Review - Aria the Animation
Chika
has been updated since it was first put on my LJ.]
I don't often really get sentimental over an anime series. This time could
be different.
No embarrassing remarks allowed!!!
It's many years into the future, and the slow desecration of Man-Home
(what they call Earth in this series) has forced humankind to craft a new
home for themselves on Aqua (formerly Mars). The planet has been flooded
by excavating water from underground and the weather and gravity are
artificially controlled to provide a stable environment for life. In one
place, Neo-Venezia, a town loosely based on Venice, has grown up and the
Undines provide a guided gondola tour around it. The flooding part of the
history of this planet was long in the past, and Neo-Venezia is a popular
tourist spot.
Of course, to become an Undine, you need to train and practice. Into the
story comes Akari, an apprentice Undine who came to Neo-Venezia the year
before the opening of the series. She's one of those cheerful types that
always seems to find fun in anything, although she isn't that good at
controlling a gondola yet (except when rowing backwards which was a trick
she picked up by mistake). She's usually seen with President Aria, the
president of the Aria Company where Akari is apprenticed (the Prez is a
cat, by the way). The series start and end with her encounters with Ai, a
young girl from Man-Home who stows away in Akari's gondola one day. The
series turns into a flow of one-shot stories from Akari's second year on
the planet and her e-mail conversations with Ai back on Man-Home,
including her meeting with rival company apprentices and friends Aika and
Alice and their mentors, Alicia, Akira and Athena (anyone notice a common
theme with names here?) as we learn about Aqua, how it works and who lives
there. The stories are often completed by some form of point, or even
moral, but never in the preaching way that often accompanied the worst of
the American animation form.
There is a vague storyline to the series but it isn't important. What is
important is that the whole series is very subtle, gentle and flows at its
own pace and, while it might not seem to have a point, it certainly leaves
me feeling sorry that it ended (there is a subsequent series, however, but
I'll come to that when I get it). There are no giant mecha, but no magical
girls or maids. Even the people they refer to as "fairies" aren't really
that! In some ways, it reminds me a lot of the way in which Anne
McCaffrey's Pern came into being, though without the political intrigue.
I should thank old CAPOW cohort Jeff for suggesting this title following
my somewhat disastrous flirtation with another anime.
Update
I've now watched everything, from Aria the Animation to Aria the
Origination and all points between. No, it isn't fantastically action
packed, but it's certainly a whimsical series that, while it won't keep
the NarOOOOOto or the YOOOOO-ghio fans glued to their screens, for those
that want a little escape into a slower, more utopian view of the future,
it's fantastic.
Following the events of the Animation which I've already described, we
reach Aria the Natural, which is a 26 part series that follows on from the
Animation, starting with the Festival where Akari, accompanied by Ai,
first meet the king of cats, Cait Sith. It flows on through another Aqua
year and a bit where we see Alice slowly coming to understand her dopey
senpai, Aika coming to terms with her position and Akari encountering more
things that make her go "wow!" Thrill to the fabulous "meat dance" by
Alice, Akira and Athena! Relive the Galaxy Express and cry as Gondola-san
makes his last appearance! Gaze in awe at Neo-Venezia's biggest snow ball!
My, my, my!
We then have an OAV, Arietta, where Akari hears a story about when Alicia
first became a prima. It's a story that ends up with Alicia and Akari
climbing the campanile and the pair share a few feelings with each other.
Hazukashii serifu kinshi!!!
That leads into Aria the Origination, which I find is a misleading title
for the last series where Akari, Aika and Alice eventually move towards
their final training. It features stories where each of them has to
question their own motives for trying to be a prima and tests their
friendship too. The series also includes the story of how the Aria Company
came to be, how Akari gets on working the traghetto (a sort of gondola
ferry worked by two singles) and, finally, we get to hear Alice sing.
No, this certainly isn't a series for the action fans out there, but I can
heartily recommend it to those that like a heart warming story or seven.
--
//\ // Chika <miyuki><at><crashnet><org><uk>
// \// Hazukashii serifu kinshii!!
... There is no gravity--The earth sucks!