White Album - Episode 19

Having been laid-up with illness in a pretty big way over the past couple of weeks, for some reason White Album dropped towards the bottom of my "to watch" list - So, now I'm on the road to recovery let the catch-up begin courtesy of episode nineteen.

The last episode certainly left us with an interesting proposition - Rina and Touya kissing, with Yuki arriving just too late to see what happened... but is she going to figure out what's going on? Surprisingly for her, yes, although to be honest Rina is hardly quick to deny either than anything happened or her feelings for Touya. What follows is some pure, classic soap opera, as Yuki weighs up what she knows and suspects about her boyfriend, Yayoi and Rina - A series of thoughts which unsurprisingly drives her into a fit of self-harming despair, while Rina talks of her inability to judge her own emotions and the like.


Of course, everyone's favourite idiot is completely blind to all of the chaos he's just caused, leaving Yuki a cheerful message to tell her how he found time to go and "lend his support" to Rina, and relaying how he'll be working as her assistant from now on - Talk about rubbing salt into the wounds. So, as Touya takes on his new role working alongside Rina at her new production company where she finds herself operating in decidedly reduced circumstances, so he finds himself grabbing the attentions of Menou as well... how does this guy do it? I sense a book entitled "How To Be A Complete Bastard Yet Still Get All The Girls" in his future...

If this particular episode of White Album made me realise one thing, it's this - For the entirety of this series so far, I've been trying to look beyond the surface at the motivations and deeper emotions of the characters to figure out their true feelings and intentions, and at this point in the game I'm beginning to suspect that I've got this series wrong big time. In particular, I've often suspected that Rina is "up to something" in some shape or form, when in fact I'm now of the opinion that what you see is what you get - She's not playing with anyone's heart or emotions for her own gain, she's simply an emotionally stunted idol getting by in love and friendship as best she can. Ergo, what we see in White Album arguably doesn't require any analysis - It is what it is, drama and (slightly trashy) soap opera, pure and simple. Truth be told this is no bad thing, and perhaps I'm beginning to appreciate this series a little more now I'm not trying to see things that simply aren't there with this series... It works best as sensationalised entertainment.