Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「深愛」 (Shin Ai) by 水樹奈々 (Mizuki Nana)
Watch the OP!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming
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Summary:
The year is 1986, and college student Fujii Touya is in a relationship with a girl named Morikawa Yuki. The problem is that she’s an aspiring idol with Ogata Production, a company started by former star Ogata Eiji and anchored by Eiji’s sister Rina as its current major idol. Touya and Yuki aren’t able to see each other much because of this, and even when they do manage, it’s only for brief periods of time. On this particular November day, Touya runs into his friends Akira and Misaki, the latter of whom passes him a book of poems by Robert Browning. Misaki also warns him that he’ll have less chances to see Yuki from now on because of her work, so he needs to get a good grasp on her. Touya is currently job searching, and he and Akira work together at a cafe called Echoes. He is also registered as a tutor.
On their way to the cafe, Touya suggests that Akira should have gone with Misaki to the library, but Akira doesn’t really want to talk about his relationship with her and says that he’ll go at his own pace. The two then run into a girl named Haruka who wants to go for a walk with Touya, but he turns her down because of work. When Akira promises to accompany her if they play tennis, Haruka turns and bikes away, and this causes Touya to scold Akira for saying the wrong thing before chasing after Haruka. Although Haruka does stop for a moment, she asks if Touya met Yuki – which he did earlier – and claims that it was thanks to her. After Haruka rides off again, Akira apologizes because he hadn’t realized that Haruka was still affected by what happened to her brother, the person Touya refers to as the most important to her.
Meanwhile, Rina finds that Yuki’s outfit for their upcoming performance has been intentionally stained by another group of idols. Rina thinks that it was to get back at her – not Yuki – for what she did to them the previous week. Over at the cafe Echoes, Touya sees Ogata Eiji leaving the place and thinks that Yuki might be there too, but she’s not. Akira then informs Touya that they can go home for the day with pay, however Touya isn’t happy, so Akira suggests asking Touya’s father. Although Touya doesn’t have the best relationship with his father, he does make the call to talk about how he hasn’t been able to work much, but his father hangs up on him. At home, he watches on TV as Rina pauses in the middle of a song to go over and scold the other group of idols who were goofing off on the sidelines – the same ones who stained Yuki’s outfit – before continuing singing.
Touya is surprised when he suddenly gets a call from Yuki since he had just seen her on TV, but she reveals that what he was watching was recorded the previous week. Yuki is in turn surprised to hear that Rina scolding the other girls was actually shown on TV, and as it turns out, she had saved the outfit that got stained by staining it further and getting the other backup singers to dress in a similar style. While the two chat, Touya wonders to himself if Yuki wants to see him, however their conversation is then cut off because Rina has caught Yuki on the phone. Rina actually doesn’t mind though that Yuki has a boyfriend and wants to see him. Touya’s thoughts of Yuki meanwhile are interrupted by the ring of his doorbell.
ED Sequence
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ED: 「舞い落ちる雪のように 」 (Maiochiru Yuki no Youni) by Suara
Watch the ED!: Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming
I didn’t think much of either the OP and ED when I first heard them, but they’re not so bad now that I’ve listened to them a few times (I prefer the ED a bit more). I did think that the animation that accompanies the OP was a bit on the lacking side, however that’s not a really big complaint since this isn’t a Gundam show or anything like that.
Well, this first episode got off to a bit of a slow start save for a brief flash of conflict in the form of the idols sabotaging Yuki’s outfit. It does manage to set up several of the characters and their relationships though, such how Sunohara Akira appears to like Misaki (what can I say, it’s Sakaguchi Daisuke in another supporting role), how Haruka is still bothered by the loss of her brother and won’t play tennis because of it, and how Touya appears to have money problems. I was also surprised that Yuki and Rina got along so well already, though I guess having a friendship prior makes any love triangle later all that much more devastating for everyone involved. My point is that so far the story is intriguing enough, though I hope the pace picks up a little as the series moves forward.
Production-wise, I didn’t have any big complaints about the show – animation and music were both fine. I found it interesting though that the director or whoever chose to use on-screen text to represent Touya’s thoughts instead of just having him say them in an inner-thoughts style. It made for an interesting effect that really emphasized those thoughts and the background music, and I liked the way 「俺の、由綺」 (My Yuki) was used to end the episode. As for voice actresses, Hirano Aya fit as Yuki better than I thought she would, though I’d still prefer if Rina/Mizuki Nana does most of the singing in this series as she did in this episode.
