Little Busters! (film)

Little Busters! is a 2014 American animated romantic drama film directed by Masahiro Takeda and based on the by. The film follows a group of childhood friends (Riki Naoe, Rin Natsume, Kyousuke Natsume, Masato Inohara and Kengo Miyazawa) now attending high school called the Little Busters, as they decide to form a baseball team. Riki, who is diagnosed with narcolepsy, is tasked to recruit more girls in preparation for a baseball game, and he bonds with each of them on account of their internal conflicts. Meanwhile, Rin gets mysterious letters from her cat Lennon to complete various tasks in order to learn the "secret to this world".

Produced by and  in association with, the film was released theatrically on April 25, 2014, to positive reviews from critics and fans. It became a box-office success, grossing $100 million against a $30 million budget.

Plot
Awakened early in the morning by someone announcing the return of Kyousuke Natsume, Riki Naoe goes to stop his roommate Masato Inohara from having a friendly duel Kengo Miyazawa. When Riki asks Kyousuke to intercede, Kyousuke tells them to fight only with objects thrown from the crowd of onlookers. Kyousuke's younger sister Rin Natsume disapproves when Masato tries to use a white cat as his weapon, causing Kengo to lose interest. Riki reminisces how he has been friends with Kyousuke, Masato, Kengo and Rin since childhood when they brought him into their group called the Little Busters. Riki later suggests that the five of them do something together like they used to, and Kyousuke proposes that they play baseball under the team name the Little Busters. Kengo immediately excuses himself from this, as he has to prepare for a kendo tournament. Later that night, Kyousuke dispatches Rin to the girls' dormitory to try recruiting new members. After a few failed attempts, Rin is confronted by Sasami Sasasegawa and three other members of the softball team, though Rin ends up losing the fight. The next day, as Riki tries recruiting new members, he follows a girl up to the school's roof.

On the school's roof, Riki finds Komari Kamikita, a clumsy girl from his class who craves snacks and sweets. Riki attempts to recruit Komari for the baseball team, only to realize that she may not be well-suited for baseball. After lunchtime, Riki later finds Rin shirking her classroom blackboard duty to play with several cats, in which the white cat named Lennon has two notes tied to it. The first note says, "There is a secret to this world. If you want to learn it, you must complete all the tasks you are about to receive." The second note says, "This is the first task. Resolve the sanitation issue in the boys' dorm storage room." Riki doubts the sincerity of the notes, but Rin is excited to take on the first task. Rin gathers up Riki, Kyousuke and Masato to clean the storage room. Komari finds them there and agrees to join their baseball team, but they all get to work cleaning the storage room first. On the baseball field, Kyousuke welcomes Komari onto the baseball team despite her complete lack of athletic ability. Soon after, Riki collapses from an attack of narcolepsy, which he has suffered since childhood.

After Riki recovers from his attack of narcolepsy, the members of the Little Busters baseball team have morning practice. Masato gives Riki back his idiom dictionary in a plastic bag, albeit in a smelly condition. Haruka Saigusa, a girl from a different class, wantonly borrows the idiom dictionary before Riki can chase after her. He accidentally runs into the desk of Yuiko Kurugaya, a genius girl who is often absent from class. As Riki struggles to buy coffee from a vending machine during a class break, Yuiko drags him away to a "cafe terrace" set up with wooden furniture among some hedges. Riki ultimately loses track of time during their conversation, later dashing back to class when he hears the tardy bell. Haruka gives Riki back the idiom dictionary and berates him over its disgusting state under the cover. When Masato and Kengo start another duel, Yuiko intervenes, causing Kengo to lose interest. Masato and Yuiko initially fight with the rules that Kyousuke previously set up, but Yuiko loses after she severely kicks Masato several times. Later, Yuiko catches the Little Busters baseball team during practice and joins them, proving to be a powerful asset.

