White Album 2

All-Ages versions are for consoles only. WA 2 for the PC is 18+.

...thought so. orz

Worry not, for here I shall prove that god truly exists! For here we humankind has received the greatest of gifts from him! The ability to press control to skip scenes

God knows how I would've survived Fate/stay night or whatever other horribly-written sex scenes-filled eroge without this godly ability.

Awww, come on. Seafood metaphors! Funniest part of the game!

Actually, one of the problems people have with Closing Chapter (and Coda), aside from how dragging it can be, is how Haruki morphs into this angry young man who can't move on, and what's more, actively a jerk to Setsuna. Obviously an excuse for drama.

Now to get to Coda, one has to go through Setsuna's route and get her ending (with all that implies). Coda is set a year or two afte CC... Which is where Touma comes back. Even MORE drama, since you know, old flame (and what's more, his first, one NEVER forgets his first).

Makes one wonder how'd they'd ever animate this part, if a second season does push through, particularly the closing episodes or climax. People say that Setsuna's route in Closing Chapter to Touma's True End for Coda seem to be the obvious choice, but still...

The problem with Setsuna's True End in Coda is that Haruki stops being the protagonist. The entire conclusion to that arc is written from Setsuna's perspective. It's one of the reasons why many fans don't consider it to be an ending equal in worth to Kasuza's True Ending.

I for one, await the rage if CC gets the green light. Haruki's just... just. I don't know anymore. Not quite WA 1 anime worthless piece of human flesh, but close to Kiminozo anime-level indecisiveness. And what's more Setsuna just... takes it.

There's a whole lot to be angry about, especially when you compare how he was at the end of IC/episode 13.

edited 19th Jan '14 5:08:25 PM by MyssaRei

Comparing him on the spectrums makes it pretty clear he's always been horribly unmotivated... Just very good at hiding it.

Setsuna is motivated interpersonally; Haruki isn't. (Neither is Touma.) He does things for other people, he takes care of other people, but he doesn't seem to cultivate friendships for his own sake. And while he's good at manipulating people he's apparently bad at connecting with them. Remember that flashback where they marvel at someone actually getting Haruki and becoming his friend?

Touma is motivated personally; Haruki isn't. (Neither is Setsuna.) Haruki isn't. He doesn't put in ten hours a day until Touma's involved, and even before then he says that he could keep practicing guitar only because of the mysterious 'elite student' playing piano next door. After the festival, he pretty much only plays when Touma's involved somehow. For that matter, do we ever see him have any hobbies? Like, at all? Because as pointed out above, music kind of doesn't count.

Between that and the complete absence of any family members... Haruki is a pretty good instance of show-don't-tell on "this person is actually pretty messed up." If he stopped caring and stopped keeping up the facade, it's safe to say he'd suddenly seem to have fallen apart... But I don't think much would have actually changed.

It's interesting that you noticed that; from what I've heard about the remainder Haruki apparently had/has a very similar home life to Kasuza - Parental Abandonment, etc. The difference is that he defaulted to becoming an extroverted busy-body, while Kasuza defaulted to being an introverted slacker.

I don't know guys, I still think it's weird how people are preferring an ending where Haruki and Touma run off together [1]◊ to be better than one where the three of them are happily performing again, albeit at Haruki and Setsuna's wedding [2]◊. Yes, there were a whole lot of awkward involved before that◊, but still...

But holy heck. After reading the game script, this has a high chance of clusterfsk if animated, especially if the director isn't careful.

P.S. Kind of weird how Setsuna, outside of her route, Setsuna's treated as this weird "consolation prize". Even when Haruki treats her like a living onahole, really.

edited 22nd Jan '14 3:32:49 PM by MyssaRei

Mysaa, 1 and 2 are the same picture

Whoops, I was on the way to work when I made that post, so I didn't pay too much attention.

In any case, Kazusa's return in Coda is just a blatant drama bomb it's ridiculous, and a bad way to shake the resolve Haruki's found after Closing Chapter. Gosh, no wonder people who played the game thought he was a massive jerk.

And the Cheating Chapter in no way helps in that regard. There are more than a few choice pieces of dialogue in it, that kind of call back to IC, in that they both admit, again, to be not good people.

Also this line: "She's just like her mom! She's a slut!"

It's no wonder Maruto (the guy who wrote the game's script) was troubled over Twitter about what route to use if a next season is to follow. How can one resolve the end of the obvious choice in CC (Setsuna true), with what follows? Kazusa true, which people think is the real ending due to how more detailed it is, nevermind no perspective change to Setsuna, ends with Haruki going with Kazusa.

edited 22nd Jan '14 4:57:05 PM by MyssaRei

The problem most people have with Setsuna's True End is that it's fairy-tale happy without really resolving any of key problems unearthed in Coda. The feelings Haruki and Kasuza have for each other aren't resolved, they're just ignored. Haruki admits he can't do anything that would make everybody happy and hands the role of protagonist off to Setsuna, who then waves her magic plot-wand and suddenly everything's OK and she's making lunch for both of them like they're back in high school again. Meanwhile, the ticking time bomb of Kasuza's mom's imminent death from cancer is never brought up.

