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Dec 13, 2014 3:27 PM
#1
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Dec 2014
33
**This thread will probably contain spoilers of the VN as well as the anime**

TL;DR: I'm on team setsuna and I feel so sad that she's so misunderstood. I consider Haruki and Touma detestable in all storylines. A small part of me is glad that there isn't a season 2 because I don't want to watch such a character repeatedly get dumped on

So, a couple of weeks ago, I was looking around for a normal slice of life anime that was perhaps more realistic than your average anime. I've been watching anime long enough to despise your typical romance between flustered high schoolers and I was sick of all the needless fanservice that made people keep watching them. On one of these boards someone mentioned School Days as a good option for a realistic romance anime and without scrolling down further to see that he was kidding I started watching the series. You all know what happened next. With the exception of one of Kotohana I hated all of the characters in that anime. All of them. Despised them. Hated the ridiculous FS. But didn't hate the story. Because of the way it developed I consider it a subversive, while traumatic watch. I can't believe I had never come across before. But that ending.....

I then moved on to White Album. Loved the first season (unlike most) and really liked the second. It took me a while to get into WA2 though, because while in the same universe, it didn't have the characters from the first that I had grown attached to (even though I hated most characters in that too by the end. WA2 was different though, in that I didn't hate any of these characters. For the first 7 or so episodes, it was just pure friendship - I will admit to being drawn in during the performance of white album at the school fair. Then the relationship stuff started.....

My initial assessment of Setsuna was that she was selfish. Not manipulative, but selfish, even before she got with Haruki. I identified with Touma and her self-denial of her feelings and felt so strongly for her when she pushed him away. I mean Touma wasn't admired by other students in HS, her mother abandoned her, she had no friends and even her piano skills had deteriorated somewhat. To make such a character lose the character she loves was cruel....or so I thought. I grew to hate Setsuna, because she, more than anyone else, knew how Touma must have felt but insisted that they all stay together.

But that all changed in the last two episodes. We're made aware of Touma and Touma's longstanding affection and even Setsuna is aware enough to say that she stepped between them --- but where I lose compassion for them is how they treat Setsuna at the end. Haruki knows Setsuna's trauma when it comes to getting and keeping friends and yet both he and Touma effectively cheat on Setsuna and Setsuna is the one that apologizes? She brings Haruki, with whom she'd always been honest about her feelings, to the airport to say a proper goodbye and Touma and Haruki hug and embrace and essentially give a big middle finger to Setsuna in the background. My initial thought was that this was a scene more traumatic than anything I'd seen in school days, including the ending. I've seen people's bodies explode into a mound of bloody flesh in more fashion than these two broke Setsuna. I mean, my goodness. They just SHATTERED HER TO PIECES.

In these final moments of the anime, I lost any remaining affection I had for Haruki or Touma and realized that of the three, the most profoundly miserable, the one most isolated despite the circumstances of her life, was in fact Setsuna. She loved someone who she KNEW would never love her in the way that he loved another character, but she thought to herself: "why can't I grasp happiness too"? And this was the result. Ive never flipped so quickly in terms of story allegiance before. I realized, in fact, that it wasn't Touma I identified with but Setsuna, because even while she was with Haruki she was still on the outside looking in.

I read a summary of the VN moving forward and all I can think of is that none of the endings end well for Setsuna. The only ending in which she grasps happiness seems contrived and all other times she's essentially just dumped on. I just want to give the girl a virtual hug.
Apr 2, 2015 1:46 AM
#2

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Apr 2012
1240
Thanks for this post. Perfectly describes what I feel.
She should leave kitahara ffs. She deserves better.


My forum picture is awesome. #sorrynotsorry (tumblr)

Apr 2, 2015 1:41 PM
#3

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Feb 2014
1401
I was team Setsuna too, I didn't like Touma very much since the beginning and I liked how Setsuna was honest with her feelings. All that shit wouldn't have happened if Touma had confessed before Setsuna, but Haruki is the one to blame for accepting Setsuna's confession even though he didn't really like her, but I guess that's just how Haruki is...
The best ending would be if the three ended up together in a harem ending or at least Setsuna and Kazusa xD that would be so good I would give it a 10/10.
Apr 6, 2015 8:48 AM
#4
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Jun 2012
15
Setsuna basically asks for all the torment she gets though. She goes for a guy who she clearly knows has feelings for someone else. Then she brings him along to say goodbye when Haruki clearly stated and is shown that he wouldn't be ok if he saw Touma again. Not to mention all the crap she just lets herself put up with in closing chapter.

If anything I think more than selfish and manipulative (which she is both), she's just insanely stubborn to an unrealistic degree.
Apr 10, 2015 10:03 AM
#5
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Mar 2013
625
Its setsuna at fault :) i like her but well she did many mistakes
Jul 12, 2015 11:39 PM
#6
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Sep 2013
503
Nobody cares who your waifu is, Kazusa's ending is absolutely essential cuz things had to have ended that way so people can feel bittersweet for Setsuna (even those who prefer Kazusa) or nobody would care. This is why the closing chapter is so much more popular than the introductory one.

And yes, Setsuna is quite selfish, manipulative, and stupid at times but I do still like her. The reason why I don't feel bad for her at all is because she ends up with a life better than 99% of the people in the world and can get a guy 100x better than Haruki anyways. What is there to pity?
Jul 13, 2015 10:10 PM
#7
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Dec 2014
12
There isn't a season 2 but there is a closing chapter in the visual novel which features 3 new girls plus Setsuna. After there is coda which brings back Kazusa and gives closure to the love triangle.
Aug 5, 2015 10:48 AM
#8

Offline
Apr 2014
61
My god yes Setsuna don't be sad :( I'm crying with you. She dosen't deserve it.

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It’s time to ditch the text file.
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