While WA2 was originally a Visual Novel, evidently they scraped out the game mechanics and stuck to the very good story. And it pays off.
WA 2 is about a boy Haruki Kitahara who is the last remaining member of the 'light music club' and he wants to be in teh schools festival.. but needs a band. His favorite song is 'White Album' (Yuki's song from WA 1) and he practices the guitar with this song as his sole reason for doing so. In the first episode he meets school hottie Ogiso Setsuna and they form a lose bond, that later grows as she becomes his bands singer. Haruki sits next to a girl in class named Touma Kazusa who is a bit of a dark girl but is also a child prodigy on the piano. Unbeknownst (ha! used that word in a sentence!) to Haruki is it Touma who is the gifted pianist in the next room who played along with him as he practices his one song. Shit happens and they meet. Cue Touma's hard outer shell needs to be broken down by Haruki's charm.
The three finally meet as they all play the song 'White Album' and the start of a love triangle. But in a good way. Ogiso is enamored by Touma... mainly due to Ogiso's past where her friends abandoned her.. so she is desperate to have a stable friendship in her life.. and Touma is the target of this affection... and this is the catalyst for most of the plot. That Ogiso turns out to be the villain is a brilliant plot twist that is exposed in the last three/four episodes. Great stuff... did not see that coming.
The meat of the story happens in the last 4 episodes. Haruki realizes that Touma is his true love, fucks her (she is actually stumbling out of his apartment the next day... so yeah... he must of wrecked her) but the cell phone conversation and how they meet proceeding that is just simply great, great drama. I give these last four episode a 10 for wrapping up the drama. The train ride to the airport and Ogiso's confession that she offered herself to Haruki simply to stay close to Touma is very well done and HUGE plot twist. The fact that she isn't even phased when told that his true love is really Touma is great drama.. I mean Ogiso really couldn't care less as long as Touma and her remain friends... so twisted chicks are twisted.
The ending is really a huge heartbreak.. many feels as Touma's plane leaves for Vienna so she can be with her mother and play the piano. So we are left with Haruki's broken heart and Ogiso clinging to him as her world is also shattered by Touma's leaving. It's unclear if Ogiso and Haruki stay together (she clearly wants to) but the feels are in full effect once you realize that Touma is gone and has left everything she loved behind. Wow.. just fucking great drama.
WA 2 was released in 2013 to is is a very new anime... and since it shares the same title as White Album (which universally sucked) a lot of people did not give White Album 2 a try. DO IT. DO IT NOW. You will not regret the experience of learning about these characters.
I give this anime a 10. The quality of the animation, the story, the music.... this is what truly great anime can be... it only happens once every few years.
Since there are only two female leads I can only play fuck-marry (left to right)
marry Touma - talented and has a great character.
fuck - Ogiso - twisted bitch
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My last little bit on animation...
Mad props to the animators and the way that really showed Touma's emotions through her eyes. The reason most characters are Moe-like (aka big ass eyes) is that is the most effective way to express emotions... through the eyes... a quiver, a squint, a glance... you really have to work the eyes in order to convey emotion through a 2d character. The color and shape of Touma's eyes really stood out in how they were animated to show the multitude of emotions that Touma had to hide while she watched Haruki and Ogiso together. So while she may have sounded cold and distant.. if you look at her eyes you can tell most of the words are empty.
And the REAL GEM of the entire series was that we actual got to see the major events THROUGH TOUMA's PERSPECTIVE. Like actually live the major points (her guiding Haruki's guitar playing with her piano duets and cheering him on) and after the school concert, to name a few from her POV. It really fills in the blanks and adds to Touma's character and make you believe in her even more. REALLY GOOD STUFF. Episode 11.. you rock!
