Piazza San Marco, beautiful as I remember from architectural books and photographs. Also, this episode had moments of very well animated scenes. They were interesting moments that seemed to break away from the reliance on picturesque stills. There's not many opportunities to use swift or jerky movement in Aria, at least outside of the short comedic skits. As a result, when, for example, the show had a chance to visually express Alice's expert rowing techniques, it took full advantage of it. Aria is a slow moving anime that takes its time to emphasize the smaller moments in its world, but during faster movement scenes where the world begins to pass by in a blur, the focus then turns to the characters. I find this a facinating way to switch up the episodic narrative, if just by a little as to avoid creating some jarring alteration to the show's formula.
Also, I really love how Aria romanticizes technology and how the city of Neo-Venezia is fully fabricated as a fake version of Venice. It might as well be a glorified theme park, but by this careful balance of recreating the historic city with an overlay of the convenience of technology, the city is able to maintain its facade without being ashamed of not being fully authentic. In other words, they did not feel the need to directly copy and paste the city as it once was, nor did they feel the need to appear as a parody; a caricature that attempts to overemphasize quirks of the city to turn over a profit. The city is very honest, having its technologies in full view, but aesthetisized in a manner which they blend into the city. Or, rather, the city of Neo-Venezia happened to take on its own aesthetic, where it no longer leverages weight or meaning from the original city. Instead, Neo-Venezia had become its own city, possessing its own unique culture borne from a combination of classical architectural styles and new technologies.
Here, it's possible to have flying spaceships, floating islands and computers along with the archaic stone paths, brick walls and clay tile roofs. There was no need to overcompensate by having robots, holograms and all manner of spacy machines around, ensuring that the viewers know that this is, in fact, the future. It makes sense actually: tourists from Earth, or Man-Home in this case, would probably be used to how technologically advanced their world is. As such, Neo-Venezia exists as a Utopian retreat, where they are able to return to a nostalgic period far removed from their contextual setting. In fact, since Aria is set in the future, it's possible for the real Venice to have experienced some drastic change to where its idealized image only existed in historic recollections. Because of this, Neo-Venezia becomes a way to experience Venice in a controlled, choreographed, idealized way where a tourist would have all the benefits of futuristic technology while having their fill of nostalgia. The nostalgia itself isn't even for Venice, as the image of Venice portrayed would probably be hundreds, if not thousands of years old. Instead, it becomes nostalgic in a sense where the slow moving atmosphere, the little inconveniences of daily living, and this sense of pristine, magical tranquility straight out of a fairy tale help people forget their troubles and live just for the moment. As a slice of life, Aria truly excels in emphasizing the smaller moments in life, and much like a tourist's visit, our watching time of a single episode is enough to get that fill of iyashikei to last for a while. |