AnimeSuki Forum - View Single Post - Crunchyroll White Album (All Episodes, 1-26)

Sorrow-K · 2009-01-14, 01:51

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.

2009-01-14, 01:51	Link #240
Sorrow-K Somehow I found out Join Date: Feb 2006 Age: 40	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. __________________ .:The Nihon Review:.:Ikoku Meiro no Croisée:.:Tamayura: Hitotose:. .:Behind The Nihon Review:.:Understanding Guilty Crown’s Failure:. .:MAL:.:Twitter:.