English Dub Review: Adachi and Shimamura “White Album”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Adachi is fretting about how to make spending Christmas with Shimamura special.

She has lunch with Hino, who mentions a tea Shimamura had liked. Unfortunately, she can’t remember the name or brand, since it was just when they were browsing through a tea shop. Hino claims she’ll recognize it if she sees it.

Adachi asks her to accompany her to the tea store to locate the aromatic brew. At first Hino brushes her off, saying it would make more sense to go with Shimamura before realizing it’s supposed to be a gift. She agrees, and they plan to head to the store.

While walking through the mall, Adachi thinks about how the idea of spending Christmas with Shimamura makes her feel like her heart will explode. But she assumes Shimamura doesn’t feel anxious at all when she thinks about spending time together.

After locating the tea, Hino and Adachi spot Nagafuji and Shimamura together at the mall. They’re shocked. Hino suggests they spy on their other two friends, but Adachi declines. Hino jokes she’ll have to start calling her “Adachi Two Shoes”.

At the shrine, Shimamura’s younger sister (voiced by Michelle Marie) asks Yashiro to prove she’s an alien. The blue-haired girl says she cannot do that. Instead, she attempts to play the recorder before running off to take advantage of “the fabled hour of discount”. She dances before departing, leaving confusion in her wake.

Christmas Day finally arrives, and Adachi meets Shimamura at the mall. She’s wearing her work uniform, which Shimamura points out is strange. Adachi is embarrassed, but Shimamura says she really pulls it off. She comments it must be nice to be so pretty.

They play air hockey at an arcade, and Adachi ponders how fate led them to meet each other. They exchange gifts. Shimamura is shocked and delighted by her tea. Unfortunately, her gift in return is a little odd: a boomerang.

They head to the park to try it out. Adachi wants to take a chance and tell her true feelings, but only manages to ask to be best friends.

 

Our Take:

SOOO much angst in this episode. It’s interesting to see Adachi’s internal monologue, and her reluctance to call her feelings romance. She settles on calling it a crush, and dresses to impress.

This is the first time they both call each other pretty, and it is adorable. As is Adachi’s freakout “groovy!”

For all Shimamura’s previous ponderings of what it means to be close to someone, and supposedly reciprocated feelings, she does seem to be a little less open about the potential for a romantic relationship. I’m sure part of that is to keep the general “will they/won’t they” intrigue throughout the episodes, but it’s getting tot he point where it’s a little bit painful. Is Shimamura seriously still oblivious enough to think she and Adachi are just friends? Or does she not want to be anything more than that?

Hino and Nagafuji seem a little more clear in their relationship. But it’s still almost heartbreaking to see Hino’s reaction to Nagafuji hanging out with Shimamura. Granted, it’s revealed when Adachi and Shimamura exchange gifts that it was the same situation: the girls were searching for gifts for each other. But that does little to erase the sense of shock, and even slight jealousy at not being the only one to spend time alone with their respective special someone.

Visually, this episode is gorgeous. Sparkly Christmas lights, a delicate smattering of snow, and Adachi’s work uniform highlight the best of what we’ve seen so far, with the magic of real life Christmastime in Japan. While the holiday may not have as much cultural or religious meaning as it does in America, there are elaborate Christmas trees everywhere, and this series does them justice with how gorgeously festive they are.

The sound design was also of note. Both the background noise and soundtrack seemed to really hit a stride this episode. Contemplative guitar music accompanied Adachi’s extensive angst, while the soft murmurs of the holiday crowds at the mall created contrast to her constant anxiety by lending a decidedly calm mood to the shopping scenes.

A small blah moment comes in the way of the title for the episode. It’s not mentioned until LITERALLY the last second, and is just how Adachi would “title” the memory of this Christmas. Maybe it’s more significant in Japanese, but in the English dub it kind of feels like she’s saying no progress has been made, and she won’t remember this date clearly, if at all.

While the title, and ultimately episode, may be forgettable in the end, it made for an enjoyable watch overall. Here’s hoping there’s some actual progress in upcoming episodes though. Time moving forward with little to no change can’t stay interesting forever.