“Naoe-san’s crossdressing is perfect!”
Summary
Riki is kidnapped by the girls over at their dorm, and is forced to participate in their rowdy sleepover – which attracts the attention of the Disciplinary Committee president Futaki Kanata, who is irked by all the noise she hears from the floor above her.
Impression
And Little Busters! wastes no time in flipping back over to its comedy side – rather quickly as well, with the entire atmosphere even at the beginning of the episode giving us hints on what to expect. I admit, I was completely fooled just as Riki was when Rin sent that seemingly solemn text. “This is serious – come to my room, alone” totally put me on guard despite the cheery OST, and I did think it was one of those mysterious notes concerning the “secret of this world” that Rin’s cats keep giving her at times. Well, weren’t we all fooled xD
Throughout the entire episode, I was pretty much torn between “poor Riki” and “Riki you lucky bastard” – in which he was trapped in a room full of girls, who refused to let him leave and blindfolded him, then took baths in groups while forcing him to listen and conjure up ecchi thoughts with his imagination. Poor guy ^_^ Somehow, if the visual novel had some sort of harem route it would probably start off along the lines of what happened this episode – or maybe it would finish with all the girls and Riki in the same room, if that rolled-up newspaper samurai sword-bashing ended up degenerating into some sort of mass orgy that Futaki Kanata and her Disciplinary Committee people would interrupt and explode over. Wishful thinking, wishful thinking~
I love how everyone suddenly forced Riki to crossdress into someone’s uniform (probably Rin’s) and it was hilarious how he eventually stopped caring and let them doll him up, complete with a hair ribbon to boot. Strangely enough, that crossdressing probably saved him a whole lot of punishment and public attention, as both times when a Disciplinary Committee member came up, they never realized Riki was a guy – especially when Kanata and her band of people walked in, told Riki to stand in front of her and adjusted his ribbon for him. Wow…the perfect crossdressing indeed.
There were also several vague mentions towards the topic of love this episode – first by Kyousuke, who very passionately proclaimed his love for Riki – and got a rejection shot straight back at him xD Riki was actually blushing there! He actually ran out after Kyousuke like people do in various romantic dramas, and there was a whole heartfelt scene under the lamplight where Riki proclaimed his love for all of the Little Busters. Anyway, Kanata’s reappearance in the lives of the Little Busters doesn’t seem to be a mere coincidence, as hinted in the preview where I’m suspecting we’ll be heading down the Haruka route. More secrets will be revealed, and feels will be unleashed – will it live up to the bag of emotions that made up the Mio route?
I really wanted to like this series but from my perspective it seems very generic. I just don’t care for any of the characters and the show feels like it is going no where.
I do kinda agree with you. I love this show however it doesn’t really have a real plot or anything its leading up too. But aren’t most slice of life anime’s like that?
I’ve played the game so I do know what happens in the end; I’m disappointed with the adaptation though. They have taken a pretty decent romance/dating game and made it into a very generic looking anime. The animation is sub par for a 2012-13 running anime and the voice actor for the main character is very unappealing to me. That’s just my opinion though; go play the game if you haven’t already if you want a pretty good experience.
I might actually play through the rest of the VN after the anime finishes – I’ve tried not to get too far in case the adaptation disappointed me in comparison, as it’s done for you. The director did say he was going to adapt “everything” the VN had to offer though, so I’m interested in seeing how that turns out if its presumably not set under the constraints of a weekly TV series.
Just ‘a pretty decent romance/dating game’? Oh, a visual novel that one of the top 3 most successful PC games ever to be sold of all time since 2007 in Japan’s history. No need to go on underestimating such a big-time visual novel and bringing it down along with the anime…The anime isn’t completed yet as well, i’d advise you wait until after completing this season and the second season to decide it’s worth.
“it doesn’t really have a real plot or anything its leading up too”
I’m going to continue amusing myself while enjoying reading comments from those who doesn’t know it’s plot. XD
The eventual revelation of a plot making itself clear might be part of the whole surprise xD But I do agree that everything is a bit inconsistent, with comedic happenings used as “filler” material between various drama-filled routes which does make the atmosphere fragmented. It’ll be all worth it in the end.
Vantage, any opinions about the new opening that started this episode?
Oh man, I didn’t even notice there was a new sequence! I should pay more attention to these things xD It’s…ominous, for sure – especially seeing Riki curled up and bathed in some sort of bright light. Everything will probably explain itself soon, starting with the scars on Haruka/Kanata’s back.