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White Album was just one of the more awesome shows this past season (Winter 2009), just because of what they've done with their take on the whole "harem" anime genre.

Now I haven't played the game or anything on which I can base a claim on it being a good adaptation, but from an uninformed view on it, they handled the whole story in a pretty good way.
Elements from harem anime are still present, but they added a whole lot of realism to the whole thing as well in their situations and how they lived and reacted through it.

The whole season was just chock ... full of raw emotion from the first episode onwards, and seriously answers most of those "what if" questions about situations one would usually imagine about. I guess a good way to summarize the whole thing is "It's so messed up, it's awesome!", but that wouldn't really seem right I guess. That said, the last sequences and then words left at the end of the final episode really emphasized on that whole idea though.

The story's not over yet, as the second half of the show gets aired on October this year (2009). I'm looking forward to it already, as I'm hopelessly reeled in with this mess they're in right now. Hopefully things get better later on, but I'm liking the story as it is right now.

I highly recommend this anime to anyone else who likes a more realistic/slice of life approach on the harem romance genre.

Some intangibles:

Art:
- The artwork was very nice for the most part of the series, as it usually changes from time to time according to the situation, switching from pastel drawing animation to sometimes childlike caricatures of the characters, then switching back to the normal animation style.
You do notice sometimes that in the normal animation scenes, the characters' appearances tend to vary from their other appearances on some episodes, but this can be attributed I guess to how constantly shifting their artwork is.

Sound:
- All the musical pieces sung in the series by Nana Mizuki and Aya Hirano were masterfully presented and performed, from the opening song ("Shinai" by Nana Mizuki) to the various insert songs they had throughout the series.
The background music they used for most of the show were very apt for whatever situation was being presented, and the ending song ("Maiochiru Yuki no Youni" by Suara) kept the whole feel of the show going even though it already ended.

Characters:
- Surprisingly, even for a 13-episode series, most of the characters, including most of the minor ones, were very well rounded and had very defined roles. This is even more surprising considering how the story isn't done yet, so they still more room to make these characters grow even more.

Enjoyment:
- Unlike most harem romance anime, White Album is very sparse and reserved on the humor front, as mostly the story is focused on conflicts with handling different types of relationships with people, especially when there is romance involved, and also on the typical weakness or strength of what one's will can be.

Because of this, there are considered by some as some "dead" scenes in the show where there are mostly serious conversations going on. This in turn, may make this show not that enjoyable for anyone looking for a lighthearted romance show.