Anyway, this episode was decent, but not incredibly impressive, and as usual, I’ll need to see a few more episodes before I can commit to following it. And who knows what my Saturday schedule is going to turn out like with all the new shows plus how both Index and Tales of the Abyss are moving which channel and day of the week they air first on…
Awesome, I think imma check it out
first!! im gonna watch this bad XD
hmmm interesting
some of the shots remind me of true tears ahaha
definitely checking this out.
https://randomc.net/image/WHITE%20ALBUM/WHITE%20ALBUM%20-%20OP%20-%20Large%2002.jpg
Clannad OP pose?
subs whereeeeeeeeeeeeee?
Can’t wait. Which studio did this?
si lo vi interesante, espero que algun sub lo saque pronto.
saludos
Thanks for the awesome post! Most unique and informative!
was a good first episode, will watch this for sre.
Wasn’t bad for a first ep…but it felt so incredibly slow <_<;
…and yeah, Sakaguchi Daisuke totally used his Sunohara voice…well…I’m not sure if he has any other voices.
Wow… an anime about the eighties… are they gonna show Duran Duran here? hehehe… but the 80’s were really cool. Punk was so in then. Like we say here in the Philippines, “Punk’s Not Dead!” lol
I found one serious flaw with the show that prevent me from enjoying it : all the male characters look ugly, especially the main guy. >_<
Hooray, White Drug- I mean Album. Been waiting for this to come.
plain story, very clean, but very sad
Hm, dunno from the first look. I wonder how much the show will take over from the original game by Leaf.
Finally! An anime about The Beatles best album.
Hmm…
Dunno about this one…. never been into this whole idol thing…. I’ll judge after I actually watch it, though.
To be honest, the only reason I’m reading this page is because it’s named after a Beatles album.
Ep 1 is kinda slow, but i do see potential.
I think the op is actually better than the ed…xD
Except that the Beatles album was officially named “The Beatles”. Yes, pedantic am I.
Punk was more a late 70’s animal in its heyday in the West. It probably hit the PI a lil later than that. 80’s here were more known for new wave and hair metal. Ah, the good ol days.
I’m curious how this show plays out with the dueling divas..erm..idols. I’ll need subs first however.
@OMNI
I think the reason you don’t find it amazing is because you are more into action than romance.
But i really liked a lot this new episode. I think it has a lots of potential story wise. After all, i really like love stories and triangle love.
The music is good. Very good.
I thought of checking it out if you liked it hehe, but since you don’t have a clear opinion about it I guess I’ll wait for another post about WHITE ALBUM.
Good, calm storytelling. I know I’ll like it!
white album anime can be watched for free here
Thanks for the review.
It really helps me make my decision. I’m not watching it.
It sounds like one of those anime I wouldn’t enjoy watching.
Very plain show with little depth. There’s nothing wrong with that but its just not my cup of tea. Its like the polar opposite of skip beat although skip beat has no depth at all. I would rather watch da capo again than sit through another one of these series – and I REALLY hate da capo.
When I gave a thought about it. I felt that there exist a similarity between Macross Frontier and this show. Maybe the idol thingy.
I just saw the episode and shows good promise. I wonder how intense the drama will become. At this rate, although a bit premature, I can see Yuki drawing the short straw.
Felt pretty “seen it all before” especially with Sunohara, but I’ll give it a chance.
Yawn, another slice of life show?? I can’t wait… (I kid)
http://worldofanimemusic.blogspot.com
This episode is also in my review line-up, sadly It started off slow as you said but also confusing, I felt to much was rushed at one time. I recognized a lot of the voice talent, and loved Nana-chan as Rina =D
I think the show has potential as long as Touya isn’t Takayuki. That guy made me stop watching Kimi ga Nozomu Eien.
I found this episode boring. I agree it shows promise but the pacing should have been better. I think one other problem is the same scene keeps repeating itself. He’s on the phone with his girl friend 3 or 4 times with basically the same situation.
I liked this show as an intro, looks like it has some promise.
i see potential here very much. it has a down to earth kinna feel. its almost like u can feel what the characters are going through. ill keep watching to see if it even gets better.