norene73 - 2016-12-14 17:19:11

This anime makes me hate myself, but it was pretty good.

domenic09 - 2016-08-19 21:03:14

When all is said and done, this was a pretty decent series. Classic love triangle with plenty of things going on. I never watched the original series, and I am sure I missed references, but I did not find it necessary to understand what was going on in the series. If you are looking for a decent romance this is it. It is extraordinary, but it is good.

carter.donny - 2015-06-28 19:02:47

Love sucks, plain and simple. Of course, that little detail is often lost in the overwhelming sea of romance anime/mangas out there which paints the whole ordeal of falling in love and actually getting into a relationship like it's all sunshine and rainbows. I think I can speak for the majority of us when I say that romance in real life is nothing like Kimi ni Todoke or Clannad. Furthermore, I think it's safe to say that if you've ever been caught in a love triangle in real life as well, it ain't gonna be like a harem comedy. Humans are fucked up creatures and by the end of it all, nobody comes out of a romantic encounter unscathed. People get hurt, and it fucking sucks. Say what you will about White Album 2, but you know what? It's probably the only anime that truly captures what romance is actually like without treating it like a farcical melodrama.

The only problem I can really see anyone having with this programme is the potential inability to empathise with what's going on and what the characters are going through. I'll say this right now: if you've never been caught in the middle of a love triangle in real life or don't at least make the effort to understand why the characters are doing what they're doing, you'll irrevocably hate this show. I mean, looking at this stuff from the outside-in is fucking frustrating to say the least because everything seems so simple in hindsight. Unfortunately, romance has this nasty habit of making simple things become a Herculean effort. Sure, you can say "that's not always the case" but it's sadly the case for most of us.

I should give a warning to people who expect all their romances to be happy-go-lucky, but the only people who would ever expect ALL romances to be vanilla are mouth-breathing weeaboos with absolutely no social skills with their only romantic experience being masturbating to their high school crushes and being rejected when they tried to ask him/her out. To paraphrase something that Bob Ross once said during an episode of The Joy of Painting: you need some sadness so you know when the good times roll by. It's not like White Album 2 is completely devoid of happy/cute/sweet/heartwarming moments, because that's not the case whatsoever. It's just that we're more prone to remembering the bad shit happening than the good shit.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that WA2 is probably like Oyasumi Punpun because you're never going to get that fairy tale ending where they all live happily ever after because that ain't how it works. As much as we might want Setsuna, Kazusa, and Haruki to end up in a poly relationship so that nobody will get hurt, we all know that shit *rarely* happens in anime, let alone in real life. Someone always gets the short end of the stick and people end up doing some pretty fucked up shit to each other along the way. In many ways, White Album 2 manages to perfectly capture all the feelings that people end up going through in romance: good, bad, and ugly.

With all of that said and done, you might be wondering why I didn't give this programme a 10/10. Well, the biggest reason is that White Album 2 is a visual novel adaptation by the end of it all. The anime only covers the introductory chapter of the VN which takes up around ~10-15% of the story. Whilst the anime is perfectly capable of standing on its own and ends in a manner which provides a sense of closure/resolution, I still want to know what happens to Haruki, Kazusa, and Setsuna after high school. Did I forget to mention that the visual novel is a massive work which covers ~5 years' worth of story (because that's kind of important)? If there's one thing I hate, it's knowing there's more story out there that is unfortunately unavailable (ref: Fruits Basket, Rurouni Kenshin, Berserk, etc). Even then, at least I can read the manga if there is no more anime available but therein lies the problem: the visual novel barring Introductory Chapter is untranslated so it makes me even saltier. Enough about that though, I guess you want my final thoughts.

Ultimately, White Album 2 is the among the best experiences I've ever had with anime in quite some time. While there are some frustrations that I have with the series, they aren't enough to actually affect my recommendation of the show. It's just such a shame that people end up dismissing romance as a genre deeply entrenched in the melodramatic. The biggest strength romance as a genre has is the fact that if done properly, it's something that can make for an incredibly empathetic experience. Unfortunately, the bulk of what passes for romance these days is uninspired drivel that's rife with so many tired-out clichés that it's no wonder people can't stand romantic stories. I'm not making any promises here, but I'm sure if you were to give White Album 2 a shot, you might like it. I guess that's all I can really say at this point so with that, I'm out. Peace.

tkeeling - 2014-11-04 09:58:25

Few series out there actually make me feel stuff.  This is one of them.  As old as I am, this series briskly reminded me of the feelings involving relationships, their complexities, and the intensity of it all.  So, for starters, damn this series for making me feel this way.  It began rather innocently enough; but the drama kicked in midway - to the point of feeling all sorts of mixed stuff.  To be frank, it was rather painful watching the last few episodes.  

Nevertheless, I very much enjoyed this series, but I'm likely to never watch this again.  Mainly, I'll never forget how I end up feeling about it.

