I am a sucker for the romance genre when it comes to anime. I don't know why, but I am able to consume inordinate amounts of this crap. Even when it's mediocre garbage I still seem to get at least some enjoyment out of it. About a year or so ago I stumbled upon this semi-obscure title called White Album. I liked the premise: the trials and tribulations of trying to maintain an adult relationship when real life responsibilities constantly get in the way. Hearing this to be a more mature approach to the romance anime genre, a genre dominated almost entirely by high school romances, I decided to watch it immediately. Aaaaand it sucked. Bad. Like really bad. The plot was convoluted and the MC was a one dimensional piece of shit. I can say without a doubt that White Album is one of the worst animes that I have ever watched in my entire life.
I knew that it had a sequel but I was understandably reluctant to give it a shot after the awful first title. Still, I kept hearing that not only is the sequel vastly superior, but that it also had almost no connection to the previous one. So one evening I decided to give it a shot. A few hours later I was sitting in front of my PC, emotionally drained, with a sorrowful, yet undeniably cathartic, state of being. I fell in love. I fell in love with everything about the anime: the plot, the characters, the dialogue, the realness of situtions, and most of all the incredible music!
Naturally I wanted to know more about it. After a quick search I find out that it is a visual novel adaptation of the same name. Unfortunately it had never been officially localized, but a team of dedicated individuals, whom I thank from the bottom of my heart, had been working on an unofficial translations for several years now. As luck would have it, I would only have to wait for a few months before the entire game was released fully translated in late December of last year, making it one of the best Christmas presents in my life.
It took me five months to get here but I finally managed to completely and utterly finish reading this unbridled masterpiece of visual story telling. The reason why it took me so long, other than the fact that this is easily a 70+ hour long title, is the fact that I had to take a lengthy break after each route in order to fully take in the whole experience.
So now I realized that I haven't even begun reviewing this thing yet. The plot can be summarized as tale between three good friends, whose friendship is challenged ever more as feelings of love threaten to undermine their relationship. This is not a harem. This is a realistic depiction of love and romantic relationships. You can't possibly make everyone happy in a situation like this, no matter how hard you fight for it. Sooner or later one or more people are going get hurt, and you will soon realize that love requires to sacrifice someone else's happiness for it.
This is a very character driven story so naturally getting to know the main cast is the most important thing.
We'll start off with our MC: Haruki Kitahara, a somewhat square and uptight high school student with a penchant for playing the guitar. The Light Music Club that he is part of is falling apart, and with only a short time before the school festival, he is on a quest to gather enough members to stage a performance. Little does he know that his fateful encounter with the school idol and singer, Setsuna Ogiso, and with Kazusa Touma, the school recluse and pianist, is going to change his life forever.
Let's get one thing out of the way first: Haruki is an indecisive piece of shit. In fact the whole drama could have been easily avoided if he actually took a firm and decisive attitude when it comes to romance. His indecisiveness in matters of love is put in stark contrast with his normal behavior, which is calm, rational and calculated. When he isn't dealing with women he always manages to keep a level head and he is an excellent student, and later on a good employee with excellent work ethics (even by Japanese standards lol).
That being said I don't hate Haruki at all. Ok, so there were moments in the story and in certain routes where I hated his guts, but I could not help but feel for him and his misfortune every single time. It also helps that he is a fully voice acted character, which is so rare to see in this medium for obvious reasons. In a genre where bland, run-of-the-mill MCs are the norm, Haruki stands out as one of the best and most memorable.
Our second main character is Setsuna, the school's most beautiful girl and winner of the pageant 3 years running. Despite that Setsuna is quite a reserved individual, not enjoying to stand out very much, despite her love for singing. I think that many people are going to dislike Setsuna. She is at times very needy and very selfish, and her actions and attitude in certain parts will probably make you think twice about her character. I think that, out of the three, she is the most complex character, helped by the fact that there is a large cast of secondary characters surrounding her: Setsuna is a very family oriented individual, as such she draws her entire strength from those that she loves, both friends and family. Her ability to keep a stiff upper lip under the worst situations and her nurturing nature is what makes her such a darling girl.
