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| Platform: |
Series |
| Episodes: |
13 |
| Genre: |
Comedy, Sci-Fi, Slice Of Life. |
| Publisher: |
Unlicensed in the US |
| Released: |
2005 |
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Aria The Animation, to be honest, sounded good to my instincts and me, when I accidentally saw a few snapshots of the manga online. I decided to get myself this series considering my hesitation and impatience with reading mangas. Of course the lure of it being a short anime of just 13 episodes did play the role of a catalyst for my decision as well. But, I'm glad I got it, not because of any of the reasons I stated a while ago, but because it was pure excellence in it's simplicity and humor.
The anime is set in the future, and the story takes place in the city of Neo-Venezia, modeled after Venice, on the planet of Aqua, which incidentally is none other than a terra-formed Mars. It is here that we meet our main characters Akari, Aika and Alice, trainee Undines (stands for a Water Guide / Gondolier) with an ultimate goal of being Primas, just like their mentors.
The show starts off with a mid-slow pace, and focusses on Akari who is a trainee Undine from the Aria Company - a hopeful, sentimental character that you accept with all your alacrity. We're quickly introduced to Ai, a dejected bored girl and Aika, an Undine trainee from the rival Himeya Company and you’re all set for the joy ride. Akari pulls all the stops to impress Ai and show her the 'miracles' of Neo-Venezia, and after being convinced by Akari, Ai decides to keep intouch with her via emails and it is this that forms the key basis of the series. Akari through her emails expresses her down to Earth self, love for Neo-Venezia, and showcases her daily routine plus her experiences that encompasses the theme of the show. The other main characters include Akari's fellow trainee Undine - Alice, and the famous 'Three Water Fairies' of Neo-Venezia - Alicia (a cute, sugar sweet girl) from Aria Company, Akira (an over-confident loud girl) from Himeya Company and Athena (who's always spaced out) from Orange Company. Each company is represented by their mascots who are incidentally cats with blue eyes.
Note that the show absolutely does not rely on vague character design with huge proportioned bosom or tacky innuendo. There is considerable character development for all the characters and you're touched by each one of them. There's no room to complain as far as the animation or sound goes as well. The music is light-hearted and really good, with the absence of your conventional hard-hitting rock or adventure tunes. It sets the mood and pace of the series really well, which brings me to the voice actors. The Japanese voice actors hit all the right emotes with mercurial timing, and you find yourself grinning to the notable resemblance in Akari's personality with that of Honda-chan from Fruits Basket! The surprise element is, by far, President Aria who you come to love instantaneously with his superb "Pooooouuuunn youiiii" emotes - other notable mentions would be Alicia's constant sweet-toned "Ara ara"s.
Aria The Animation weaves its sticky spider-web around you with it's approach to some everyday issues, friends, emotions, and mesmerizes you to the point you're convinced into staying in that world and being part of the story, or even take a ride on Alicia's gondola. The show is simple and devoid of any violence or ambivalence. Although action / adventure loving anime fans may have a gripe about that particular facet (remove 2 points from the final review score). All in all, it's a great series and is well worth all your money if you're into this genre. I guarantee you'd be really pleased by this choice, like an otaku who's got all his drawers full of different flavored pocky, arranged alphabetically even.
© 2005 ARIA Company (Japan)
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| Aria The Animation - Image 1.
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| Aria The Animation - Image 2
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| Aria The Animation - Image 3
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| Aria The Animation - Image 4
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| Animation: |
8.5 |
| Sound: |
8 |
| Voice Actors: |
9 |
| Characters: |
8.5 |
| Plot: |
9 |
| Overall: |
8.6 |
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