WHITE ALBUM 2

DESCRIPTION

CAST

ANIME DramaWHITE ALBUM
SPECIAL DramaWhite Album 2 Picture Drama
MANGA DramaWhite Album 2

REVIEWS

• 

  Peng

  70/100
  As grounded as love triangles get

  _White Album 2_ surpassed all my expectations. It’s perhaps the most vivid, compelling, realistic and quite frankly, the best romance/drama anime since _Nana_. Largely due to the unsavoury reception its predecessor received, _WA2_ largely went under the radar during the fall 2013 season. Thankfully, _White Album_ and _White Album 2_ are completely unrelated (save for a couple of transposed songs). Apparently, the original _White Album 2_ visual novel is also the highest rated VN in Japan, and it’s easy to see why. _WA2_ follows the story of Haruki Kitahara in his senior year of high school. Haruki’s a diligent, determined, straight-A student and the class-rep to boot. He’s also a guitarist in his school’s light music club. Issue is all the band members have left. So, in preparation for the upcoming school festival, he recruits the help of the series’ two heroines: Setsuna Ogiso, the kind, demure, resident glamour-girl and Kazuki Touma, the stubborn, anti-social musical prodigy. Right off the bat, it’s clear that we’re not exactly in unfamiliar territory. We’ve seemingly got all the archetypal characters, from the Gary Stu male MC to the enigmatic tsundere. We’re in high school (complete with the usual seating placement), we’ve got a _K-On_ club and a school cultural festival. And of course, there’s the love triangle. These are elements ostensibly present in nearly all anime nowadays, and, unsurprisingly, the vast majority of these, as the age-old adage goes, are shit. And when you’re recycling the same, uninspired, overused tropes, cardboard-cut-out-characters and plot devices, it’s to be expected. So, despite being so incredibly standard, what sets _White Album 2_ apart from every other harem romance bullshit produced since the inception of everybody’s favourite eroge studio Key back in 1998? Simple. It does something every romance should do, but inexplicably very few have done. It has believable characters. Rather than letting initial appearances define and pigeon-hole the series’ characters into unimaginative, pre-determined roles that only serve to frustrate the viewer with their blatant lack of substance, White Album 2 actively cultivates and develops its characters such that they break the very archetypes initially imposed upon them. Ultimately, the result is perhaps one of the most endearing, sympathetic and nuanced main trio in romance anime history. Above all else, they’re surprisingly human. All of the primary three have their faults, just as they all have admirable qualities. However, instead of being hyperbolised to the point of absurdity, these respective traits are treated with an unprecedented degree of subtlety such that they come off as realistic as opposed to forced. In fact, the more tenured viewer is likely to identify with the struggles and mannerisms of at least one, if not all of the main trio. All three contribute equally to their successes in their own, individual ways, just as all three are equally culpable for their failures due to their unique flaws. You will be frustrated, charmed and saddened by all three. Just as in _Nana_, the characters in _WA2_ don’t feel like characters. They feel like people. Real, fleshed-out people, complete with their grounded quirks, foibles, self-contradictions and merits. You won’t necessarily approve of all their actions (in fact, I can guarantee you that you won’t), yet simultaneously, as you struggle to unravel their individual motivations, you will come to realise the justification and reasoning behind said actions. And that’s the thing: whilst no one is overly altruistic or selfless, no one is exactly narcissistic either. They each have a (somewhat admirable) lucidity and self-awareness such that the person they’re most embittered by is themselves. Make no mistake, these characters are perfectly aware of their hypocrisies and faults, it’s just amending them that’s the issue. They know that some of the dreams (a nicely integrated motif) they pursue are an unrealistic and counter-productive ideal, but then again, it’s only human to dream, and to chase these dreams when they seem so close. In much the same manner, _White Album 2_ does not hesitate to portray love as equally as fickle, if not more so, as its characters. The harder our main trio struggle and the more they attempt to manipulate the tides into their favour, the more intertwined and entrapped they become, such that ultimately, the damage is inexorably of the collateral variety. In some aspects, the series is just as focused on lust (and not the good kind) as it is on love. _WA2_ does not sugarcoat romance, nor does it smother it in ludicrous amounts of soppy melodrama, although some is undeniably present. Rather, it treats the matter as it does its characters: with maturity. Sometimes, love hurts. It’s a slippery slope indeed. However, as aforementioned, the series – hell, even much of the plot for that matter – is heavily uninspired. It falls into and plays out like any other high school romance, save for some key moments. It’s a shame really, that a series with such well-written characters would voluntarily stifle itself with such bland content. Chances are you’ve seen it all before – just not with this level of craftsmanship. I think that it’s because of this reason that I was never fully emotionally invested in any of the characters; sure, I was sympathetic towards and conflicted by them, but I was never able to ignore the fact that the tribulations they endured were just so generic, and to a very minor extent, somewhat contrived. The series glosses over some unexplored plot points (what was the deal with Setsuna’s dad, or Touma’s for that matter?) and the numerous secondary characters serve little to no purpose. This was especially irritating with one such character that exhibited a potentially game-changing degree of perceptiveness and intuition, but was forcibly (and quite literally) relegated to the backdrop. Pacing isn’t an issue, although it picks up quite a bit in the final act. Visually, _White Album 2_ wasn’t exactly impressive (Satelight isn’t renowned for their animation), but it was by no means unappealing. There were also some clever visual details that foreshadowed later plot points. The soundtrack, on the other hand, was great. To be fair, you’d hope as much for a series where music plays such an important role, and doubly so for one with a title that I can only assume is a reference to The Beatles album. Most of the OST is mellow and sombre, if a little conventional, which complements the atmosphere perfectly. Note that only the first (of three) chapters from the visual novel have been adapted at this point. That said, the story in the anime is complete as it is. Minor plot oversights, shortcuts and an unambitious story prevent _White Album 2_ from reaching its full potential. However, the anime reaches a stratum of character nuance and realism practically unheard of in the romance genre. This captivating level of character believability alone warrants my fullest recommendation, doubly so if you’re a romance fan. Sometimes, all a show needs is a well written character. Or two. Hell, try three.
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• 

