So, my loyal readers, have any of you ever watched either of the
Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou (aka Yokohama Shopping Log) OVAs?
Aria - The Animation is very similar in pacing and "feel" to that series -- that is to say, it is a story of peaceful people leading tranquil lives in calm, serene surroundings (though not originally so serene -- Yokohama Kaidashi Kikou takes place on Earth after an apocalyptic event has wiped out most of the human population, and Aria uses as its setting the water-covered planet Aqua... which turns out to be the terraformed version of the previously inhospitable "red planet" Mars). I'm a big fan of these "slice of life" series -- as long as it presents me with genuinely likable characters and actually cares to develop them (as opposed of letting them become so many pieces of recycled cliché cardboard), as well as look pretty enough to take my mind off whatever ultra-gory and/or ultra-mindrape-happy series I'm attempting to recover from (let me tell you, slicers-of-life are
excellent therapy).
Let's just say that Aria succeeds on both counts.
The characters of Aria are diverse and well-developed, and each possess different charms and shortcomings, all of which allow them to mesh beautifully into a remarkable tapestry of hopes and dreams that adorns the gorgeous backdrop of Neo Venezia (an exact replica of old Venezia on Earth/Man-home; id est, Venice, Italy). Since there aren't many things that I like more than cute anime chicks, I'll go ahead and show you a few:
Mizunashi Akari: the protagonist of the series, Aria chronicles her efforts to adapt to her new surroundings in Neo Venezia, make friends, and ultimately become an Undine (ウンディーネ - a gondolier/tour guide). At the beginning of the series, she's still a one-glove/intermediate-level trainee at Alicia's Aria Company outpost. She's not a very good gondolier yet (although she's serviceable ... when rowing backwards, heh), but her easygoing, optimistic personality and sincere smile quickly win her many friends on Aqua. Her anime seiyuu is newcomer
Erino Hazuki, while her audio drama seiyuu is
Mizuhashi Kaori...
... and her
SD faces are very, very funny. :)
Aika Granzchesta: Akari's friend and fellow one-glove Undine-in-training. She's been groomed from a very young age to be the eventually successor of the gondola company Himeya, and she sometimes resents the pressure put on her, especially from Akira, her occasionally overbearing overseer (how's that for assonance?). Aika is generally outspoken and a straight shooter. Alicia once cheered her up when she was younger, and as a result Aika is
very fond of Alicia. Her anime seiyuu is
Saitou Chiwa, and her manga-based audio drama seiyuu is the famous
Hayashibara Megumi.
Her SD face looks like this --------->
Alice Carroll: (yes, the name is an homage to a certain book a guy named Lewis Carroll [actually, Charles Lutwidge] wrote) The youngest of the Undine-in-training
sanninmusume ("girl triumvirate"... play your Sakura Taisen!), Alice works for Athena at the Orange Planet company. She's accorded to be a gondolier prodigy, despite the fact that she is still a two-glove (ie lowest rank) trainee by Undine standards. Alice is extremely introverted, and had problems even smiling to people before Akari became her friend. Her anime seiyuu is
Hirohashi Ryou, while her audio drama seiyuu is the hatefully loli-rific (no, that's not a real word, but you should be able to figure it out)
Saitou Ayaka.
Even freakier...
Alicia Florence: Akari's boss, a Prima (highest-rank) Undine, and (with Akira and Athena) one of the
Mizu no Sandaiyousei (水の三大妖精 - "The Three Great Faeries of the Waters"). Alicia is a charming person who dispenses rather generously with her smiles and is kind and affectionate towards everyone. Most of the characters in Aria love her (and most of the fans do, too), although her smiles and her "
ara, ara"s tend to annoy Akira (who grew up with Alicia and thus have had to suffer the cheerfulness a long, long time) to no end. Her anime seiyuu is
Oohara Sayaka, commonly acknowledged to be the "lite" version of her audio drama seiyuu,
Inoue Kikuko.
Akira: "
Ara ara kinshi!" ("
ara ara"s are forbidden!)
Alicia: *
Ufufu* (giggling)
Akira: "
Ufufu mo kinshi!" ("
ufufu" is also forbidden!)
Alicia: "
Ara ara~"
Akira: "
DOCHI MO KINSHI!" (they're both forbidden!)
