Little Busters!: Refrain Episode 1 - Refrain Is Here!

Hello guys. Tadashi here and today I'll be talking about the first episode of Little Busters!: Refrain.

OP Sequence

The episode begins with Kyousuke speaking some kind of monologue. He ends it by saying he's going to 'start anew'. Who knows what this could mean? J.C. Staff sure made it so that you can definitely feel like something dark is looming overhead. Kyousuke speaking this monologues turns out to be just part of a dream that Riki is having and he wakes up confused about what he just dreamed about.

Komari had promised to host a pancake party after they're baseball game and now is that time. Everyone is helping out decorating the room, preparing the food, and most of all, just being happy. If you're actually focusing on this, watching everyone all jolly and happy makes the viewers just as happy. They seem to be having a genuinely good time.

So happy together :D

WAFUU-desu~ 

LOL a bunch of morons hahahaha

LOLOLOL censored...

As they were enjoying themselves, there were three girls and two of the three were talking bad about Yui behind her back. No one else noticed, but Yui definitely did.

tsk tsk

While they were cleaning up, Riki seemd to have some kind of flashback where it's Kyousuke talking abuout how they won't always be together, and then the story of the dwarfs from the first season came up before Rin called out to Riki and snapped him out of it.

woah woah

Riki...

T_T

As they were walking back, Yui sees the three girls again talking about her and gives off the scary Yui look. Looks like she's well aware of what's been happening.

Later on, Riki is seen sitting on a ledge looking out at the rain. He begins to start to remembering something but he can't grasp it fully. He feels like it's something very important. Kurugaya is also playing the piano and broadcasting it through the P.A. int he background which only adds on to Riki's fuzzy memories. Not to mention Kurugaya looks beautiful playing the piano.

Do schools even allow this?

Oh Kurugaya<3

Just then, him and the others get called by Rin as she says there's trouble. Turns out Kud and Komari were bullied. Someone had placed thumbtacks inside Kud's stuff and they also ripped up Komari's notes. Riki notices someone running away and quickly follows her. Yui definitely knows who did this and she is next to follow.

WHO'S BULLYING KUD?!

AND KOMARI TOO?! 

Riki confronts the three girls in the room but they completely deny any involvement saying "Where's your proof?" and whatnot. Yui walks in and really goes off on them. She plays a recording of the girls talking about what they did and then the girls again threatened Yui and everyone around her. That's when Yui flipped and got really angry. And when I say really angry, I mean really angry. She kicked the door and completely shattered it causing the girls to run away.

Mutsu's right guys

Oh shit

OHHH BURN

Uhh...you have some problems.

I wouldn't say that if I were you

SHIT SHE SNAPPED

BAM THERE GOES THE DOOR

(^_^;)

The Little Busters came and ended up buying time for Yui and Riki to get away while they take the blame. They played it off pretty well. Yui normally wouldn't run away like this but she believes in not wasting people's efforts, especially if they're her friends. She admits that she never let anything move her heart until she became friends with them all.

Such good friends :')

She takes Riki to the broadcast room where she tells him she runs it. Here, Riki begins having some kind of flashback/nostalgic feeling. It's like he had been there before. It's a pretty suspicious room, and there are flickers of Riki and Yui together.

<33333

Flashbacks?!

Where are these memories from?

Time loop

Narcolepsy strikes again

ED Sequence

PV

Review

The episode was fantastic (in my opinion). They really put together a lot of 'Yui' time and you can already see that there is something underlying in the background. The first season was mostly happy times and smiles, but already with the first episode, there are many more darker tones (aside from the pancake party). It's raining, Yui is making scary faces, and Riki is almost on to something. Also, the original VA for Mio in the visual novel is now voicing her in the anime. No offense, but I prefer her :)

I applaud J.C. Staff for being able to pull off these little subtle hints of 'darkness' (especially in the first season) and you really get the feeling of something ominous lurking in the background.

The first season was much like Clannad, where it was a bit slow and was mainly used to set up the characters, settings, etc. Little Busters! was pretty much the same which means the seriousness begins with Refrain.

As a visual novel reader, I'm telling you guys, if you cried during Clannad After Story, prepare for another river of tears. Make sure you guys have your tissue boxes ready!

-Tadashi