Finally, I credit this series for being more honest about the subject manner, than most.  That's been my general impression as I watched each episode, barring a few moments.  For that, I was able to somewhat connect with the characters, especially when various truths ended up being revealed.  Make no mistake, heartbreak is very tough to deal with; but the risk of it is always worth it.  This series very much demonstrated that.

lemke.jaycee - 2014-09-08 03:28:24

White Album 2 is lonely and bittersweet. In the end, everything came together nicely, however the loneliness did not go away. You rarely saw people other than the main three characters, and it gave the anime a sad and "alone" feeling. Better than I expected. 8/10

fwilliamson - 2014-09-01 00:25:55

There are certain animewhich leave a certain impression on you after you finish watching it. It’s afeels like a void, that after watching this you won’t be able to find anythingto fill the emptiness that this show leaves on an emotional level. White Album2 is a rollercoaster ride of emotion, and trust me it is one hell of a ride.

White Album 2 was done bySatelight who have done a wide range of anime from Noein to Fairy Tail.  

The story follows HarukiKitahara and the light music club in his high school. It takes place in thelast half of his final year in high school. The light music club is disbandingand the only thing that can save it is if Haruki gets the mysterious pianoplayer from the room across from where he practices and finds a replacementsinger before the school festival. Now White Album is a sequel but a standalonesequel, you don’t need to see White Album to understand what is going on inWhite Album 2. The story itself is what White Album 2 does very well. It is adrama, romance, slice of life anime and from the anime from the same genres Ihave seen White Album 2 is a great one, it does have its flaws but so doesevery anime. The story is set in two arcs: before the festival and theaftermath of the festival. The first focuses on character development andshowing us the personality of the characters setting up the second half of theshow. The second arc presents us with the development of the charactersrelationships with each other and expands upon their already developedcharacters. The story is tear jerking and wonderful and fills you with so many emotionsthrough the course of thirteen episodes. To me it is a good love story withmany twist and turns from, illness to love triangles.

The characters are alsovery well crafted. To start things off you have our main lead Haruki Kitahara,he is a smart, preachy, meddlesome and caring boy who would do anything to helphis friends. He is your typical male lead from a slice of life show. Haruki isalso a member of the light music club and he plays the guitar. There is alsothe dual female lead: Setsuna Ogiso and Kazuki Touma. Setsuna is the schoolidol who everyone adores, with a beautiful voive. Kazuki is the mysteriousstudent transferred from the elite music department. Both characters likeHaruki’s are very well fleshed out, they both add something different to thedrama aspect of the show. Setsuna is the happy go lucky girl of the group whois near enough perfect, whilst Kazuki is your typical quiet tsundere characterwho at first doesn’t say much but you have a deep feeling she wants to say morethan she does. In anime I usually don’t like the tsundere characters but KazukiTouma is the exception. Her character is so well developed and her interactionswith the other characters so well done that I couldn’t help but love her as acharacter. There are a few side charcaters like Haruki’s friends and Kazuki’smother and they fill their roles perfectly. The only character I actually had aproblem with was Haruki himself just for the fact that he was a little bit densewhen it came to women but I suppose it was kind of a character trait as well.

The animation is quitegood. It’s not Kill La Kill or Gurren Lagann quality but it’s very pretty andworks well with the show. The animation was at its best during the musicalperformances especially at the festival performance episode. They used greatuse of lighting in the show which helped the moods of the scenes.

The soundtrack is amazing.Its musical score fits the show so well. The songs used in the performancescenes are well written and catchy as well as the opening and ending songs. Themusic in most places was light and peaceful and added a sense of magic to theshow. The voice actors do a great job making their character’s come to life.Hitomi Nabatame did a great job voicing Kazuki Touma. She has appeared in awide variety of anime like Oreimo voicing Saori.

Now I have gave my praisesI should probably let you in on the flaws of the show. To me they are prettyminor, the biggest of these minor flaws being how abruptly the show ends. Itjust stops. However it could be argued that this is to show reality and thateven though the characters want one thing doesn’t mean they will always get it.

kfritsch - 2014-07-22 06:33:51

This anime was extremely cheesy in every possible way you could think of. I saw many a review praising this anime so I started watching with reasonably high expectations. But what I got was anything but mediocre.

I found it interesting that the main trio consisted of two girls and one boy, instead of one boy and ten girls. The opening, ending and the other songs featured in the anime were very well done. The characters looked pretty. And that's pretty much all the merits White Album 2 has. 

Story: Extremely rushed. I understand, you only have 13 episodes. But that's no excuse to rush like a bullet train. In the beginning, the pacing was painfully slow but suddenly after episode 7, it was as if the writers were threatened at gun-point to make the story end as fast as possible. Unnecessary drama over trivial matters, unnecessary characters, painfully cliched dialogues. A lot of unrealistic scenarios (eg: Touma would not be allowed to wear that flesh baring outfit in a normal Japanese school). The pacing was not uniform at all. 

Animation: Nothing spectacular. Not bad, not good. Just very standard. No playing with lights, no fabulous hair animations (maybe in just one place), no beautiful scenery. Was this because of a tight budget? 

