First Impressions / Little Busters!

「れっつ、るっきんぐふぉーるーむめいとなのです」 (Rettsu, Rukkingu Fō Rūmumeito nano desu)
“Let’s Looking For Roommates!”

Probably the best episode of Little Busters! so far, though that should hardly come as a surprise.

It would be easy to sum up the strength of this episode with “Duh – it’s Kud!” And while our little Euro-Asian hybrid is without question the most entertaining of all the girls we’ve seen so far (at least to me) this was a pretty strong ep on multiple levels. I think it played up the strengths that LB had displayed through the first eight eps, and managed to avoid most of the weaknesses.

What makes this series work for me, mostly, is the slightly off-center humor and relentlessly good-natured attitude that keeps it from becoming a cloying and insufferable mess. It’s just weird enough and plenty sincere enough to work, and for me is mostly does – like an overeager pug that’s too cute for its own good and way too eager to the point of annoyance, but that’s also impossible to stay mad at. And so far it’s mostly free of the overwrought melodrama that was a fixture of Clannad almost from the beginning, though I know we’re going to get our fair share of that before too long.

Kud is another one of those characters that at first glance seems like she’d be way too much for me to take, but much more so than Komari I find her to be thoroughly irresistible. “Wafu!” is pretty much a stock Key catch phrase – though it’s cute when she says it – but it’s when she lets loose with a “Coincidentally, I’m a girl too.” that I really fall for her. Especially when Riki delivers the perfect Manzai comeback, “I think we already knew that.” I also love her incredibly schlocky “Japanese” decor – courtesy of her Grandpa in Finland. LB is a shamelessly silly show, and Kud is the shameless-est and silliest of the bunch – a completely unrealistic character, but genuinely funny and hard not to love. I’m not putting her on the level of Kate (Sketch Book) but her mangled language skills (is the episode title an intentional homage to her, or actual Engrish?) and odd manner set her apart from the boatloads of generic harem girls that populate anime casts everywhere. Yes, she’s way too cute – but again, I think it works here because with Key this doesn’t feel manufactured and manipulative – it’s just what Key is.

Of course, it wasn’t all Kud this week – though her search for a roommate did dominate the episode. That quest brought us the introduction of Nishizono Mio (Tatsumi Yuiko, one of the few cast changes from the VN). One of many candidates “interviewed” to be the lonely Russo-Japanese charmer’s roommate, she’s deadpan, a serious reader and according to Riki, never speaks to anyone in class. I don’t know if she’s major enough to have her own route but she wasn’t introduced to be ignored, so we’ll see more of her I’m sure. It was also a big week for Kanata, who was her usual oni-like self as head of the Disciplinary Committee, but actually ended up volunteering to take in Kud when no one else stepped up (they do have the dogs in common, I suppose). You knew she was going to soften up sooner or later – there are certain rules for these things that simply can’t be ignored – but this is clearly the first step on her journey to character redemption. I especially liked the little pat on the head she gave Kud after effectively ordering her to move into her room.

I confess I thought for a moment that we might have a “Bosom Buddies” scenario where Riki goes into trap mode (he’d be a natural) to live with Kud, but this isn’t that kind of show (and poor Masato, think of him). What we did get this week was some of the nicest-looking animation JC Staff has delivered in the series (this scene especially was beautifully done). Rather than launch into Kud’s route, it looks as if we’re going to have a stand-alone type of episode next week, with the guys stepping back into the spotlight – another interesting choice by staff of the adaptation, though I confess a few more weeks of Kud would have been fine with me. But there’s something to be said for saving her for a bit as something to be looked forward to, and as an official member of the Little Busters (and quite an outfielder) we’re sure to see more of her.

 

Preview

43 Comments

  3. Kud is arguably the most popular character of LB. Personally, I wonder whether she’d have been as well received had she been taller (think Haruka’s height), or even a Blonde Bishoujo though?

    As for Kanata – well….