  CaninnTurtle

  81/100
  White Album 2 is probably the best, most realistic and, most importantly, tolerable love triangle out there.

  When have we ever seen a love triangle played out correctly? I don't mean like those that are consider "successful" because your favorite couple in the triangle won in the end, but an actually good love triangle with a legitimate dynamic and reason to exist. White Album 2 (and yes it is a sequel, but it's a standalone sequel. White Album is not required.) is perhaps the first show to make me actually appreciate the fact that even a love triangle can be done correctly. I can't be the only one who groans audibly when I see the makings of a love triangle in any medium, not just anime. In my mind, it just speaks to lazy writing, because the writer is trying to stir up artificial drama or simply can't decide which couple should be the canon couple. White Album 2 completely subverts this expectation, but more on that in a little bit.

  One thing that White Album 2 isn't going to be remembered for is its visuals. It's probably the most okay looking show I've ever seen, even a little bit underwhelming, yet, I can't seem to be upset about it. I think it's because of how little White Album 2 actually needs to lean on its visuals. Of course, if it was animated well and looked beautiful, my score might be even higher, but the fact that it's still in the 80s despite looking just okay is a mark to how good the rest of the show was and that's best illustrated in the soundtrack.

  It seems somewhat redundant to praise an anime about music for having good music, because that should be a given right? Well, yes, but White Album 2's soundtrack is nothing short of phenomenal. It seems a little contradictory, but the opening and ending aren't really anything to write home about, in my opinion. The true strength of the music lies in the soundtrack, especially in the title track, White Album, which I'll just put right here:

  This song single handedly convinced me that this show was going to be worth watching. And indeed it was, as this song plays constantly, almost once an episode, but different versions here and there, making it unique and moving no matter when it plays. Of course, there are other inserts that are fantastic as well, but they're not as worthy of getting direct praise like White Album is.

  Favorite Character: Kasuza Touma

  

  I'm not really sure that I need to explain very much why she's my favorite character, White Album 2's narrative shows Touma in the better light in my opinion, but I was also a fan of her from the start so I don't know if I'm just letting my bias talk. There are definitely only three characters that matter in White Album 2 though, even though there are more, they serve essentially no purpose other than to have other people appear in the show. You're either a Touma fan or a Setsuna fan and that's basically what it boils down to. I couldn't help but feel bad for Haruki throughout the show too. He was just trying his best to encourage the two girls to overcome what problems they had while he had a crush on this girl who taught him guitar and then everything comes crashing down around him. It feels almost personal. We essentially feel what he does, the confusion and the desperation as he tries to keep the trio together, while knowing full well that it's not possible after the romantic feelings rise to the surface. Here is where I need to chime in with my "fuck Setsuna", because the entire drama is entirely her fault from start to finish, but I'll let you watch White Album 2 and come to the same conclusion.

