Refrain (Season 2)
Episode 1: Following the loss of their first baseball game, the Little Busters have a pancake party. While returning from the party, Yuiko overhears some girls badmouthing her, claiming that they will pay her back for being humiliated in the past. Some time later, Riki and the others learn that someone had filled Kudryavka's bag with thumbtacks and destroyed Komari's notes. Suspicious of a girl who was overhearing them, Riki follows her and finds the same girls Yuiko had noticed the other day in a classroom, figuring that they are the culprits. Despite being confronted by Riki, the girls claim that there is nothing he can do without any evidence of what they did, until Yuiko appears and plays a recorded conversation between them that proves their involvement. Despite that, the girls refuse to give up and claim that they will keep tormenting Yuiko's friends until Yuiko destroys the room's door with a single kick and threatens to do the same with their faces, forcing them to give up. When a teacher arrives and discovers the damage, Kyousuke and the other boys cover for Yuiko and Riki as they escape by themselves to the broadcast room. The room seems familiar to Riki despite never having been there before and with his memories confused, he suffers another attack of narcolepsy and collapses.
Episode 2: After waking up, Riki learns from Yuiko that she was taking care of him while he was asleep and cannot shake the suspicion that the whole situation has happened with them in the past. Some time later, Kyousuke and the other boys point out that Riki is behaving strangely since his last encounter with Yuiko. Believing that he has fallen in love with her, they decide to have him lure the girls to the school building as they prepare a fireworks show for them, with instructions to find a way to get alone with Yuiko to set up the mood for his "confession". Wondering if he is actually in love with someone, Riki does as they say, but ends up alone with Yuiko by accident when the fireworks begin. The following day, Riki realizes that the same events of the previous day are being repeated as the date is also the same, June 20.
Episode 3: The day of June 20 keeps repeating without anyone taking heed of it, except for Riki himself, and no one else seems to find it strange even when it starts snowing. Riki decides to look for Kyousuke to ask for his advice but he is nowhere to be found. However, Riki learns that Yuiko is the only other person who knows the truth and she claims that it all is her fault. Her wish for staying with the Little Busters forever had been granted in the form of a dream, and she tells Riki that she only knew what happiness was after meeting Riki and his friends. Yuiko tells him that things will return to normal when he wakes up from the dream, but Riki will forget everything that happened. Before bidding farewell, Yuiko warns Riki to take care of Rin, as the "fated day" is at hand.
Episode 4: While thinking about what Yuiko said to him, Riki is approached by a girl who confesses her feelings for him, but claims that she knows he already likes someone else and flees. Wondering what she meant, Rin's image come to Riki's mind, and upon learning what happened, Kyousuke reveals that a third-year student had also confessed to Rin, but he helped her decline him. Later that day, Rin asks Riki to help her buy some cat food and on the way back, she suggests they start dating and Riki agrees after confirming that she likes him. Riki has trouble trying tell Kyouske about it the next day, but Kyousuke claims that he already knew about it. Riki and Rin later tell the rest of the Little Busters, who congratulate them, but Riki chases after Rin after she runs away embarrassed. The white cat Lennon brings them another mysterious letter telling them that they have one final task to do before "learning the truth of the world", which is to "volunteer themselves during homeroom".
Episode 5: Members of the Prefectural Assembly are expected to make an inspection of the school and realizing that it is part of the "final task", Riki and Rin volunteer themselves to guide them around. Despite Rin's shy demeanor, she manages to guide the visitors properly and they later invite her to take part in a student exchange program to help the students of another school overcome a tragedy that claimed the lives of some of their classmates. Riki at first asks Rin to decline their invitation, but he later realizes that this could be an important experience for her to grow as a person. However, when Riki tries to encourage her to take part in the program, she gets angry at him and ultimately accepts the invitation. On the eve of Rin's departure, Riki realizes that all the tasks they received helped her to mature and improve her confidence. He concludes that it was all a part of Kyousuke's plans, including inviting Komari and the other girls to become part of their group. His suspicions are confirmed when Riki finds Lennon with Kyousuke and then he confronts him about the "truth of the world" he mentioned in his letters. However, before getting some answers, they are forced to run away after being caught outdoors during curfew and when Riki trips over, Kyousuke disappears in front of him.
Episode 6: After Riki and the others watch Rin leave the school without a word, Riki is then left with the impression that Kyousuke sent her away and that he is trying to break apart the Little Busters. Riki continues getting text messages from Rin saying that she does not know what to do at the school, and all he can do is tell her to "hang in there". Concerned for Rin being isolated, Riki decides to go after her, but he is stopped by Kyousuke, who makes a deal that he will bring her back for weekends only. When Rin comes back the following weekend, she is depressed and stays in bed. Riki goes to Kengo for advice, who tells him he has to fight Kyousuke to keep Rin from going back to the school. Kyousuke agrees to settle it over a baseball game with Masato as his partner, but Riki and Kengo ultimately fail. Kengo claims that Kyousuke rigged the game and punches him before being restrained by Riki and Masato. The next morning, Riki tells Rin that they are running away together. They travel to a house in the country where they played as kids, but they are eventually discovered by the police who raid the house.
