White Album 2

since this is set 10 years after the first WA, we should be in the mid 90's so shouldn't their cell phones be much larger?

WA 2 takes place in 2007. It says it on Haruki's notebook and on the clock in Touma's house. I dunno if this is a retcon from the VN or not.

Sick Touma was cute. I knew when Haruki told her to go sleep in her futon that she was gonna bring it down to the studio . On the Setsuna side of things, she gets a nice moment on the train but then takes a blow with the original song/possible love letter to Kazusa. I feel for her, but something about the way she acts around Haruki still rubs me the wrong way.

The setting for the first part of WA 2 (which the anime is covering) is early 2000s, not the 90s. The second part, if I read right, skips to the "present".

edited 10th Nov '13 10:06:50 PM by MyssaRei

oh, my bad. Thought the first one was in 80's

I think you're misunderstanding something. White Album 1 was set in the 80s. The first part of White Album 2 however is set close to the present, hence the cellphones. The game skips even further, into an unspecificed "present day".

Ok, so then the time period for 2 was just bumped up in the anime then?

Just a little. Someone mentioned 2007 for the anime, but I think the game has it a year or two earlier.

Man. I think I really like this show more as a deliberately unbalanced love triangle. They're playing that for drama pretty well!

They picked pretty well when choosing the obviously-losing leg of the triangle, too. Setsuna is much more interesting in that position than Touma would be, I think.

Well, whatever happens afterwards, it's not going to end well.

Good scenes from Touma, though, and needy Setsuna is feeling rather left out. And Haruki...leading on two girls like that, even if you didn't consciously intend to, is not a good idea. Not with these two.

It's also something I shouldn't really do in Real Life. I've got the personality for it, and I know it could happen very easily — I probably wouldn't even notice I was doing it and wouldn't know how to get out of the mess.

The nearest I've got to that game is reading some of the manga (and about in general) of Muv Luv Alternative — and that's enough of a rollercoaster of its own...

edited 11th Nov '13 8:35:52 AM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On

Please keep the "this is not going to end well" idea in mind, and recall that the game this was based on is compared to Kimi ga Nozomu Eien with regards to just how much a drama rollercoaster it was. Yep.

edited 11th Nov '13 8:23:58 AM by MyssaRei

Kumagawa's speech in 137 strikes again! I always love when romances do that. Haruki gave Touma a perfect opportunity and she did nothing. Setsuna makes her own opportunity! Whether that was calculated or mere good luck, that was a beautiful set-up, and she nailed the dismount. Full points!

Seriously, at this point I'm rooting for Setsuna really hard. Touma did some legwork with getting him to stay over at her studio, but Setsuna saw her mistake, she learned from it, and then she followed through. That kind of proactive thinking is enough to make me very fond of a heroine.

Sadly, it's probably just going to be the lead-in to drama rather than them actually going out, but no story's perfect.

I don't think praising rat driven into corner for brave fight hold much meaning. She should back off and try again after infusion of selfconfidence and selfrespect.

edited 16th Nov '13 7:11:21 PM by Tenzen12

Oh, like it doesn't take self-confidence to confess and go for it? She even explicitly said that she's been hoping he'd confess to her instead. Just continuing to wait in vain would have been the easy way out.

If anything, I respect her for more going for it while she was losing — it shows that she understood the situation and was willing to act accordingly. I've more respect for someone who's willing to face reality and fight anyway, not less.

When two do same, it's not same. Setsuna act out of fear and selfdeprivation, as I said, she is like rat driven into corner. If she controled her action and make her choice willingly, she would be quite cool lass.

edited 17th Nov '13 3:02:18 AM by Tenzen12

I am confused. I am more inclined to agree with Einander but I do feel like I am missing something so could someone explain?

Then there's this:

As I see it, "all is fair in love and war" and it's been pretty clear that she wants the guy and it just so happens she was more active than the more subtle Touma. IMO, it's Touma who is still yet to be sure on what she really wants and is the one lacking in confidence.

"If music be the food of love, PLAY ON" - William Shakespeare

New episode...

• Loving that Tears to Tiara OP at the beginning. No idea how they got the rights for it, but it's been a very long time since I heard Free and Dream.
• Ever since Macross Frontier, every time I hear something among the lines of 'give me courage' makes me think they'll have sex. So will they or won't they?
• Touma in a revealing outfit is pure win. Also, dat multi-talent.