Kazusa is our other main heroine. As an archetype, she is a tsundere. But luckily, since this is a realistically written story, we aren't subjected with the usual attitude which comes from such characters. In a way, Kazusa is the opposite of Setsuna. While Setsuna is always surrounded by those that she loves, Kazusa is a loner by nature. She is the daughter of a famous pianist who has seemingly left her daughter in order to pursue her career. She never even knew her father. At school she is a loner who is bad at everything, except for... playing the piano where she is a genius. Soon you realize that her cool nature is just a front and that underneath that sheet of ice lies a very fragile and timid soul with a great capacity for love.
The VN is structured in three parts: Introductory Chapter, Closing Chapter, and Coda. There are also a few short after story chapters, but as of me writing this review they haven't been translated yet.
IC takes place during the last months of high school. It is here where the group of three friends is being formed, and the author masterfully builds up their relationship up until half way through where he slowly but surely starts to shift the tale to its tragic, but ultimately inevitable end. In case you're wandering, no I did not spoil anything. The novel makes copious use of flashbacks and the first scene of the IC is quite literally the very end of it. IC is a kinetic novel so you won't make any choices here.
CC makes a time jump three years into the future where Haruki and Setsuna are together at the same university. Unfortunately their relationship is on the rocks. Haruki feels guilty with what happened in the past, yet Setsuna is desperately trying to reconnect with him. Here is where the novel opens up. We have four (five if we count a short "bad" end" routes that the player is free to explore. The first half is the common route where the choices that you make throughout dictate the latter half and who you end up with. The novel introduces three new romanceable characters:
The first one is Chiaki, a quirky drama student of the same age with Haruki. Her route takes many strange twists and turns so I won't say too much. While I did like the route as it had some very intense moments, I didn't like Chaki very much as a character. I found her a manipulative and fickle person. She is easily my least favorite. Also, one thing to keep in mind is that you have to do her route twice in order to get the real ending. Use a walkthrough.
The second character is Koharu, a 3-rd year high school student attending the same school that Haruki & co. did. Personality-wise she is best described as "mini-Haruki". She is a smart and honest girl, whose defining characteristic is her strong sense of justice. Her route is a little bit more predictable than the others, but it doesn't mean that it's bad, quite the contrary. It also features an amazing and uplifting ending that has cemented Koharu forever in my heart as my favorite heroine in this entire VN. Koharu = best girl, and I will not hear otherwise.
The third new character is Mari, Haruki's boss at his part time job. She is of course the older woman archetype. But even though she is a mature woman and a slave driver at work, she still has a childish and playful side to her who just loves being spoiled. Her route is also very intense with a couple of very tense moments, and an ending that made both mine and Mari's jaws drop. I won't say anything more but the ending to her route is a sight to behold!
The last route is of course Setsuna's. This one is a bit predictable in how it plays out. It is here that Haruki's and Setsuna's feelings finally come into accord to one another and we are left with the feeling that this is going to be a happily ever after... if not for the cold winds of winter blowing once again...
Coda is the last and, without a shadow of a doubt, the BEST chapter in this entire epic. This is it. This is where the final conclusion to the story comes to unfold. We get another time jump two years in the future. Haruki and Setsuna have graduated from university and are now fully fledged and working adults. Their relationship is going well and everything seems to be taking its natural course... until a fateful meeting between Haruki and a certain raven haired beauty takes place on the streets of Strasbourg. Kazusa has finally re-entered the scene after five years. What fate awaits the three friends? Will this mark the beginning or the end? It is up to the player to decide. This time we have three (again four with the "bad" ending") possible routes, and oh boy, if the previous ones crushed your soul, these three will scatter its dust into the four winds.
The first possible route is called Kazusa Normal, but an apter title would be the Cheating Route. This one is brutal with its intensity, not only because of the vast number of H scenes present (like half the route is one long H scene lol), but also because of its finale which left me broken for a few days, unable to think about anything else. It is here where Haruki is at his worst, as he spirals downward towards damnation, yet strangely enough it is also where Kazusa is at her best, and it is here where there is my favorite moment with her. I don't want to say anything more because I want you for yourself to experience this rollercoaster of emotions.
The second route is called Setsuna True. Here we see the most character development from both Setsuna and Kazusa, and Haruki takes a back seat as a side character for a good chunk of its duration. This is probably the least intense of the routes, as such I think it is best to read it between the Cheating Route and...