Following the loss of their first baseball game, the Little Busters have a pancake party. While returning from the pancake party, Yuiko Kurugaya overhears Takamiya and Katsusawa gossiping to Mutsumi Suginami over a humiliating encounter with Yuiko in the past. In the baseball clubroom, the rest of the Little Busters later learn from Kudryavka Noumi that her bag was filled with thumbtacks, and from Komari Kamikita that her notes were torn inside her bag. Riki Naoe suspiciously follows Mutsumi, who was overhearing them, all the way into a classroom, soon realizing that the culprits are Takamiya and Katsusawa. Yuiko suddenly appears, playing back a recorded conversation between them that proves their involvement, thereby having evidence against them. When Takamiya threatens to torment Yuiko's friends, Yuiko destroys the classroom door with a single kick and instills fear on their faces, forcing Takamiya, Katsusawa and Mutsumi to give up and run away. When teacher Endō arrives and discovers the damage, Masato Inohara and Kengo Miyazawa pretend to bar fight as a distraction, while Riki and Yuiko escape to the broadcast room. However, Riki collapses from an attack of narcolepsy after feeling a sense of déjà vu while inside the broadcast room.

After waking up, Riki learns that Yuiko was taking care of him during his sleep, but he cannot shake the suspicion that he had the same conversation with her in the broadcast room on a rainy day in the past. Later during a card game in Riki's dorm room, Kyousuke Natsume suspects Riki of being in love with Yuiko, seeing that Riki is seemingly distracted. While Masato and Kengo are eager to stir up this romance, Rin Natsume leaves in disinterest. The plan is to lure the girls to the school, while the boys prepare a fireworks show, giving Riki the opportunity to be alone with Yuiko to confess his love for her. The plan backfires when Riki is unable to lure the girls to the school, but he ends up alone with Yuiko by accident when the fireworks show begins. When Riki drops his cellphone and a text message from Kyousuke asks him if he confessed, Yuiko reads it and asks if Riki has ever fallen in love before, but Riki speechlessly stares at her beauty. The following day, Riki realizes that the events of the previous day are beginning to be repeated, including the date of June 20th.

