(CR) White Album (All Episodes, 1-26)

[Mentar]

Hmm, "crazy"? To me she looks like someone who has tried to get together with Touya, lost against Yuki, but who still isn't able to separate herself from Touya. Meaning that even though you have "accepted" that you lost, you still want to spend as much time with your loved one as possible. This would also explain why Touya was initially slamming the door in her face - he's aware of Haruka's pursuit and not happy about it. At the same time, Haruka obviously had a traumatic experience, so Touya feels compelled to cut Haruka some slack out of friendship.

I mean, remember the very last scene. Haruka drives by Touya's apartment AGAIN, while he's talking to Rina...

[Ascaloth]

Ep2 article is up:

[RIUVA] Trial Run: White Album, Episode 2

I didn't put as much effort as I probably could in this, sorry.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by Mentar

Hmm, "crazy"? To me she looks like someone who has tried to get together with Touya, lost against Yuki, but who still isn't able to separate herself from Touya. Meaning that even though you have "accepted" that you lost, you still want to spend as much time with your loved one as possible. This would also explain why Touya was initially slamming the door in her face - he's aware of Haruka's pursuit and not happy about it. At the same time, Haruka obviously had a traumatic experience, so Touya feels compelled to cut Haruka some slack out of friendship.

I mean, remember the very last scene. Haruka drives by Touya's apartment AGAIN, while he's talking to Rina...

You're forgetting something --- there have been many times of 'crazy' characters over the past years, so when anyone sees another one they just label that them straight away without thinking. Yet again this is just to 80s for some people.

But yeah, you're on the ball regarding Haruka.

[Blaat]

I'm surprising myself by liking this as I normally don't like harems. Anyway I can't wait for the drama to unfold.

[Julius Firefocht]

NKDS review of Ep2 is up.

Link: http://nk-ds.org/2009/01/white-album...gin/#more-2100

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by Shiroth

Don't you mean Misaki?

Yea thanks

Originally Posted by Mentar

Hmm, "crazy"? To me she looks like someone who has tried to get together with Touya, lost against Yuki, but who still isn't able to separate herself from Touya. Meaning that even though you have "accepted" that you lost, you still want to spend as much time with your loved one as possible. This would also explain why Touya was initially slamming the door in her face - he's aware of Haruka's pursuit and not happy about it. At the same time, Haruka obviously had a traumatic experience, so Touya feels compelled to cut Haruka some slack out of friendship.

I mean, remember the very last scene. Haruka drives by Touya's apartment AGAIN, while he's talking to Rina...

No, in every way to me she just looks like "a broken puppet".
Perhaps it was the shock of the past that broke her but she isn't "normal in the head" as far as I can see...just like how you ask someone out for a nightly jog but then use a bike (Reminds me of just how broke in the head Noe was too).
As for jumping right in there even though she knows that Touya isn't interested...well I don't actually think she is in denial but rather she doesn't comprehend "love". To me her attraction to him is more childlike and an affection you might have towards an older sibling (must be a thing due to her tragic past?). Her past personality sounds different from what she has become now.

[Sinestra]

Originally Posted by Deathkillz

Yea thanks

No, in every way to me she just looks like "a broken puppet".
Perhaps it was the shock of the past that broke her but she isn't "normal in the head" as far as I can see...just like how you ask someone out for a nightly jog but then use a bike (Reminds me of just how broke in the head Noe was too).
As for jumping right in there even though she knows that Touya isn't interested...well I don't actually think she is in denial but rather she doesn't comprehend "love". To me her attraction to him is more childlike and an affection you might have towards an older sibling (must be a thing due to her tragic past?). Her past personality sounds different from what she has become now.

I touched on that in my post too and im glad someone else spoke up on it. I agree with you DK i find her character interesting to a point i just want to know at this point in time what the hell makes the girl tick. She rarely shows emotion if ever and her speech is somewhat robotic and monotone like shes not quite all there. I cant tell if she actually interested in Touya or if hes just someone thats around for her to interact with. But I still find her interesting because shes an enigma. It is possible that she imprinting Touya with feelings of a big brother she hers was taking from her. This behavior is not unusual we often search alternatives to fill the void of something that we have lost.

[SkoolRumble4Ya]

Is there gonna be any cheating in this show?

[-Sho-]

Just watch ep 2 :

Wow it turns like a harem ! Haruka , Misaki , Yuki , Rin ....
Haruka is .. hmmm .... special ....
Misaki acting like a sick ?
Yuki hmmm , well , are they a couple yet or not yet ??? If there are , what a couple
Rin ! Oh Rin ahah , she will stole Fuji lol !
It will be complicated later ...

[aohige]

Originally Posted by Mentar

Hmm, "crazy"? To me she looks like someone who has tried to get together with Touya, lost against Yuki, but who still isn't able to separate herself from Touya. Meaning that even though you have "accepted" that you lost, you still want to spend as much time with your loved one as possible. This would also explain why Touya was initially slamming the door in her face - he's aware of Haruka's pursuit and not happy about it. At the same time, Haruka obviously had a traumatic experience, so Touya feels compelled to cut Haruka some slack out of friendship.

I mean, remember the very last scene. Haruka drives by Touya's apartment AGAIN, while he's talking to Rina...

