"In this sleepless night, I can feel the scent of winter outside
Looking up, I see a sky coloured with love."
Overview of Some Overarching Features
The ferocity with which Morikawa Yuki sang out, in front of the massive crowd chanting out her name is a rare occurrence, and indeed really a strange one in this show. This show, White Album (WA), feels cold, the coldest show I have ever watched. In WA2, you have Setsuna Ogiso being the cheerful character (at least on the outside), and Touma Kazusa gradually warming up, before plunging down into an abyss inevitably. However, this show starts off with premonitions of disaster, and just never really recovers. The gap between Yuki and Fuuji Touya just never resolves itself, only ever getting wider and wider. [1]
Prominently shown in this anime are parallel thoughts of Touya. Instead of assuming a narrative voice (signaled by italic subtitles usually) to showcase inner thoughts, Touya's thoughts are just shown as text on the screen.
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| Source: https://blog.lhyeung.net/2009/01/18/white-album-03/ |
This made me feel much more distant to Touya. Intimate thoughts are vocal: at least for me, I like to speak to myself sometimes about deeper thoughts, and even if not, I imagine an inner voice talking to me. Putting the thought merely in text distances the audience.
Indeed, Touya is a distant fellow. Perhaps on a fundamental level, having so many women attracted to him at once is a bit unrealistic. Furthermore, not treasuring a good girl such as Yuki is a bit unimaginable as well... One would kill to be in that situation. But on second thought, is what he was doing so unbelievable? It is natural for a person outside of the idol industry to misunderstand the work of these people. Performance arts do seem much easier on the surface than it really is.
A lot of the characters appear confusing, much thanks to the "sparsity" of dialogue. Unlike Monogatari which blasts the audience endlessly with flashy imagery and rapid-fire speeches, WA is eerily silent. Perhaps not particularly because the raw measure of time when any character speaks is small, but rather the rarity of the character actually saying what they are indeed thinking. In this sense, it is quite realistic: A lot of people I know almost never seem to speak directly what is on their mind. It certainly feels like a lot of blanks are left to the audience's imagination. This proved to be quite a point of attraction for me.
A motif here is the unanswered phone messages. Initially, Yuki and Touya are connected through the (landline) telephone. Bearing in mind this is the 1980s, this was the best they could do. Out of all interview options, I have come to hate the telephone interview the most, much because of the opacity of the entire process. Only working on voice almost makes the conversation direct, but at the same time it precludes any possibility of transmission using visual cues. It somehow falls into the "uncanny valley" of communications: It seems intimate, but at the same time very distant. So much is lost that I would rather trade in the instant nature with more time to craft a message, the case of using email (or heck, letters). The unanswered rings are frustrating and chilling, almost like a death toll to the relationship.
Let's talk about the characters:
Fuuji Touya
The "protagonist" of the story. Perhaps some would say the anti-hero, but I would disagree that he is a villain. Somehow, not only does he look like Satou Tatsuhiro from Welcome to the NHK, he somehow reminds me of Satou. I felt his powerlessness in controlling himself, his weakness in front of his own vices.
Touya receives much flak for his actions, which I believe is well-deserved. Perhaps it is so easy now to argue sort of vaguely defending him that it has turned finding fault in him the non-mainstream idea. In any case, a hate-able main character is not something you see in anime every day.
According to the ending of the show, Touya seeks comfort from other women external to his relationship, in an attempt to compensate for his guilt to Yuki, the so-called "goddess" mentality. In this critical segment we see that Touya is a weak person. He was made fun of by the already weak Haruka, but he wanted to defend Yuki from the bullies around her. He was so scared that he dirtied his pants, but decided to soak his hands in it to repel the bullies. Perhaps Touya has a strong desire to help others, but at the same time he is pathetic, and he knows this. Yuki, who genuinely sees the helpful person within Touya, gave him a paper medal for his help, but he immediately threw it away into the grass. One must -- deep down -- be hurt to be hurting others, and Touya is a good example for this.