  There's not a lot of substance to White Album 2's story outside of the character drama, which suits it just fine. For only 13 episodes, it achieves what many shows cannot. That would be having a clear direction. White Album 2 had its story to tell and that's exactly what it did. Previously, I criticized Steins;Gate 0 for not having any focus, well, White Album 2 is the exact opposite of that. It focuses exclusively on the trio's relationship, and it's exactly what was needed. Anything else and White Album 2 wouldn't have worked like it did. I have to tip my hat to White Album 2 for not caving and trying to be far broader than it could handle, but simply just telling its story. I would recommend White Album 2 to almost anyone who's interested in romantic dramas and as something of a case study for how to do love triangles. I didn't really touch on it before, so I'll do it now: You have to have a winner chosen from the start when you make love triangles. That's not to say that you make it painfully obvious, but it was clear that Haruki loved Touma more from the way the narrative shaped around the two of them compared to him and Setsuna. It wasn't obvious that it would turn out the way it did, but it was clear the whole time that Haruki knew who he loved more. That's top notch writing if I've ever seen some. I wish that most serious harem shows would take notes.

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• 

  Pockeyramune919

  80/100
  While not a masterpiece, White Album 2 is a great, somber romance for all you owners of a lonely heart.

  This Review Contains Spoilers for White Album 2

  

  I love love.

  Yet I hate seeing so many people loving love.

  Does that make sense?

  No?

  Okay, well let me try that again.

  I consider myself a hopeless romantic. I believe in love at first sight, I dream of having an opulent marriage ceremony, I think sex is best used as a melding of two souls who love one another; all of that jazz. That said, I'd also consider myself a supremely unlucky person, romantically, to the point where Sweetest Day and Valentines are more than likely to put me in a major funk. When you fear that your heart will never again find another, seeing countless depictions of characters finding love can prove tiring. While you can live vicariously through characters, there's a point when you become jaded and even the sweetest of romance hot cocoa becomes a bitter love story coffee. I've found myself desiring a romantic work that more caters to love's bitterness as opposed to its sweetness. I don't want every single romance to be a depress-fest, but I don't think a little affirmation — something to tell me I'm not alone — is too much to ask for.

  This is largely how I approached 2013's White Album 2, an adaption of a visual novel of the same name. I had been pretty disappointed to discover that my melancholic, realistic romance turned out to be as sickeningly sweet and escapist as your run-of-the-mill love story. As me and other fans of the show stood amidst the wreckage that was the finale, I heard the title White Album 2 thrown around quite a bit. Many are of the opinion that White Album 2 provides the more realistic romance that viewers of Yesterday were looking for. I had already heard of White Album 2 before — on the r/anime subreddit, it's largely lauded as a realistic, subdued, bittersweet character-focused romance with at least two popular "watch this" threads to its name.

  However, I found out that some of the fine folks at Anilist were less warm towards the show. So which is it? Is this the Best Thing Ever, blowing every other romance out of the water in its realism, or is it a tepid show that only stands out among the crowd because so few other romances take the sad route?

  

  As with most things, the truth of White Album 2 is somewhere in the middle. Watching the show, it's undeniable that, as a whole, White Album 2 is more effective than Sing Yesterday — unlike the shoddily-ended romance of nigh-yesteryear, White Album 2 commits to its themes throughout and its ending is a sight to behold. That said, ever the Goldilocks, I must admit that it didn't feel "just right." I really don't want to say "heart factor" because I feel the more I say it, the more insane I sound, but that simply could be it. Save for the ending, White Album 2 never resonated with me the way Sing Yesterday for Me did. Perhaps we can work through exactly why I feel the way that I do.

  White Album 2 tells the story of Haruki Kitahara, a third year highschool student who has dreams of elevating his light music club to the next level by performing at the annual cultural festival. Through his passion, friendliness and love of the eponymous White Album, Kitahara recruits the high school idol, Setsuna Ogiso and a talented yet aloof pianist, Kazusa Touma. As anyone in a band knows — getting good enough for a gig is only half the battle, maneuvering with the other members is another. Kitahara soon finds himself strumming the chords of a heart instead of a guitar.

  This isn't quite as high-concept as something like the last work I reviewed, but it's nowhere as near as low-concept "Sing Yesterday For Me." Let's just call it "upper-middle" concept. This "upper-middle" concept is the best of both worlds, being more character-focused than high-concept works, yet still giving you enough of a plot to latch onto if the characters aren't quite up to snuff. I won't say the band element was the most gripping thing in the world (and good thing for it, as it's essentially dropped during the final fourth of the show) but it was interesting enough and I liked seeing the trio progress as a musical group. The band plotline provides a nice hook for the characters to begin interacting with one another. And as I alluded to before, the band plotline knows how to make itself scarce to focus more on the characters. When the characters finally perform, there's a sense that the "real" story is just beginning.

