who was afflicted with involuntary Animorphism), but didn't want to seem weak.
• Otaku: Kyousuke (he based lots of the missions on manga)
  • Part of the reason he doesn't do anything at the beginning of Saya's route, since Aya, the real life counterpart of Saya, based her avatar in the world Kyousuke created on a character from a manga she was reading, so Kyousuke thought it was his will that created her since he too was reading the same manga.
• Panty Shot: There's a noticeable spike in these and other forms of fanservice compared to previous Key games.
• Paper-Thin Disguise: It's almost painfully obvious to the viewers who Mask the Saito really is. It's slightly less painfully but still extremely obvious who Shun Tokikaze is, too.
• Picked Flowers Are Dead: In Kurugaya's route, she describes an event from her childhood when she picked some beautiful flowers from the side of the road just because they looked pretty and was horrified and distressed later on when she realised that in doing so she had killed them.
• Pun-Based Title: The spinoff Kud Wafter is a pun on the word 'after' and Kud's Verbal Tic ('wafuu').
• Reality Ensues: Due to traversing the underground dungeon with Saya at night, Riki ends up being too exhausted to function properly during the day. Saya realizes this and demands Riki to drop out of the ranking system his friends participate in. After all, fighting more fights than necessary would just exhaust Riki even more. To be better prepared, Saya also tells Riki to sleep in class so that he'll have enough energy to function at night. Riki can only get away with sleeping in class because the teachers know about his narcolepsy. However, that also backfires on Riki because being Asleep in Class left him vulnerable to an attack from an enemy agent.
• Regular Caller: The task of giving 'missions' usually falls on Rin's cats and Kyousuke.
• The Scapegoat: Haruka's role in her extended family, enforced by their blood cult. While Kanata's role as heir and designated 'good one' supposedly exempted her from this, she was actually under constant threat of falling into it as well, and she acknowledges that being head of the disciplinary committee means that she'll always be blamed for things by the students whose fun she's spoiling.
• Schrödinger's Gun: In Ecstasy, a choice between feeling 'hostility' or 'friendliness' from Kanata will determine her attitude toward the rest of the cast (and whether or not her route is accessible) for the rest of the game.
• Second Year Protagonist: Except Kyousuke, all of the Little Busters are second years, and all but two of them are in the same class. This is a minor plot point.
• Shout-Out: One to Final Fantasy:
  • Right after a Final Fantasy-style fanfare plays.
  Saigusa : 'Saigusa Haruka changed jobs from 'Useless' !'
  • There is one occasion when Kud offers Kanata a keychain with something on it that looks like a mysterious white creature that goes 'pico-pico'. In the 4koma, she also says that if she raised a third dog, she'd name that one Potato. Especially amusing to longtime Key fans, since Kud and Kano actually have the same birthday, June 12th.
  • Kurugaya with a katana vs. Masato with a pop up pirate. Masato claims victory by being 'the man that is going to make the impossible possible!'
  • One of the lines Kud can say when she catches the ball in practice is 'Yes, my Lord,' in surprisingly good Englishfor her
• Slapstick Knows No Gender: Downplayed, as Masato is the primary Butt-Monkey of the group, but there are female characters like Komari and Haruka who end up in the Butt-Monkey role, just not as often as Masato.
• There Are No Therapists: And in the one route where that's averted, therapy only deepened the problem rather than solving it.
• Updated Re-release: Little Busters ME, it is the clean version of the game but with all the extras from the EX (Ecstasy) version, released on the Key 10th Anniversary Box, and the basis for the PSV version.
  • And now there's Little Busters PE, made in honor of the release of the Anime adaptation, its basically ME but fully voiced (except Riki) like the PS Vita version.
• Utsuge: Not evident at first, but gradually getting there. Especially once you enter a Heroine route.
• Verbal Tic: Kudryavka - wafuu, Riki - Iyaiyaiya (means No no no!), Saya - Gigigouee, Ungaa. Haruka also greets people with 'yaha' and uses random sound effects in her speech.
• Video Game Cruelty Potential: During the baseball practices, you can help your team members gain bonus stats by hitting the ball towards them. Problem is, sometimes two of the girls are resting or doing something that makes them defenseless to incoming balls, and those two girls happen to be weaker than the others and could use a lot of stat raising... Also, all but one of Rin's pitches are learned (randomly?) after you piss her off by hitting one of the many cats (although it's harder to feel sympathy for the cats, as sometimes they'll block the ball that would've went to someone behind them, or jump in mid-air to intercept incoming flyballs with their body...)
• Weapon of Choice: Kengo uses a Shinai (Wooden Sword), Masato his FIST, and Rin uses her cats as weapons. The other girls also have their own weapons of choice for the battle mini-games:
  • Komari can use a penguin doll and her sketchbook.
  • Kurugaya can use her wooden sword and a machine gun (yes, really!)
  • Kud can use her dogs
  • Haruka can use glass marbles and a spinning top
  • Mio has her parasol, book, and eventually cyber weapons like a lab-grown virus, lightsabers, and finally a man-portable railgun.
• Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: You get several fake epilogues before the true one in which Riki saves everyone.

Little Busters! (リトルバスターズ!Ritoru Basutāzu!) is a Japanese visual novel developed by Key. It was released on July 27, 2007 for WindowsPCs and is rated for all ages. Little Busters! is Key's sixth game, along with other titles such as Kanon, Air, and Clannad. An adult version of the game titled Little Busters! Ecstasy was released on July 25, 2008 for Windows, unlike Kanon and Air, which were first released with adult content and then had later versions with such content removed. Ecstasy was later ported to the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 3. An English version for Windows was released on Steam in 2017. The story follows the life of Riki Naoe, a high school student who has been a member of a group of friends named the Little Busters since childhood. Riki brings multiple girls at his school into the Little Busters to have enough people to play a baseball game.

The gameplay in Little Busters! follows a branching plot line which offers pre-determined scenarios with courses of interaction, and focuses on the appeal of the six female main characters by the player character, which increases to nine in Ecstasy. There are additional minigames added into the gameplay, such as battle sequences that resemble fighting games or baseball batting practice, which serve to give the characters experience, obtain accessories to use during battle, and improve their statistics. Both Little Busters! and Ecstasy ranked as the best-selling PC game sold in Japan for the time of their release, and Ecstasy would go on to sell over 100,000 units. Key went on to produce an adult spin-off called Kud Wafter in June 2010, which expanded on the scenario of Kudryavka Noumi, one of the heroines from Little Busters! and Ecstasy.

There have been 14 manga adaptations based on Little Busters! and Ecstasy published by ASCII Media Works, Kadokawa Shoten and Ichijinsha. Comic anthologies, light novels and art books were also published, as were several music albums. There have been two Internet radio shows hosted by the voice actors of Rin and Kyousuke Natsume and Kudryavka Noumi. J.C.Staff produced two anime television series and an original video animation series between 2012 and 2014.