Akira Ferrari: Aika's boss at Himeya, Prima Undine, and one of the
Mizu no Sandaiyousei. Akira is the diammetric opposite of her childhood friend Alicia -- she's demanding, proactive, and sometimes bad-tempered. Despite their occasional clashes, Akira's personality has rubbed off quite a bit on Aika. Akira's exasperated tirades at Alicia (see above) provide some of the most comedic moments in Aria. Her anime seiyuu is
Minagawa Junko (Sagitta~~~), and her audio drama seiyuu is the accomplished
Mitsuishi Kotono (Misato~~~).
I suppose Akira-san isn't too used to being bribed with food...
Ai: a little girl who sort of... blackmails... Akari into giving her a gondola ride. She's tired of the same old, same old in her life back on Man-home (Earth), and an eventful day spent with Akari and Aika restores some of her optimism and hope. She returns to Man-home at the end of Episode 1, but keeps in touch with Akari via video mail. Her anime seiyuu is
Mizuhashi Kaori.
"Take me on a gondola ride or I'll scream 'kidnap'!"
This ... thing ... is
Aria-shachou(社 長 - company president). He's supposed to be a cat (EDIT: a Martian cat -- hence the eccentric look. --K. 2/26/07). All of the gondolier guilds in Neo Venezia employ cats with blue (specifically, aquamarine blue) eyes as titular presidents in order to bring themselves good luck (as Aquamarine is taken to be the guardian goddess of waterfarers), although other "presidents" look more catlike (EDIT: again, because they're not Martian cats --K. 2/26/07) and are generally smarter than Aria-shachou here... His anime seiyuu is
Chinami Nishimura, and his audio drama seiyuu is
Hayashibara Megumi.
Naturally, my first exposure to Aria was through manga; namely, the manga series
Aqua by Amano Kozue. Quite frankly, the Aqua-
Aria manga franchise featured some of the most astonishingly beautiful manga art I have ever seen. Not only are the characters attractive, but the surroundings are done in fine, toned detail that makes for an extremely immersive and visually satisfying reading experience. The same is true for Aria - The Animation. The interplay of the various shades of blue that dominate the planet Aqua are done in rich, colorful detail, and the stylistic architecture of Neo Venezia project beautifully into the water beneath them, which itself is a mirror for the expansive sky above. Accompanied by a superb soundtrack featuring soothing ambience and soft yet richly lyrical theme tracks, Aria presents a setting that can easily compete with the
D. C. ~Da Capo~ and
Stratos 4 franchises for top honors in artistry and elegance from recent anime series. Combined with the peaceful tone of the story and character-driven vignettes that subtly understate the calmer, gentler nature of life on Aqua (and in Neo Venezia in particular), Aria - The Animation is a cut above the competition as a remedial anime and as an anime that everyone can enjoy. I recommend it.
Finally, we meet Orange Planet's Athena-san, the third of the Mizu no Sandaiyousei (水の三大妖精 - "The Three Great Faeries of the Waters"). She's a mostly quiet, unassuming gal who happens to be VERY scatterbrained (what the Japanese call a dojikko) but possesses a kind heart and incredible canzone (It. song) skills (marvelling at one of Athena's rangy soprano tunes, Akari calls her "tenshi no utagoe," which literally means "angel's song voice"). Athena is Alice's roommate and senpai, and though Alice views this particular senpai with some condescension and irritation (from always having to take care of her clumsy messes), she comes to realize that Athena has been quietly supporting her from the shadows since the very beginning. Her anime seiyuu is Kawakami Tomoko, with the peerless a capella soprano solos provided by Kawai Eri.
"She often trips over flat ground, spills her drinks, forgets the most important things, and hits the hang-up button on herself while talking on the phone..."
Hime-shacchou: she's the blue-eyed honorary head of Himeya Company, which is the establishment that Aika belongs to (and is, in fact, the heiress of). Her seiyuu is not credited in the anime, but then, she doesn't get that many "lines" (not that many = zero)...
Maa-kun: an abandoned kitten (and what an ugly one, at that) found and secretly nursed by Alice (Orange Planet does not allow its employees to keep pets). It (we are unsure of its gender at this point) was named "Maa-kun" because "maa" is apparently the only sound it can make, and it also seems to have a talent for biting Aria-shacchou where it hurts. People did find out about its existence, but luckily for Alice, Athena discovered that it has aquamarine eyes (how can you tell?!) and persuaded Orange Planet to adopt it as its new honorary president (the previous one had just passed away). So I suppose its name is now actually Maa-shacchou... Its seiyuu is the versatile Watanabe Akeno.
