White Album – 10



Short Synopsis: Touya gets reassigned as Rina’s manager.
Episode Rating: 8/10 (ZOMG Second Season!)
Aah, this is just too much for me to understand. The most important plot twist of the episode was written down on paper, and I have no bloody idea what it meant. Although Hiragana and Katakana are fairly simple, my Kanji has always sucked because I’ve always been too lazy to really sit down and get these things in my mind…

It went like this: Yuki finally organized her thoughts and wrote a letter to Touya. Of all people, she entrusts Yayoi to deliver it. Yayoi destroys the letter and attempts to substitute her own, while Rina finds the shredded letter and reads it, and to her fears realizes that she’s been too late. My guess was that either in the letter, Yuki wanted to break up with Touya, or she wanted to trust him and give him a final chance. Rina had either been trying very hard to get Yuki and Touya back together, or she assumed that Yuki and Touya indeed had no chance together, and so she took him for herself. Aah, I really need to watch this episode with subs.

In any case, that second season was just what this series needed: now there’s really enough time to really develop the characters and really get to know them. And perhaps for Touya to realize what an incredible idiot he’s been. Thirteen episodes was too small for this series indeed.

But overall though, I hope that the second season is going to inherit the good points and not the lesser points of this series. In the end, this series is at its worst at the times when the very emotional plot twists pop up, like when Haruka broke down in front of Touya’s apartment, Touya professed his love for Misaki and this episode had it too: with Touya’s father suddenly collapsing from out of nowhere. It really doesn’t need those dramatic plot twists, this series already is screwed up enough as it is, but what makes it so much fun to watch is the scenes where people are just sitting or talking. These producers really have a knack in bringing out the characters’ subtle emotions out: they don’t have to say anything about their feelings, their facial expressions speak for themselves, and this series has been really good at throwing these feelings all over the place.

12 thoughts on “White Album – 10

  1. I really hope that this series doesn’t begin to suffer more from “School Days Syndrome,” getting bogged down in going through each of the women like a checklist, or contorting itself with twist after twist in a way that’s not believable.

  2. Wow wow…seriously you are all over the place. So let’s see:

    “It went like this: Yuki finally organized her thoughts and wrote a letter to Touya. Of all people, she entrusts Yayoi to deliver it. Yayoi destroys the letter and attempts to substitute her own…”

    Yayoi NEVER wrote her own letter never mind subsitute it. She destroyed Yuki’s letter by accident because she was so distrubed by the call from Rina’s ex-manager. She wanted to destroy the ex-manager’s letter during the call but instead she destroyed Yuki’s letter without knowing it. Think about it, if Yayoi never wanted to deliver the letter in the first place, why would she offer to give it to Rina when she is going to Echoes? Lastly, Yayoi wanted to deliver at the end of the ep the letter in the car but then realize she has the wrong letter and that’s why she held back.

    “…while Rina finds the shredded letter and reads it, and to her fears realizes that she’s been too late. My guess was that either in the letter, Yuki wanted to break up with Touya, or she wanted to trust him and give him a final chance. Rina had either been trying very hard to get Yuki and Touya back together, or she assumed that Yuki and Touya indeed had no chance together, and so she took him for herself.”

    From what I can tell, Yuki wants Touya to see her during her concert. What Rina meant by “too late” is since Touya will be helping Rina at her Club Carma concert, he won’t be able to see Yuki at the Koukaidou. That is also the reason why Yuki doesn’t want Yayoi to hand the letter to Rina when Rina is going to Echoes.

    “Aah, I really need to watch this episode with subs.”
    Yes you really do. Before writing your blog. xD Or consult help so that you will at least get the details right~

    It’s funny that you did not mention Rina being dethroned by the sakura-dans, or the second game going on between the two presidents…or even about the call from the ex-manager –* Those are all important events that happened in this ep.

  3. @ psgels, I might be wrong, but I think Yayoi tore the wrong letter, hence her pause later on, but on the other hand its hard to find any sort of expression on her face.

  4. I watched the episode with subs now and I now see where my confusion came from. I first thought that Yayoi was feeling down because she tore up the letter, but instead what’s been getting to her was Rina’s old manager who kept bothering her.

    But I still don’t completely understand Rina’s “too late”. I mean, wasn’t she expecting Yuki to ask Touya to come for her concert? Wasn’t Yuki there when she announced that Touya would be her manager?

