Sunday 14 October 2012

Little Busters! - Episode 2

With their leader having decided on a whim to set up a baseball team, it's time to start finding some potential recruits to ensure they create a memorable and winning side.  What better first port of call then than a clumsy, dim girl with a love of sweets?

Naoe's first port choice for a potential recruit is Kamikita, who is just such a girl - although there's no faulting her enthusiasm, she doesn't exactly seem like a natural when it comes to playing baseball.  Nonetheless, Naoe invites her to join the Little Busters, safe in the knowledge that she's unlikely to bite on that offer.


In the meantime, Rin's avoidance of her classmates and after-school duties to play with the local cats sees her passed a message by one of her feline friends - a pair of notes promising to let the finder in on a secret inherent within the world provided certain tasks are completed, the first of which is to clean up the storage room for the boy's dorm.  For whatever reason, Rin feels to compel this task, roping the other boys into doing likewise before Kamikita joins the group to offer her baseball playing services.  Realising that she isn't really cut out for such sporting endeavours, Kyousuke decides that she needs to pass a test before being allowed to join... a test which she aces thanks to Kyousuke's rather unique worldview.  It's to Naoe that our attentions return as the episode ends however, as his narcolepsy comes back to haunt him.

After two episodes, this certainly does feel like a Key visual novel adaptation - from its flashes of well-timed good humour through to its oddball characters that teeter expertly on the verge between annoying and lovable, and with the first suggestions of some darker times ahead sprinkled throughout, this seems to be a solid adaptation so far that is hitting all the right notes.  It's far too early to discern its eventual destination (as someone who has never played that visual novel, at least), but it feels as if it should be a fun journey, and it's one that I'm mildly enjoying so far.

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