Aria the Animation

Drift peacefully into Neo Venezia, a city on the planet Aqua (formerly known as Mars). By the 24th century, humans have found a way to colonize the previously uninhabitable planet. As futuristic as that sounds, Neo Venezia is still teeming with rustic beauty; gondolas on wide canals and waterways are the main mode of transportation. The city itself is a faithful replication of Manhome's (the planet formerly known as Earth) Venice.

To make sure that residents and tourists alike get the most from Neo Venezia's many wonders, companies offering guided tours via gondola were formed, one of which is named Aria Company.

This is the workplace of Akari Mizunashi, a free spirited teenager from Manhome who is now a novice Undine (the title given to tour guides). Join Akari as she becomes intimately acquainted with other Undine, tourists, Neo Venezia's residents, and even the city itself, learning many valuable life lessons along the way, such as the wonderful truth that there are such things as manmade miracles.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Mizunashi, Akari Main

Hazuki, Erino Japanese

Carroll, Alice Main

Hirohashi, Ryou Japanese

Florence, Alicia Main

Ohara, Sayaka Japanese

Granzchesta, Aika S. Main

Saitou, Chiwa Japanese

Pokoteng, Aria Main

Nishimura, Chinami Japanese

Glory, Athena Main

Kawakami, Tomoko Japanese

Ferrari, Akira E. Main

Minagawa, Junko Japanese

Aino, Ai Supporting

Mizuhashi, Kaori Japanese

Maa Supporting

Watanabe, Akeno Japanese

Izumo, Akatsuki Supporting

Nojima, Hirofumi Japanese

Tateishi, Shigeru Producer

Uchida, Tetsuo Producer

Hyuuga, Yasutaka Producer

Ichii, Miho Assistant Producer

Reviews

Nov 12, 2024

patkarunungan

Recommended

Aria started airing in 2005, but all those years, how could I have missed this gem of an anime?

§ Overview

The setting is a terraformed Mars whose name is now Aqua. We meet Mizunashi Akari, who is training to be an Undine or ladies who row gondolas in the city of Neo-Venezia (obviously patterned from Venezia or Venice) and function as tour guides. She meets different people in the anime, and there's an underlying lesson with each episode.

§ Remarks

This is an iyashikei type of slice of life, meaning we not only see the characters in their day-to-day routine, it's a relaxing watch that helps "heal ... the soul." This is more in line with Bartender (2006) as well as the first half of Frieren.

As such, the first season seems to be plotless. (Of course, you have to watch the episodes in order because once a character is introduced, she may become a recurring character or perhaps part of the main cast.) There's no incentive to binge-watch Aria, so I recommend watching each episode at least 2 or 3 days from each other and perhaps watching some other shows in between: namely, other anime or jdorama/kdrama, etc.

This anime is not about plot but about vibes, and the atmospheric scenery and musick provide that. Interestingly, the first season — Aria the Animation — is said to be the weakest. I had low expectations coming in. But it surprised me in that even if the first season is the only stuff about Aria one watches, I think it can stand alone as something worthwhile.

The lessons are well dramatised. More often, it's explicit but sometimes it's implicit based on what the characters did. For example, in Episode 2, Akari and Aika had a detour and this implies that it's okay to take detours and enjoy the moment. These lessons, I reckon, largely contribute to the vibes of the show.

Aside from Akari, almost all characters start with the letter A. They have a great ensamble of characters, and each one brings something to the table. (I like Alice most.)

If there's anything I would like to criticise, it's the use of CG animation, and this is its blemish. Aria the Animation was drawn at an unfortunate time when anime was transitioning from the use of cel animation to digipaint. As such, the computer-generated objects, when animated, seem to be off compared to the background art. They seem to move much faster than they should be. It's a blemish on what otherwise is a great anime. To deal with this, I just imagine it being animated in the spirit of Frieren or perhaps in older cel animation.

That said, the overall positives of this anime outweigh the negatives.

§ Conclusion

Aria the Animation is a wonderful anime to watch in the evening as you relax from the busy day of work. The CG animation leaves some to be desired, but it's not a deal breaker for anyone with an open mind and perhaps an open heart to experience the wonderful feelings each and every episode gives you.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 17, 2023

RESOLVING_POWER

Mixed Feelings

I watched Aria the Animation, also known as season 1 of the Aria anime series. Here are my thoughts:

I like how sci-fi elements were mixed into a comfy SoL show, although this aspect could have been made more prominent. I think I would have found a stronger sci-fi theme more interesting than the generic SoL episodic plots I've seen many iterations of before.

A lot of the characters have catchphrases that don't take long to become annoying, and result in a lot of seemingly repetitive dialogue. The script in general is mediocre and, although there are occasional sentimental moments, it's nothing beyond what I'd ... expect from a typical SoL show.