• 2Plot
• 3Development
• 4Adaptations
• 6Reception

Gameplay[edit]

Little Busters! is a romancevisual novel in which the player assumes the role of Riki Naoe.^[1] Much of its gameplay is spent on reading the story's narrative and dialogue. The text in the game is accompanied by character sprites, which represent who Riki is talking to, over background art. Throughout the game, the player encounters CG artwork at certain points in the story, which take the place of the background art and character sprites. When the game is completed at least once, a gallery of the viewed CGs and played background music becomes available on the game's title screen. Little Busters! follows a branching plot line with multiple endings, and depending on the decisions that the player makes during the game, the plot will progress in a specific direction.

There are seven main plot lines that the player will have the chance to experience.^[1] Throughout gameplay, the player is given multiple options to choose from, and text progression pauses at these points until a choice is made. To view all plot lines in their entirety, the player will have to replay the game multiple times and make different choices to further the plot to an alternate direction. When first playing the game, the scenarios for all six heroines are available. Once a scenario for any one heroine is completed, that scenario will be unavailable in the next play through because the last choice that will ultimately lead to that heroine's scenario becomes unavailable for players to choose. After the completion of these six routes, the final scenario called Refrain is made available, which serves to bring everything to a definite conclusion and answers questions brought up throughout the normal gameplay. Completing Refrain makes available all the heroine's scenarios that were previously made inaccessible during gameplay so that the player can revisit the scenarios again, along with some extra decision points that were previously unavailable.

Throughout gameplay, the player encounters various minigames, which range from simple to more complex. The first type of minigame encountered is a battle sequence that resembles a fighting game, but no interaction from the player is required to fight.^[1] These recurring battle sequences represent when the members of the Little Busters get into physical fights with either each other or with others. Each member of the fight has a set of statistics attributed to them (which includes strength, stamina, agility, reflex, concentration, judgment, and luck) along with a life bar to keep track of how many hit points a fighter has left. The maximum number of hit points is determined by the given fighter's stamina rating. Weapons may be used along with any accessories the fighter has in their possession, and these items may be exchanged with other characters.^[1] Another recurring minigame involves the player being able to play baseball batting practice with members of the Little Busters. The player, as Riki, controls his position and when to swing the bat.^[1]

The Little Busters will also participate in missions to accomplish some goal, and a mission will either be completed or failed depending on the choices of the player. These missions are connected with the battle sequences and batting practice in that they serve to give the characters experience, obtain accessories to use during fights, and improve their statistics.^[1] However, these missions do not affect the main plot in any way—the player even has the choice to turn off most of the minigames so that the player may focus on the main plot, including the battle sequences and batting practice. The first time that the game is played, Rin's statistics are weak compared to other characters. However, when the player completes several heroine's routes, Rin's and Riki's statistics will start out higher than before when the player starts a new game, allowing Rin and Riki to stand a better chance against opponents with higher statistics.^[1] The statistics of the Little Busters members are shown in a ranking system from highest to lowest in overall statistics.

Despite Little Busters! having a rating for all ages, there is an ample amount of CG artwork featuring the female characters in risqué situations, though never to the point to be considered sexual in nature.^[1] This is in stark contrast to Key's previous titles Clannad and Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet that also have ratings for all ages, but those titles contain no such risqué situations or even any fan service.^[2][3]

In Little Busters! Ecstasy, adult elements were added to the gameplay in the form of sexual CGs depicting Riki and a given heroine having sex. Ecstasy extends the story for the scenarios of the heroines in Little Busters!, as well as increasing the number of heroine routes from six to nine. These three heroine routes include scenarios for Kanata Futaki and Sasami Sasasegawa—two supporting characters from Little Busters!—and a new heroine named Saya Tokido who is only featured in Ecstasy. The first time the game is played, these three heroine routes are unavailable to the player until after the Refrain scenario is completed, though the player is given the option to make them immediately available. Ecstasy has several minor additions and changes to the minigames as well, including the addition of weapons available for use in the battle sequences.^[4] Also, Ecstasy features the addition of two recurring minigames related to Saya: a shooting game with pistols and navigating a labyrinth.

Plot[edit]

Setting and themes[edit]

The main part of the story takes place at a high school in Japan. There is a 'secret of this world' that Kyousuke speaks of; Kengo and Masato are also aware of this.^[5] The characters live in either the male or female dormitories on the school grounds which are across from each other. Beside the dorms is the main school building where classes take place, which also houses the cafeteria on the ground floor. The school is four stories and the roof is normally restricted from access. Beyond the main school building is the large schoolyard, with the pool area adjacent to the yard. On the other side of the field is the baseball field, with the gymnasium and tennis court beyond it, which are closer to the main school building.

Childhood and adolescence are two important themes in Little Busters!.^[6][7] The opening video of the visual novel starts with two lines written in English: 'What 'Adolescence' do you have?' and 'Do you remember 'Childhood'?'. Riki Naoe, the male protagonist, has four childhood friends with whom he grew up together through adolescence and still hangs out with when the story begins. Thus, friendship^[6][7] is another theme presented in the form of Riki's relationships with his friends in high school, and is thought to be irreplaceable. The opening video of the original visual novel contains a third line written in English, 'The irreplaceable one existed there,' though another line was added into the opening video of Little Busters! Ecstasy: 'This will remind you that you have to recollect 'Adolescence'.'

Main characters[edit]

The player assumes the role of Riki Naoe, the protagonist of Little Busters!. He is seen as weak due to his girlish appearance and physical build but is very straightforward and has more common sense than most of his friends. He is a member of a group of friends called the Little Busters, which originally consisted of four members, but expanded to five with Riki during his childhood. The leader of the Little Busters is Kyousuke Natsume, who is the eldest member. He often comes up with absurd ideas, but almost always follows up with a reasonable explanation along with it.

Kyousuke's younger sister is Rin Natsume, the main heroine of Little Busters!, and is initially the only female member of the Little Busters. She does not communicate well with others due to her poor social skills and can be seen as inarticulate. Due to this, she is shy, and is usually seen alone. Rin loves cats and at school takes care of several strays. Riki's roommate and fellow member of the Little Busters is Masato Inohara who loves to work out and improve his muscle mass. He has a particular fondness for Riki, which he is more than willing to express out aloud. Masato's rival and fellow member of the Little Busters is Kengo Miyazawa who is skilled in the art of kendo and seemingly has a cynical personality, but his passion for the Little Busters is unmatched by any of the other members.

In Little Busters!, Riki meets five other girls attending his high school who later become members of the Little Busters, in addition to three more girls in Ecstasy; all eight are heroines in the game. The first is Komari Kamikita, a childish girl who takes great interest in fairy-tales, picture books, candy, and clothing with many layers of frills. She is very clumsy, though athletic, and will often not think before she acts. Haruka Saigusa is a schoolmate of Riki's from a different class, but always finds time to hang around in Riki's classroom. She incites uproars for her own personal enjoyment, which causes her twin sister, the public morals chairman Kanata Futaki, to chase after her. Kanata generally acts cold towards her sister, though gets annoyed when Riki gets close to Haruka. Kudryavka Noumi, known as 'Kud' (クドKudo) for short, is a girl who is one quarter Japanese, and three-quarters Russian. Despite having a poor handle on the English language, she was able to skip a year in school due to credits obtained through studying abroad, making her the youngest member of the Little Busters. Kudryavka appears in Key's eighth game, Kud Wafter, as the main heroine.

