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]

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Adaptation:	Aria, Aqua
Sequel:	Aria the Natural

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Characters & Voice Actors

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

More staff

Staff

Satou, Junichi

Director, Sound Director, Storyboard, Series Composition, Screenplay

Gotou, Keiji

Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Animation Director, Key Animation

Fuseki, Kazunobu

Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Director

Itoga, Shintaro

Episode Director

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Opening Theme

"Undine (ウンディーネ)" by Yui Makino

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Ending Theme

"Rainbow" by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino

Reviews

Jun 30, 2023

Hahi-no-Tenshi

Recommended

What a peculiar thing the iyashikei subgenre is. Slice of life generally is a difficult thing to sell to the uninitiated, even among many rank-and-file anime fans. Most people will earnestly seek out grandiose stories with high stakes in the media they consume. After all, our own lives are probably rather mundane, so why seek out more of the same in our media, much less a subgenre that stands even more so copacetic with the slow pace and lack of conflict? I'd hardly blame anyone for having that rather cynical inquiry towards the idea and even saying it out loud myself lays bare the strangeness ... of it at times. Nevertheless, it is of my firm conviction (Not to mention, the obvious name-sake of yours truly) that this niche section of "healing" anime represents the best that medium has to offer. I would argue an appreciation of the most humble things in life is well-warranted and should actively be displayed more often in our media. It teaches us to value the small, seemly insignificant interactions in our lives and such, as is the case with Kozue Amano's Aria.

The story begins on a terraformed Mars brimming with water and life, and hence "Aqua". More specifically, it takes place in Neo-Venezia, a one-to-one recreation of the original Venice on Earth, which somewhat eerily is referred to as "Manhome". What exactly had become of Earth that now holds this mysterious nomenclature? Well, much in a similar vein to the manga series "Yokohama Kadashi Kikou", it's left ambiguous, leaving the audience to speculate along with some additional, often equally eerie, passing comments made as the story progresses. That being said, Aria is anything but melancholic. Nay, it's ever so accentuated with bright-eyed optimism that it borders on suffocating, but in the best possible way. The gentle streams passing through the narrow canals alongside the serene spectacle of the Baroque architecture that unfolds its splendor so gracefully is such a wonderful setting. It fits so succinctly with our main character Akari Mizunashi, who comes to Aqua to be an undine, or other words a gondolier that rows those weird long boats down the canals of Venice.

Romantic to a fault, and so sentimental that she likely gives your grandma a run for her money, Akari is joy-made flesh. She pours her heart out to anyone who cares to listen about how she loves Aqua, Neo-Venezia, and its inhabitants with such sappiness that it feels like a warm embrace. Her sincerity and innocence are so palpable that her bliss is contagious. Her love for people and just her general outlook on life is borderline inspirational, and I yearn for nothing more in the deep recesses of my hardened heart to imitate her mentality toward my own life.
But even beyond my gushing for Akari, I don't give anyone the impression that the other characters aren't wonderful in their own right. They are as follows
-Alicia, the doting big sister figure, and mentor to Akari who shares a lot of her cheerfulness as well as the charming verbal tick of "Ara Ara" that somehow doesn't wear out its welcome.
-Aika, the blunt but also a quite crybaby-ish friend of Akari develops a quite frankly adorable crush on a short young man named "Al".
-Alice, a naturally gifted, reserved friend who although initially standoffish grows to be smitten by Akari's charming ways. She also has the rather adorable characteristic of being tiny and generously peppering her sentences with "dekai".
-Athena, a clumsy mentor-figure to Alice who more often than not gets more mentored herself but makes up for her numerous foibles with her beautiful singing in gibberish (Yes, the director confirmed that it is gibberish but it does sound nice)
-Akira, is a stern mentor to Aika who shows her affection primarily and humorously through discipline.
Ect.

[ ] It's the heart-warming kinship between these characters that makes this series so captivating. The compliment of the soft serene OST, the mesmerizing world-building, the cool Sci-Fi elements, the pleasing-looking character designs/attire, and just the gentle tone in which the series carries itself is really what makes this anime one for the ages. Even the subtle things like the openings being establishing shots of the city followed by the characters getting out of bed to make breakfast in the morning, or how the gondolier companies will carry on eccentric traditions like having blue-eyed cats as their "presidents" are exactly what brings in the experience so memorable. Whether or not it will resonate that strongly with you will likely be apparent within the first 2 or so episodes. It knows exactly what it wants to be. No melodrama, no fan service, and no-nonsense. Just a wholesome and beautiful experience from beginning to end with the characters that you'll grow to cherish with all of your heart. It's exactly a series like this that makes my zeal for anime burn so passionately.

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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 ...

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Dec 26, 2017

Dionkeykong

Not Recommended

Funny

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?

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Aria the Animation

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Information

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

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