White as Snow

I just spent five hours watching the last five episodes of White Album and the first four episodes of season 2. I'm deeply moved by the story and it left me in a terrible hangover - the first one in a while after I finished watching So Ra No Wo To earlier this year.

Watching nine episodes straight isn't something I'd usually do, actually. Considering my schedule, I should only watch maybe 3 to 4 episodes a day, but there are just those kinds of anime which will draw you in no matter how hard you resist.

Season 1 of White Album aired five years ago. The quality of animation matched the year it aired, and the design matched the year in-universe of the story. But it's main selling point is its music and the stories behind it. 

There were plenty of characters in season 1, and either love most of them or hate most of them the story ultimately wins out. I for one really despised the main character - Fuji Touya - particularly for his playboy attitude, it only gets worse every time he denies it. He's the type of character who'd easily get killed in a harem with at least two yanderes.

Mana is best girl for me

Anyway, Mr. Playboy Fuji Touya is the central character in the series. All relationships, all story arcs always stem from him. But that's why I'm also thankful for a character like that, everyone who has a connection to him gets the spotlight more than once in the series. 

White Album has the type of storytelling where previous arc characters still play pivotal roles in the next arcs/episodes in a way that always gives incredible surprises. Even the last five episodes still had plenty of revelations in them which eventually loops the connection to everyone involved.

It's just a small world after all.

White Album should have gone off strong but the momentum started to fade when it was time to conclude the story - because they really didn't. Although to some extent the story may seem complete, the ending still felt too vague. All mysteries solved, and all conflicts solved, it gives us the idea that Touya can finally be with Yuki. The possibility that Touya ending up with Rina was low since I assume it was Rina who wrote "Thank you. good-bye" on the mirror in the dressing room. Plus, there's the heavily taped folded paper on the table which supports this assumptions.

What I didn't understand is that there were no scenes depicting Touya and whoever he ended up with to achieve some kind of closure in the story. After all, it's been Touya x A lot of People before we finally got a serious Touya x Yuki 1:1 relationship.

Finally, there's this thing about Touya's past. I won't back track, but I'm pretty sure the past was only touched upon late in the series. Of course, it could have been annoying repeating the same mystery over and over again starting from episode 1, but the late introduction of the mystery of the past was introduced perhaps too late for it to have some kind of big impact to the over all story. Even now I'm still wondering how the past was relevant to the conclusion of the story if not to just give some sort of added depth to Yuki's and Touya's relationship.

White Album had a slow start making sure that it introduces its characters and focus on them enough to make them familiar to the audience, but along with introductions the flow of the story became apparent. Right before the middle, plenty of surprises came rushing in both in Touya's part in interacting with his friends, and in Rina's and Yuki's part as idols.

Overall, White Album delivers a powerful story that will likely stay with me for quite a while - yeah since I'm really not content with the ending. But despite that it offered enough drama, romance and emotional trauma to even bother with the ending.

The reaction of the characters in White Album 2 as they listen to the songs that were sung by Rina and Yuki were pretty much normal implying that nothing "bad" happened to the two post White Album. However, the lack of a new single appearing on season 2 bothers me. Since there was a 10 year timeskip from season 1, shouldn't there be at least something new from Rina or Yuki (or both) that happened in between season 1 and season 2?

High Points:

• Music - the anime sports a great soundtrack owing to the voices of Nana Mizuki and Aya Hirano
• Episodes: 1, 2 (the start of the love triangle), 9, 13 (this episode is GODLY), 18, 22, 23, 25 and 26
• Characters
• Story

Low Points:

• Vague conclusion to the story