In simple words, Aria is an anime series about life. I had fallen in love with Animation and Natural, and seeing that Origination had a significantly higher score and number of favorites, I assumed this was a departure from the episodic, light-hearted tales from the prior seasons. I assumed that there would be more drama, perhaps a tone shift, perhaps more elaborate themes. But I was mistaken. The tone didn't shift. Aria remained just as heart-warming and beautiful as it always was.
After completing origination, the only word I could think of to describe it was 'wonderful', after all, I had never seen anything so full of wonders as it. Origination presents a significant spike of quality within the series, in terms of both production and story-writing. The 2 seasons prior to this, Animation and Natural, didn't have any real goal in mind. Aria the Animation focused on people, their relationships and how one lives there life. Aria the Natural showed us the wonders that the world around us has to offer. The final installment, Aria the Origination tells us the point of it all. Why we cherish moments we find dear. Why we look for happiness in this world. I have never cried watching an anime, TV show, movie or literally any piece of fiction for that matter, but I couldn't help crying when I realised that these 3 girls (Akari, Alice and Aika) we have followed these past 40 episodes, these girls who showed us, the viewers, the love that exists in life, these very girls would grow up. They would move forward in life. There was something in me that didn't want them to move forward, I didn't want to those beautiful moments I had with them to end, despite every theme in the show presented so far encouraging me to be happy for them to move forward (which I was of course). This anime is undoubtedly as life-changing as everyone else makes it out to be, but don't forget to watch the 2 prior seasons (and the OVA).
The art and sound are simply outstanding. Very few shows have blown me away with their raw skill in direction, but Aria was one of them. Every shot is beautiful and the colour palette is relaxing to the eyes. The voice acting isn't too impressive, but the OSTs are beyond amazing. The soft plucks of the guitar as we enjoy a day at the seaside to the high-pitched piano melodies on a snowy evening. OP is really great too, I usually skip OPs, but this is one of the few shows where I felt like just leaving it on. I can't say the same for the ED though.
All the characters are 3-dimensional and all of them are best girl. They all have distinguishable personally traits that some may attribute to generic troupes, but they all feel human during moments of emotion. They all have that wish for their friends to have the best life possible, and they all have inherent flaws. My favourite character is Aria-shachou (it's amazing how there isn't a single bad scene with him on screen), but our main character, Akari Mizunashi, definitely deserves to be crowned the best-written. She is a living ray of sunshine and is just someone you want to succeed in life.
There isn't any 'story' so to speak of, the show is very episodic. We're realistically just watching a handful of characters' everyday life, but even so it is perfect. We see how these characters learn from this life, cherish it, and find happiness in it. There may be no plot, but you will end up crying nonetheless. If anything, the lack of a plot to want you to keep watching is this series' biggest flaw, but apart from that there isn't much. The world is built very well however there are some logic errors that can be derived from the show's raw premise (set in a few hundred years in the future in a terraformed Mars) but it isn't something that hinders your enjoyment.
This may very well be the only show that I wished would last forever, but all good things must come to an end. It may not have been the best, but it was definitely the most beautiful journey I have ever experienced. Thank you for reading so far, and I hope this makes you want to give this anime a try.