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Andmeuths
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  9. I confess I thought for a moment that we might have a “Bosom Buddies” scenario where Riki goes into trap mode (he’d be a natural) to live with Kud, but this isn’t that kind of show

    I grinned twice here

    by the way, new BGM was Kanata’s theme from LBEX. I’m looking forward her route being translated in the VN.

    JY
    Reply

  13. We can all agree that Kud enter in the Weapon of Mass Destruction category alongside PapaKiki’s Hina. The Wafu is way too strong in her that even Kuragaya saw that she could die from HNNNNNGGGGGG!
    Kanata surprised me. Seems that there’s a golden heart inside her usual iceberg-ruthless appeal. No wonder Belka and Strelka (Ace Combat reference here?) are fine with her.

    SeedStriker
    Reply

    1. It’s funny, but for me where Kud feels very natural characters like Hina (and Hina specifically) feel very calculated. That’s why I say the moe here works because it’s just the natural state of affairs, not a put-on. And for me, that makes a big difference.

      Guardian Enzo
      Reply

  15. In my opinion Kud’s route is the worst of all original Little Busters!-Routes…~ <.<
    Really I can't understand why she's so popular. It's not like I hate her but I just don't care about her… <.<

    Sollololol
    Reply

  17. Key is no stranger to assigning specific onomatopoeia for their characters:

    Kanon – Uguu (Ayu), Auu~ (Makoto) and ~dayo (Nayuki), coupled with Shiori’s tendency to comment on stuff that she dislikes (kirai desu), and Mai’s tendency to say “I don’t hate it” for stuff she likes (kirai janai).

    AIR – Gao~ (Misuzu)

    CLANNAD – Surprisingly I can’t think of any.

    Kud’s “Wafuu~” is a return to form of sorts for Maeda Jun.

    As Maeda’s officially retired from writing after LB, I have no idea whether Key maintained this tradition in their new game Rewrite.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. Well.. I can’t complain
      Seeing LB animated is like a dream come true for a hopeless KEY fanboy like me XD
      I’ve seen VN anime adaptations with far worse animation quality *cough*Da Capo*cough*

      Helvetica Standard
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  19. I don’t know if she’s major enough to have her own route but she wasn’t introduced to be ignored, so we’ll see more of her I’m sure.

    She’s one of the 6+3 heroines available in LB. With Kanata, Sasami and one more not named for spoiler purposes the extra three.

    Speaking of Kanata, I was expecting JC Staff to keep up her antagonistic side for a while longer, but I’m pleasantly surprised they decided to show glimpses of her good nature this early on. They even played her theme song in that scene.

    Without going into spoilers, when I first played Haruka’s route, Kanata started out as an antagonist, and for the duration of Haruka’s route before the ending, I actually hated her for some of her seemingly baffling antagonistic actions.

    Of course, the ending resolved and explained all that, and my impression of her became positive since, more so after playing her route, which was pretty much her POV of things. And now she’s one of my favourite LB girls.

    Kinny Riddle
    Reply

    1. I never really got to hating Kanata during Haruka’s route–hate is such a strong word anyway–mostly because she was so arbitrarily antagonistic. I kept expecting some greater scheme to the entire drama and sure enough we eventually got there.

      Passerby
      Reply

  21. V/n readers, any news as to when the sobfest will start? (all of these moments seem phony, just gimme the real gig already!?)

    Kud was cute, though…(at least she doesn’t sound as annoying as Komari…)

    KingofConquerors
    Reply

    1. well.. it depends on what route they decide to delve into (if they are animating all of them, of course) I would say…
      Show Spoiler ▼

      Helvetica Standard
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  23. What do you see in Kud so far beyond the Moe, Wafuu, and dog-like traits Guardian Enzo? That’s something I’m quite curious about: is Kud both Moe but deeper simultaneously, to you?

    Andmeuths
    Reply

  24. One of the best episode so far… I don’t know if it’s because of Wafu or not, but the obvious thing that the staffs put a lot more of care for this episode.

    I hope this good trend will continue (and I hope they could dump more veteran staffs for the future important episodes, especially for the refrain)

    zeroyuki92
    Reply

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