Does he give in to carnal desires, the desire for comfort in others' physical, tangible company? Of course -- this is the major reason he fell for Yayoi Shinozuka's temptations. He was hesitant to accept Yayoi's request to replace Yuki at first, but at the end he gave in, and it would be ridiculous to deny any connection to the distance between him and Yuki. However, his actions are not entirely defined by desperation for sex. I see his attraction to e.g. Rina, Haruka and Misaki to be out of pity, the desire to help someone in trouble...
The interpretation then should be that he was attracted to Yuki at the first place because he saw the helplessness and delicacy in her. Yuki has a frail voice and an innocent personality, and in the context of high school, dreaming to be an idol is indeed a rather pure and "girly" thought. However, as Touya discovered how she was indeed serious about being an idol, and how her dream has empowered her, obviating her need for affirmation and company from others (which was not actually true...), she no longer seemed weak in Touya's eyes. Thus, coupled with the convenient physical and temporal separation between them thanks to Yuki's obligations, they grew apart.
A key scene here is Yuki's first concert on Christmas night:
I think the initial portrayal of Touya is clever, even if unintentional. Placed in the dark, his expression is just blank, overwhelmed by awe. I like to think of it as surprise which led to his blank stare -- surprise at how much she has gone forward, leaving him behind, and more importantly, his perpetual lingering image of Yuki being the weak, fragile self she is. She is singlehandedly beating the Sakura-dan, a well trained, well funded idol group as an amateur.
"純白のアルバムのページ染めてくれ" (Dye the pages of this pure white album)... Who will be this person to do so?
Morikawa Yuki
"She wants to sing, and not even stop for a second. She would die without music. Isn't she now the lover of Music itself?"
Perhaps the character that stands out absolutely from all others, playing the role purely of a victim in this complicated web of adulterous relations, Yuki is an amateur idol who always seeks to improve herself.
As the main character, I always feel that she had a frustrating lack of screentime. Again, this might be intentional to give the effect of isolation of the audience from her, just as Touya was in the plot. She unwillingly distanced herself from Touya, restricting herself to 5 minutes to call him every day to focus on her idol career, but this created a sense of loneliness not only in Touya but also within herself, and it seems, at some point, that Yuki really is working to dull her own pain from missing Touya; thus, she throws herself into a vicious cycle.
There was a rather long segment towards the end of the series where Yuki had extended conversations with Touya's father, whom Touya had always been lukewarm towards (to the point where she had more contact with the father than Touya...) He always pleaded for Yuki to take care of his son, which completely contrasted with Touya's attitude towards her. From the front of the fourth wall, is Yuki the only pure/sane person in this anime?
There are three themes associated with her: White Album, 恋色空 (koiiro sora) and Powder Snow. What is interesting is the latter two. Koiiro Sora is perhaps my favourite anisong of all time:
Its slow, melancholic rhythm contrasted with that of White Album; and the more I listen to it, the more I felt the immense pressure Yuki was feeling towards the end. Having discovered the illicit relationship between her respected senpai, Rina Ogata, and her lover, what should be her reaction? Is he having even more relationships behind her back? She was close to succumbing to just give up on Touya, as she initially did not resist upon being kissed by Eiji Ogata. Yet, she insisted:
"どんなに多くの人が、ほほえみを分けてくれてももだ
なぜか一人でいるような、気持ちが消えなくて”
(No matter how many people shared their smiles with me
I could not dismiss that feeling of loneliness)
However, at the end of the final episode, when she was supposed to be performing Koiiro Sora in a prestigious competition, this happened:
The transition from Koiiro Sora to Powder Snow absolutely caught me by surprise. The frustration that kept building up to the final moment suddenly resolved itself, with this smooth, almost undetectable transition, with Rina Ogata joining in as well. Rather than a resentful longing towards the "true one", in Powder Snow the lyrics allude to memories -- happy memories of watching the gentle snowfall.
"今でも覚えている、あの日みた白い世界
あの時触れた指先の冷たさも忘れない
I still love you..."
(Even to this day, I still remember that pure white world
I could not forget how cold your fingers were
I still love you...)