  It would be a shame if a music-focused anime had a bad OST. Fortunately, that's not the case. While I won't say every piece is a bop™, the insert songs are fantastic and the songs that the trio actually play are a treat.

  White Album 2 has a pretty good atmosphere — the character designs are realistic enough and while the colors aren't muted, they're not the most vibrant either. For these reasons, the anime doesn't wear its down-to-Earth nature on its sleeve nearly as proudly as Yesterday. This is an anime that, at first glance, may seem fairly run-of-the-mill. It's part of the 95% of anime that takes place in high school, the first episodes will occasionally employ silly cliches like a character getting jealous due to a misunderstanding, and as I'll get into, at first glance, the three leads can come across as cookie-cutter. It's only when you stick around that you realize this is something more real, more grounded than your standard anime fare.

  This realism is mostly due to White Album 2's main characters, Kitahara, Ogiso, and Touma. Since the story becomes increasingly focused on the trio and their interactions with one another, your enjoyment of White Album 2 ultimately comes down to your interests in the characters, moreso than your interest in the band plot. I'm pleased to say that I found them interesting throughout. Even if I disagree with their actions towards the end of the show's run, there's never a moment where I think "these characters don't work."
  On the outset, the members of the trio come across as simple — simple enough that you can seemingly distill the characters into a few lines. Kitahara seems to be your standard high school anime protagonist — nice, friendly, bland and inoffensive; a white bread slice of a character. Ogiso is your genki, friendly, slightly scatterbrained popular girl. Touma is the aloof ace, the few words she spares only seeming to affirm her coldness. The benefit of such seemingly simple characters is that they're easy to identify and latch onto. Not too long after meeting Touma, I knew that I wanted Kitahara to end up with her instead of Ogiso. The drawback to simple characterizations is that they come across as shallow and generic — if you've seen a romance anime before, you'll assume that you've immediately seen all these characters have to offer and be turned away from them. That's where the beauty of White Album 2's characters come in. Like transformable robot-to-car toys from the eighties, they are more than meets the eye.

  

  For as bland as he appears, Kitahara does have things to latch onto. His kindness and tenacity seem to go above and beyond what's required of a quasi-harem protagonist. His earnestness, such as when he shimmies across the ledge of a window to try and procure his last bandmate, has to be seen to be believed. I ended up admiring his gumption. Therefore, he deserves to be upgraded from "white bread slice." I won't go crazy and call him "cinnamon raisin bread," but he's at least "sourdough."As I'll describe in more detail, like similar protagonists, he unfortunately does end up disgustingly hurting people who care about. Even while I end up hating him for it, it seems different somehow — less calculated. It comes across less like he's actively behaving in a way that's untoward and more that he's such a reactive moron when he's impassioned that he doesn't think. It's still awful, don't get me wrong, but there's a cause distinction between "ignorant" and "malicious" even if the effect is largely the same.

  

  Touma has a somewhat sad home life in which she's always trying to surpass her famous mother. She's an ace when it comes to playing music, but we soon see that her grades are poor. Her coldness and aloofness are recontextualized — it seems as though she's less intentionally aloof and aloof as a product of not being able to interact with that many people. Her coldness seems to be more directed specifically at Kithara; it's the teasing someone does when they're close to another. While she may seem haughty at first glance, in truth, she's quite insecure. Ogiso, is brighter than one may assume, and suffers from loneliness perhaps more pronounced than Touma. From this, her desire for the trio to always be together ends up coming across as more sad and desperate than it would from someone else — she needs this. After all her friendliness, she can be surprisingly self-serving and cutthroat.

  These expanded personalities all serve White Album 2's theme in some fashion. If the first half of the show is dedicated to showing the beauty of platonic and romantic love, the second is committed not only to showing love’s hurtfulness, but its messiness as well. When love hurts, it sometimes doesn't just hurt you, it hurts others connected to you, as well. Sometimes when love hurts, it doesn't leave a clean wound that can be patched up; it's sometimes damaging enough to destroy an entire relationship. Simply put, love is often less like a bullet and more like a frag grenade. In White Album 2, loving actively hurts others due to multiple people loving someone (both Ogiso and Touma fall in love with Kitahara), bad timing (Touma has loved Kitahara for some time now but by the time she realizes it, Ogiso has made her move), and entanglements (Kitahara realizes he loves Touma, but by the time he does, he's already in a relationship with Ogiso), among other problems. This is a place where I think the love triangle works — there's no clear-cut best option — all characters are introduced around the same time and are given roughly the same amount of importance and screen-time, and it's depicted as realistically messy, with no "clean up" at the end.

