Perhaps more so than even this, it perfectly incapsulates the concept of change, which as anyone not still living in a womb will attest carries great trepidations as well as possibilities. Its said that real courage shines not when one demands change, but upon facing it and seeing all its uncertainty, are able to accept it, and Aria really managed to portray this perfectly along with other themes such as the folly of trying to ignore the future, when even in the most timeless of places, nothing ever stays the same for long, but before we get into all that, a quick summary of the show...
Aria the Origination maintains the series' core premise, continuing to follow Akari as she and her close friends chase their dream of becoming Undines (Female Gondoliers) in the beautiful and mysterious city of Neo-Venezia, a brick for brick restoration of the ancient city of Venice now built on Mars (renamed Aqua due to the now abundance of water thanks to terraforming). By now the show is a seasoned veteran, with two series' behind its style has been seamlessly perfected till its like watching a master craftsman fusing experience and knowledge to create a work of art born out of every learned from mistake and good idea since built upon.
Aria the Animation was the past, focusing on the love all humans have for the past and its ostensible simplicity, Aria the Natural was the present focusing on the city and the lives of those living and dreaming in it, and so Aria the Origination is the future. It is as Winston Churchill famously said "not the end or even the beginning of the end, but it is the end of the beginning", indeed the series is called Aria the Origination not Aria the conclusion, and perhaps this is the shows greatest strength, it matures rather than just stops. The characters move on to that mysterious infinite world where all our favourite characters live forever doing what we love, Sherlock Holmes and Watson discussing a case by the fireplace of 221b Baker street, Esteban and crew still trying to find the mysterious cities of gold, Ginko forever traveling helping people and Mushi, and Akari and friends forever at bliss in Neo-Venezia. Its a bittersweet feeling to have this series end but its such a perfect end that one cannot long hold a grudge against it, besides a perfect end is always better than a slow decline into awfulness (I'm looking at you Simpsons); i can say little more about the story without giving too much away, and so I shan't…
The art has improved to such a standard that like a high tide it seems to lift everything else up with it, the city has never looked more magical or appealing with greater attention given to all the details that make a series come alive, everything from the washing lines that hang from every window or the food stalls and gardens make the city seem lived in and loved rather than as before where the city seemed more like a work of art than a home to thousands of people.
The design and appearances of the characters while at first ostensibly no different on closer examination show a greater maturity and presence, particularly Alice who looks considerably older and mature, everything from the way she is drawn to her movements and especially how she speaks and acts around people seem to show a great deal of development and maturity in her character. Its a real sign of a classy series thats art can evolve in line with its characters.
Speaking of characters, they are by far the single most enhanced aspect of this series; Aria as a whole its said suffers from little character development, though I've argued before that is not strictly true as instead the show and its characters develop slowly and incrementally like real people do and that the show tends to focus on other things at times like the city or individual stories etc. But now there there is no room for any debate, the series delivers all that it promised made all the sweeter by the (debatable) delay. In fact it works so well I'm certain the series couldn't have worked any other way, the slow growth and change seen in our characters in the previous seasons meant than when the change comes, and boy does it come, the shock is real and almost scary, just like real change. After being so used to the characters always being in one place in time when they finally do move on it carries far more weight and pushes home the lesson about change, courage and the folly of trying to freeze the present or live in the past much more than a conventional series could have. Its not just the main characters either, everyone in the series is swept along by the current of change that soaked Neo-Venezia and this series; I must stress this is not some cheesy ending where in somehow by the end everybody has forever found their perfect place in life and are now simply trapped in a static state of perfection, theres plenty left to the imagination, but thats where it will stay since this is also where the source material leaves off, perhaps for the best since if these characters are to feel like real people then to effectively end their lives would shatter the realism.
To conclude Aria the origination is the season that finally does it all right, standing on the shoulders of Animation and Natural it manages to breach the water line and breathe the sweet air of greatness, it shows as nonsense the age old argument that "nothing happens" in slice of life anime's and sets the bar for how to end a series of this type. Its sad it has to end as the world this series created is so rich and imaginative that their plenty left to work with and perhaps in the future we'll see a spin-off or some other type of story set here however I'm not holding my breath. Rarely does a series get inside your heart enough to make you care and imagine how things will be after it ends but thats the magic of Aria, it allows you to care; and care I did, if thats not enough of a ringing endorsement in a world of soulless shows were it takes the death of every main character to elicit an audience emotion then I don't know what is...