Meanwhile, Kasuza's True End is bittersweet and earned after a long road of hardship and tears, but it actually brings everything to a conclusion. Haruki decides that after nearly five years he's going to stop lying. He loves Kasuza, and he's willing to abandon everything he has to stay with her.

It's worth noting that Kasuza's True End is the only one where she shows that she can surpass her mother at piano. It highlights the nature of the relationship between the two, I think: They bring out the absolute worst in each other, but they also bring out the absolute best in each other too. They're both willing to utterly annihilate themselves for each other - They'll lie, cheat, destroy anything and betray anybody. Kasuza would gladly never play music again if it meant that she could have Haruki, and for Haruki she's like a lethally poisonous, hyper-addictive drug. Yet, they also bring out the very best in each other. Kasuza can only really excel musically when Haruki's there to support her, and Haruki can accomplish anything if it's for her sake.

Hence any kind of adaptation is a disaster waiting to happen if not handled/directed properly.

edited 22nd Jan '14 5:40:31 PM by MyssaRei

maybe something like combining parts of routes and going with something original might work out

^ That almost never works out.

Trying to avoid the spoilers. Very difficult.

Especially since, as High Velocity points out, both "true" endings follow a different dramatic trajectory from each other.

Also, the "route combination" thing already in White Album 1, and it's pretty much universally-seen as a dramatic trainwreck. For those who don't remember (or don't want to), the indecisive MC ends up sleeping with every girl except his girlfriend and her co-idol, but manages to get off scott-free in the end and gets back with his girlfriend.

In a meta sense, I'm amused at the low opinions players have of the characters after their playthroughs. I've heard "disgusting", and "disappointing" bandied about, but "insane" seems to be the most common thing I've heard about Setsuna herself, particularly about her in CC.

Edit: Speaking of which, High Velocity, when are you going to fill out the WA 2 page? For a Visual Novel entry, it's INCREDIBLY sparse.

EDIT EDIT: Someone in another place suggested that the staff might just skip CC entirely and jump straight into Coda, as you-know-who only comes back then, to keep the love triangle front and center. Though this would only make comparisons to Kiminozo stronger if anything.

edited 22nd Jan '14 7:06:43 PM by MyssaRei

I think I like Kasuza's True End more. Yeah.

groans

I think I'm hitting my limits as an anime-only watcher here. Simply put: the White Album 2 page is a travesty. For a VN that's more than 30 hours long, its entry is awfully sparse.

As an anime-only watcher, I shouldn't even be touching this, as I'm working with second-hand information at best. That's bound to mean that I'll get stuff wrong. But here I am anyway. I added a picture, looking for a better summary to start the page with, looking for tropes to fill it with.

Yeah. This is not going to end well.

So you game players out there, you'll have to chip in. Seriously.

So lets start with Kazusa — she can't support herself, she can't cook, she has no friends, and as her mother points out to Haruki in Coda, the only thing she can do is play the piano. That's a hill of possible trope entries right there.

edited 23rd Jan '14 8:44:32 PM by MyssaRei

...why? What do you gain from this?

Seriously, stop. Leave it alone. 99% of the audience only knows the anime. This means that 99% of the people who visit the page either have to submit to playing Spoiler Minesweeper, trying to figure out which ones they know about already comparative to their willingness to be spoiled, or give up entirely. Not everyone wants full disclosure all the time.

This is a community site, not an encyclopedia. Spoilers are much easier to find than an identical site that does exactly what this one does.

edited 23rd Jan '14 8:49:43 PM by Einander

Is there an anime page for this?

There's a single page for this, and when I found it, it was under Visual Novels. Take note, the anime adapts Introductory Chapter anyway so...

I think it would be better to make a seperate anime page for this. People like me have no idea what happens in the VN, and I'm probably not the minority.

Splitting unique entries is only done when there's a significant difference between two media — see how the first Full Metal Alchemist was split from Brotherhood. Even then it's a unique thing. I don't see Rosario x Vampire being given the same treatment, nor Arpeggio of Blue Steel for that matter, both franchises had printed and animated media that diverged significantly from each other.

See also CLANNAD's page — which is ostensibly its VN page, but was pretty much taken over by the anime's edits for a while. Really, White Album 2's entry containing both anime and VN details isn't a big deal, especially since it adapted Introductory Chapter incredibly closely anyway — not scene-by-scene, but close enough for it to not matter.

edited 24th Jan '14 7:54:29 AM by MyssaRei