Yuiko Kurugaya is Riki's classmate who has a self-sufficient personality, and is sometimes seen carrying a replica of a katana called Muramasa. She is seen as an older sister to everyone despite being the same age of almost the entire cast, and is fond of things or people she considers to be cute.^[8] Mio Nishizono is a calm girl who is very diligent. Due to having weak health, she is always seen with a parasol when outside. She enjoys reading, especially when the story contains boys love elements, and her room is filled with books. Sasami Sasasegawa is the captain of the girls' softball team and is Rin's rival; while Rin loves cats, Sasami is a devoted dog lover. Saya Tokido, who only appeared in Ecstasy, is a popular girl at Riki's school, though she is known to be ditzy. At night, she wanders around the school to protect a 'treasure' from those she calls the 'darkness executives' (闇の執行部yami no shikkōbu), and even has to fight them for it.

Story[edit]

Little Busters!' story revolves around the main protagonist Riki Naoe, a young male high school student. When Riki was a child, his parents died, leaving him hopeless and depressed. He was saved by a group—three boys and a girl, all his age—who referred to themselves as the Little Busters, a group dedicated to fighting evil and preserving justice.^[9] The leader of the group was Kyousuke Natsume who had a younger sister named Rin. The other two members were Masato Inohara and Kengo Miyazawa, who were friends despite being rivals. They took Riki out and played together with him during his time of need, making him the fifth Little Busters member. In time, Riki enjoyed playing with them, and his grief over his parents gradually faded away.^[9] When the story begins, Riki and his friends are seemingly in their second year of high school, except for Kyousuke who is in his third year. They still hang out together, and enjoy their school life.

The story opens on Sunday May 13, 2007, and the next day at school, Kyousuke decides that the Little Busters are going to play a baseball game, except they do not have enough members to have a complete team. Kyousuke gives Riki and Rin the task of going around school to find more members to join, preferably girls so as not to leave Rin the lone girl. Riki finds five girls his age willing to help him out: Komari Kamikita, Haruka Saigusa, Kudryavka Noumi, Yuiko Kurugaya, and Mio Nishizono; three other girls Riki meets are Kanata Futaki, Sasami Sasasegawa, and Saya Tokido. Throughout the game, Riki hangs out with these girls and learns more about them.

The story's main part takes place in what seems to be a normal high school, but in fact all took place in the school term previous to Little Busters!, and Riki and Rin are reliving it in an artificial world created by the other members of the Little Busters. They, and the other main characters, were involved in a bus accident during a field trip, and only the two of them will survive. Kyousuke and the others created the artificial world to make them strong enough to deal with what will happen when they awaken in the real world. This was caused by a ripple effect based on all of their desires to save Riki and Rin. The world loops, but though they forget what happens, Riki and Rin do grow stronger, and Kyousuke hopes that they will eventually be strong enough to leave the world. They do manage to survive and get away from the crash site before Riki collapses because he has narcolepsy. Riki vows to fight against his narcoleptic condition, which was the reason why he was only able to save Rin and merely get away from the explosion before collapsing.

Rejecting this turn of events, Rin travels back into the artificial world again (this time created by Riki and Rin) and helps Riki overcome his weakness. Afterwards, the two of them go back to waking up at the crash site. This time, Riki and Rin work together to save everyone at the crash scene. Kyousuke, who sneaked onto the bus (as a third year he was not allowed to go), managed to block the leak hole on the gas tank to delay the explosion, despite his injuries being far greater than anyone else. Everyone in the bus recovers from their injuries, although Kyousuke's recovery takes longer due to extensive injuries. Finally, after Kyousuke returns, he rents a minibus, and the members of the Little Busters set out for a trip to the ocean.

Development[edit]

For the first time in Key's history, two artists were given the position of art director for the visual novel: Itaru Hinoue and Na-Ga.^[10] Hinoue has been Key's signature art director since Key's first game Kanon, and Na-Ga has been with Key since the production of Air working as one of the computer graphics artists to render background art used in Key's games. Due to having two art directors, character design was split between the two, though Na-Ga is responsible for the character design of the majority of the cast. Of the six heroines in the story, three were designed by each artist; Komari, Haruka, and Yuiko were designed by Hinoue while Rin, Kudryavka, and Mio were done by Na-Ga.

For work on the scenario, Jun Maeda contributed along with composing some of the game's music.^[10] Further writers include Leo Kashida who had worked on Tomoyo After: It's a Wonderful Life, and two new scenario writers to Key—Yūto Tonokawa, and Chika Shirokiri. Maeda wrote the scenarios for Rin and the entire male cast; Kashida wrote the scenario for Mio; Tonokawa wrote the scenarios for Komari and Yuiko; finally, Shirokiri wrote the scenarios for Haruka and Kudryavka.^[11] In an interview of Maeda and Tonokawa in the August 2007 issue of Push!!, it was reported that the story of Little Busters! is twice as long as Air's, but only half as long as Clannad's. However, this does not take into account the minigames in Little Busters! which serve to lengthen the game.^[12] The music in the game, not counting Maeda's, was composed by Key's signature composers Shinji Orito and Magome Togoshi, in addition to Manack and members of PMMK.^[10] Togoshi left Key in October 2006 before the visual novel went on sale.^[13]

Three or four months before the release of Little Busters!, it was decided that an adult version of the game would be developed titled Little Busters! Ecstasy (リトルバスターズ!エクスタシーRitoru Basutāzu Ekusutashī), or Little Busters-EX for short.^[14] Na-Ga designed the heroine Saya Tokido and Maeda wrote her scenario. Tonokawa wrote Sasami Sasasegawa's scenario, and Shirokiri wrote Kanata Futaki's story. Lines from the original game were rewritten as well for Ecstasy, and the total number of lines with spoken dialogue comes to 43,347 lines.^[15][16] The total word count in Ecstasy exceeds that of Clannad by about 4,000 words, making it Key's longest work, and carries so much data that Ecstasy was released on two DVDs instead of one for the original release.^[17][18]

Marketing[edit]

An art exhibition of Little Busters! was held in Osaka, Japan between May 3 and May 4, 2007,^[19] and in Tokyo, Japan between May 24 and May 25, 2007.^[20] A large amount of the character and background art featured in the game was showcased, along with original art used to promote the character artwork, and other production sketches drawn when the game was still in development. Flowcharts outlining the story for the game were on display, along with the flowcharts for Clannad.^[21] Also at the exhibition was a life-size mannequin of Rin Natsume with a baseball glove in one hand, though instead of a baseball, a cat was in the glove.^[20] This mannequin was later put onto the Japanese Yahoo!Auction website in late September 2007 and sold for 764,000 yen,^[22] a far cry from the original wish of selling the figure for 5,000,000 yen.^[22]

