Aria the Natural

Synopsis

Mr. Mailman borrows Akari and her gondola for a day so he can complete his rounds while his gondola is repaired. In the morning, they collect mail from canal-side postboxes, then after lunch deliver the mail—and along the way help a boy deliver in person a letter to his former teacher at her wedding, apologizing for behaving badly to her because he was upset over her leaving. At the end of the day, Mr. Mailman explains that Neo-Venezians prefer the inconvenience of mail because a letter, being not as quickly written as e-mail, can carry the sender's heart, and so can become a treasure, and furthermore it can be a link between the past and present. Akari says that letters are like Neo-Venezia, in that you can touch the creators' hearts through them, and Mr. Mailman tells her that she has been painted with 'the color of Neo-Venezia'. The next morning, Akari is moved when she receives his hand-written thank-you note.

(Source: Wikipedia)