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9 Responses to “[Ascaloth] Trial Run: White Album, Episode 2”  

1. 1 Mentar 4 comments Jan 14th, 2009 at 3:32 am

   Would you be angry with me if I disagree with most of your conclusions? I read most of the scenes differently.

   o It’s not unusual to assign capable-stern managers to green-unsure types and “softer” managers to seasoned pros who can take care of themselves. Happens in real life situations alot!

   o Touya did not ask Haruka to sit in this spot, just the opposite. After Haruka snuck there all by herself, he warned Haruka NOT to turn around (to mimick Yuki). The way I see it, it seems to have been Yuki’s habit to turn around and then lean against his back, with her head turned towards Touya (basically, a hug from behind). Touya tries to defend this spot AGAINST a Haruka incursion. Since he also initially rejected her about the proposed walk (before his resolve weakened after seeing her camp out in the cold), I’d conclude that he tries to keep Haruka at bay - but cuts her some slack. After all, we know she went through something traumatic.

   o Rina was rehearsing how she was planning to floor-talk her brother into letting her stay there with Yuki.

   o The “Urusai” was clearly Akira’s. He was getting pissed about Touya’s insensitive lecture.

   o Agreed about the neglect, which Rina picked up on immediately. Yuki is very pure - also see her emotional reaction - so she doesn’t have the problem on her radar at all. If she actually KNEW, if Touya would actually manage to communicate his feelings and worries to Yuki, I imagine the would act very differently, so I’m withholding judgment on her. Once she realizes the problem, THIS is when we’ll be able to decide if she’s really taking him for granted or not.

   o Don’t get me wrong. I like Rina alot. I might end up rooting for her. But sorry - making a pass on the explicitly tagged boyfriend of a good friend of yours is a no-no in MY book. That was pretty predatory and ugly… I wonder what it would do to Yuki’s world if she were to realize what Rina is doing behind her back.

   o Had Touya been able to tell Misaki that Akira had been baking cake for her, he possibly could have helped him quite a bit. At least, that had been his intention. However, his terrible communication skills only achieved the opposite - getting Misaki giddy about his concern. My my.

   o I agree with your comment about Touya’s reaction to a degree, but don’t forget that his father hung up on him during his request. Super-rude. In my eyes, this was his prideful way to return this non-favor.

   In summary, I wonder why you’re being so harsh on the characters. To me, they seem refreshingly REAL. With real issues, reactions and flaws. But so far none of them has done anything truly nasty, with the exception of Rina, the one character you praised
   Anyway, looking forward to your next review!

2. 2 Nazarielle 2 comments Jan 14th, 2009 at 7:28 am

   Rina-sama is superior.

   Yup!

   Erm, why is Akira lying to Rina-sama’s manager about her not being here? What purpose does it serve? Did I miss something somewhere?

   I was wondering about that myself. Unless maybe he didn’t know that was Rina’s manager and he was thinking maybe she was being stalked or something?

   …but to have the cheek to ask for aid, and then throw it back just because it is in kind rather than in cash?

   This is exactly what I said. It’s shit like this that makes me hope that he doesn’t end up with anyone at all. Stupid bastard deserves to be left out in the rain.

3. 3 Crusader 28 comments Jan 14th, 2009 at 9:40 am

   Yeah I made E-5 so yeah it’s gunso alright. I like leaving a bloody mess in my wake, besides I want there to be no misunderstanding as to how much I loathe this Touya. There is no such thing as over kill, it’s just make sure that the target is dead.

   Akira probably lied because to him it was a stranger who stepping, he was not aware if it was her manager or not, but why risk giving away the location of a celebrity? For all Akira would now it might have been a stalker. Besides if he was her manager he could simply call her up and reconfirm her location yes?

   @Mentar
   It was also super rude to interrupt a prayer to the honored dead. Just because the world doesn’t revolve around Touya’s schedule does not give him license to take it out on his dad. Besides given how Touya is a parasite he was calling for money anyway. Giving him food probably made sense given how it would have saved his loser son some time in not having to shop. There was no reason to hold back on the fact that Akira was looking for Misaki.

   Given how it’s only Touya who is spilling out inner monologues I doubt Akiria was the one who wanted Touya to shut up. Akira to him was lapping up Yuki’s praise and it probably hurt that over inflated pride of his to hear Yuki praise Akira’s pastry prowess when he wanted that phone call to be all about him.