Episode 7: Riki awakens several months before, with no memories about what happened during that time. Riki goes to stop Masato from fighting Kengo, but neither of them listen to him and Kyousuke is nowhere to be found. The result of the fight leads to Kengo fracturing his right arm, putting him out of commission for kendo practice; Kengo asks Riki to think of something fun all of them could do together. Rin is now afraid of everyone but Riki, who routinely drops her off at a local elementary school during the day. Meanwhile, Kyousuke is depressed and stays cooped up in his room reading manga. Initially unsuccessful to find something Rin enjoys to do, he eventually discovers her affinity for playing catch. Riki tries to invite Kyousuke to join in, but he refuses. Riki also invites Masato and Kengo to play a baseball game, but Kengo angrily refuses to participate, and Masato leaves shortly thereafter. Knowing the others are hiding something from him and Rin, Riki resolves to become a leader like Kyousuke and reform the Little Busters.
Episode 8: Determined to reform the Little Busters, Riki attempts to invite Masato, who refuses, claiming that what only matters to him is to "become the strongest". Soon after, Riki and Rin hear news of Masato attacking other students and devise a trap to stop him. However, the trap fails to restrain him fully and he starts pursuing them. After setting another trap with Rin's help, Riki manages to wear down Masato to the point of being able to defeat him barehanded. The knocked down Masato then reminisces that before meeting Kyousuke, he used to be treated as a fool by his peers until he trained his body enough to beat down whoever insulted him. This resulted in him becoming isolated because of it, until Kyousuke appeared and defeated him by also using traps, leading to them becoming friends. Masato began his rampage at school because he suddenly started seeing everyone else as a copy of himself and believed that he could only distinguish himself from the others by becoming the strongest of them all. After renewing his friendship with Masato, Riki realizes that he must eventually confront Kyousuke as well for his and his friends' sake, while a serious Kengo watches over him from afar.
Episode 9: Riki's next step to reassemble his friends is to convince Kengo to join their side, but Kengo refuses to listen to him, claiming that all Riki and Rin need to do is to rely on their friends. Riki visits Kyousuke, who hints that Kengo is lying about something and Riki realizes that Kengo's arm is not injured as he claims. Rin learns from Masato that Kengo originally joined the Little Busters after Kyousuke defeated his father in a kendo match. This leads Riki to challenge Kengo to a baseball match instead, with the first one to strike a home run being the winner and Kengo rejoining the Little Busters should he lose. After several attempts, Riki manages to land a home run but is too exhausted to throw the ball, so Rin takes his place. Rin's throws are fast but with initially no control, and when she manages to throw the ball properly, she succeeds in having Kengo strikeout, winning the match. Kengo rejoins the Little Busters, determined to follow Riki as long as he can.
Episode 10: Having assembled the rest of the original Little Busters, Riki intends to save Kyousuke from despair the same way he did for him when his parents died. Meanwhile, Kyousuke reminisces that in fact the world they are living in was created by his spirit with the purpose of preparing both Riki and Rin to live without him and the others, as all of them except the pair apparently died during an accident. Since then, Kyousuke created an alternate timeline that was always reset when Riki or Rin had fallen into despair. However, Kyousuke's power to maintain this realm is waning, leading to the strange events occurring in the previous loop, and the departure of the other girls. When Riki and Rin ran away after the latter broke down from being separated from the others, Kyousuke was losing his faith, until Riki managed to establish himself as the leader, and once reunited with his friends, Kyousuke claims that the time for him and the others to bid farewell to Riki and Rin has come.
Episode 11: After having the Little Busters once again reunited, Riki suggests for them to play baseball, and the others accept. During the match, Kyousuke reveals to Riki that the world they are currently in was created by him and the others after a bus accident killed all students aboard except for Riki and Rin. Kyousuke explains that this world was meant to prepare them to move forward with their lives, so Kyousuke and the others gave the duo a series of trials to have them mature and become stronger. After Masato and Kengo bid their farewells, Kyousuke tearfully instructs Riki to take Rin past the school gates back to the real world, as the time for them to part has come. As Riki and Rin get past the gates, Kyousuke has one last tour around the school before sitting at his desk and disappearing along with the world he created.
Episode 12: Riki and Rin awaken in the real world and recall that during their field trip, their bus got into an accident and Masato and Kengo used their own bodies to protect them. Despite being injured, they flee from the site of the accident to avoid being caught in the impending explosion, but after reaching a safe distance, Riki leaves Rin behind to return and attempt to help the others. However, he starts suffering another attack of narcolepsy and struggles to keep himself awake. Meanwhile, Rin has a meeting with Komari and the other girls in spirit and wishing to not part ways with them, she decides to look for a way to save them as well.