Little Busters! was the first Key title to receive coverage in an entire issue of Dengeki G's Festival!, a special edition version of Dengeki G's Magazine which is published in irregular intervals each year by ASCII Media Works; the issue in question was the ninth, published on June 30, 2007. Along with a full 80 pages of information on Little Busters!, the magazine came bundled with a double-sided hug pillowcase, a small cell phone cleaner which could also attach to a cell phone, and a B5 sizejigsaw puzzle.^[11] ASCII Media Works published the third volume of another special edition version of Dengeki G's Magazine named Dengeki G's Festival! Deluxe on June 30, 2008 which had a focus on Little Busters! Ecstasy. Along with again containing about eighty pages of information pertaining to the visual novel, the magazine also comes bundled with an ergonomicmousepad, a jigsaw puzzle, and a deck of playing cards.^[23] The third volume of another magazine in the Festival! line, Dengeki G's Festival! Comic, was sold on July 26, 2008 with Rin and Dorj on the cover, and the magazine came bundled with a hug pillowcase, a notepad, and a B2 size poster.^[24]

Release history[edit]

On June 1, 2007, a free game demo of Little Busters! became available for download at Key's official website. In the demo, the player is introduced to the characters of the Little Busters group in the game through a short visual novel sequence. The demo does not give the player the chance to interact with the scene presented, making the demo a short kinetic novel. The game was released in Japan as a limited edition version on July 27, 2007 as a DVD playable on WindowsPCs;^[7][10] the regular edition was released on September 28, 2007.^[25] The limited edition contained an arrange album of some of the music featured in the game, and a 128-page visual guide book titled Natsume Kyousuke Fūrai Ki (棗恭介風来記).^[10] The book contained information and images on characters, background CGs, the art exhibition, images of the heroines published in various Japanese anime and gaming magazines, a question and answer section, information on the creators of the game, and lyrics of a couple of songs featured in the game.

Little Busters! Ecstasy was released as a limited edition version on July 25, 2008 as two DVDs playable only on a Windows PC;^[17] the regular edition followed on September 26, 2008.^[26] The limited edition came bundled with a remix album of music featured in the game, and a 22-minute length CD containing a special broadcast of the Little Busters!Internet radio show. An updated version, 1.01, for the limited edition of Ecstasy was released by Key for free on their website on September 22, 2008; the regular edition of Ecstasy contains this update.^[27][28] An all ages version of Ecstasy for Windows was released by Key on July 31, 2009 in a box set containing five other Key visual novels called Key 10th Memorial Box.^[29]

Prototype released a PlayStation 2 (PS2) port of Ecstasy titled Little Busters! Converted Edition on December 24, 2009, which removed the adult elements of the game.^[30][31] The PS2 version was available to try at Key 10th Memorial Fes, an event held in commemoration of Key's ten-year anniversary between February 28 and March 1, 2009.^[32] A PlayStation Portable (PSP) version of Little Busters! Converted Edition, also by Prototype, was released on November 25, 2010.^[33] The Windows and PS2 versions had voice acting for only the major characters, but the PSP version contained full voice acting for all of the characters other than Riki.^[33] Prototype also released a version of Little Busters! Converted Edition ported to the PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) on March 22, 2012.^[34][35] Along with also having full voice acting, the PS Vita version contains 1.4x larger CGs than the Windows edition, and the limited edition came bundled with a drama CD.^[35] Prototype released a PlayStation 3 (PS3) version of Converted Edition with the additional content included in the previous consumer ports on March 20, 2013.^[36][37] An added feature in the PS3 version is a 3D rendering of the minigame in Saya's route where the player must navigate a labyrinth.^[38] A downloadable version of the PS3 release via the PlayStation Store was released by Prototype on May 29, 2013.^[39]

Key released an all ages version of Ecstasy titled Little Busters! Perfect Edition (リトルバスターズ!パーフェクトエディション) on November 30, 2012 for Windows.^[40] The Perfect Edition contains the additional content featured in the consumer ports,^[41] and came bundled with additional merchandise including: an expanded reprint of Natsume Kyousuke Fūrai Ki, a CD containing a special recording of the Internet radio show Little Busters! R, Microsoft Gadgets, wallpapers, a Rin Natsume-themed system sounds package for Windows which uses dialogue of Tomoe Tamiyasu—the voice of Rin, and nine promotional cards from the trading card gamesWeiß Schwarz, Chaos TCG and Megami Engage.^[42] A version of the Perfect Edition for a worldwide release titled Little Busters! English Edition was released on Steam on November 1, 2017.^[43][44] The English Edition features a swappable English and Japanese script, added touchscreen support, and is in high-definition.^[43]

Adaptations[edit]

Books and publications[edit]

A series of 12 short stories were serialized in the Japanese bishōjo magazine Dengeki G's Magazine, published by ASCII Media Works. The stories, under the collective title Official Episode Collection, were published in two batches: the first six stories were published between the March 2006 and August 2006 issues, while the second batch of six were serialized between the October 2006 and March 2007 issues.^{[45][46][47][48]} In each of the two batches, one of the six stories centered on one of the six heroines, and featured illustrations by Itaru Hinoue and Na-Ga. The stories were written by the respective scenario writer for each girl: Jun Maeda wrote Rin's, Leo Kashida wrote Mio's, Yūto Tonokawa wrote Komari's and Yuiko's, and Chika Shirokiri wrote Haruka's and Kudryavka's stories.^{[45][46][47][48]} Key released five volumes of another series of official short stories, written by the original scenario staff and titled Little Busters! SS, on iOS and Android devices between November 1, 2012 and March 7, 2013.^[49][50]

A single-volume light novelanthology was released by Ichijinsha on January 25, 2008 under their DMC Novel imprint titled Little Busters! Novel Anthology. The anthology was written by six authors, and illustrated by six artists.^[51] Four volumes of a short story compilation series by several authors titled Little Busters! SSS were published by Harvest between April and November 2008.^[52][53] Harvest published a novel by Tasuku Saika titled Little Busters! Saigusa Haruka no Jikenbo (リトルバスターズ!三枝葉留佳の事件簿Little Busters! Haruka Saigusa's Trouble Record Book) in September 2008.^[54] Ten volumes of another short story compilation series by several authors called Little Busters! Ecstasy SSS were published by Harvest between January 2009 and October 2010.^[55][56] Five volumes of an adult novel series titled Little Busters! Ecstasy H&H written by several authors were published by Harvest between February and June 2009.^[57][58] Harvest published a novel by Osamu Murata titled Little Busters! Ecstasy: Bokura no Gakuensai Sensō (リトルバスターズ!エクスタシー 僕らの学園祭戦争Little Busters! Ecstasy: Our School Festival War) in March 2009.^[59]

