Early Bird

With the end of the culture festival -- basically where White Album 2 started its first episode -- upon us, we finally see the romance start to creep in as Setsuna makes a far more aggressive move in on Haruki in this episode. And with that aggressiveness, Setsuna got what she wanted, and it is both a feel good moment and a bit of a bittersweet one. I have far more of a track record to liking females that aren't the bubbly and popular females, and that is still the case for Touma.

With that kind of quick preview of what's to come in the first episode, the viewer were pretty much fooled into thinking that Touma would be the victor in this love triangle. However, because Touma denied that fact that she did have some feeling toward Haruki -- and the fact that she is still some what unfamiliar with dealing with relationship, whether that be friend or lover -- she was too slow in something that was more of a sprint rather than a marathon.

So now we enter the next half of this series, and I can only guess that this will be more romance focused, but as well as a bit more drama coming our ways. With me saying that, I forgot how much I've grown accustom to the endless harem series, but a simple love triangle can be far more interesting and complex, which is what I needed as far as dramas go. I want to see how Touma reacts to the new relationship formed between Setsuna and Haruki, because she has been very calm for most of the series, and only really did get feisty when it involved music; so I want to see that fire be used for something else, maybe Setsuna? Who knows.

Speaking of Setsuna, although I'm not the biggest fan of her, for being a quick draw, I really can't blame her being so determine to get Haruki to notice her. She remind me of Shigure Asa, from Shuffle!, just in the way she acts around the people she likes; and I did find Asa to be my favorite of the bunch in Shuffle!, but presented in a different context is a bit different. However, that is still an intriguing things to discover regardless. So as far as how well this relationship with Haruki goes, I wish for the best for her because I can't hate a girl for trying so hard and actually getting what she wanted.

Right now I would say this I one romance that I'm getting into, and would argue that this was better than the first White Album; however, I don't really remember much from it besides the songs. But that connection alone is what make it a bit more enjoyable -- even if those songs were originally from the first White Album. With White Album starting so weakly, in my opinion, this has risen to the top of my list of anime this season, but Golden Time is still my favorite.