She still loves him, but she has clearly made the choice. The Yuki in the Christmas concert was still rather innocent looking, childlike even; but here it is clear that she has chosen her path. She is an idol first, and as an idol, she could not possibly belong to one person only. I guess this is where people come from when they argue that both Yuki and Touya were to blame for the broken relationship. In this ending we see a new light, like a sunbeam through the thick clouds on this perpetually snowy world -- it is still freezing, but somehow it is relieving. Yuki and Touya's relationship is not resolved, but somehow, it is a nice wrapping up.
Ogata Rina
The choice of Mizuki Nana as Rina's voice actor was so apt, to the point where I suspect that some of Rina's character must be modeled after Mizuki's career. The themes of Rina -- Sound of Destiny, and the opening themes (Shin Ai and Mugen) (and arguably Powder Snow) -- are all strong and forceful, perfectly fitting into Mizuki's singing style.
Rina appears as the senpai to Yuki, as mentioned, but through Yuki she found not fond memories of her younger self, but a latent jealousy. She had to play the role of a senior to Yuki, but at the same time the dedication shown by Yuki was frustrating. Rina never explicitly/consciously did or said anything harmful to Yuki, but it was apparent that she could not stand how Yuki replaced her central role in Ogata Productions. This is much worsened by the fact that her own brother runs the agency. It was understandable how Rina tried to recruit Touya as her manager, and even kissed him before a performance.
Rina is not to be thought of as a rival, or an antagonist to Yuki though. I like to think of Rina's actions being all subconscious. She repeatedly emphasizes how there is no one she loves more in the world than Yuki (perhaps not in a romantic sense) -- she wants to see Yuki succeed, and would be angry at anyone who hurts Yuki. Initially, her intention of recruiting Touya was to create time for him to see Yuki (Yuki already has a manager). Thus, her relation to Touya is two-fold: On one hand, upon discovering his intimacy with Yayoi, she antagonizes him; but on the other hand she cannot help but be attracted, because he was Yuki's property, and thanks to Touya's "goddess" mentality.
I suppose though the senpai role is often portrayed in anime, but I like to feel that Rina is a bit different. Rina never got a resolved ending. Her attraction towards Touya eventually turned into true love, stemming from -- you guessed it -- an intense loneliness. She has always been alone, partly because she forges herself to be a sentinel defending Yuki from bad influences such as Matsuyama Menou, but who is there to protect her? Even her own brother forsakes her in favour of Yuki. Her character further reinforces another major message of this anime -- the true loneliness of an idol, despite "liked" by so many.
Mugen talks about falling asleep in the arms of a lover, but it is sung with such force, it induces anything but sleep in the listener. It describes being trapped in a web:
"柔らな吐息に 心さえも震える
絡まる美しい蜘蛛の糸のよう
動けないの・・・私を許して"
(As you let out a soft sigh, my heart aches
as if intertwined in this beautiful spider web
I am paralyzed... so forgive me)
Who has spun up this web, that traps everyone in this anime?
Others
The rest of the cast was very interesting as well.
Misaki is apparently more of a victim than anyone else in this show, by definition. She was plagued by the guilt from rejecting Tamaru's confession throughout the show, even long after, when it is clear that Tamaru is clearly abusing her sympathy and making her do unreasonable tasks. While "officially" going out with Akira, she cannot stop thinking about Touya (this makes me think whether we are actually told much about Touya's recent past...) Misaki feels like a weight in this already rather depressing show. While Touya runs free with the burden he should have to bear, Misaki forms a good contrast. They are what I like to call "fundamentally different", two people who have such a different thought on life in general that they can never be compatible.
The storyline of Misaki concludes with a letter -- quite appropriate for an arts student -- addressed to Touya's father, in which she describes how it is impossible to forget about someone she has loved; the only possible manner of recovery is to let time dilute this infatuation. Yet, with Touya being who he is, with his "goddess" mentality, poking into the business of every woman he comes across, Misaki's wounds will never really heal.
It was quite interesting why she would be talking to his father out of all people. Indeed, perhaps Touya's father is the only person who is not utterly confused throughout this anime. Seeing right through the thoughts of Touya, yet helplessly bedridden, he cements the fact that Touya bears a heavy sin. Touya refusing to realize how his actions harms everyone manifests as hostility towards his father, right until his death.
