ホワイトアルバム Episode 14
White Album Ep. 14 review

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Mana is taken to the hospital that Touya’s father has been taken too. Yuki finds out late that Touya’s father is in the hospital but learns from Misaki that it isn’t hemorrhoids. Yuki visits Touya’s father and returns to work. Touya visits his father and gets into an argument, leading Misaki to tell him off. Yuki and Rina have a meeting with Ogata to plan their next move. Mana’s mother Itsuki, Sakura-dan’s manager, is furious that her lead singer Menou bailed on her after Itsuki lost the bet. Itsuki orders that Menou be kept in a storage room and not allowed into her apartment.

Mana is taken home and cared for by Haruka. Itsuki takes over from Haruka, but as soon as Haruka leaves, Itsuki is gone. Mana leaves to in order to spend Christmas with Haruka. Ogata spends a great deal of time looking at a painting of a young blonde he obtained in London years ago. Menou and a fellow band mate escape from the storage room and take a trip to the ocean. Shinozuka pays a visit to Echos after telling Yuki she couldn’t go and has a call waiting for her. She pays Touya a visit even though it is implied he did not call her.

Thoughts/Review:

I had to glance back through my old reviews just to get caught back up on where things were. Yuki and Rina had won against the girl-group Sakura-dan; Rina knew that Touya was banging Shinozuka, Yuki’s manager, and he’s basically rejected Rina; Touya’s father had a heart attack (or something like that); and Haruka was ill.

There was very little Touya in this episode and that was a good thing. He is pretty much a bastard, but who is nice, which is a weird combination. For these kinds of visual novel game adaptations, the male lead is generally a likable type and it is understandable how the girls would all go for him. Here, why any girl would go for Touya is a mystery to me.

Well, I say “any girl,” but Shinozuka I think I understand. Initially, I think the only reason she banged Touya was to keep him from Yuki. With this episode, I begin to see that her own loneliness (and apparently Touya’s skills in bed) are what cause her to continue to have sex with Touya. That’s not love by any stretch of the imagination, but it seems that for Shinozuka, sex with Touya allows her to escape for a time. Remember, she’s being stalked as well.

Misaki basically turning her back on Touya at the hospital after learning he’d lied to Yuki was a good move. The thing is, will she completely commit to Akira or will Akira still be eating Touya-shadow sandwich?

Not only is Mana’s mother a terrible one, she’s also a right royal . Her concern for her ill daughter was just so overwhelming. Then, the way she beat Menou was just wrong. At least Mana had Haruka to spend Christmas with.

Speaking of Menou, I was surprised that a member of Sakura-dan would get a name, much less a subplot featuring her. I smell tragedy there, what with this teen girl obviously having a drinking problem and then being abused by her manager. Maybe she’ll fall for Touya before all is said and done.

I get the feeling that Rina is on the way out for sure. Ogata’s crying over a painting of a girl that looks like Rina and him apparently going to have the painting taken down gives me the impression that he will abandoned Rina and focus solely on Yuki. I get the feeling that Rina knows this is coming as well.

So, the soap opera continues and while it may not be something as interesting as the current Fullmetal Alchemist series, it does have its own appeal which is why I keep watching.