Two volumes of a short story anthology compilation series written by Shin'ichirō Kodama, Ken'ichi Itoi, and Kachō titled LittBus. (りとばす。Ritobasu.) were released between May and July 2009.^[60][61]Paradigm published a light novel anthology character series in three volumes titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Anthology between February and June 2010.^[62][63] Harvest published a light novel anthology character series in three volumes titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Character Anthology between June and December 2010.^[64][65] Harvest published an illustrated short story anthology titled Little Busters! Ecstasy 4-Page Short Story Collection in October 2010.^[66] Paradigm published two volumes of a light novel collection between December 2010 and April 2011.^[67][68] Paradigm published a light novel based on Kudryavka, written by Masayuki Ogura and illustrated by Ayumu Shōji, on September 28, 2012.^[69][70] Paradigm also published a light novel under their VA Bunko imprint, written by Mariko Shimizu and illustrated by Zen, on October 30, 2013.^[71][72]

An art book titled Little Busters! Perfect Visual Book (リトルバスターズ! パーフェクトビジュアルブックRitoru Basutāzu! Pāfekkto Bijuaru Bukku) was released on December 20, 2007.^[73][74] Published by ASCII Media Works, the 206-page, hard-cover book contains a compilation of the published and promotional art from the visual novel, detailed character profiles and memo sections, and an overview of the visual novel's plot.^[1] Also included are all the CG scenes from the game, concept illustrations, staff interviews, and a short story 'Our' Morning' (「僕ら」の朝'Bokura' no Asa) written by Yūto Tonokawa. A short section also includes the sheet music and lyrics of the vocal songs featured in the game.^[1] Included with the book were two pencil boards. The statistics of the battle equipment used in the mini-games are listed on one of the boards.^[1] Another art book titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Perfect Visual Book (リトルバスターズ!エクスタシー パーフェクトビジュアルブックRitoru Basutāzu! Ekusutashī Pāfekkto Bijuaru Bukku) was released on December 19, 2008 by ASCII Media Works.^[75]

Manga[edit]

A four-panelcomic stripmanga, titled Little Busters! The 4-koma and illustrated by Yūya Sasagiri, was serialized between the March 2006 and March 2010 issues of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine.^[45][76] Some chapters begin as a normal manga layout and follow with comic strips. An 'extra' chapter was published in the ninth volume of Dengeki G's Festival! on June 30, 2007, and special chapters of the manga have been published in ASCII Media Works's manga magazine Dengeki G's Festival! Comic.^[77] Four tankōbon volumes were released between August 27, 2007 and April 27, 2010, published by ASCII Media Works under their Dengeki Comics EXimprint.^[78][79]Sasagiri also illustrates the Little Busters! EX The 4-koma four-panel comic strip manga, which began serialization in the June 2010 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine.^[80] The manga ended serialization in the magazine's May 2014 issue and continued serialization in Dengeki G's Comic between the June and December 2014 issues.^[81][82] Four volumes for Little Busters! EX The 4-koma were released between February 26, 2011, and January 27, 2015.^[83][84]

A third manga, titled Little Busters! and illustrated by Nobuyuki Takagi, was serialized in Dengeki G's Festival! Comic between November 26, 2007 and October 25, 2013.^[85][86] Six volumes of Takagi's Little Busters! manga were released between April 27, 2009 and December 21, 2013.^[87][88]A fourth manga, titled Little Busters! and illustrated by Mogura Anagura, was serialized between the May 2008^[89] and April 2010 issues of Kadokawa Shoten's magazine Comp Ace and was referred to as the 'official Little Busters! comic'.^[89] Two volumes were released for Anagura's Little Busters! manga: the first on September 26, 2008, and the second on April 22, 2010.^[90][91]

A fifth manga adaptation, titled Little Busters! Ecstasy: Saya Tokido School Revolution (リトルバスターズ!エクスタシー 朱鷺戸沙耶 -SCHOOL REVOLUTION-) and illustrated by Zen, was serialized in Dengeki G's Festival! Comic between January 26, 2009 and February 23, 2010.^[92][93] A single volume of Saya Tokido School Revolution was released on April 27, 2010.^[94]Zen also illustrated the Little Busters! Ecstasy: Sasami Sasasegawa Black Cat Fantasia (リトルバスターズ!エクスタシー 笹瀬川佐々美 -Black Cat Fantasia-) manga, which was serialized in Dengeki G's Festival! Comic between June 26, 2010^[95] and April 26, 2011. A single volume of Sasami Sasasegawa Black Cat Fantasia was released on May 27, 2011.^[96]Zen later illustrated the Little Busters! Ecstasy: Kanata Futaki My Minroud (リトルバスターズ! EX 二木佳奈多 〜My Minroud〜) manga as well, which was serialized in Dengeki G's Festival! Comic between June 23, 2011 and June 26, 2012. A single volume of Kanata Futaki My Minroud was released on August 27, 2012.^[97]

Zen also illustrated the manga Little Busters! End of Refrain, which began serialization in the November 2012 issue of Dengeki G's Magazine.^[98] The manga ended serialization in the magazine's May 2014 issue and continued serialization in Dengeki G's Comic between the June 2014 and January 2015 issues.^[81][99] Four volumes of End of Refrain were released between March 27, 2013 and January 27, 2015.^[100][101]Zen later illustrated the manga Little Busters! Last of Refrain (リトルバスターズ! Last of Refrain), which was serialized in Dengeki G's Comic from the November 2016 issue sold on September 30, 2016 to the May 2019 issue sold on March 30, 2019.^[102][103] The first volume of Last of Refrain, which contains chapters published before the serialization, was released on September 27, 2016;^[104] two volumes have been released as of February 27, 2018.^[105]

A tenth manga, titled Little Busters! Ecstasy: Wonderbit Wandering (リトルバスターズ!エクスタシー　ワンダービット ワンダリング) and illustrated by Juri Misaki, was serialized between the May 2010^[106][107] and January 2012 issues of Comp Ace. Three volumes of Wonderbit Wandering were released between September 25, 2010 and December 26, 2011.^[108][109]An 11th manga, titled Little Busters! Kudryavka Noumi (リトルバスターズ! 能美クドリャフカ) and illustrated by Kazusa Yoneda, was serialized between the April 2011^[110] and March 2013 issues of Ichijinsha's Comic Rex. Four volumes for Kudryavka Noumi were released between August 27, 2011 and March 27, 2013.^[111][112]A 12th, four-panel comic strip manga, titled Little Busters! Band Mission (リトルバスターズ!ばんどみっしょん) and illustrated by Misaki Sakura, was serialized between the August 2011^[113] and March 2013 issues of Ichijinsha's Manga 4-koma Palette. A 13th manga, titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Heartful (リトルバスターズ!エクスタシーはーとふる) and illustrated by Itotin, was serialized between the May 2012 and December 2013 issues of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Hime.^[114][115] Three volumes of Little Busters! Ecstasy Heartful were released between October 15, 2012 and December 15, 2013.^[116][117]A 14th manga, titled Little Busters! and illustrated by Kurohachi, was serialized between the November 2012^[118] and July 2013 issues of Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq. Two volumes of Kurohachi's Little Busters! manga were released between March 9 and September 26, 2013.^[119][120]

