White Album 2 Symbolism
There’s a very detailed blogpost titled “Being Setsuna is Suffering” from a little over 2 years ago, that to this day hits home about a lot of the painful realities that exist in White Album 2. There are pages and pages of analysis I can write about the literary symbols, metaphors encased and layered on top of one another in the visual novel. Many of these are shared with the anime so if you do plan on playing the visual novel or watching the anime - I ask that you refrain from reading this as there are spoilers below.
The basis of White Album 2 is a love triangle - it’s a very fickle love triangle that is just as complicated as the rest. The truth about this love triangle is that it could never have happened in any shape that wasn’t a triangle. Haruki would never have become friends with Kazusa, Kazusa would never have fallen for him even more and Setsuna wouldn’t even have met Haruki. The story is filled with dramatic irony that shows how hiding one’s feelings can cause problems for everyone. Setsuna’s existence is only suffering, there is no option for her to really obtain the happiness she wants; she knows this and makes the choice to confess to Haruki before Kazusa can. Setsuna is shown to speak to Io before her confession in music room 1 about how she wants Haruki to make the choice. She even says this to Haruki as part of her confession - she really doesn’t want to take him away from Kazusa, but she can’t help but try to get the happiness for herself. Even after he accepts her confession and they start dating she is crying and suffering for what she did to Kazusa. Kazusa’s existence is to be hiding. There is nothing Kazusa can be open about, her feelings for Haruki, her musical skills, her care for Setsuna, her happiness and her sadness. From the very beginning, every part of her hidden self has to be dug out by everyone else, she lacks the capability of unleashing them herself. We see this all the time, from Haruki’s consistent badgering and Setsuna consistent teasing, we figure out Kazusa’s true self much too late in the story. The only person who ironically understands Kazusa the most is the one who misunderstands her intentions and her actions because of her emotions. By the time Setsuna realizes the problems she’s caused it is much too late. Finally - Haruki, the all-knowing, safe, certain, reliable, and smart former classroom rep and shadow committee president. The ironic thing about Haruki is that his existence is ignorance. He’s made out to be the most understanding, rational person in White Album 2 but in reality he knows the least and understands the least. He doesn’t understand the suffering Setsuna goes through, he can’t fathom that Kazusa would have any feelings for him at all, and he doesn’t understand his own emotions either. As a result, he makes bad judgement calls because he succumbs to his uncertainties and failures and makes the worst decisions of his life - decisions that aren’t unreasonable but ultimately change the person he becomes in closing chapter.
Now for why I think this to be true. Almost all the names in White Album have some connection to snow. It’s the season of White Album - winter, which is the motif for suffering and pain to begin with. First of all, Touma Kazusa - written with WinterHorse and hiragana for the first name. The season of winter really is a great example of hiding - because the snow comes to cover everything and change the way we see things. Kazusa is also a boy’s name and is a bit of a hint that this could have been a very different story if Kazusa had been a boy - as Setsuna laments. Of course, Kazusa has a lot of meanings to it as well, but I think the most accurate description would be one who is above. Next, Kitahara Haruki - Northfield Springrarity, this name seems ordinary but really the name itself gives it all away. In Japan, the only place people think of when they think about is Hokkaido, which is on the very north part of Japan. Haruki’s last name is more of a way of showing how embedded he is in the North and to snow than he thinks. The next part is his first name, Spring and rarity. He certainly is a rarity, with the way he acts and thinks - catching the attention of both Setsuna and Kazusa. But the truth is, spring is the season that is following winter, the way Haruki is always chasing after Touma. Not only that, but spring is the season of youth - part of which, is ignorance. Finally, Ogiso Setsuna - SmallGreatTree SnowLeaf. What a fitting name for Setsuna. There is no doubt in my mind that this story was written around Setsuna - the writers might not have made her the story’s true winner but she is without a doubt the most important character in the story and her character design, development and explanations are proof of this. She’s a snowleaf from a SmallGreatTree - she’s not some super idol, but she’s not some nobody either - she’s a very important character in everything and she stands in the center of everything despite not really wanting to be in the spotlight. But she shines and buds in the winter instead of the Spring. As a result, she exists between Haruki and Kazusa, but she wouldn’t have occurred without the two of them being together but it’s also her that brings Haruki around and brings spring forward. It’s hard to ignore the largest use of symbolism - music but there’s just too much in it that I can’t possibly add it in here, it’s going to be a post on it’s own if I do. Each song, each soundtrack, each moment has purpose and it’d be a shame to miss the importance of any. Instead, I’m go to touch on sleep - this is actually a really important motif that is very subtle. For each character, sleep has different meanings and funnily, coincide with their characters. For Setsuna, sleeping is suffering. The times when Setsuna is truly left to tear herself to pieces is when she’s asleep - we see this multiple times when she calls Haruki before going to sleep, tearing herself apart and it’s only when she’s awake in the morning that her nightmare ends. Whenever Setsuna says she was unable to sleep properly it’s almost always cause she’s happy - never because she’s suffering. For Kazusa, sleeping is her way of hiding. She uses it to avoid talking to Haruki, to avoid showing that she cares for those around her and to hide from herself. There is a very important scene where Haruki helps out Chikashi who wasn’t paying attention in class but a few moments later, Haruki is lost in thought with his prep for his schedule that he also doesn’t pay attention. Kazusa, who notices this stops pretending to sleep and listens in class. When she’s called, she wasn’t paying attention and when the teacher swaps to Haruki, who also wasn’t paying attention, she whispers him the page number and section. When she’s awake she doesn’t hide from Haruki, she doesn’t hide from reality. Finally is Haruki - and you guessed it, for Haruki, sleep is ignorance - the fact of not knowing. Haruki falls asleep multiple times during Kazusa’s piano playing - the only time Kazusa really shares her feelings with Haruki is through her piano and as a result, shows that when for Haruki, sleep is his ignorance and the way of him missing everything important. Whenever Haruki falls asleep, he has missed something important - whether it’s something Setsuna says, what causes Setsuna to do something, or something from Kazusa. I hope this gave you something to think about when you watch White Album 2 - because there’s much more to this show than just a heart-wrenching love triangle. It’s a truly beautiful work of art.