So, I came to this anime because it was reccomended via a number of different channels, including MAL. I had never heard of it before but I had some experiences with slice of life that worked out all right like Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star.
The best way to understand to Aria the Origination is it's.... welll..... pretty much exactly like Azumanga Daioh and Lucky Star. Instead of the jokes and comedy Aria focuses more on a kind of lightly dramatic experience, the slice of life shown in Aria is one of a group of what the show calls "Undines" who are basically like gondoliers in Venice, which makes sense also when the town is called Neo-Venezia.
The most interesting thing about Aria to me were the characters, Alicia, Athena, Alice... it's all very Greco-Roman I take it. Each of the Undines has a different kind of temperament like you see in most anime, the strong one, the gentle one, the confident and slightly reckless one, the novice, etc, you kinda see that like... in a lot of anime, to be honest.
One other nice thing is it doesn't like over-tax itself you are just watching these characters and it's fun to just get to know them, but it's just pretty boring and modest at the same time. I guess it hurts to say that because it's so calm and gentle but it's just not as exciting as a lot of anime. In many ways, I think I prefer Lucky Star more because that one had some pretty funny moments and Azumanga had some interesting middle-drama flavor missing from Aria..
The thing is though, Aria does have some charming elements, it makes Neo-Venezia into this kind of nice city about a few stories, but it just kind of felt overbearing and distressing at the same time which is really weird, ultimately, I just didn't like it that much.
Did not dislike heavily, but wasn't a big anti-fan either.. so, a 6.