There have also been many sets of manga anthologies produced by different companies and drawn by a multitude of different artists. Six volumes of the earliest anthology series, a collection of four-panel comic strips released by Enterbrain under the title Magi-Cu 4-koma Little Busters!, were released between September 2007 and July 2008 under their MC Comics imprint.^[121][122] Three volumes of an anthology series released by Ichijinsha under the title Little Busters! Comic Anthology were released between October 2007 and July 2008 under their DNA Media Comics imprint.^[123][124] Three volumes of an anthology series released by Ohzora under the title Little Busters were released between November 2007 and January 2008 under their Twin Heart Comics imprint.^[125][126] Another anthology was released in a single volume by Harvest on December 20, 2007 titled Ike! Ike! Bokura no Little Busters! (いけ!いけ!僕らのリトルバスターズ!Go! Go! Our Little Busters!).^[127] A manga anthology titled Little Busters! Comic A La Carte (リトルバスターズ!コミックアラカルト) appeared in Comp Ace.^[128]

Enterbrain released 17 volumes of a collection of four-panel comic strips under the title Magi-Cu 4-koma Little Busters! Ecstasy between November 2008 and August 2012.^[129][130] Four volumes of an anthology titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Comic Anthology were released by Ichijinsha between November 2008 and August 2011.^[131][132] Ichijinsha released 10 volumes of the anthology Little Busters! Ecstasy Ecstatic Anthology between July 2009 and November 2013.^[133][134] An anthology published by Brain Navi titled Little Busters! Ecstasy 4-koma Maximum (リトルバスターズ！エクスタシー 4コマMAXIMUMRitoru Basutāzu! Ekusutashī 4-koma MAXIMUM) was released in December 2008.^[135] Another anthology titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Comic A La Carte (リトルバスターズ！エクスタシー コミックアラカルト) appeared in Comp Ace and a single volume was released in April 2010.^[136] Two volumes of a manga anthology based on the Little Busters! Ecstasy H&H novel anthologies were released by Harvest in June and August 2010.^[137][138]

ASCII Media Works released two volumes of an anthology titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Comic Anthology between December 2012 and February 2013.^[139][140] Enterbrain released three volumes of a collection of four-panel comic strips under the title Magi-Cu 4-koma Little Busters! Re:play between December 2012 and March 2013.^[141][142] Ichijinsha published an anthology drawn by Haruka Hano titled Ring Ring Busters! in January 2013.^[143] Ichijinsha published an anthology titled TV Anime Little Busters! Comic Anthology in March 2013.^[144] Each of the anthology series are written and drawn by an average of 20 people per volume.^{[123][145][146]}

Internet radio shows[edit]

An Internet radio show to promote Little Busters! called Natsume Brothers! (ナツメブラザーズ!Natsume Burazāzu!) had a pre-broadcast on June 9, 2008, and started regular broadcasting on June 23, 2008.^[147] The show was hosted by Tomoe Tamiyasu and Hikaru Midorikawa, who voice Rin and Kyousuke Natsume from Little Busters!, for the first 35 broadcasts.^[148] Starting with the following broadcast on March 2, 2009, the show's title was changed to Natsume Brothers! (21) (ナツメブラザーズ! (21)Natsume Burazāzu! (21)), and a third host was added, Miyako Suzuta, who voices Kudryavka Noumi from Little Busters!.^[149] The show's final broadcast, episode 170, was on October 24, 2011. The show was streamed online every Monday, and was produced by the Japanese Internet radio station Onsen.

An exclusive 22-minute broadcast of the show was included with the first press release of Little Busters! Ecstasy sold on July 25, 2008.^[150] Four CD compilation volumes containing the 35 episodes of Natsume Brothers! (including the pre-broadcast) were released between September 24, 2008 and March 26, 2009.^[151][152] Another 15 CD compilation volumes containing most of the 170 episodes of Natsume Brothers! (21) were released between June 26, 2009 and February 24, 2012;^[153][154] episodes 64 through 98 of Natsume Brothers! (21) were not sold in CD compilation volumes.^[155][156] An exclusive broadcast of Natsume Brothers! (21) was included with the release of the PlayStation 2 version of the game, Little Busters! Converted Edition, on December 24, 2009.^[30]

A second Internet radio show to promote the anime adaptation titled Little Busters! R broadcast 99 episodes between October 5, 2012 and September 12, 2014.^[157][158] Like the previous radio show, it was normally hosted by Tamiyasu, Midorikawa and Suzuta. However, once a month, the show was hosted by Midorikawa and Nobutoshi Canna, who voices Masato Inohara.^[159] The show was streamed online every Friday and was produced by Hibiki and Onsen.^[157][160] The 99 episodes were released on 11 compilation volumes between January 30, 2013 and January 28, 2015.^[161]

Visual Novel Little Busters Ex English Patch

Anime[edit]

A 26-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by Yoshinobu Yamakawa and produced by J.C.Staff,^[162] aired in Japan between October 6, 2012^[163][164] and April 6, 2013 on Tokyo MX. The series was also streamed by Crunchyroll with English subtitles.^[165] The screenplay was written by Michiru Shimada, and chief animator Haruko Iizuka based the character design used in the anime on Itaru Hinoue's and Na-Ga's original designs.^[166][167] The anime series was released on nine BD/DVD compilation volumes between December 26, 2012 and August 28, 2013 by Warner Home Video in limited and regular editions.^[168][169] A BD containing an original video animation (OVA) episode was available for mail order to those who bought all nine limited edition BD/DVD volumes.^[170] The anime has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for release in North America.^[171]Section23 Films released two BD/DVD collections on November 19, 2013 and April 22, 2014.^[172][173] Hanabee Entertainment has licensed the series in Australia and New Zealand for a January 2014 release on BD and DVD.^[174]MVM Films has licensed the series in the United Kingdom.^[175]

The staff and cast from the anime returned for a 13-episode second season titled Little Busters! Refrain, which mainly covers the final scenario in the visual novel.^[176][177] It aired between October 5 and December 28, 2013 on AT-X. The episodes were released on seven BD/DVD compilation volumes between January 29 and July 30, 2014 by Warner Home Video in limited and regular editions.^[178][179]Refrain has also been licensed by Sentai Filmworks, and it was released on BD and DVD on January 20, 2015.^[180][181] A series of eight OVA episodes titled Little Busters! EX, based on the Ecstasy version of the game, are included on the BD/DVD releases of Refrain.^[182] Sentai Filmworks also licensed Little Busters! EX.^[183]

For the first season, the opening theme is 'Little Busters! (TV animation ver.)' and the ending theme is 'Alicemagic (TV animation ver.)'. Both songs are sung by Rita and are remixes of the theme songs featured in the original visual novel. For Refrain, the opening theme is 'Boys be Smile' by Suzuyu and the ending theme is 'Kimi to no Nakushi Mono' (君とのなくしもの) by Ayaka Kitazawa.^[184] For Little Busters! EX, the opening theme is 'Little Busters! EX' by Rita and the ending theme 'Mezameta Asa ni wa Kimi ga Tonari ni' (目覚めた朝にはきみが隣に) by Suzuyu. The rest of the soundtrack for both anime series is sampled from albums released for the visual novels, Little Busters! Original Soundtrack and Little Busters! Ecstasy Tracks, and the Little Busters! Refrain Original Soundtrack.

