VisualArts/Key have outlined the first details on the ways they plan to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of the release of one of their most well known visual novels, Little Busters. Firstly, they are planning to crowdfund an anime adaptation for the Little Busters spinoff visual novel Kud Wafter. J.C. Staff would produce the anime and Yoshiki Yamakawa would return as the director. It will feature a brand new storyline, suggesting that it may not follow the storyline in the visual novel. Below are some early concepts of the anime’s storyboard. The crowdfunding will be done via Campfire and the highest tier prizes will include signed shikishis. However as Campfire is a Japan only site people outside of Japan will not be able to contribute to this fund.
Secondly, there will be two Twitter campaigns. The first is where you can win a specially-sgned shikishi from a few members of the team that worked on the original Little Busters. This is due to start on 5th July. No other details as of yet. The second campaign themes around using the hashtag #LB10 where if you post any fanmade content to celebrate the Little Busters 10th Anniversary you have the chance of winning a signed baseball from VisualArts.
Thirdly, there will also be a large number of discounted and new Little Busters-themed items to celebrate the 10th anniversary as part of the annual VisualArts Summer Sale. These items include acrylic panels, clear files and T-shirts. On sites like AmiAmi, these items are at the top of the list and are available to pre-order where applicable. Fourthly, there are more details about the release date of the English PC Steam release of Little Busters! English Edition. Baba stated at the end of the stream that the official English release of the visual novel is “just about finished” and that they only need to polish the in-game encyclopedia. The estimated release date is the end of August. Furthermore, Joey the Anime Man will be helping promote the game via a new series featured on VisualArts’ own YouTube channel. This series focuses on first impressions and his thoughts on the opening hours of the game. You can watch the first video in the series below.
This is not all. On July 5th, VisualArts will open a 10th anniversary website in celebration of the 10th anniversary. More information is due to be released on the website and this information will likely be translated as it becomes available.