If nothing else, this anime is fairly relaxing. The setting is unique, and the atmosphere is relaxing and otherworldly in some ways.

I don't value visuals too much, but there is room for improvement in this regard. The lack of visual detail is truly a missed opportunity. I would have been fine with just a powerpoint presentation if there were more care put into the backgrounds and visual environment.

Aside from its unique setting and atmosphere, this is a mediocre SoL show. The characters are completely forgettable, the writing is not particularly creative, the visuals are poor, the OST is nothing special; there's just not a lot here to appreciate. On one hand, this anime is relaxing. However, framed another way, it is fairly dull, even by my SoL-loving standards. I pretty much had to watch it before bedtime because it would inevitably lull me to sleep — this could be a desirable feature, depending on the viewer's expectations.

This anime started airing before SoL really took off as a genre, so it may have received more praise at its time of origination than a theoretical contemporary equivalent might have. This anime is not exceptional by contemporary standards of the genre, aside from its setting.


My overall rating for Aria the Animation (first season): 5/10
It was an adequate show to lull me to sleep at the end of the day, but nothing about it particularly impressed me.

It's unlikely that I'll be watching the sequels any time in the near future. Maybe I'll revisit it in a few years to see if my viewpoint changes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 26, 2017

Dionkeykong

Not Recommended

Danger Danger!Keep out if you can't handle strong language and sarcasm...And humour in general...And if you have some kind of allergy in different opinions..Basically sod off and read something else.

I don't know why i do this to myself..I really don't.I may be a masochist and not even know it.Cause i was hearing them little voices in my head screaming at the top of their imaginary lungs to not watch Aria.Did i listen?Of course not cause as it seems i may have a tendency towards the leather and gag ball end of things.If by any chance you are a goth mistress and on the look for ... a hat stand give me a shout,will ya?

But let's dive into Aria..Not literally,unless you're into cats..No not cats like people with cat ears,i mean cats,those hairy bastards that want to conquer the world,make us their slaves and bathe in a pool full of human blood.If you're a cat owner get rid NOW or forever be doomed.Get a dog,they're loyal and i've seen vids where they're trained to fetch beer from the freezer.

And we hit it off with the story..Or the lack of one.I say that cause the story is the one told in the synopsis and only there,nothing even remote to a story exists in the anime itself.So let's see what the synopsis says:The story takes place on Aqua,formerly known as Mars until they filled it with water 150 years ago,in the city of Neo-Venice,a replica of Earth's Venice.The recreation of Venice is one of the things i liked about Aria.They actually took time to do research in order to include famous Venetian landmarks such as the St Mark’s Basilica,the island of Burano and Plaza San Marco.The architecture and feel of the place is rather accurate,but unlike the real Venice if you happen to fall in the water you don't end up with 2 heads.

Each episode follows some "plot" of some sorts,but as far as i can tell there's no life in this anime's plots.They are just some small adventures everyone has seen in one way or another in other animes.Imagine an anime about someone stopping at a small mart to buy some milk and he realises he doesn't have enough money on him.So he has to go to the bank and take some money and go back to buy the milk..That's it..Nothing even remotely interesting.But you might say:"yeah it has some shit going on here and there"..And that's the problem.The only few surprises that try and spark some life into this corpse are some random shit,like "hey time travel"...As to why and how this happened that remains a mystery.Nothing is being explained.It's just your basic moe cancer with the pleasant feel.And last time i checked moe isn't story or plot it's just ebola through the internet.

As for the characters you have Akari who dreams of being a gondolier at pro level(pilot of the boats Venice is famous for)under the guidance of the wise Obi-Alicia who is blond.Then a weird thing happens as we are being introduced to other characters that their names begin with the letter "A"..I guess the alphabet wasn't invented?Get this for unimaginative naming..Aika who has blue hair,Akira who is the bitchy bitch teacher and Alice who i don't remember what she was doing there.Oh yes....There is a cat like creature that tries endlessly to sag another catlike creature...Soooo....Yeah it's moe..

Animationwise the details in the way the whole world is built and even the water movement and rflections are spot on..The characters themselves are pretty standard.

Songs and VA were ok-ish i think..Maybe they were good and i was sound asleep.

And now i must conclude this review so i can go drink my arse off and forget i even saw this.It isn't bad as such.And what with all these praising reviews and 3 seasons in total i expected something among the lines of a Japanese blockbuster.Unfortunately,little good can be said about this anime but not all of it is bad.I can only say that if you want an anime you can watch with your eyes and brain completely shut,then this is for ya.If you want substance of any sorts,even if it's just a little watch something else.How the hell did this thing manage to get so many seasons?Were you there on the land of the rising sun on drugs or something?Or maybe do you happen to have a weird sense of humour and thought it would be fun to export this shit to the west and stand back and laugh?

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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