Studio: Seven Arcs
Genre: Moe Drama
Ratings (of 5)
Story: ♥♥♥
Animation: ♥♥♥♥
Characters: ♥♥♥
OP/ED Themes: ♥♥½
OVERALL: ♥♥♥½
Thoughts:
I'm not much more into moe dramas than I am into moe romantic comedies, but White Album-- based on a popular '99 visual novel –is fairly highly anticipated, so let's get on with it, shall we?
Touya is a college student who just lost one of his part-time jobs because he overslept; he was dreaming about his would-be idol girlfriend, Yuki. In his dream, she becomes an idol and has no time for him, breaking up before running off to a stage. Throughout the day Touya remains ponderous of the meaning behind the dream, especially after he bumps into Yuki and tries to tell her about his job and she has to run off before he can say anything.
I'm not much into dramas, but there are a few things here that I really like. First, the characters are actually college students-- not high school students. Not that I have anything against high school students in anime, it's just nice to see some that are a bit older once in a while, like in Nodame Cantabile and Honey and Clover. Touya actually even looks older, even if the girls don't-- but at least they don't all have faces like eight-year-olds like in some series (cough, cough, Clannad).
The visuals are really quite beautifully done. The animation is very thoughtful and detailed, giving it a very smooth look-- I hope they're able to keep it up past the first couple of episodes, although I don't know if their budget will force them to drop quality slightly like is so common with a TV anime. There was this one really cool part towards the end where the style shifted, just for one shot, into a sketchy style that was kind of neat-- I wonder if they'll continue to do that in future episodes? It's pictured here so you can see what I mean.
The voice acting is pretty great, nothing too over-the-top or silly. The whole series uses a very soft touch so far, with nothing being too obvious nor too subtle. The opening and ending themes weren't very noticable to me, very ballad-y. As for the story...I'm hoping that it really focuses on the love triangle, but there are other female characters who could make it more of a harem if the director so chooses.
Which means, in other words, that I'm going to try and watch future episodes. Which is a pretty good sign for a show like this. Fans of such dramas-- particularly Key series like Kanon or stuff along the lines of True Tears –will probably really enjoy this one, too. Although if what you liked was colorful characterization, move along: this is much more realistic in its depictions thus far.
