Animedragon

I've got it in hard copy, it's published by Viz. It looks like there's a few places where you can read it on-line, Googling "Alice 19th" should find them.

I've just seen that Cardcaptor Sakura Clear Card will be re-released as a single Blu-Ray release. It's being billed as the "complete series" which it isn't, it's a very incomplete series and ends on a cliff-hanger at episode 22 and there's so far no indication that the series will ever be competed.

Alice 19th by Yu Watase is good. The basic premise is that words have real power, as Alice finds out when she wishes her older sister would disappear. Don't be fooled by the tone of the early chapters, the story gets darker as it progresses.

Liberation

I've now watched Little Busters EX which is an OAV series rather than a TV series. EX comprises three short stories, the first two being side stories and both being great fun to watch. The third story was more serious and was an appropriate ending to the whole series and included the final reconciliation between the two sisters, Haruka and Kanata their story arc was one of the most disturbing parts of the series. Like Refrain the episodes were well paced and the story flowed smoothly through the episode, it's just a pity they found out how to do this after the first series had ended. Overall opinion of Little Busters. I'm glad I watched it. Series one could have been done better, Refrain and EX were much better. Would I watch it again? Yes.

Today I have mixed feelings. One the one hand I am sad following the death of our Queen, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II while on the other hand I welcome our new King, His Majesty King Charles III. It's the end of one era and the start of a new one.

Many thanks to everyone for your birthday greetings and animated gifs.

144

Having been a bit scathing in my comments about series 1 of Little Busters I approached watching Little Busters Refrain with mixed feelings. But I got a surprise. The presentation of Refrain is nothing like series 1, each episode is well paced and the story flows smoothly, in fact by the end of the second episode I started to wonder if a different studio had taken over production, but no, it was the same studio. I'm sure that if the first series had been produced like refrain Little Busters would have got far better reviews. But as the story progressed one thing puzzled me, how was a third year student able to arrange the things he did, that part didn't add up. Then as the final episodes unfolded and what was really going on was revealed the whole series changed. In a way I was correct when I said that you needed to have played the game to understand the events of series 1. So I think I should add Little Busters to my rewatch list. Knowing the end of Refrain may well change my understanding and opinion of series 1.

Welcome aboard. Make yourself at home, pull up a cushion or a chair if you prefer, and join in the craziness that is AF.

Negation

This week I celebrated my 70th birthday.

Yes, that theme music perfectly encapsulates the evilness of Debonair. The whole music soundscape of MKR is excellent. (I have 7 MKR CDs in my collection)

When a game becomes popular enough to be made into an anime it is initially aimed at those who have played the game, but its actual audience is going to be far wider especially if it's shown on TV and that's where backstory development becomes important. Without backstory it's difficult to understand the motivations of the characters. Indeed I think there is a good case for saying that as the anime is going to have a wider audience more effort should be placed on the production of the anime than the game and that involves not only backstory but filling in any plot holes that exist in the original game. Also, in an anime time needs to be given to properly introduce each main character, if the viewer has played the game they'll know who the person is, but those who haven't won't have a clue who the new character is, actually I think this applies to all anime series not just game based ones. An anime series is by definition a fixed storyline and so a game based anime should follow the primary route and include as many of the side routes as possible while avoiding contradictions with the main route. Merging the various routes into one seamless storyline that flows smoothly is not an easy task. Kyoto Animation managed this very well with Kanon and Clannad and while each girl's backstory isn't usually revealed until it's her turn to be centre stage there have often been hints of their past earlier in the story. Sadly the creators of the first series of Little Busters didn't quite manage to pull this off.

The morning was very nice, the promised, threatened?, rain arrived midday and it was a really serious downpour. Thankfully I missed it. It's now bright, sunny and even warm. We have weird weather!

Yes, a lot of the reviews I read about the series say that the visual novel is really good so it looks like not enough care was taken when creating the anime.

I've now finished series 1 of Little Busters, and my initial opinion of series hasn't changed. I eventually worked out that Riki Naoe was the protagonist, but he's not a very prominent protagonist. Some of the individual stories were quite good while others were contrived and unbelievable, most suffered from poor linking scenes between them. The other problem I had was that the characters were not properly introduced so I never got to know most of them, I suspect the anime creators expected everyone already know them from playing the original game. Overall I think there was probably a good story in there somewhere, but it got lost and never quite found its way out. However, the series will not be relegated to the oblivion of the back cupboard and I'll probably watch it again one day, but for now it's not on the rewatch list.

Yesterday we had rain almost all day. Today is looking better with bright sunshine and blue sky, temperature is currently 16c. It's expected to reach 20c later on, but there is more rain threatened for this afternoon.

Relative

I'm currently 13 episodes into watching Little Busters! series 1 and am really struggling to find any ongoing consistent and coherent storyline, it just seems to be a collection of random episodes vaguely linked by the fact that they feature the same characters.

Series 2 of K-On! and the movie are even more cute, and great fun to watch.

Currently hazy sunshine a light breeze and a nice even temperature that's not too hot or too cold.

A man put a map of the world on the kitchen wall and told his wife to throw a dart at it and wherever it landed that's where he'd take her on holiday. On Monday they start a week's holiday behind the fridge.

Just received these three DVD sets. Little Busters is a series I've thought about watching for several years, but various reviews, comments and YouTube clips had me wondering if it was a series I'd like, and the DVD sets were rather expensive and certainly more than I was prepared to pay for a series I might not like. Then I found an on-line shop doing a clearance offer, all three sets for £12 and free postage, it was an offer I couldn't refuse.

Before the dreaded covid19 struck my church ran a community lunch once a week we were a small team and I was one of volunteers in the kitchen. We had around 30 customers each week but because of the way it ran they all came in at the same time and had to be served as quick as possible. With the preparation before serving time and clearing up afterwards we were all shattered when it was all done. And that was only for about half a day so you have my admiration, and sympathy, for doing it all day every day.