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I actually like what the anime did with romance, which is scrap it entirely. Little Busters! theme, story and message and everything is about friendship. Even Rin and Riki's relationship is innocent and rarely explored. The only real romance that can't be substituted with friendship in the visual novel is Kurugaya. The entirety of the side routes besides her can be completely subsituted with friendship instead of romance if done properly, which J.C.. didn't really do. Mio's arc is weird as hell, especially with how short of time Riki and Mio knew eachother in the anime. Kuds arc I feel got improved. Her route was atrociously terrible in the visual novel and actually gained a bit of relevance in the anime. Although it's hard to really make that worse then what it already was.

I guess...

Kick ass, Kanon was my first official VN too, (I say official because I played one or two freeware VNs first). Anyway, while Kanon is brilliant, I watched the 2006 anime first, so that had more of an effect on me then the VN did. I played a decent amount of VNs, and while some really got me to think and challenge ideas, the only one that had a permanent effect on me was Yume Miru Kusuri. I always knew bullying was bad and never supported it, but this VN got me to realize just how terrible an effect bullying can have on the victim(s). Before I read Yume Miru Kusuri when the topic of bullying arose I would think something along the lines of, "yeah that sucks and all, but I'm not a bully so what do you expect me to do about it?" Then after I read Yume Miru Kusuri I socialized with the kids who got made fun kids more. I never went to a school that had a huge bullying problem, it was usually just malicious comments, but I still tried to make kids who felt outcasted feel more at home. As for anime the three that I would say changed me perspectives the most were Kanon 2006, Kaiji, and Berserk. Kanon was the first anime that got me to realize that anime was more than just mere entertainment, but that it could tell very strong, and excellent stories. If it weren't for Kanon I kind of doubt I would be the otaku I am now... As for Kaiji and Berserk, they forever changed me views about capitalism and ambition. I think Kaiji is the reason I sympathize with socialist ideals so much, and why I disdain capitalism as much as I do. (Don't get me wrong, as nice as Marxist ideals are, their unrealistic and capitalism is the only system that satisfies the greed in us all. But just because capitalism accommodates human nature, it doesn't mean I have to like it!) Berserk pretty much reinforces the beliefs I've cultivated from Kaiji. Basically that ambition and greed will lead to your own ruin.

I rather watch 100000000 episodes of Zero no Tsukaima then another episode of Bleach or One Piece. Seriously make it stop Please note: I will bask in the hate Bleach/one piece fans throw at me. Bring it on

"Who-the-hell-do-you-think-I-am-Kick!!!!!!!!!" -Kamina

Anyway, my post was a long rant about how the anime is absolutely inferior and poorly executed shit by JC Staff, when Key did a much better job on the visual novel. Here's why it failed, basically. It's a combination of execution issues, and why the anime was poorly received. I read the VN and liked the anime after, but it has a lot of shortcomings in terms of grabbing the audience's attention, establishing something meaningful (romance), giving people a worthwhile ending to the first season (the ending was neither a cliffhanger, nor a conclusion), and the animation was subpar, and lacked the type of style found in any of Kyoto Animation's adaptation of Key's visual novels. To go further into the criticism of each arc, Haruka and Kud's arcs were altered significantly, removing pretty much all of the romance, which was a driving force in Haruka's route. Also, Kud's scene in the cave lasted 5 minutes in the anime in real-time, compared to the days and weeks emphasized in the VN. Futaki's antagonistic buildup in Haruka's route was weaker, and her change of heart as a character was foreshadowed too early on, compared to the VN, also. Komari's route was finely adapted, but was pretty much the weakest route in the VN. Mio's was done nicely also, but people didn't really catch the theme of it due to its execution. Honestly, a lot of the animation was seen as pretty dull and boring. There's limited character interaction, and the baseball scenes aren't even as well animated as those in Clannad, where baseball isn't even as much of a focus. The route endings were nicely done, for the most part, but the story buildup bored people with the constant closeups scenes with lacking animation. Compare this to the style of KyoAni's Clannad adaptation, and there's no contest in terms of which will grab the audience's attention more easily. Little Busters' core story may be on the same level as Clannad's, but the anime execution wasn't nearly as strong. Also, people don't enjoy Riki as a protagonist, not having seen how he improves come Rin 2 and Refrain next season. They'd much rather have someone like Kyousuke be the protagonist, as he's most similar to the protagonists of Key's previous works (Clannad, Kanon, Air). The pacing and comedy execution is also weird and all of the place. They put a random Rin route episode inbetween Kud's arc, and Komari's arc happened too early on, before anyone cared for the character. The common route precedes the heroine routes in the VN, to build relationships with all the characters before any of the drama happens, but it happens 4-5 episodes into the anime series, before some people even remember Komari's name. Refrain might redeem it through its story, but J.C. Staff has offered little in terms of adding anything unique to the anime that wasn't part of the visual novel. Clannad had references to the Illusionary World each episode, for example, and has great storyboard directing to intensify specific scenes. Little busters is my favorite VN alongside Muv-Luv Alternative, but the anime had a lot of shortcomings that affected people who only watched the anime. Oh and the awful music directing in some of the episodes didn't help either. Anyway, absolutely read the visual novel. JC Staff will probably screw up Refrain if they don't drastically improve their shit.

Brings a tear to the eye =')