Sound: As I said before, probably the only thing I enjoyed. The eponymous song "White Album" was very nice. The lyrics were nothing special but the singer's voice and the instrumental accompaniment were quite pleasing.

Characters: Standard characters with very very very minuscule differences/quirks from their governing stereotypes. 

Final assessment: If you're not looking for an anime that has awesome animation, a heart gripping story and believable, relatable characters - this anime is perfect. Good for passing time during vacation or to unwind after a hard day at work or school. It doesn't really engage your mind or heart much so it's perfect. 

roderick.bechtelar - 2014-06-28 12:45:00

White Album 2 is, as far as I am aware, fully watch-able without needing to see the original, White Album - and this is a good thing, because I hear the original wasn't very good. But what about the sequel?

Well, just what is it? That's a better question to tackle first.

This anime is about a young man named Haruki Kitahara, who finds himself in a bit of a jam when the light music club that he is a part of disbands. He and the president, Takeya, must find new members to bolster their ranks before the school fair. Haruki sets his sights on Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Touma, two rather different but both musically gifted individuals.

We're actually shown the fruits of their labours in the first episode, so there's no doubting their eventual success. What this anime is really about is the relationship between these three characters, and the journey they go through both before, during and after the fair.

The story itself is nothing new; but that can be said of basically every anime set in a high school. With that in mind, it's the characters that really matter, but we'll get to them soon enough.

I didn't really know anything about the story before I started. I knew there would be snow and two high school girls, going off the cover image. The story takes an approach that is mostly good; however, there are a few things that are skipped over only to be touched on or explored later in the anime; these pseudo time-skips/flashbacks weren't necessary bad, but I felt like there was a bit of dumping of important information at certain times.

There were also a couple of moments that I felt were somewhat cheesy, only involved for the sake of drama. However, the characters were quick to sort out some of their issues and get on with things, which was welcome.

It starts off pretty good and remains that way throughout, with one or two small dips here and there. I can't help but feel it would have benefited from maybe one or two more episodes to give us more time to see the characters in more situations.

Speaking of those characters...

Haruki is a nice, smart guy with a bit of musical talent. He's a fairly typical male protagonist with nothing really defining about him. At the same time I never felt like he was boring, so to speak.

The two main girls are obviously where they try really hard to get you invested.

On the one hand we have Setsuna, a pleasant, pretty girl plagued by an underlying fear of abandonment. She has a love for singing and is actually pretty good, which prompts Haruki to try and recruit her for the light music club.

On the other hand, we have Kazusa, who is a bit of a delinquent; she sleeps in class and treats those around her with a cold demeanour. She is the only daughter of a wealthy pianist and thus has a bit of a legacy to live up to.

Both of these girls are brought together by Haruki's attempts to save the light music club, but end up getting more than they bargained for when things start to get a bit tangled.

All in all these characters are fairly typical; smart, pretty and/or musically gifted, but with some problem at the core of their existence. I don't think they are anything revolutionary, but what they do, they do well.

I would have liked to have seen some more of the secondary characters, like Takeya and Io. They kind of get swept aside as the series goes on.

Would now be a good time to mention that this is based on an adult visual novel? It's not nearly as adult as I imagine the source material is, but once I found this out I realised some things about the animation. Particularly some camera angles that looked directly at the girls as they spoke, almost as if to me rather than Haruki. Then of course there was some fanservice, nothing overt or ridiculous; it was mostly realistic and natural and for the most part not focussed on.

These elements didn't really bother me but they did make me wonder if they were references to the source material. They probably were.

Save for a few occasions, this anime looks really nice. The animation, the backgrounds and the colours are all very well done, detailed and fluid. The character designs are quite nice, too. It is quite a pretty anime.

As the story is about the light music club, you'd be hoping that the music is good. Well, it is! "White Album", a reference to the first anime, is also a song, and a pretty nice one at that. Although it's never played in full, it is good.

The OP and ED are both also pretty good. I think I prefer the OP for it's guitar and vocals, but the ED is a close competitor.

These three songs are joined by a few others, plus the background tracks, which are by no means bad, just not as good, falling in the middle-ground.

Overall, I enjoyed White Album 2; it was a good return to school-based anime for me. This anime has left me feeling something, appropriate to the tone of the ending, and that's a good thing. I still think though it could have been better with a couple more episodes to stretch things out a bit, give us some more time with the characters, but what was given was still good.

kade.hermiston - 2014-02-17 01:02:00

hschoen - 2013-11-30 06:58:41

White Album 2. Based of the series White Album but are two different settings. At first I thought that the story was going to be exactly like the first one. I thought "oh no... this is going to go down hill..". well, I thought wrong. At the start of the scene, Haruki Kitahara had appeared He is the main character of this series. Good looking. Plays guitar. SPOILERS!!!! About to finish high school. The song "White Album" connects him to his future with the help of his friends. Great Anime. A Must Watch.