"And you must be Jonathan Joestar!" - Sue

I agree all is fair in love and war. Point is she didn't have close person (less lover) for while and she "demand" attention from Haruki to getaffirmation and she can't realy bear well, he pay it to Touma more. If you remember she is dependant on him into point she have psychic problems to sing when he isn't around and openly admited before she has tendences idealise him. That is hardly healthy.

Reason why she made move isn't cause she WANT be with him, but cause she can't possibly bear idea of him having his live not revolving around her.

edited 17th Nov '13 11:29:48 AM by Tenzen12

And if you were right about that, she would have shown signs of that before she found out that he had spent an entire week sleeping over at Touma's house. Before that, she was happy to spend some time with him and, as she said this time, was hoping she could wait for him to confess to her — hardly the behavior of someone desperate to make "his life revolve around her." She's pushier after that, yes, but only when she realizes that waiting for him to fall for her won't do any good. The closest she comes before that is when she's trying to bring Touma into the group, but he was doing the same thing.

Your interpretation is possible, but the timespan during which it simply does not apply renders it very, very highly implausible. I'd look back over the earlier material if I were you.

I am not saying she was like that whole time, but she is now. Though she fallen for idea of Haruki rather than actual person anyway.

edited 17th Nov '13 4:15:22 PM by Tenzen12

The game versions of Tears to Tiara and White Album are both owned by Leaf.

, , So basically, different interpretations of Setsuna's personality. I can actually see that potential for unhealthiness knowing that this series will be quite a rollercoaster. But isn't it also possible that those "psychic problems" are intentional so that the guy will have to approach Setsuna? Which was indeed the case since after her breakdown during rehearsals, the guy approached her the next day instead of just calling her over to Touma's house. Of course, whether it's intentional or not, her potential to be extremely dependent on the guy could still happen. The talk about following him in college does sound eerily creepy.

EDIT: I have to ask, where did this "idea of Haruki" come from?

edited 17th Nov '13 3:58:17 PM by MarquisDev

"If music be the food of love, PLAY ON" - William Shakespeare

She did admited before she was idealising him (two episode back I think).

Man. It's been a while since I've seen a love triangle that's so transparent about how bisexuality and/or polyamory would totally undermine its character conflict.

Of course, judging by the rest of the episode, that might end in Haruki as the third wheel, so I guess he can't complain too much. Until everything blows up, anyway.

It's already doing so. In fact the point can be spotted: It's during Sound of Destiny. Watch Setsuna and Touma's expressions during the song.

Well that was the last episode. This one I should watch tomorrow!

edited 24th Nov '13 1:04:03 PM by Greenmantle

Keep Rolling On

All right, now I've watched it, I wouldn't be surprised if both Haruki, his friends and Touma know how this is all going to end, but don't have the heart to bring it to a painful close before its too late.

Other Notes: BMW 5-series , expect some DVD Bonus Content and superb animation from Satelight.

Keep Rolling On

Looks like I'm finally catching up to this.

In the VN, there's apparently a bunch of important scenes in this part that don't get shown until the second time through. The anime is skipping all of those (and some that do happen the first time through as well), which does paint everything in a different light. Still, there's some nice directing going on, which kinda makes up for what the script is lacking.

Episode seven makes it obvious that Kasuza doesn't really have any friends.

I like the hidden face deal they they pull with Kasuza at the end of episode seven and the start of episode eight.

Even their (Haruki and Setsuna's) friends can see that Haruki's not being honest with himself - that's a bad sign.

And now we've got the first sign that things are going to fall apart, including hints for Setsuna that maybe she's misjudged the situation.

Episode nine: Aww, Haruki cares! And Kasuza's making it obvious she's hurt more than she's willing to let on.

Haruki's lost a lot of my respect. Three cubes of sugar in one tiny cup of coffee? That bastard!

And Haruki and Setsuna are doing that thing all young couples do best: making everybody watching feel horribly awkward.

It's almost too late for second thoughts, Haruki.

Kasuza, stop lying to yourself. You're making it just as hard on you as he's making it on himself.

"I want to make sure."

There we have it ladies and gentlemen. One relationship, down the crapper. You've had a good run, Setsuna, but you don't really have anyone to blame here but yourself.

Doesn't stop her from being as manipulative as ever, I see.

That was a nice trick with the doors, there.

Looks like we're getting set up for a bit of infodumping to Haruki. Lord knows he needs to get hit with a cluebat here.

edited 1st Dec '13 9:59:41 PM by HighVelocityPointyThings