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White Album 2 takes place in the same setting as its predecessor with approximately ten years having been elapsed since the events of the first White Album.^[5] Introductory Chapter begins during the second half of October.^[6] Closing Chapter begins three years after the events of Introductory Chapter.^[3]

Characters

Haruki Kitahara (北原 春希, Kitahara Haruki)

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

The protagonist of White Album 2. He is a third year student at Hōjō High School and a member of the light music club and has excellent grades. He dates and loves Setsuna, but eventually Kazusa Touma shows her true feelings for him, and Haruki reveals that he loves her too.^[7] Haruki plays second guitar. A student with excellent grades, who's meddlesome and preachy. Lately he's been concentrating on practicing the guitar for the school festival, but he's not talented enough to go on stage.

Setsuna Ogiso (小木曽 雪菜, Ogiso Setsuna)

Voiced by: Madoka Yonezawa

Setsuna Ogiso is the first main heroine. She is the triggering of the plot and the only character with an important role in all the routes, even more than Haruki himself. Setsuna is a third year student at Hōjō High School and has been Miss Hōjō two years in a row and enjoys singing karaoke. She is beautiful and friendly when approached, yet places a wall between herself and others so she has no close friends. She refrains from making friends due to her troubled past during her years in middle school. However, she is this way precisely because she was consecutively voted as the prettiest girl in the school, and her classmates all expect her to be a fashionable, wealthy young lady.

Kazusa Touma (冬馬 かずさ, Tōma Kazusa)

Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame

Kazusa Touma is the second main heroine. She is a third year student at Hōjō and is in the same class as Haruki. She often dozes off in, is late for, and skips class. She is a very talented pianist, and comes from a wealthy family. Kazusa is the daughter of a famous pianist, and a musical genius who dropped out of Hōjō's music division. She puts on a hostile and dismissive front towards Haruki, but is in truth in love with him before the events of the series begin. Once Haruki befriends her, she is a valuable ally for the cultural festival. When it comes to music, her passion and confidence is unrivaled.^[8]

Io Mizusawa (水沢 依緒, Mizusawa Io)

Voiced by: Ikumi Nakagami

Io is a classmate of Setsuna's and used to be the captain of the basketball team.^[9] Io was in the same class as Haruki during first year^[9][10] although the two of have known each other since junior high.^[10]

Takeya Iizuka (飯塚 武也, Iizuka Takeya)

Voiced by: Takuma Terashima

Takeya is a close friend of Haruki and is the president of the light music club.^[6][9] Takeya plays the guitar^[11] and is surprisingly popular with girls.^[6]

Story

The story of Introductory Chapter begins around the second half of October^[6] with Haruki Kitahara and Takeya Iizuka troubled over the fact that all the band members they gathered for the school festival have left.^[12] After a bit of hard work, Setsuna Ogiso and Kazusa Touma are recruited into the club. With Haruki, the three of them play together at the school festival.^[6] They perform Yuki Morikawa's "White Album",^[13] Rina Ogata's "Sound of Destiny", and an original song named "Todokanai Koi".^[14][15] When the day draws to an end, Setsuna finds Haruki and then confesses to him and the two of them start going out together. ^[16] From that point, the plot and feelings of the characters evolve. After Introductory Chapter, the story continues with "Closing Chapter", "Coda" (which was sold along with "Closing Chapter") and, at the end, "After Story", which completes the story as an epilogue. The story has been also expanded with CD Drama and novels.

Release history

A preorder campaign for Introductory Chapter began on September 25, 2009.^[21] Preorders that were received within an unspecified time period received a chibi model figure of Setsuna Ogiso.^[17][21] Both the limited and regular editions of Introductory Chapter was originally planned to be released on February 26, 2010 but it was delayed,^[22] Introductory Chapter officially went gold on March 12, 2010^[18] and was then released two weeks later on March 26, 2010.^[22] The limited edition of the game includes a hardcover novel with it.^[17][21] The novel is named Yuki ga Toke, Soshite Yuki ga Furu Made (雪が解け、そして雪が降るまで), and was written by Maruto and illustrated by Nakamura.^[21] The novel that comes with Introductory Chapter is told from a different perspective.^[2] The novel that comes with Closing Chapter is a story set between the events of Introductory Chapter and the second game. Closing Chapter was released on December 22, 2011.^[4]

Drama CD

A drama CD titled Matsuri no Mae: Futari no 24 Jikan (祭りの前～ふたりの24時間～) was released on August 13, 2010 during Comiket 78.^[23] The script was written by Fumiaki Maruto and the illustrations were done by Takeshi Nakamura.^[23] A short novel was also included in the drama CD.^[23] The premise of the drama CD was about the day before the school festival.^[23] Haruki Kitahara, Setsuna Ogiso, and Kazusa Touma are voiced by Takahiro Mizushima, Madoka Yonezawa, and Hitomi Nabatame respectively. After the release of the game, other drama CD have been published.

Print

A light novel adaptation began releasing on March 16, 2013 under the title White Album 2: Yuki ga Tsumugu Senritsu (WHITE ALBUM 2 雪が紡ぐ旋律). The light novels were written by Masaya Tsukishima and illustrated by Takeshi Nakamura and Keiichirō Katsura. The series completed on September 12, 2014, with six volumes.

A manga adaptation was created and illustrated by 2C=Galore. The manga began serialization on July 11, 2013 in the GA Bunko Magazine and was compiled into four volumes.

Anime

A 13-episode television series anime adaptation of White Album 2 was announced in the May 2013 issue of Kadokawa Shoten's Monthly Newtype magazine.^[1] Masaomi Ando directed the series at studio Satelight.^[24] Fumiaki Maruto, the scenario writer for the original games, supervised and wrote the series' scripts and composer Naoya Shimokawa served as the music producer for the anime.^[1][24] It adapted White Album 2: Introductory Chapter. The series aired in Japan between October 5 and December 28, 2013, on Tokyo MX and on MBS, TVA, BS11 and AT-X later. Crunchyroll streamed the series with English subtitles.^[25]