I don't have much to say about the rest of the characters (Haruka, Yayoi, Menou, Mana, Eiji, Akira...). I guess I have to properly rewatch this anime to make more sense out of them. Plus, this piece is already long enough.
Confusion
I will conclude with the motif of confusion. Perhaps an artifact of the anime contemporary to this, the visuals always appeared rather hazy to me. It is also safe to say that none of the characters really know clearly what they want. Dragged on by a vague longing of companionship, the characters stumble on, hurting each other in the process, willingly or not. It is appropriate then for this show to be a bit confusing to the audience as well (or at least, to me).
"And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word! " - R. Browning, Porphyria's Lover
A lot of the characters appear confusing, much thanks to the "sparsity" of dialogue. Unlike Monogatari which blasts the audience endlessly with flashy imagery and rapid-fire speeches, WA is eerily silent. Perhaps not particularly because the raw measure of time when any character speaks is small, but rather the rarity of the character actually saying what they are indeed thinking. In this sense, it is quite realistic: A lot of people I know almost never seem to speak directly what is on their mind. It certainly feels like a lot of blanks are left to the audience's imagination. This proved to be quite a point of attraction for me.
A motif here is the unanswered phone messages. Initially, Yuki and Touya are connected through the (landline) telephone. Bearing in mind this is the 1980s, this was the best they could do. Out of all interview options, I have come to hate the telephone interview the most, much because of the opacity of the entire process. Only working on voice almost makes the conversation direct, but at the same time it precludes any possibility of transmission using visual cues. It somehow falls into the "uncanny valley" of communications: It seems intimate, but at the same time very distant. So much is lost that I would rather trade in the instant nature with more time to craft a message, the case of using email (or heck, letters). The unanswered rings are frustrating and chilling, almost like a death toll to the relationship.
Let's talk about the characters:
Fuuji Touya
The "protagonist" of the story. Perhaps some would say the anti-hero, but I would disagree that he is a villain. Somehow, not only does he look like Satou Tatsuhiro from Welcome to the NHK, he somehow reminds me of Satou. I felt his powerlessness in controlling himself, his weakness in front of his own vices.
Touya receives much flak for his actions, which I believe is well-deserved. Perhaps it is so easy now to argue sort of vaguely defending him that it has turned finding fault in him the non-mainstream idea. In any case, a hate-able main character is not something you see in anime every day.
According to the ending of the show, Touya seeks comfort from other women external to his relationship, in an attempt to compensate for his guilt to Yuki, the so-called "goddess" mentality. In this critical segment we see that Touya is a weak person. He was made fun of by the already weak Haruka, but he wanted to defend Yuki from the bullies around her. He was so scared that he dirtied his pants, but decided to soak his hands in it to repel the bullies. Perhaps Touya has a strong desire to help others, but at the same time he is pathetic, and he knows this. Yuki, who genuinely sees the helpful person within Touya, gave him a paper medal for his help, but he immediately threw it away into the grass. One must -- deep down -- be hurt to be hurting others, and Touya is a good example for this.
Does he give in to carnal desires, the desire for comfort in others' physical, tangible company? Of course -- this is the major reason he fell for Yayoi Shinozuka's temptations. He was hesitant to accept Yayoi's request to replace Yuki at first, but at the end he gave in, and it would be ridiculous to deny any connection to the distance between him and Yuki. However, his actions are not entirely defined by desperation for sex. I see his attraction to e.g. Rina, Haruka and Misaki to be out of pity, the desire to help someone in trouble...
The interpretation then should be that he was attracted to Yuki at the first place because he saw the helplessness and delicacy in her. Yuki has a frail voice and an innocent personality, and in the context of high school, dreaming to be an idol is indeed a rather pure and "girly" thought. However, as Touya discovered how she was indeed serious about being an idol, and how her dream has empowered her, obviating her need for affirmation and company from others (which was not actually true...), she no longer seemed weak in Touya's eyes. Thus, coupled with the convenient physical and temporal separation between them thanks to Yuki's obligations, they grew apart.