Episode 13: Having another attack of narcolepsy, Riki realizes that he always falls asleep at the sight of unpleasant situations, since he saw his parents' dead bodies in a car accident when he was a child, and determined to overcome this weakness, he awakens with Rin's help. Knowing that the bus will explode, Riki and Rin start rescuing the other students from the wreckage only to discover that Kyousuke is using his own body to prevent the gas from leaking further, leaving the duo no other option but to pick him up after carrying all the others to safety. The bus explodes just after Riki and Rin return to rescue Kyousuke, but the incident ends with no deaths. Three months later, all of the students have returned from the hospital except Kyousuke, who is still in a coma, and the other Little Busters spend their days together, waiting for him to return. Once Kyousuke finally returns, the Little Busters have their own, private field trip to the beach together.
Rating: 6/10 (Average)
EX (Season 3)
This kind is extra and it tells of three different story in total with 8 episodes, I only would find the summary for episode 1 to 4 and not the others, and I will state the reason why I give this series a low rating at the end of post.
Episode 1: While returning to pick up a notebook at his classroom during nighttime, Riki is approached by a girl who urges him to flee. He does as she asks, but after hearing a gunshot, he turns back and finds an abandoned student ID. In the next day, Riki returns the ID to Saya Tokido, a student from the same year as him, and later is invited by her to meet him at the rooftop. When Saya meets Riki, she declares that she must dispose of him, or the "Darkness Executives" may discover her identity. Saya then attempts to have Riki fall from the roof, but when Masato appears, Riki manages to escape by having his friend catch him. Believing it must be another of Kyousuke's pranks, Riki inquires him about the Darkness Executives, and his friend asks him to not involve himself with them, as not even Kyousuke can oppose them for the sake of Rin's safety. After Saya fails to kill him in two other occasions, Riki being saved in the nick of time by Kengo in one of them, she decides to ask for his help instead, revealing that her mission is to locate a "secret treasure" inside the school. The duo then look for clues together when they spot a mysterious contraption inside a clasroom, and after Riki figures out how to activate it, a secret entrance is revealed. Riki and Saya then pass through the entrance, fleeing from the Darkness Executives who appear to attack them.
Episode 2: Saya and Riki decide that before they venture any further to finding the 'treasure', they must first stock up on supplies of food and drink, as they do not know what is ahead of them. They do some shopping and looking around town, which excites Saya, much to Riki's interest. Eventually they return to Saya's treasure hunt mission. After running into a some trouble with the Executives of Darkness, they find a bath, which Saya awkwardly undresses and gets into. They then have a picnic, when a sudden realization hits Riki that they had met before in the past, and had been in love.
Episode 3: After Riki's realization for falling in love with Saya, the two continued on with their journey. Halfway, Saya decided to confess to Riki, while trying to get a kiss from him. After being embarrassed, Riki tells her to close her eyes, answering her confession with a kiss. As the two reached their final destination, Saya asked him out on a date if the mission ended successfully, which he promises back. She lost to the final boss and the screen showed "GAME OVER". The "game" restarts, claiming it to be her 99th time, and the whole journey repeats with her asking Riki to run down the hallway.
Episode 4: It is revealed that Saya's father works as a doctor and while at work overseas, she was taken with him and she was given a manga which she treasured dearly. When she returned to her hometown, she meets Riki and they play ball together until it starts to rain. On the way home, a mudslide seemingly kills Saya, but not before she enters the artificial world Kyousuke created. She is repeating the same scenario, and dies every time, thus making Kyousuke rewind time. In one of the replays, Saya and Riki face Tokikaze Shun, the antagonist of the manga Saya loved so much, which, coincidentally, Saya is the protagonist of the same manga. Using Riki as a decoy, she defeats Shun and goes to the 60th floor of the basement to receive the treasure. In a flashback, Saya reasons with Shun to let her replay her scenario one last time, and, because in the manga, the treasure wasn't revealed yet, requests Shun to make the treasure a biological weapon. Arriving at the 60th floor, Saya locks herself in a room and Riki witnesses Saya shoot herself in the head. Riki then wakes up, and Kyousuke tells him that the Executives of Darkness "jumped the gun" and that the treasure was a time machine. In the epilogue, it is revealed that Saya, back to when she was a little girl, did not die in the mudslide. She tells her dad of a dream that she had, and, when she later recovers, she goes outside to play with Riki.
Rating: 6/10 (Average)
The reason why I give this series a low rating wasn't because the series isn't good its because some of the characters are longer and some of the characters are shorter and it feels very unbalance and the shorter character arc makes it hard for them to tell a good story, even if some of the other series namely Clannad, Kanon and Air the fact that the KyoAni did some balance every thing out were great and their animation makes it even more awesome as for Planetarain it was done by David Production the studio behind JoJo they too did an awesome job through the story was short it was very sweet as there wasn't much to tell for this series. Now as for rewrite it has its fair share of issues through the series was still better then Little Busters! as it was done by another studio again. Little Busters! also has some bad animation from time to time and the fact that it was done by the one of the studio that I don't really like should I really not want to going into details as I will need to take other series to do the comparing.