Voice cast

 * Nick Carson as Riki Naoe, the male protagonist. He is the fifth member of the Little Busters, and of all of them, he is seen as the weakest due to his girlish appearance and physical build, but he is the only one among them who is straightforward and has common sense. His parents died when he was very young, and around the same time, he was diagnosed with narcolepsy. Riki is the weakest of the original five members, but his starting attribute values increase on each play through and can eventually match and outgrow Kyousuke's statistics.
 * as Rin Natsume, the main heroine in the story. She is the younger sister of Kyousuke Natsume and is the only female member out of the five original members of the Little Busters. She does not communicate well and is seen as inarticulate. Rin loves cats and at school takes care of several strays; it is not uncommon for several cats to crawl onto her.
 * as Kyousuke Natsume, the leader of the Little Busters and one year older than the other four members. He often comes up with absurd ideas, but he almost always follows up with a reasonable explanation along with it. He suffers from a brother-sister complex, as he wants his sister Rin to call him brother, but Rin does not want to, preferring to call him by his name. Kyosuke is one of the most active players on the baseball field. It is vital to hit the balls to him during practice sessions if the player wants to raise Riki's statistics faster for a battle ranking game.
 * as Masato Inohara, a member of the Little Busters and Riki's roommate. He has a particular fondness for Riki, which he is more than willing to express out aloud. In the film, he left the Little Busters, thinking Riki is not strong enough to lead the group. Masato has the highest starting strength and stamina points out of all characters in the game. His low concentration and judgment points mean he is more likely to make tactical errors during the baseball game. Depending on the choice the player makes on May 17, however, his skills during the baseball game can be increased further, though he still has a tendency to make mistakes.
 * as Kengo Miyazawa, a member of the Little Busters. He is skilled in the art of kendo and seemingly has a cynical personality, but his passion for the Little Busters is unmatched by anyone. Kengo is recruited after Masato, Kyousuke, and Rin defeat his father, making him the fourth member of Little Busters. Kengo has the second-highest starting strength and stamina, and is also reasonably high on reflex and agility. If the player manages to record more than five-hundred hits during practice session before he joins the team, his skills during the baseball game will increase tremendously. For battle, he has a tendency to stack up stamina-enhancing accessories (which, not surprisingly, are protective armor parts from his kendo club) so defense-wise, he can be quite resilient.
 * as Komari Kamikita. She is very childish, taking great interest in fairytales, picture books, candy, and clothing with many layers of frills. Komari is one of the weakest characters along with Kudryavka, but she has the fastest growth rate of any character in the game. If the player chooses to raise her statistics by hitting the ball to her during a practice session, which can be fairly difficult especially while she is running, she can be made into a valuable player in the field.
 * as Haruka Saigusa, Riki's schoolmate of Riki's from a different class. She causes disturbances for her own personal enjoyment, which causes her twin sister, the public morals chairman Kanata Futaki, to often chase after her. Haruka is a reasonably agile character, but has poor concentration and judgment values, which often causes her to make poor decisions in battle and baseball games. She is one of the most active players on the baseball field, however, so it is recommended that she is set as an outfielder for the baseball game. During practice, there is a chance that she will fail to catch the ball, though this happens very rarely.
 * Agapiya Malinova as Kudryavka Noumi, a girl who is a quarter Japanese, and 3/4 Russian. Her full Russian name is Kudryavka Anatolyevna Strugatskaya. Her grandmother is Japanese. Her grandfather was interested in Japanese culture and per his influence on her, she also learned much about Japanese culture, including the language. Despite having a poor handle on the English language, she was able to skip a year in school due to credits obtained through studying abroad. She is Riki's classmate and is in the newly formed home economics club due to an invitation of the head of the dormitory she lives at with the other characters. Kudryavka and the dormitory head are the only two members, and since the latter is often too busy, club activities are suspended and Kudryavka is the sole active member of a club on the verge of being disbanded. Before joining the home economics club, Kudryavka had been a member of the furniture club before it was disbanded.
 * as Yuiko Kurugaya, Riki's classmate who has a self-sufficient personality. She is sometimes seen carrying a replica of a katana called Muramasa, and is seen as an older sister to everyone despite being the same age of almost the entire cast. She is fond of things or people she considers to be cute, such as several of the female cast of characters, especially Kudryavka in particular. She is also seen as the most invincible member of the Little Busters, having defeated Masato, Kengo and Kyousuke, which traumatizes them. Rin is also afraid of her since Yuiko is the only one who can contain and play around with her, much to Rin's dismay. Yuiko gets high grades in school, especially in math, and is hated by her first year math teacher and several female students, who plan on bullying the Little Busters by first affixing nails and chewing gum to Riki's shoes. She was born outside Japan, but is still entirely Japanese. Yuiko is the strongest female character in the game until player completes all heroine's route; In which case, Rin can effectively compete with her in terms of statistics. She is the only character that is capable of using a sword or a machine gun as a weapon during battle and she is also the most reflexive and agile character in all aspects. Since she has relatively high attribute values on everything except strength and stamina, which are above-average among the female characters, she is an extremely capable player on the baseball field, whether infield or outfield, and she almost always succeeds in stealing bases.
 * as Mio Nishizono, a calm girl who is very diligent. Due to having weak health, she is always seen with a parasol when outside. She enjoys reading, especially when the story contains boys love elements, and her room is filled with books. She carries around a book of poems by Bokusui Wakayama. In the real world, she was feeling guilty over having forgotten an imaginary friend she used to have, who comes to life in the artificial world as Midori. She uses the parasol because she is trying to hide that she has no shadow; this is due to Midori using Mio's shadow to materialize her own body.