It’s been announced that the next animated installment in the Little Busters! franchise, Little Busters! Refrain, will premiere on Japanese television this October. The first season of the anime ended earlier this year, so fans should be excited to hear that there’s more on the horizon. The Little Busters! animated series is based on a visual novel by Key, whose other popular franchises include Air, Kanon, and Clannad. This new season of the anime shares a title with the last scenario in the visual novel. It can be unlocked once players complete the scenarios belonging to each of the game’s heroines.
The protagonist of Little Busters!, Riki Naoe, is a boy who was orphaned as a child. His depression following the death of his parents was alleviated by a group of other kids calling themselves “The Little Busters” who quickly took him under their wing. Now in high school, the group is still tight-knit as ever. They begin looking for more members in order to have enough to play a game of baseball, and the cast gradually starts to expand with the additions of other female students.
Little Busters! was initially released for PC in 2007, and in 2008 an adult version called Little Busters! Ecstasy was released and ported to several other systems. The Little Busters! anime series premiered last year in Japan and the first season has been licensed in the US by Sentai Filmworks. If you’re interested in checking it out, the series can be streamed on Crunchyroll.
