White Album 2: The Greatest Soap Opera of All Time (Patreon Cut)
Added 2024-03-06 20:34:13 +0000 UTCClick me for a download on Dropbox!
Even over a decade after release, White Album 2's staying power hasn't wavered. Through complicated and flawed characters, forlorn loves, and soap opera drama, it's become decisive, infamous... and one of my favorite VNs of all time.
Script & Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TRPkbhP2voRu19p6afPKFbxtv6N14j0XtSebmplG5Wk/edit
This month's shout outs:
https://www.youtube.com/@PauseandSelect/videos
https://www.youtube.com/@SeanSeanson
00:00:00 Intro
00:03:08 Story Outline
00:05:14 It's (Not) a Sequel
00:08:12 The Main Trio
00:17:03 On the Sidelines
00:23:41 Flow of Life & Prose
00:30:01 The (Lack) of Presentation
00:40:51 Patreon Break
00:46:50 [SPOILERS] Season of the White Album (IC)
00:59:20 [SPOILERS] Uncomfortable Stillness (CC)
01:04:56 [SPOILERS] Koharu & Progress
01:11:31 [SPOILERS] The Mari Dilemma
01:27:05 [SPOILERS] The (Dis)honesty of Acting
01:36:38 [SPOILERS] Setsuna Lives in a Society(tm)
01:41:27 [SPOILERS] And Then, to Coda
01:44:44 [SPOILERS] To Know Nothing
01:57:37 [SPOILERS] Grasping for the Future
02:02:58 [SPOILERS] The Light at the End
02:14:30 Closing Chapter
Music list:
White Album Remake - White Album (Piano)
White Album 2 - Todokanai Koi
To-Heart - Unspoken Strength (Kotone Himekawa)
White Album 2 - Koi no Youna
White Album 2 - Odayakani Suguyukutoki
White Album Remake - TENSION
Kizuato 2009 - Kaede
Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu - The Snow's Affection
White Album 2 - Mihatenu Yume
White Album - Morning Sun
White Album 2 - Shizukana Fuyunoyo
Sakura no Uta - Maiagaru Inga Kouryuu no Hikari
YU-NO - Mio Shimizu
Routes - Pristine Air
To-Heart 2 - The Daylight Darkens
Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu - Tender Grace
White Album - Looking Up at the Stars
Legend of Heroes IV - A Bustling Street Corner
Night Slave - Prep (Options)
Utawarerumono - Gekkoua ~Fumiriru~ (Leaf Piano arr.)
Oretsuba - Yuugure no Koutei de Hashagu Kimi wo Mitsumeru Madobe
White Album - White Album (Leaf Piano arr.)
White Album 2 - After All ~Tsuzuru Omoi~
Routes - Carrying You (Strings ver.)
Umineko - fall
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - One Last You (Piano)
Ys II - Palace of Solomon (Ys Healing arr.)
Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu - All I Saw Were Stars
Parfait - Sunlight (Re-brew arr.)
To-Heart 2 - Each to Their Own Future
Rewrite - Sorrowless
EVE Burst Error - Office (Marina)
To-Heart Animation - Hitori no Toki ni
YU-NO - Movement 2 (Daytime)
Umineko - Novelette
Sakura no Uta - Yume no Ayumi wo Miagate
Umineko - Loreley
Higurashi - Conviction
White Album 2 - Seiya
To-Heart Animation - Suki to Ienai, Itoshisa II
White Album 2 - Shiawase no Kioku (Piano)
Kanon - Pure Snows (Piano arr.)
Tenshi no Inai 12-gatsu - From Beyond Eternity
Umineko - En-Course
Tasogare - Silver Thread
Tsukikagerou - To the Sea of Amber
Umineko - slowmotion
Higurashi - You (Umihigu Piano arr.)
Kakyuusei 1999 - Tada Ichido Dake no Eien ~love story~
White Album 2 - Powder Snow (Guitar Solo)
White Album 2 - Toki no Mahou
Comments
I got jumpscared (in a good way) by higurashi: conviction…god that song is beautiful
wheeliescoot
2024-03-10 00:59:06 +0000 UTCAs someone from Brazil.... where it never snows... who is writing a game after the theme of snow in Japan, which is where I first saw snow, in Toyama, last year... your video touches in a lot of tones... the first touch of snow... walking for the first time in snow... seeing snow both as white purity of new snow... and the dirty slosh it becomes as we trample on it... to be white and renewed again the next morning... there is always the next morning... your video did touch a special chord... so.... yet another game on my list to visit someday and maybe cry a lot about....
