This review contains spoilers
White Album 2 is a magnum opus both in the industry and in the teen romance drama genre so I went into my read with certain expectations and how can I put this... I was captivated right from the title screen: the soft music, the winter village BG, the snowflakes... And then the opening monologue was poignant to read despite not knowing the characters yet, making me even more eager to discover this tale that marked history.
The emotions of the characters and their internal motivations are perfectly written: everything foreshadows the final events, but we are still caught up in the game of not wanting to admit that things inevitably advance towards their end. The scenario is merciless with the reader's emotions: it's a real nakige (and seeing the trailer of the closing chapter, we're going to have some utsuge on university ground, what better way to sink me even deeper than to give me an even more relatable story ahaha...) Maruto Fumiaki was brilliant in his writing by drawing portraits of realistic and deep characters in only a few hours. And what a mastery of dialogues: in the strong moments, each line is both brief and powerful. Yes brief, because there are no long soliloquies where the characters explain their feelings. Because as in any good NTR, everything is in the unspoken, in the mono no aware (物の哀れ), in the dialogue with nature (Muramasa truly opened my eyes on the matter), in those numerous mentions of the falling snow, without any real will to mix complicated stylistic devices behind. No, it's all about the immediacy of emotions ; and snow, as beautiful as ephemeral, is there to evoke this philosophy. The visual novel may last barely 15 hours long, but it's filled with scenes that make you say "wow, iconic". And I’m not just talking about the CGs ones: sometimes a character just looks at the window and mutters something like 「雪、やまないな。。。真っ白だな。。。出発できるのかな？」and you’re like “goat raw fire shounen swag etc.”. I'll remember this read for a very long time, the ultimate kurisuge.
The three protagonists of White Album 2 are introduced with genuine authenticity, capable of creating a relationship similar to the one that marks a life (mine anyway, I'm sure of it). Fumiaki is essentially telling us that it is by becoming aware of the disappearance of these events and accepting the feelings they bring that we can... That we can what? What is he getting at with this initial picture? I am more than curious to discover the keys to this story that already promises to mark me for life.
Regarding the sequel, I’ll just say that that I’m a big fan of romance, and of the ones I've read, it's when authors are brave enough to make their characters grow beyond high school cruelly and realistically that you certainly get the most powerful stories, both in terms of pure fiction and in terms of what I learned from them (I can only think of Yonensei/Gonensei, Last Game, KimiMachi and Domekano).
The bgm compositions were very powerful. The main theme of this first part was music, so it was to be expected to have so many bangers giving rhythm to the reading: Dear Friends for the light moments, Twinkle Snow to make me want to end it all, Todokanai Koi ("love that cannot be conveyed”)...
I lived this vn from the bottom of my heart, and I come out of it drained of all emotion, I'm devastated. I will try to read some lighter stuff before jumping on the closing chapter because as I said, I'm afraid that it will finally destroy me for good by putting me face to face with my own existential misery (an experience I haven't gone through since Oyasumi Punpun...).
「雪は、覆い隠してくれる。辛いこと、哀しいこと。そして、見たくもない真実を。」
「ただ白く、綺麗なだけの世界を目の前に広げ、俺たちを、そこに置き去りにしてくれる。」
The emotions of the characters and their internal motivations are perfectly written: everything foreshadows the final events, but we are still caught up in the game of not wanting to admit that things inevitably advance towards their end. The scenario is merciless with the reader's emotions: it's a real nakige (and seeing the trailer of the closing chapter, we're going to have some utsuge on university ground, what better way to sink me even deeper than to give me an even more relatable story ahaha...) Maruto Fumiaki was brilliant in his writing by drawing portraits of realistic and deep characters in only a few hours. And what a mastery of dialogues: in the strong moments, each line is both brief and powerful. Yes brief, because there are no long soliloquies where the characters explain their feelings. Because as in any good NTR, everything is in the unspoken, in the mono no aware (物の哀れ), in the dialogue with nature (Muramasa truly opened my eyes on the matter), in those numerous mentions of the falling snow, without any real will to mix complicated stylistic devices behind. No, it's all about the immediacy of emotions ; and snow, as beautiful as ephemeral, is there to evoke this philosophy. The visual novel may last barely 15 hours long, but it's filled with scenes that make you say "wow, iconic". And I’m not just talking about the CGs ones: sometimes a character just looks at the window and mutters something like 「雪、やまないな。。。真っ白だな。。。出発できるのかな？」and you’re like “goat raw fire shounen swag etc.”. I'll remember this read for a very long time, the ultimate kurisuge.
The three protagonists of White Album 2 are introduced with genuine authenticity, capable of creating a relationship similar to the one that marks a life (mine anyway, I'm sure of it). Fumiaki is essentially telling us that it is by becoming aware of the disappearance of these events and accepting the feelings they bring that we can... That we can what? What is he getting at with this initial picture? I am more than curious to discover the keys to this story that already promises to mark me for life.
Regarding the sequel, I’ll just say that that I’m a big fan of romance, and of the ones I've read, it's when authors are brave enough to make their characters grow beyond high school cruelly and realistically that you certainly get the most powerful stories, both in terms of pure fiction and in terms of what I learned from them (I can only think of Yonensei/Gonensei, Last Game, KimiMachi and Domekano).
The bgm compositions were very powerful. The main theme of this first part was music, so it was to be expected to have so many bangers giving rhythm to the reading: Dear Friends for the light moments, Twinkle Snow to make me want to end it all, Todokanai Koi ("love that cannot be conveyed”)...
I lived this vn from the bottom of my heart, and I come out of it drained of all emotion, I'm devastated. I will try to read some lighter stuff before jumping on the closing chapter because as I said, I'm afraid that it will finally destroy me for good by putting me face to face with my own existential misery (an experience I haven't gone through since Oyasumi Punpun...).
「雪は、覆い隠してくれる。辛いこと、哀しいこと。そして、見たくもない真実を。」
「ただ白く、綺麗なだけの世界を目の前に広げ、俺たちを、そこに置き去りにしてくれる。」