Kazusa True. In reality this could be called Haruki's route as this is where he gets the most character development. It uses the Cheating route as a template, but gives it a different spin. I don't want to say anything except I think that, ultimately, this is the true ending of the VN. The author stated that he considers both Kazusa's and Setsuna's endings to be canon, but I think that this ending is the most complex out of all of them and is best in line with the novel's message and tone. It also has the most beautiful ending in any medium that I have ever witnessed. It takes a lot to pull a tear from a grown man's eye, yet here I was during the final two hours at the edge of my seat, with red eyes and a pressure in my throat, desperately, but ultimately failing to keep the tears from flowing. This ending is what the true meaning of catharsis means.
This is the longest review I have ever written for anything ever. I don't want to ramble on for too long, but I absolutely must mention here, at least in passing, the supporting cast of characters who are absolutely vital in shaping the main character's story lines. We have Haruki's best friend Takeyia, his cool crush Io (Oi, Io!), Setsuna's family especially her younger brother Takahiro, Haruki's work mates such as Hamada-san and Macchan, and last but not least Kazusa's mother: Youko, a very complex character that could well be considered a main character in her own right. Having spent at least 70-80 hours with these characters I felt that I knew and lived with them, and I will never forget them.
Finally let's talk a bit about the technical side of things. This novel acutally has two weaknesses. First and foremost it's the damn controls! I could not for the life of me set up a comfortable reading speed. Either the text would disappear too soon or there would be a long delay between the voiced lines which made the scenes awkward to look at. As such I had to manually click through every single line. Now the fact that I spent dozens upon dozens of hours to this torture proves that the experience as a whole more than made up for the pain.
Secondly, the art is not that great. Don't get me wrong, I didn't say it's bad! It's just average when compared to the rest of the package. On the bright side they use CG's at the optimal time and it made the respective moments even more impactful. The H scenes are censored, but I guess you could tell that already. Anyway you won't be reading this for the sex, trust me.
Speaking of which, taking into account the nature of this website, I will mention that the H scenes are decent. They are mostly vanilla, but there's a couple of spicy ones as well ;-) However I did feel that every single one of them had an impact on the story and none felt gratuitous. At the end of the day this won't make you coom with your dick, but with your eyes.
Now for the two highlights. Firstly we have the voice acting which is absolutely stellar. Every line is voiced impeccably and the voice actors manage to convey a wide range of emotions. Haruki's is especially note-worthy seeing as how rare voiced protagonists are. This VN has yet again spoiled me. I wish more VNs would have voiced protagonists as they can add so much character.
And finally the second best thing after the writing is, of course, the music. For a visual novel that has music as one of its central themes, it should come to no surprise to anyone that the music is one of the highlights. What an incredible soundtrack! Usually music in VNs is kinda whatever for me, but here the soundtrack is masterfully used and each track fits perfectly with every scene it's in. When a certain track starts playing you just know what kind of scene it's going to be. There are so many incredible songs here. Some of them are remixes from the old White Album 1 visual novel (haven't played, hear it's shit anyway) such as "Sound of Music" or "White Album", but many are original. Some of the standouts for me are "Todokanai Koi" (the main theme of this novel), Toro, Yasashii Uso, Powder Snow, Answer, Kotoba Ni Dekinai Omoi and many others. Honestly it's impossible for me to chose a favorite. Many of them are sitting firmly in my playlist.
I don't know if anyone has managed to make it through the end of this rambling incoherent mess of a review, but I simply wanted to get this off my chest and share my undying love for this title with somebody else. If you did manage to read this all the way through: congratulations! Now reading 70-80 hours worth of VN is going to be a cakewalk. Think of this as a warm-up ;-)
Bottom line and TL;DR
If I could give this 10 stars I would. This is a masterpiece of the romance genre that everyone with even a tangential interest in it should read. Before committing to this behemoth though, watch the anime adaptation. It only has 13 episodes so it's a quick watch, and if you like the story and the characters then read the VN.
It is sad to see that so few people here seem to be interested in this. When I see games here with uncanny valley atrocity asset flips with dozens of pages of replies while this one has so few it really makes me sad. This is why these types of games need more promoting. I wish for more people to be able to feel the same types of feeling that I felt as I was reading this novel. Thank you, Leaf, Aquaplus, and Maruto Fumiaki for creating such a beautiful story. Thank you Todokanai TL for making it possible for English speakers to read this. And thank you F95 for making this available.
Verdict: Masterpiece. An essential addition to everyone's collection.
