Anime: A Closure To The Tormenting White Album 2

I sure as hell did not know what I was getting myself into when I started White Album 2. I've always been a casual watcher of all genres, but it had been years since I delved into a true heart-wrenching slice-of-life romantic drama.

I need some closure, so despite marathoning the thirteen episodes and it being really late (early?) right now I am typing this post for myself.

I don't really know where to start.



For one, the characters are immensely complex with bizarre motivations that you find yourself understanding and empathising with. None of them are boxed into any cliches, but were all incredibly well drawn out and explored through the course of thirteen short episodes. All of them had their quirks and personalities, and were never forced to act in a route that they are expected to "just because". Every action had it's own set of motivations, regardless of whether my rational self can agree. I was surprised at how emotionally attached I became to all the characters, feeling how they feel just at where I am expected to, even when I don’t find myself necessarily liking any of them. Perhaps the reason why I find myself so torn about the three main characters is perhaps how realistically drawn out they are — their good and their ugly, all laid out for you. Truly complex and humanised. It's like how I thought I would end up disliking Setsuna or like how I initially really appreciated Haruki's character, yet grow increasingly ambivalent to all of them as the episodes pass; the way people are in real life. Even Touma gets her fair share, perhaps the most, character development.

I also really appreciated how the anime treated me as an intelligent viewer, in a way. The way how none of the characters are made to exactly fit a mould or make you feel or think in a certain direction, the way the art never really explicitly laid out any of their motivations but you had to infer from subtle (or not) clues, or the way the storyboard is drawn non-linear, unravelling with each episode.

I want to rate this anime highly because it’s one of amazing quality, but I am hesitating to because of how scarred and empty I feel inside after finishing it. Personally, I get a little bored with slice-of-life and it's perhaps why I didn't enjoy the initial episodes as much as the gut-wrenching remaining, but even then I didn't find myself disliking it and found it rather palatable for the simple storyline and background drawing. 

There are a lot of things I feel right now, and the strongest being a paradoxical numbing due to the influx of vicarious emotions. Also, I feel that I need to take a break from this genre for awhile because I don't think my heart can physically take this much torment.