Poll: Favorite White Album 2 Heroine?

ManlyTear said:
Many years ago I voted Setsuna, and I stand by that vote now too as with VN experience, she's kind of my favorite character in the story due to how complex she is.

Edocchi said:
but I like the way the anime got its own unique charm by doing it in its own way, such as saving some important conversations to use later as a flashback.

There's not quite one person at fault within the dynamics of this relationship.

Setsuna's the good girl -- that's what everybody constantly iterates. The audience thinks that she's a good girl. Haruki and Kazusa thinks that she's a good girl. Every minor character, every passerby thinks that she's a saint.

In a sense, she is. In another sense, she's absolutely the most manipulative character in the series. White Album 2's visual novel isn't the highest rated visual novel on EGS [Japanese Visual Novel rating site] without a reason.

Setsuna believes that she betrayed Kazusa. Haruki is not aware that Kazusa had kissed him first. In fact, this is an incredibly large spoiler that's only revealed in Coda. The IC in the visual novel was bereft of most of these details. The anime chose to adapt it.

Kazusa and Haruki know that they betrayed Setsuna. How much more blatant of a betrayal can there be, other than physically cheating [not to say the emotional cheating that went on prior]. What happens when someone cheats? The other party breaks off relationships, and gradually, things rebuild after being shattered.

But what occurs in this case? Setsuna absolutely does not take it out on them. In fact, she thinks that she's the guilty one. This results in Kazusa and Haruki staying in the past. They cannot get over the fact that Setsuna's such a good girl -- that they chose to betray such a good girl.

But such a good girl selfishly refuses to allow the two to move on. Haruki and Kazusa are not sociopathic, they cannot move on without guilt. Setsuna is very important to them. If they were to continue dating, they'd only hurt Setsuna further. If they were to break up, then Setsuna would not have that -- she wants the three of them to be together, she wants genuine love. She wants the impossible, and she'll aspire for the impossible. The two want to be punished, to be condemned vitriolically -- that itself will be cathartic for all parties. If it never happens, it's the same as a boiling kettle never blowing.

Setsuna in the train scene, refused to allow Haruki to further speak. Even when he did enunciate further, his blatant disloyalty, she refused to scold him. She never exploded. She never allowed the built-up anxiety, the built-up guilt to shatter. She never allowed them a cathartic moment. In a sense, she operates benevolently in that she refuses to scold her friends. In a sense, she operates absolutely selfishly, because she wants her desired ending.

Setsuna's without a doubt the most complex character within the series. Everyone calls her 'good', but she believes herself to be the absolute worst. White Album 2's realistic in that it doesn't go for the simple cop-outs. Nobody's going to commit suicide. Nobody's going to go blatantly insane.

A period of bliss is followed by a lifetime of suffering. Pleasure and love will never supersede, will never ameliorate that suffering. But, it will keep the characters going.

SomeGuyWithHair said:
Setsuna may be the the most complex character but at the end of the day, she's just a selfish, optimistic yet manipulative woman. And no one wants that in real life. Well Kazusa is bad in her own way, but not as bad as Setsuna.

Promethazine said:
Kazusa of course! But Setsuna was insanely tragic, that airport scene was killer.

Edocchi said:
But yet again, subtle direction comes at a price, not everyone could appreciate it. As I said before, we are expected to interpret the characters through their dialogue and their expressions rather than through any monologue or narration.

NakolHira said:
Setsuna is annoying. Sorry to say, both are not any good. But that's what makes WA2 so close to my heart.