Music[edit]

The visual novel Little Busters! has six main theme songs, starting with the opening theme 'Little Busters!', sung by Rita. There are four different ending themes; three depend on what heroine's story is completed, and the last is the game's final ending theme. The first ending theme for Yuiko's story is 'Song for friends', which is also used as the first ending theme of the Refrain scenario. The ending theme for Komari and Haruka is 'Alicemagic', which is also used as the second ending theme for Yuiko. The ending theme for Kudryavka and Mio is 'Amenochi Hare' (雨のち晴れClear Weather After the Rain), and the final ending theme is 'Little Busters! (Little Jumper Ver.)', which is used as the second ending theme of Refrain. One last theme song is an insert song played during Refrain called 'Haruka Kanata' (遥か彼方Faraway). The insert song and each of the ending themes are also sung by Rita. While not a theme song, the ending theme for Rin's scenario is the background music track 'Regret' composed by PMMK. Seven of the main characters from Little Busters! have background musicleitmotifs—the original six heroines, and Kyousuke Natsume.^[185] Rin's theme is 'Ring Ring Ring!'; Komari's theme is 'Mahō no Ensemble' (魔法のアンサンブルMagic Ensemble); Haruka's theme is 'Sawagashi Otome no Yūshū' (騒がし乙女の憂愁Grief of a Noisy Girl); Kudryavka's theme is 'Exotic Toybox' (えきぞちっく・といぼっくすEkizochikku Toibokkusu); Yuiko's theme is 'Kokoroiro Kisōkyoku' (心色綺想曲Heart-colored Capriccio); Mio's theme is 'Hikari ni Yosete' (光に寄せてApproaching Light); lastly, Kyousuke's theme is 'Boys Don't Cry'.^[185]

Little Busters! Ecstasy features a remixed version of 'Little Busters!' as the game's opening theme called 'Little Busters! (Ecstasy Ver.)'.^[186] The song is a remixed version of the remix included in the album Rockstar Busters!. Ecstasy also features remixed versions of the ending themes 'Song for friends' and 'Alicemagic'. The former is a remix version featuring less lyrics and is renamed to 'Song for friends (No Intro Ver.)', while the latter is the remix included on Rockstar Busters!, but renamed to 'Alicemagic (Rockstar Ver.)'. The remix of 'Alicemagic' is used as the ending theme for Kanata's and Sasami's stories, and the remix of 'Song for friends' is used as a background music track. A new theme song featured in Ecstasy is Saya's ending theme 'Saya's Song' and is sung by Lia.^[186] Saya's leitmotif is called 'Kakeru' (駆けるRun) and is a remix version of the song 'Hashiru' (走るRun) on Riya's 2005 album Love Song released by Key Sounds Label. Kanata's leitmotif is 'Will&Wish', and Sasami's theme is 'Neko to Garasu to Marui Tsuki' (猫と硝子と円い月Cat, Glass, and the Round Moon).

A maxi single titled 'Little Busters!' was released in May 2007.^[187] This first single contained 'Little Busters!', 'Haruka Kanata', and 'Alicemagic' in original and instrumental versions. As with Key's previous works (excluding Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet), a music album came bundled with the limited edition release of the game; the album, released on July 27, 2007, was called Semicrystalline. and contained arranged versions of 10 tracks of the game's music.^[188] Eight of the tracks were background music while the last two were remix versions of 'Little Busters!' and 'Haruka Kanata'. The game's original soundtrack was first released in August 2007 at Comiket 72 containing three discs with 53 tracks. Of the 53 total tracks, three were left out of the visual novel. The original soundtrack was re-released in Japanese stores on September 28, 2007.^[189] Two more albums were released at Comiket 73 in December 2007: another arrange album titled Rockstar Busters! and an image song single called 'Rin no Hisoka na Koi no Uta / Mission:Love sniper' sung by Tomoe Tamiyasu, the voice actress who voiced Rin in the game.^[190]

In February 2008, a tranceremix album of Little Busters! themes titled OTSU Club Music Compilation Vol.2 was released by OTSU—a disc jockey unit composed of a number of different remix artists.^[191] An EP was released in May 2008 containing original and remix versions of 'Little Busters!', 'Faraway', and 'Alicemagic';^[192] the remix versions are from the second OTSU Club Music Compilation album.^[191] A remix album titled Ontology containing arranged versions of nine tracks from Little Busters! Ecstasy was released bundled with the limited edition release of that game on July 25, 2008.^[17] A soundtrack containing the additional music tracks in Ecstasy titled Little Busters! Ecstasy Tracks was released in August 2008 at Comiket 74.^[186] An image song single called 'Saya no Nemureru Requiem / Saya's Song' sung by Harumi Sakurai, the voice actress who voiced Saya in Little Busters! Ecstasy, was released in February 2009 as a limited edition, and for general sale in March 2010.^[193] Two more image song singles were released in December 2009 at Comiket 77: 'Raison / Pickles o Oishikusuru Tsukurikata' sung by Keiko Suzuki who voiced Kanata Futaki in Little Busters!, and 'Neko to Garasu to Marui Tsuki / Alicemagic (Aroma Tablet mix)' sung by Tomoe Tamiyasu who voiced Sasami Sasasegawa.^[194][195]

A remix album titled Deejay Busters!, featuring tracks from Little Busters!, Ecstasy and Kud Wafter, was released in May 2011.^[196] A single sung by Rita was released in October 2012 for the first anime series titled 'Little Busters! / Alicemagic', which contains the anime's opening and ending themes in original, short, and instrumental versions.^[197] A piano arrange album titled Ripresa, which also features tracks from Little Busters!, Ecstasy and Kud Wafter, was released in April 2013.^[198] A single sung by Suzuyu was released in October 2013 for the Little Busters! Refrain anime series titled 'Boys be Smile / Mezameta Asa ni wa Kimi ga Tonari ni', which contains the anime's opening theme.^[199] A single sung by Ayaka Kitazawa was released in November 2013 for the Refrain anime series titled 'Kimi to no Nakushi Mono / Namidairo no Tsubasa', which contains the anime's ending theme.^[200] A soundtrack containing tracks featured in the Refrain anime titled Little Busters! Refrain Original Soundtrack was released in December 2013 at Comiket 85.^[201] A compilation album titled Little Busters! Perfect Vocal Collection mainly containing previously released vocal tracks for the visual novels and anime adaptations was released in April 2014.^[201] Each of the albums released were on Key's record label Key Sounds Label.

