At the end of my saenai Heroine thread someone said
> WA2 is one of the best pieces of romance fiction period.
I gave it a 9 and it impacted me profoundly, to the point that hearing certain songs make me break down, but I took off 1 point because I think it was clumsily executed and some parts were fast forwarded out of the author's laziness. Still, all my tiny gripes aside I'm fine with considering it a masterpiece.
But I am curious to hear more about what that user thinks.
Quick White Album 2 thread
Luis Sanchez
Jose Flores
I'm mostly referring to the source material btw.
Nicholas James
It was okay.
Liam Anderson
Yes it's great. Also, the anime is a very good adaptation of IC, as it adapts crucial hidden scenes from the OG VN, as well as one of the Kazusa-focused sidestories that gives more insight into how she thinks and feels.
I just finished my 2nd playthrough of IC-Coda 2 weeks ago, and it was just as good as I remember it.
Jaxson Cruz
"Your idol sensei is truly disappointed in you for making the same mistake of being involved in a love triangle as me, Setsuna Ogiso."
Owen Russell
It's my personal greatest love story ever told. My only ding is that Setsuna CC and Kazusa Coda weren't the best-written routes in their respective sections, but I still give it an overall 10 for personal impact. The anime is perfect, I just wish there were more.
Charles Wilson
Not the anime?
Nolan Richardson
Ogiso?
Justin Ramirez
Andrew Martinez
The source material could use better art desu, or at least more of it. The writing and voice-acting are carrying the sprites hard in some of the strongest scenes.
Thomas Bell
What would you consider the best routes, then?
Ayden Jones
It's not boxing gloves, but, yeah, they could really use a revamp.
Benjamin Ortiz
For CC, Mari > Koharu > Setsuna > Chiaki
For Coda, Setsuna >= Cheating > Kazusa
Unexpected results in both cases.
Setsuna CC gets dinged hard for infuriating Tomo bullshit to drive the plot along, and Haruki's tolerance of same. Adding a hateable villain gives up what I considered one of IC's greatest strengths, and spoils the mood.
Chiaki route has a similar issue, and I'm still not sure what to make of her as a heroine. Plus Setsuna's goodbye was relatively understated in that route.
Koharu route had the best buildup in common route, but the start of their affair still felt kinda sudden, and the middle part required a long stretch of Haruki negligence for things to get so bad. But the last part finishes really strong, and has some of the best scenes in the game.
Surprisingly, Mari route came out on top for me by being the most consistently good. You get the Haruki OOC out of the way in one early burst, and the rest of the route makes great use of his IC PTSD, plus Setsuna guilt-tripping. Setsuna's goodbye scene gives her scene in Koharu route a run for its money, and the ending finishes strong.
For Coda, Setsuna and Cheating are both really good. Maybe a slight edge to Setsuna True because it has more cast balance and covers another subplot. Kazusa True felt more flawed to me since Setsuna's issues end up hijacking the plot and practically offscreening Kazusa, and you get a series of shocking twists/fakeouts that start feeling kinda soapy for the first time, instead of a graceful buildup of emotional drama to climax like the other two routes. WA2 is strongest when it's delivering finely-crafted drama, and it felt like Kazusa True took its eyes off the ball toward the end.
Jace Allen
In one of the side stories they teased the potential of Setsuna dating one of Haruki's friends (a coworker from one of his part-time jobs who was dealing with some money/family problems iirc) and I was honestly kinda disappointed they never showed up in CC. I'm assuming it was written after CC, but the fact that Maruto was entertaining the idea of Setsuna NTR-baiting is an interesting one to me and I would have loved to have seen it fleshed out (as obnoxious as it would have been). I think it would have been a good way to show more of Setsuna's manipulative side.
Brandon Watson
Shit ending,he should have ended with both
Jonathan Bell
>it felt like Kazusa True took its eyes off the ball toward the end
It's a damn shame, too. It would have been one of the best if it could have stuck the landing.
Anthony Murphy
yeah, as a tremendous kazusafag from the start i was pretty disappointed by kazusa true
the mini after story didn't help much, either
Joseph Jenkins
>I think it was clumsily executed
How so?
Kevin Johnson
Cool reference to macross. Macross does not get enough references like gundam or eva despite being the first anime to popularized love triangles.
Connor Reed
Fuck Shitsuna.
Jason Garcia
That's the hidden ending.