4. 4 Mentar 4 comments Jan 14th, 2009 at 3:08 pm

   @Crusader: Oi… when you ring someone up, how the hell are you supposed to know what you might or might not be interrupting? How is that rude? But if you DO pick up, don’t even give a proper greeting and after 10 seconds (not right away) hang up wordlessly once the talk is about to come to the issue of money, in MY book this is rude (and in the Japanese world, it’s even worse). He also never “took anything out on his dad”, his talk was polite.

   Passing out food instead of cash is a reasonable thing to do if you suspect that the person you’re providing for sucks at handling money, agreed. But as I said, this looks a little more like an issue about stupid prideful payback.

   And yes, there WAS a reason not to mention the cake - she was sick, and the opportunity didn’t arise to bring it up inconspiciously (which in my eyes was the intention Akira’s call). Keep in mind, this is an issue between close friends after 5 years. Obviously he didn’t want to _openly_ meddle in things by “Misaki, it’s you? You won’t believe it, Akira baked a cake for you!” style bluntness. They never really got past the introductory talk.

   Finally, I’d say the monologue is CLEARLY Akira. Before it pops up, the camera always pans, so that there’s always only Akira to be seen (in my opinion, to make clear that this talk is about Akira). Content-wise, at that point of time, Touya is bragging about Yuki (annoying) and ridiculing Akira about his Misaki failures (very annoying), therefore Akira’s retorts are super-terse - he wants to end this exchange as quickly as possible. “Shutup”. In the end he’s irritated enough to even ask Touya if he’s got a fever (to talk such crap). Finally, you got the timeline wrong - Yuki hasn’t been around at all, she entered AFTER the exchange. Give the scene another check!

5. 5 Crusader 28 comments Jan 14th, 2009 at 4:44 pm

   @Mentar
   I hardly think it rude, I have to hang up without a word to people all the the time and vice versa, I hardly get insulted, I wait the thirty minutes and try again. It’s rather dumb to think it a slight otherwise I’d get busted and chewed out by superior officers every time they called when I had a meeting or some such. Do you remember how phones worked back then? You had to pick it up and plop it back down otherwise it just keep ringing. It was arrogant of Touya to think it a spiteful slight on him, he assumed that his dad was being a jerk when he was in fact occupied. My mom hangs up on me plenty it’s hardly rude because I know she is a busy person.

   Given how Touya only calls to beg for money it seems giving food and not cash was hardly a bad move, it probably would have saved Touya some time too. For a guy who overslept on his first day of work Touya’s got a lot of never to take pride in being a parasite, he give his father no respect talks shit about other people like Rina based on a TV appearance, it’s not simply pride but arrogance. He’s shaped by the whims of women, so the claim goes. He could not even be bothered to do his damn job for Akira and told a paying customer to do it himself, there were no other customers at the time he was paid to work not tell customers to do it themselves…to me that’s just unprofessional. It’s a little wonder why Touya could not hold a job on his own and needed Akira to get one for him.

   If the guy did not want to meddle then why bother calling? Either Touya is a fool or he lacks faith in Akira to do the right thing either way he ain’t no saint in giving Misaki a call.

   Recall from the last ep in his call with Yuki, Yuki specifically brought up the cake and started jawing about it, the rest was muted but Yuki was rambling on about cake while Touya being the attention whore that he is has an inner monologue about how he wished Yuki was having a more Touya oriented conversation. Again last ep Akira had plenty of time for inner monologue, but it was always Touya. True Yuki came after the hissy fits, but last ep Yuki was going on about cake and not Touya.

6. 6 Leefe 119 comments Jan 14th, 2009 at 9:34 pm

   Rina is making WA worth watching every bit, simple.

7. 7 Calamity Jane 2 comments Jan 15th, 2009 at 1:47 am

   Simply put: Toya is a dumbass and Rina is the only character that’s worth watching in that series. Especially because that pass she did on Touya that was so despicable.
   Haruka has perked my interest too because of her wierdness. As for Yuki, she’s just annoying so far.

1. 1 Mega Megane Moé » White Album is the worst kind of anime Pingback on Jan 18th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
2. 2 anitations - collected notes on White Album 02 Pingback on Jan 12th, 2010 at 11:57 pm

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