Touya isn't going along with Haruka just out of kindness of his heart...
Remember, they are life-long friends, knew each other since kindergarden. An osana-najimi.
He knows he can be somewhat rude to her and get away with it, because they grew up together and are so close to each other.

In a way, I would say, they are probably closer in bond than Touya is to his own girlfriend.
It's a classic "long time friend" vs "current romance" formula seen in billion romance stories.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by SkoolRumble4Ya

Is there gonna be any cheating in this show?

100% chance, I feel.

[Mei19]

I'm pouring in my thoughts.

Touya is starting to emit Makoto vibes now. And it's just episode 2. The prick didn't even tell Misaki that his bestfriend made a cake for her and just claimed the points all to himself. When his bestfriend was earnestly explaining how he got the cake, he was shooting him off in his mind.

Friend: (babbles about the cake)
Inner Touya: Shut up.
Friend: (babbles again)
Inner Touya: Shut up.

WTF? XD

I'm all for a nice boat. I can't wait till Touya becomes a complete lecher and get a bad ending His friend--what'shisface--is a better character than he is IMO.

[animekritik]

I think people are being a bit tough on Touya. If a super hot mega idol writes you a note saying: "tell me your phone number", you're gonna give it to her. As to the cake business, yeah, it's kinda mean but darn it, cheesecake boy has to learn to take matters into his own hands, or give up completely..

[redbible]

Originally Posted by -Sho-

Just watch ep 2 :

Wow it turns like a harem ! Haruka , Misaki , Yuki , Rin ....
Haruka is .. hmmm .... special ....
Misaki acting like a sick ?
Yuki hmmm , well , are they a couple yet or not yet ??? If there are , what a couple
Rin ! Oh Rin ahah , she will stole Fuji lol !
It will be complicated later ...

Rina not Rin.

Rina Ogata, Nana Mizuki, White Album.
Rin Ogata, Nana Mizuki, Ride Back.

A fine but great difference. Details. xDDD

[SageGaiGar]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

100% chance, I feel.

Spoiler for MAD:

And now I've got the "Return my boyfriend" Chorus stuck in my head from a previous link in this thread. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy3yt3Ws2 is The poster is my hero.

Sit back and enjoy the fireworks. And hopefully not a shipping war.

Then again I get a sense of schdenfreuden when it comes to shipping wars... so meh.

I'll likely keep watching this series irregardless.

[gonzo562]

are toya and yuki a couple. They dont really seem like a couple

rina is hawt btw

[kk2extreme]

Originally Posted by redbible

Rina not Rin.

Rina Ogata, Nana Mizuki, White Album.
Rin Ogata, Nana Mizuki, Ride Back.

A fine but great difference. Details. xDDD

did they do that on purpose, or its just coincident

[Julius Firefocht]

Originally Posted by kk2extreme

did they do that on purpose, or its just coincident

Probably just coincidence. No two production studios would knowingly cooperate with each other just to give a single seiyuu two roles with extremely similar names.

[Mentar]

Originally Posted by Mei19

Touya is starting to emit Makoto vibes now. And it's just episode 2. The prick didn't even tell Misaki that his bestfriend made a cake for her and just claimed the points all to himself. When his bestfriend was earnestly explaining how he got the cake, he was shooting him off in his mind.

Friend: (babbles about the cake)
Inner Touya: Shut up.
Friend: (babbles again)
Inner Touya: Shut up.

WTF? XD

Er, no. Touya was actually trying to HELP Akira when he called up Misaki. He was trying to tell her that Akira baked a cake for her, but unfortunately, the cake never once got mentioned over the sickness talk.

And the "inner talk" was clearly from _Akira_, who was getting increasingly pissed about Touya's lecture about Akira's cake disaster.

Have a look at it once more

[Sorrow-K]

Ep 2

I'm still not convinced by this anime, and there are two reasons for that which are pretty closely linked.

The first is that I've yet to see something in these characters worth liking. The second is that I get the feeling this show is trying too hard to be the serious romance drama, with a bit of emphasis on the "serious" and massive amount of emphasis on the "drama". From a technical point of view, there's lots of overbearing music and and visual techniques which sort of imply that there's a lot of subtle detail that requires the audience to actively pay attention (because apparently that's how "good" anime approaches storytelling [insert skepticism here]) to fully appreciate it. Clannad and ef ~memories~ are a bit the same, but it's true that a lot of the meaningful stuff in those anime happens under the surface, so it's more rewarding to actively watch these shows, as opposed to passively watching them (if you can see what I'm saying). What's the pay off for actively watching White Album? Will it be an opportunity to better engage with the show's themes and appreciate its meaning? Or will it just be a chance to "enjoy" the dramatic cataclysm at the end? Because if it's the latter, there's no reward for watching the show actively, since you get the same result watching it passively.

My point is, is this serious, "mature" tone that the show is taking all smoke-and-mirrors, or is there going to be some meaning along the way in this journey? My great fear is that it'll be the former, and that the show will be about little more than the dire consequences of relationships gone wrong. What I'm trying to say is, if that happens (and that's still "if" at this stage), just because the show has a serious tone, and just because it uses a lot of ambitious storytelling techniques, if there's no meaning, and no sympathetic characters, then that doesn't make it any better than Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.

I'm worried about this anime, because at this stage it just looks to me that in its desire to be a "serious romance drama", it's putting too much emphasis on making characters that have issues, and not enough on making characters that are sympathetic.