Jessica Luchesi
2024-03-09 22:48:06 +0000 UTCI just started the video and am so excited but omg the Barbie that does visual novels <33 she’s posting again <3333 ty for always providing the best content in wonderful ways!!
Katrissa Balle
2024-03-07 23:54:59 +0000 UTCYou picked up on thing that I could practically feel screaming at me on my second playthrough. The exact details of Haruki's family situation are kind of a void, but you can tell through bits of dialogue that he almost fetishizes the unconditional love families are supposed to have for each other, and desperately wants to not disappoint (and ideally, be loved by) Setsuna and Kazusa's parents. It leads him to develop a huge blind spot for how bad their situations (as well as his own) are. I remember him chastising Kazusa for being ungrateful towards her (very very abusive) mother and I can't help but see it as another way Haruki is put upon by society: in addition to the possible trauma of his parents' divorcing, it feels like he's internalized that he must be missing out for lacking the family that most people have, while willfully blind to how it's not all sunshine and rainbows. And admittedly, one of the things that soured me on Setsuna's true ending is that she seems to be insistent that he restore his relationship with his mother. God, they really could all have something nice if they could grow past this, difficult as that is. (also he totally does moan cute you're right and you should absolutely keep saying it)
PrincessCharlotte
2024-03-07 23:39:29 +0000 UTCI just finished all of Higurashi recently so when you got to the true end summary and "You" started playing my heart got crunched a little XD
Tyler (TJ) Murphy
2024-03-07 14:27:09 +0000 UTCI’m so happy you made a video on White Album 2!! I subscribed hoping to be here when it happens and lo and behold! I just finished watching and wow, this is definitely my favorite of yours yet. I love when you add your own experiences and how it affects your reading on the narrative, and I feel for you SO hard as someone who is transmasc and was shut off from the world due to being autistic and undiagnosed for the longest time. This VN affected me in a way I’ve never experienced before and I’m glad you enjoyed it just as much!! I hope moving is/ has been a relatively painless process, and can’t wait to see what the future holds! 💖
RoseTintedMoon
2024-03-07 00:44:23 +0000 UTCooh oh my god my question in the video !!! >.< thank u for answering & keep up the good work !
wheeliescoot
2024-03-06 21:58:18 +0000 UTCFor all purposes and intentions, this is a depressing visual novel. That's why I avoided it. I did a bit of research, and learned that the first White Album Visual Novel is a the parent story of an untranslated Visual Novel called Black Album. Ok, just for the sake of restoring our smiles and healing our hearts, we need White Album 3. Like the previous stories, it'll have romance. But instead of it being a depressing melodrama story, it should be a lighthearted, family friendly, slapstick comedic jungle adventure story. The plot will be about the main protagonist, an elementary school boy, trying to rescue his mother who went missing during a research/vacation trip in India while she was pregnant. Accompanying him will be his friends and classmates. They will range from the childhood friend, the tsundere rival turned respectful ally, the school bully, the goth girl, the skater boy, the gamer girl, the nerdy buddy boy, the foreign exchange student who's actually a vampire huntress, and a dalmatian. Depending on who you choose to max out your relationship with and partnered up with to help you in the boss battles and the final boss will not only help you rescue the MC's mother who gives birth his baby sister, but also how the ending plays out depending who you choose. Whether you've maxed the MC's relationship or not, their endings will range from bittersweet, to funny, or just happy. And I know I sound like Yoko Taro at this point, but unlocking all endings will unlock a new game plus story called “Gray Album”. The story will take place five years after the events of the previous story, with the MC's younger sister as the protagonist of this new story. I won't give away what happens, but I will say that the new route will have a connection to White Album 2, just with “It's a Wonderful Life” thrown into the mix.
Lael Hochberg
2024-03-06 21:45:33 +0000 UTCI will only be able to watch this tomorrow, but thank you so much for all the great work!
Hubertfireemblem
2024-03-06 21:23:31 +0000 UTC