A key scene here is Yuki's first concert on Christmas night:
I think the initial portrayal of Touya is clever, even if unintentional. Placed in the dark, his expression is just blank, overwhelmed by awe. I like to think of it as surprise which led to his blank stare -- surprise at how much she has gone forward, leaving him behind, and more importantly, his perpetual lingering image of Yuki being the weak, fragile self she is. She is singlehandedly beating the Sakura-dan, a well trained, well funded idol group as an amateur.
"純白のアルバムのページ染めてくれ" (Dye the pages of this pure white album)... Who will be this person to do so?
Morikawa Yuki
"She wants to sing, and not even stop for a second. She would die without music. Isn't she now the lover of Music itself?"
Perhaps the character that stands out absolutely from all others, playing the role purely of a victim in this complicated web of adulterous relations, Yuki is an amateur idol who always seeks to improve herself.
As the main character, I always feel that she had a frustrating lack of screentime. Again, this might be intentional to give the effect of isolation of the audience from her, just as Touya was in the plot. She unwillingly distanced herself from Touya, restricting herself to 5 minutes to call him every day to focus on her idol career, but this created a sense of loneliness not only in Touya but also within herself, and it seems, at some point, that Yuki really is working to dull her own pain from missing Touya; thus, she throws herself into a vicious cycle.
There was a rather long segment towards the end of the series where Yuki had extended conversations with Touya's father, whom Touya had always been lukewarm towards (to the point where she had more contact with the father than Touya...) He always pleaded for Yuki to take care of his son, which completely contrasted with Touya's attitude towards her. From the front of the fourth wall, is Yuki the only pure/sane person in this anime?
There are three themes associated with her: White Album, 恋色空 (koiiro sora) and Powder Snow. What is interesting is the latter two. Koiiro Sora is perhaps my favourite anisong of all time:
Its slow, melancholic rhythm contrasted with that of White Album; and the more I listen to it, the more I felt the immense pressure Yuki was feeling towards the end. Having discovered the illicit relationship between her respected senpai, Rina Ogata, and her lover, what should be her reaction? Is he having even more relationships behind her back? She was close to succumbing to just give up on Touya, as she initially did not resist upon being kissed by Eiji Ogata. Yet, she insisted:
"どんなに多くの人が、ほほえみを分けてくれてももだ
なぜか一人でいるような、気持ちが消えなくて”
(No matter how many people shared their smiles with me
I could not dismiss that feeling of loneliness)
However, at the end of the final episode, when she was supposed to be performing Koiiro Sora in a prestigious competition, this happened:
The transition from Koiiro Sora to Powder Snow absolutely caught me by surprise. The frustration that kept building up to the final moment suddenly resolved itself, with this smooth, almost undetectable transition, with Rina Ogata joining in as well. Rather than a resentful longing towards the "true one", in Powder Snow the lyrics allude to memories -- happy memories of watching the gentle snowfall.
"今でも覚えている、あの日みた白い世界
あの時触れた指先の冷たさも忘れない
I still love you..."
(Even to this day, I still remember that pure white world
I could not forget how cold your fingers were
I still love you...)
She still loves him, but she has clearly made the choice. The Yuki in the Christmas concert was still rather innocent looking, childlike even; but here it is clear that she has chosen her path. She is an idol first, and as an idol, she could not possibly belong to one person only. I guess this is where people come from when they argue that both Yuki and Touya were to blame for the broken relationship. In this ending we see a new light, like a sunbeam through the thick clouds on this perpetually snowy world -- it is still freezing, but somehow it is relieving. Yuki and Touya's relationship is not resolved, but somehow, it is a nice wrapping up.
Ogata Rina
The choice of Mizuki Nana as Rina's voice actor was so apt, to the point where I suspect that some of Rina's character must be modeled after Mizuki's career. The themes of Rina -- Sound of Destiny, and the opening themes (Shin Ai and Mugen) (and arguably Powder Snow) -- are all strong and forceful, perfectly fitting into Mizuki's singing style.