Reception[edit]

Critical reception[edit]

Getchu.com hosts a yearly voting poll called the 'Getchu.com Bishōjo Game Ranking' where game users vote online for the best games of the previous year in several different categories. For the 2007 ranking, the categories were: overall, scenario, theme songs, background music, visuals, gameplay system, and heroines. In February 2008, users cast votes for more than 470 different titles released in 2007, and among the rankings, Little Busters! ranked first in all categories aside from visuals (placing third), and gameplay system (placing second).^{[202][203][204][205][206][207][208]} Rin ranked as the number one most popular heroine, while Kudryavka ranked fourth, and Komari ranked 13th.^[208] For the 2008 ranking, the categories were: overall, scenario, gameplay system, graphics, opening theme video, vocal theme songs, background music, individual characters, individual voices, and game title naming.

In early 2009, users of Getchu.com cast votes for more than 400 different titles released in 2008, and among the rankings, Little Busters! Ecstasy ranked second overall,^[209] second in scenario,^[210] third in gameplay system,^[211] twelfth in graphics,^[212] fifth in opening theme video,^[213] third in vocal theme songs,^[214] second in background music,^[215] fifth (Saya Tokido) and tenth (Kudryavka Noumi) for individual characters,^[216] first (Kazane's role as Saya Tokido) and sixth (Tomoe Tamiyasu's role as Rin Natsume) for individual voices,^[217] and second for game title naming.^[218] The PS Vita port in 2012 was reviewed by the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu, which gave it an overall score of 30/40 (out of the four individual review scores of 8, 8, 7, and 7).^[219]

In a review of the first six episodes of the anime adaptation, Carl Kimlinger of Anime News Network gave Little Busters! a C rating overall, criticizing its overuse of the 'same gags over and over again, with predictably diminishing returns.' He praised the 'guy-to-girl ratio' compared to other series made by Key, but notes that Riki is a 'bland main character.' Kimlinger panned J.C.Staff's 'unexciting professionalism' and for 'animation that is only good enough to avoid looking cheap.'^[220]

Sales[edit]

From June to July 2007, the limited edition of Little Busters! ranked second in national PC game pre-orders in Japan.^[221] The limited edition version of Little Busters! ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in July 2007.^[222] The game (which includes the regular edition) ranked consecutively seven more times achieving sales rankings of 14th, 25th twice in a row, 37th, 39th twice in a row, and 41st between the months of August 2007 and February 2008.^[222][223] According to public sales information published at Gamasutra, taken from the Japanese Amazon website, Little Busters! was the number one top seller between July 26, 2007 and August 17, 2007 for Japanese PC game sales.^{[224][225][226]} The game dropped to third highest the following week taken from August 24, 2007.^[227]Little Busters! was the highest selling game for the month of July 2007 on Getchu.com, and dropped to twelfth in the ranking the following month.^[228][229] Regardless of the drop in ratings earlier in the year, Little Busters! ended up as the most widely sold game of 2007 on Getchu.com.^[230]

From May to July 2008, Little Busters! Ecstasy ranked first in national PC game pre-orders in Japan. The limited edition version of Little Busters! Ecstasy ranked first in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in July 2008.^[231]Ecstasy sold quickly in Akihabara on its first day of sales, and by the end of the first day about half the stores were already sold out of the game. By the next day, the majority of stores in Akihabara were sold out of Ecstasy.^[232] Only four days after Ecstasy's initial release, Key reported that many stores were already sold out of the game as well.^[233] Three months after Ecstasy's initial release, Key reported that the game had already sold over 100,000 units.^[234]Little Busters! Perfect Edition ranked at 18th in terms of national sales of PC games in Japan in November 2012.^[235]

The nine anime Blu-ray Disc (BD) compilation volumes for the anime's first season ranked in the top ten on Japan's Oricon weekly BD sales chart.^{[236][237][238][239][240][241][242][243][244]} The first three volumes sold over 8,000 units each in their first week of sales.^{[236][237][238]} For Little Busters! Refrain, the seven BD volumes ranked in the top ten on Japan's Oricon weekly BD sales chart.^{[245][246][247][248][249][250][251]}

Legacy[edit]

A cover version of 'Little Busters!' appeared in the sequel of Front Wing's visual novel Time Leap titled Time Leap Paradise released on July 24, 2009.^[252] Rin and Kudryavka were featured as characters in Illusion's Characolle! 3D animation program series. The program's third entry, Characolle! Key, was released on March 4, 2011, and included the characters' models and scenery assets based on the locals in Little Busters! as part of the package.^[253]

After the success of Little Busters! and Ecstasy, an adult spin-off titled Kud Wafter was developed by Key and released on June 25, 2010.^[254] Set directly after the events of Little Busters!, the story follows Riki and Kudryavka as they start to see more of each other in a romantic relationship at the onset of summer vacation.^[255] A mobile app game for iOS and Android titled Little Busters! Card Mission, produced through VisualArt's and distributed via Mobage, was released on April 24, 2013.^[256] The player collects cards of varying rarity featuring Little Busters! characters, obtained through completing various minigame missions, to form a team. The player then trains his or her team to improve their statistics and eventually challenge others who play the game.^[257]Paradigm published the first volume of an art book series for the game titled Little Busters! Card Mission ArtWorks on April 29, 2014.^[258] A Blu-ray Disc game, produced by VisualArt's and titled Nishizono Mio Misshitsu Satsujin Jiken? (西園美魚密室殺人事件?Mio Nishizono's Locked-Room Murder Case?), was released on the first BD/DVD compilation volume for the Little Busters! Refrain anime series on January 29, 2014.^[182] Characters from Little Busters! also appeared in the mobile game Rewrite IgnisMemoria as part of a collaboration event.^[259]

Notes and references[edit]

1. ^ ^abcdefghijkLittle Busters! Perfect Visual Book (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works. December 20, 2007. pp. 1–206. ISBN978-4-8402-4156-4.
2. ^Key. Clannad (in Japanese). Windows. VisualArt's.
3. ^Key. Planetarian: The Reverie of a Little Planet (in Japanese). Windows. VisualArt's.
4. ^Yūto Tonokawa (September 5, 2008). 'Little Busters-EX Regular Edition Publicity Journal' (in Japanese). Key. Retrieved September 5, 2008.
5. ^Untranslated quote: この世界には秘密がある
   Translated quote: 'This world has a secret.'
   Key (July 27, 2007). Little Busters! (in Japanese). VisualArt's.
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8. ^Untranslated quote: 可愛いものは好きだよ、私は
   Translated quote: 'I like cute things.'
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External links[edit]

• Little Busters! official website(in Japanese)
• Little Busters! Ecstasy official website(in Japanese)
• Anime official website(in Japanese)
• Little Busters! at The Visual Novel Database
• Little Busters! (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia