History YMMV / LittleBusters

* HilariousInHindsight: KeyVisualArts fandom long awaited an anime adaptation of ''Little Busters!'', but expected that it would be from Creator/KyotoAnimation. It wasn't... but they ''did'' do [[Anime/{{Free}} another]] HoYay-laden sports anime with a {{tsundere}}, socially awkward childhood friend named Rin, a weird kid named Haruka with a DarkAndTroubledPast, a side character obsessed with muscles, more {{fanservice}} than the creators were known for in the past, AnimalMotifs for everyone, and a target audience other than the young boys sports anime are usually aimed at.

** Saya has become this due to her route creating a BrokenBase within the fandom. Some like her for being very hilarious, over-the-top, and one of the most badass heroines Key has written. Others hate her and find her behavior to be more irritating than funny, and see her trying to kill Riki, then threatening him at gunpoint to help her out as UnintentionallyUnsympathetic.

** Saya's route. Do you love it because of the radically different, more darkly humorous tone, cool action sequences, and badass starring girl? Or do you hate it for the radically different tone, the huge characterization and plot inconsistencies with the original, and {{Jerkass}} starring girl? Pick a side, because otherwise you're gonna be hard-pressed to find someone in the middle with you.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: One of the main reasons the anime is so hated is because Creator/JCStaff, who never worked on anything by Key before, was put in charge of the adaptation instead of Creator/KyotoAnimation, who did the anime adaptations for VisualNovel/{{AIR}}, VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}, and VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}.
* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Saya's route starts with her attempting to kill Riki several times, all of which ''[[BlackComedyBurst get played for laughs]]''. After all those attempts fail, she forces him at gunpoint to help her traverse an underground dungeon on the basis that he was BornLucky. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that she's gone through a GroundhogDayLoop of her route, ending before she could reach the treasure in the dungeon. This means that every iteration of the loop starts with her doing the above mentioned acts, and that Riki is unaware of what's really going on.]]

** One especially for the anime: in its version of Kurugaya's route, instead of having Riki be the sole target, the bullies use StandardShoujoBullyingTactics on Kud and Komari to punish them for being Kurugaya's friends. The one reacting the most while the victims are trying to pretend it doesn't bother them and the others are either fretting or seething in the corner? ''Haruka,'' who looks like she's about to eviscerate someone. Her route had been adapted two story arcs ago in the previous season, and while she reconciled with the bully who was ruining her life, she's still ''been there,'' and Kurugaya's tormentors don't have Kanata's [[BreakHerHeartToSaveHer excuse]].

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Haruka's route ended with the moral that no one was at fault for the terrible upbringing she and her sister had, meaning both the sisters or their parents. This completely ignores the abusive extended family, who are not addressed. Kanata's route is a rehash of Haruka's from the other side and clarifies that yes, they'll all be going to jail for child abuse.

* HilariousInHindsight: KeyVisualArts fandom long awaited an anime adaptation of ''Little Busters!'', but expected that it would be from KyotoAnimation. It wasn't... but they ''did'' do [[Anime/{{Free}} another]] HoYay-laden sports anime with a {{tsundere}}, socially awkward childhood friend named Rin, a weird kid named Haruka with a DarkAndTroubledPast, a side character obsessed with muscles, more {{fanservice}} than the creators were known for in the past, AnimalMotifs for everyone, and a target audience other than the young boys sports anime are usually aimed at.

** Riki. Some like him and think he's a refreshing change of pace from the JerkWithAHeartOfGold protagonist so common in other Creator/KeyVisualArts works and think his CharacterDevelopment is subtle and well-written enough to prove that the NiceGuy harem lead [[TropesAreNotBad isn't automatically a bad thing]]. Others consider him a generic harem lead with little to his character besides being nice and claim he's a step backwards for Key, a company that has been consistently praised for averting the VanillaProtagonist trope so common in the harem genre. Some of the fandom also tends to hate him for being so meek and passive, while the other part of the fandom thinks this is a case of people ignoring Riki's CharacterDevelopment.
** Kanata. She's either a tragic JerkassWoobie with no control over her life [[spoiler:because of her family]], or a KarmaHoudini whose DarkAndTroubledPast isn't enough to justify the extreme ways she bullied Haruka during the latter's route.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Riki. Some like him and think he's a refreshing change of pace from the JerkWithAHeartOfGold protagonist so common in other Creator/KeyVisualArts works and think his CharacterDevelopment is subtle and well-written enough to prove that the NiceGuy harem lead [[TropesAreNotBad isn't automatically a bad thing]]. Others consider him a generic harem lead with little to his character besides being nice and claim he's a step backwards for Key, a company that has been consistently praised for averting the VanillaProtagonist trope so common in the harem genre. Some of the fandom also tends to hate him for being so meek and passive, while the other part of the fandom thinks this is a case of people ignoring Riki's CharacterDevelopment.

* BrokenBase: Saya's route. Do you love it because of the radically different, more darkly humorous tone, cool action sequences, and badass starring girl? Or do you hate it for the radically different tone, the huge characterization and plot inconsistencies with the original, and {{Jerkass}} starring girl? Pick a side, because otherwise you're gonna be hard-pressed to find someone in the middle with you.

* HarsherInHindsight: A ''lot'' of things, as is Key tradition; see RewatchBonus. For example, how Mio is called "shadowless" for her lack of presence by the class bullies; [[spoiler:she actually doesn't have a shadow in the dream world, as it manifests as Midori]]. A more subtle one is the set of [=CGs=], used a few times in Haruka's route, where Haruka is at her parents' house at the kitchen table. She's awkwardly holding the fork in her left hand -- a right-handed place setting, despite the fact that we know she's left-handed. [[spoiler:Between two scenes that use the exact same [=CGs=], we learn that Haruka's extended family used to beat her for being left-handed.]]

* {{Narm}}: In the Refrain path [[spoiler:of episode Masato, in Masato's point of view, everyone becomes Masato. While it's intended to be a frightening way of showing Masato's delusion, when Masato visits the cafeteria, everyone is Masato, smiling and fooling around too!]]

* TearJerker: [[spoiler:(Refrain route: Little Busters episode)]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Saya's arc starts with her attempting to kill Riki several times, all of which ''[[BlackComedyBurst get played for laughs]]''. After all those attempts fail, she forces him at gunpoint to help her traverse an underground dungeon on the basis that he was BornLucky. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that she's gone through a GroundhogDayLoop of her arc, ending before she could reach the treasure in the dungeon. This means that every iteration of the loop starts with her doing the above mentioned acts, and that Riki is unaware of what's really going on.]]

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Saya's arc starts with her attempting to kill Riki several times, all of which [[BlackComedyBurst ''get played for laughs'']]. After all those attempts fail, she forces him at gunpoint to help her traverse an underground dungeon on the basis that he was BornLucky. [[spoiler:It's later revealed that she's gone through a GroundhogDayLoop of her arc, ending before she could reach the treasure in the dungeon. This means that every iteration of the loop starts with her doing the above mentioned acts, and that Riki is unaware of what's really going on.]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Riki. Some like him and think he's a refreshing change of pace from the JerkWithAHeartOfGold protagonist so common in other Creator/KeyVisualArts works and think his CharacterDevelopment is subtle and well-written enough to prove that the NiceGuy harem lead [[TropesAreNotBad isn't automatically a bad thing]]. Others consider him a generic harem lead with little to his character besides being nice and claim he's a step backwards for Key, a company that has been consistently praised for averting the VanillaProtagonist trope so common in the harem genre. The fandom also tends to hate him [[WhatMeasureIsANonBadass due to his lack of physical strength]] in comparison to Key's other protagonists and even other members of the Little Busters.

* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: One of the main reasons the anime is so hated is because Creator/JCStaff, who never worked on anything by Key before, was put in charge of the adaptation instead of Creator/KyotoAnimation, who did the anime adaptations for VisualNovel/{{AIR}}, VisualNovel/{{Kanon}}, and VisualNovel/{{Clannad}}.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Riki. Some like him and think he's a refreshing change of pace from the JerkWithAHeartOfGold protagonist so common in other Creator/KeyVisualArts works and think his CharacterDevelopment is nuanced enough to prove that the NiceGuy harem lead [[TropesAreNotBad isn't automatically a bad thing]]. Others consider him a generic harem lead with little to his character besides being nice and claim he's a step backwards for Key, a company that has been consistently praised for averting the VanillaProtagonist trope so common in the harem genre.

* BrokenAesop: Riki's {{Character Development}} revolves around him developing into a more independent person rather than relying on his friends coming to the rescue. He only gets acknowledged as more independent by the others in Refrain [[spoiler:when he re-establishes the original Little Busters]]. The problem is that he does so by [[spoiler:copying what Kyousuke did years ago when he first formed the Little Busters]], instead of Riki doing so his own way.

* RewatchBonus: There is a whole ''lot'' of foreshadowing in the game that you probably wouldn't even notice until you replayed while paying attention. For example: both times the narrative reveals what toppings the characters have with foods; first with eggs, then pancakes; Haruka has mayonnaise. [[spoiler:As mayonnaise is made from eggs, this naturally ties into Kanata's (assumed) egg allergy.]]

* BaseBreaker: Riki. Some like him and think he's a refreshing change of pace from the JerkWithAHeartOfGold protagonist so common in other Creator/KeyVisualArts works and think his CharacterDevelopment is nuanced enough to prove that the NiceGuy harem lead [[TropesAreNotBad isn't automatically a bad thing]]. Others consider him a generic harem lead with little to his character besides being nice and claim he's a step backwards for Key, a company that has been consistently praised for averting the VanillaProtagonist trope so common in the harem genre.

** The anime adaptation. Some consider it to be a good adaptation that gets unjustly hated by fans who only hate it because [[TheyChangedItNowItSucks JC Staff was put in charge instead of Kyoto Animation]]. Others think it's a mess of an adaptation that took too many liberties with changing characters' backgrounds and [[AdaptationInducedPlotHole cutting out essential information]].

** [[spoiler: Another one for Saya in the LB!EX anime - when her 'real world' self Aya is caught in the landslide, all you can hear for a moment is the heavy rainfall. Then, [[AdultFear you can hear her dad screaming her name over and over again, trying to find her]]. Aya, of course, is alone under the rubble, unable to respond.]]

* BrokenBase: Saya's route. Do you love it because of the radically different, more darkly humorous tone, cool action sequences, and badass starring girl? Or do you hate it for the radically different tone, the huge characterization and plot inconsistencies with the original, and {{Jerkass}} starring girl? Pick a side, because otherwise you're gonna be hard-pressed to find someone in the middle with you.

* BaseBreaker: Saya's route. Do you love it because of the radically different, more darkly humorous tone, cool action sequences, and badass starring girl? Or do you hate it for the radically different tone, the huge characterization and plot inconsistencies with the original, and {{Jerkass}} starring girl? Pick a side, because otherwise you're gonna be hard-pressed to find someone in the middle with you.

** [[spoiler: Another one for Saya in the LB!EX anime - when her 'real world' self Aya is caught in the landslide, all you can hear for a moment is the heavy rainfall. Then, [[AdultFear you can hear her dad screaming her name over and over again, trying to find her]]. Aya, of course, is alone under the rubble, unable to respond.]]
* Horrible/VoiceActing: A lot of people feel the voice acting for the anime is abysmal, Komari getting the worst of it since she sounds like she inhaled too much helium. This is ''despite'' the characters in the anime having the same seiyuu they did in the visual novel.
** The English dub can fall into the SoOkayItsAverage or SoBadItsGood territory. Some people find that Creator/GregAyres as Masato is [[WTHCastingAgency a big miscast]] since he uses his normal voice acting for the said character rather than trying for a deeper voice. On the other hand, Creator/TiffanyGrant's voice acting as Kudryavka Noumi was a bit praised by some for giving the said loli a Russian accent (although the cute part may be a subjective kind of thing); and Tia Ballard's voice acting on Komari sounds more natural by some.

* BrokenAesop: Riki's {{Character Development}} revolves around him developing into a more independent person rather than relying on his friends coming to the rescue. He only gets acknowledged as more independent by the others in Refrain [[spoiler:when he re-establishes the original Little Busters]]. The problem is that he does so by [[FollowInMyFootsteps copying what Kyousuke did years ago when he first formed the Little Busters]], instead of Riki doing so his own way.

* BaseBreaker: Saya's route. Do you love it because of the radically different, more darkly humorous tone, cool action sequences, and badass starring girl? Or do you hate it for the radically different tone, the huge characterisation and plot inconsistencies with the original, and {{Jerkass}} starring girl? Pick a side, because otherwise you're gonna be hard-pressed to find someone in the middle with you.

** [[spoiler: (Also from the Refrain route, the Last Dream. Komari and Rin's parting gets this editor every time.)]]

* HilariousInHindsight: KeyVisualArts fandom long awaited an anime adaptation of ''Little Busters!'', but expected that it would be from KyotoAnimation. It wasn't... but they ''did'' do [[Anime/{{Free}} another]] HoYay-laden sports anime with a {{tsundere}}, socially awkward childhood friend named Rin, a weird kid named Haruka with a DarkAndTroubledPast, a side character obsessed with muscles, more {{fanservice}} than the creators were known for in the past, and a target audience other than the young boys sports anime are usually aimed atl