Rina appears as the senpai to Yuki, as mentioned, but through Yuki she found not fond memories of her younger self, but a latent jealousy. She had to play the role of a senior to Yuki, but at the same time the dedication shown by Yuki was frustrating. Rina never explicitly/consciously did or said anything harmful to Yuki, but it was apparent that she could not stand how Yuki replaced her central role in Ogata Productions. This is much worsened by the fact that her own brother runs the agency. It was understandable how Rina tried to recruit Touya as her manager, and even kissed him before a performance.
Rina is not to be thought of as a rival, or an antagonist to Yuki though. I like to think of Rina's actions being all subconscious. She repeatedly emphasizes how there is no one she loves more in the world than Yuki (perhaps not in a romantic sense) -- she wants to see Yuki succeed, and would be angry at anyone who hurts Yuki. Initially, her intention of recruiting Touya was to create time for him to see Yuki (Yuki already has a manager). Thus, her relation to Touya is two-fold: On one hand, upon discovering his intimacy with Yayoi, she antagonizes him; but on the other hand she cannot help but be attracted, because he was Yuki's property, and thanks to Touya's "goddess" mentality.
I suppose though the senpai role is often portrayed in anime, but I like to feel that Rina is a bit different. Rina never got a resolved ending. Her attraction towards Touya eventually turned into true love, stemming from -- you guessed it -- an intense loneliness. She has always been alone, partly because she forges herself to be a sentinel defending Yuki from bad influences such as Matsuyama Menou, but who is there to protect her? Even her own brother forsakes her in favour of Yuki. Her character further reinforces another major message of this anime -- the true loneliness of an idol, despite "liked" by so many.
Mugen talks about falling asleep in the arms of a lover, but it is sung with such force, it induces anything but sleep in the listener. It describes being trapped in a web:
"柔らな吐息に 心さえも震える
絡まる美しい蜘蛛の糸のよう
動けないの・・・私を許して"
(As you let out a soft sigh, my heart aches
as if intertwined in this beautiful spider web
I am paralyzed... so forgive me)
Who has spun up this web, that traps everyone in this anime?
Others
The rest of the cast was very interesting as well.
Misaki is apparently more of a victim than anyone else in this show, by definition. She was plagued by the guilt from rejecting Tamaru's confession throughout the show, even long after, when it is clear that Tamaru is clearly abusing her sympathy and making her do unreasonable tasks. While "officially" going out with Akira, she cannot stop thinking about Touya (this makes me think whether we are actually told much about Touya's recent past...) Misaki feels like a weight in this already rather depressing show. While Touya runs free with the burden he should have to bear, Misaki forms a good contrast. They are what I like to call "fundamentally different", two people who have such a different thought on life in general that they can never be compatible.
The storyline of Misaki concludes with a letter -- quite appropriate for an arts student -- addressed to Touya's father, in which she describes how it is impossible to forget about someone she has loved; the only possible manner of recovery is to let time dilute this infatuation. Yet, with Touya being who he is, with his "goddess" mentality, poking into the business of every woman he comes across, Misaki's wounds will never really heal.
It was quite interesting why she would be talking to his father out of all people. Indeed, perhaps Touya's father is the only person who is not utterly confused throughout this anime. Seeing right through the thoughts of Touya, yet helplessly bedridden, he cements the fact that Touya bears a heavy sin. Touya refusing to realize how his actions harms everyone manifests as hostility towards his father, right until his death.
I don't have much to say about the rest of the characters (Haruka, Yayoi, Menou, Mana, Eiji, Akira...). I guess I have to properly rewatch this anime to make more sense out of them. Plus, this piece is already long enough.
Confusion
I will conclude with the motif of confusion. Perhaps an artifact of the anime contemporary to this, the visuals always appeared rather hazy to me. It is also safe to say that none of the characters really know clearly what they want. Dragged on by a vague longing of companionship, the characters stumble on, hurting each other in the process, willingly or not. It is appropriate then for this show to be a bit confusing to the audience as well (or at least, to me).
"And thus we sit together now,
And all night long we have not stirred,
And yet God has not said a word! " - R. Browning, Porphyria's Lover
[1]: This show is a split cour, deliberately arranged such that all the episodes fall in winter. It is all these minute details which really appealed to me.