  5. I think Rina said “too late” because she knows about Yayoi and Touya (after all, she’s seen them together and he wasn’t at the bar eventhough he said he would be). She knows the relationship is already broken and probably can’t be fixed anymore.

    Other than that, what DH said. I think if you don’t understand the episode at all you’re better off waiting for subs before blogging about it.

    I also didn’t think Touya’s father collapsing was that dramatic, it’s just a forbode to a later plot twist; he’s probably very ill. Better to have some forebodes than to suddenly kill him off, I’d say.

  6. “But I still don’t completely understand Rina’s “too late”. I mean, wasn’t she expecting Yuki to ask Touya to come for her concert? Wasn’t Yuki there when she announced that Touya would be her manager?”

    Like I said on my last post, if Rina expected Touya to attend Yuki’s concert, she would never ask Touya to be her manager in the first place because ALL 3 CONCERTS are to be held on the same day at different locations (christmas eve i believe).

    “I think Rina said “too late” because she knows about Yayoi and Touya (after all, she’s seen them together and he wasn’t at the bar eventhough he said he would be). She knows the relationship is already broken and probably can’t be fixed anymore.”

    That might be true as well. But I dont think he said he would be at Echoes. I doubt that Rina wants him to see the letter…

  7. I’m curious in the subs, when Yayoi and Touya are in the car, his thoughts about the original Yayoi he knew… huh?

    I think Akira was pissed about Touya butting in again/’cockblocking’. That or he figures Misaki might float his way again. Is he annoyed at being the rebound?

  8. DH was kind of rude, but those are really valid points: it’s not very productive to blog about the episode if you didn’t understand the gist of it. You’re just adding to the confusion that way, and you can be sure there will be at least one idiot out there who reads your entry but not the comments, does not watch the episode, and will go all “zomg yayoi that bitch she is cockblocking again” etc etc.

    Show being 26 episodes long is good news, too bad the second half will air in the fall though.

  9. @Bane: Sorry but I wasn’t trying to be rude, I was just trying to get my point across. I apologize if I did offend anyone or the webmaster. But like you said, I was seriously going wtf after reading that paragraph (sorta like watching Nyoron subs on G00 ala darkmirage) –* I have added psgels on msn…so hopefully I can help him get a better idea of what happened next ep ^o^

    @psgels: yip as I said, added you on msn. Looking forward to talk to you!

    @SageGaiGar: Touya thinks that Yayoi is an emotional person but proven wrong until now. That’s why he said “this is the original Yayoi-san (that I knew)”…which I think doesn’t make sense (the original japanese, not the subs). I would think it would be better if it’s “That’s a first for Yayoi-san”.

  10. Re: Yayoi, I’m pretty sure she did tear up the wrong letter unconsciously – she wanted the guy at the other end of the phone to hear her tear up his letter but apparently got the wrong one – only realizing this when she noticed what was written on the letter she was about to hand over to Touya. On the other hand, by continuing to car-sit with Touya, she’s not exactly supporting Yuki either. I’m really not sure what her motives are with Touya. Is she a possible route in the original White Album game?

    Re: Rina’s “It’s too late.”, there’s alot open to intepretation here. What is Rina’s true motive for forcing her brother to accept Touya as her subordinate? To help Rina and Touya’s relationship? Because she wants him for herself? As an act of defiance against her bro’s constant machinations? So why would she react this way to what was written on that letter? Were her tears for Yuki or for herself?

    Re: The numbers. I think I’ve figured out why Rina’s bro decided to switch venues with that rival company. He was confident that Rina could field far more fans than the rival company’s, and wanted to highlight this by fielding a huge overload of Rina’s 1300 seat venue versus a fractionally small turnout at the rival’s 50000 seat venue. I’m a bit confused at the numbers the old lady got on her sheet of paper though. K, A, C?

  11. I’m getting jaded about this series. It looks like the scripwriters were born after the internet/mobile phones became popular, and that people could not communicate before they had these tools.

    I mean, what about Touya standing in front of Yuki’s appartment and not even ringing or leaving a note? Besides, can’t they just write normal letters through the post, instead of passing notes around?

    And I mean, these guys do sleep in their appartments, right? I don’t see the problem in calling each other, even if it’s late or early in the day, to at least fix their communication channels.

    I understand their problems are deeper than a lack of mail or mobile phone, but I would like the script not to rely to heavily on misunderstandings of that nature to further the plot.

Leave a Reply