  

  That said, one of my biggest gripes with the anime is the fact that it seems not to trust love hurting being compelling enough of a drama. No, instead, it felt the need to make its characters actively despicable. Come the end of episode 11, Kitahara realizes he loves Touma and passionately kisses her. She reciprocates for a bit before breaking away and slapping him. This reaction is due to the little tiny detail of Ogiso being his girlfriend at that point. If this wasn't enough, the two then have sex in episode 12, still while he's with Ogiso, mind you. Infidelity of any sort is a sure-fire way to make me hate your character with the fiery passion of a thousand suns. In an instant, I was turned off from the character due to how scummy he was. And yes, as I said, you could make the argument that he wasn't really thinking, but it was still a horrible thing to do. Even if I don't hate him as much as, say, Kido, it was still disgusting and rubbed me all sorts of the wrong way. Touma having sex with Kitahara robbed her of any goodwill the slap granted her. If that wasn't damning enough, a flashback reveals that before she knew of his feelings, Touma kissed Kitahara in his sleep, a fact which the anime frames as cute since she's a woman, but it would justifiably acknowledge as creepy if the genders were flipped. After building up liable characters, White Album 2 destroyed them. I get flawed characters, but these people are just plain gross.

  

  People say the kiss is shocking, but I couldn't garner any shock at someone being a jerk — just anger. Granted, I was spoiled about this development. I concede that, perhaps if I experienced this scene the "right" way, I'd be more shocked. I still stand by the showrunners not needing to make the characters act so badly in order to drive home the point that love is messy.

  Besides that, the biggest mark against White Album 2 is that, more often than not, I find it kind of boring. I know I said I found the characters interesting; I stand by that. I also stand by me liking the band plot. I hate that I can't really put my finger on why I found things so boring. This feeling of boredom was most prevalent during the second half, so ultimately I think it's just because there's very little to keep you coming back. Say what you will about Yesterday's overly-sensational cliffhangers; at least they give you an incentive to come back to a very chill show. Without that, there's very little reason to watch episodes in quick succession. White Album 2 is generally compelling, but it's never gripping especially when the plot exits stage left. While it's a drama, it's slice-of-life pacing can be somewhat dull. Perhaps it's due to me not being able to immerse myself in the world as much. I was very excited to follow college-age characters before realizing that the characters of the first White Album are in college, not these ones. Maybe it's because there's not that much character development? I think the characters are more layered than deep. It's nice getting to peel back the layers and see who they really are, but without actual, large change, they can still come across as a bit shallow, if not still interesting.

  

  Even with my criticisms, I have to continue giving White Album 2 credit where it's due. Unlike Yesterday, it absolutely sticks the landing. While I hate how Touma and Kitahara turned out, their absolute disregard for others' feelings made the ending possible. Touma has decided she'll leave overseas to study with her mother. Ogiso and Kitahara go to see her off. Despite Ogiso knowing of Kitahara's cheating, she isn't mad at him; the poor girl thinks it's her fault. The two make it to the airport. Touma and Kitahara embrace and kiss goodbye in full view of Ogiso who watches on, broken. The two then watch as her plane departs. Ogiso talks throughout, her denial showing in how she hopes the plane will turn back and acting like her and Kitahara still have a future. I didn't cry, but I'm not sure that was the intention — I felt empty. Empty knowing that despite her best efforts, Ogiso's friends will drift apart; empty knowing that love didn't prevail and Touma essentially ran away from the pain she felt in Japan; empty as I realized that Touma and Kitahara's passionate love was destructive and selfish; empty knowing that there isn't a happy ending, just a bittersweet one that's more the former than the latter; empty seeing the flurry of snow the characters find themselves in — beautiful, yet cold. White Album 2 adapts the introductory chapter of the visual novel and, honestly, I don't think I want to see how the story concludes. Sure, it could be better, but it will more than likely be a sappy ending that tarnishes the sad beauty of this moment.

  

  It's a bit hard to reconcile the boredom and anger I felt before with the beauty that came after, but I'll try my best. White Album 2 is a show where both the journey and destination matter. The ride isn't always smooth, but it's pleasant enough and the destination is good enough that you'll be glad you stuck with it. In concept, White Album 2 is nothing special, but it makes up for it in consistency and execution. Yesterday is something that squandered its potential while White Album 2 is something that made do with the little that it had and I admire that. While it's certainly not my favorite and never really resonated with me until the end, White Album 2 ends up being so competent that I have to score it well on technical grounds. I just wish it was a bit more exciting, a bit more daring in concept and setting, a bit more trusting of love itself to be the bad guy. But even if the chair isn't quite "just right," before I go shopping for more, I'll lean back and accept "good enough."

  8.0/10
  B-
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