Just as Snow began to fall, so did we (White Album 2)

Well that was a corny title.
I'm in one of those existential crisis again after watching a great anime series. I'm lucky this day was declared a holiday so I have the day to myself - well, ideally academics is always around the corner so I'm still bound by chains of responsibility and fear of the future.

[Spoiler Alert]

I just finished White Album 2 a few minutes ago. Despite having the same core as season 1, W.A.2 is very different from its predecessor. The characters are younger, the setting and the premise for most of the plot going around the 13-episode series is definitely lighter compared to the business-and-love oriented story of the first White Album. But don't get me wrong, W.A.2 lives up to the greatness of White Album in terms of its impact to me.

 The story revolves around the members of the Light Music Association - by that I mean only three characters. While there are excellent supporting characters in the series, the story is completely narrowed down to the love triangle between Haruki Kitahara, Setsuna Ogisa, and Kazusa Touma, most of the time the secondary characters would just butt in for a moment and then forgotten on the next. But you could tell the series' sole dedication to building those three characters and their relationships.

Their Best time together, was the last time they could truly be together

There aren't any arcs explicitly mentioned in the series, but for me there are two arcs: the School Festival arc and the Love Triangle arc.

The School Festival arc was meant to properly introduce the characters and build on their relationships. However, the events of this arc were, for the most part, too narrow. It was pretty straight forward and direct without too much conflicts going on. Looking back to the first few episodes is actually making me wonder how the story suddenly jumped off to a darker tone during and after episode 7.

It's nice to note that the first arc (partially) rode on the fame of the first White Album both in-universe and as an anime adaptation. While it made no mention of the events of the first White Album, W.A.2 stayed true to its name by adapting Yuki Morikawa's debut single in the first series, as well as a song from Ogata Rina.

Ogata Rina, still looking young after 10 years...that was a joke of course. I am curious as to what happened to her and the rest of season 1 characters

The second arc begins somewhere halfway in episode 7. The real love triangle begins here, and while this latter half spent plenty of time on Ogisa Setsuna's and Kitahara Haruki's relationship it was all brought to a devastating end starting in episode 12. It somehow gave me the idea that the only purpose of Kitahara going out with Setsuna was so that the true love that Kitahara has for Kazusa, and vice versa, would bring a huge impact...and it did. 

I'm pretty sure if there was spoof of this anime where Setsuna was a yandere, Kitahara would've died then and there.

I ended up feeling two things at that point in the story: 1. Extremely sorry for Ogisa Setsuna, 2. Absolute contempt for Kitahara.

I can't really blame the guy, though. If I was in his shoes, I would've done the same thing - to chase after Kazusa Touma. He was caught in a relationship where he was completely unsure of if whether he wanted to be in it or not, and being the annoyingly foolish YES-man that he is, he played along as if he really meant it.  In the end, all of them ended the series completely hurt and broken. Unrequited love, lost love and betrayal played around the conscience of the three characters, not a single spark of joy was present to send the series in a happy (not even hopeful) note.

High Points:

• Excellent main and secondary characters
• Surprisingly hilarious first arc; More serious 2nd arc
• Ogisa Setsuna
• The difficult romance between Haruki and Kazusa
• Music
• The Love Triangle

Low Points:

• Underused secondary characters
• Weak/little to no back story for Haruki and Setsuna

And so ends the dramatic marathon of White Album that lasted for three weeks. I think it'll be another long round of existential crisis for me before I finally get over the fact that the story ends there, and nothing more follows.

What greatly pains me after watching anime like this is that when I  finish a series, I go back to the harsh reality that my life will never be as interesting and thrilling as those that I watch.

In the end, I'm just a spectator, yet somehow I always want to be part of it.