Aria the animation
Posted by Northlander 
The Aria manga has been available for quite a while now, but it was only this summer that I took the plunge (no pun intended) and bought the currently (and only) three volumes available at this point, causing me to pretty much fall in love with this manga. (As you can read in my review in this very blog.)
The concept of Aria is, admittedly, a hard sell, and to make an anime series out of this manga is a quite bold move, if I may say so. That doesn’t do anything to dim my excitement of the series’ existance, though. Having watched the first episode, I now want the show made, liscensed, translated and released more than ever. Aria the animation is every bit as good as its manga counterpart, despite the changes made in the show, simply because everything that made the manga good can also be found in the anime. At least, that’s the impression I sit with after having watched the first episode.
In said episode, we are introduced to Akari Mizunashi as she’s starting another day in training. Seeing her mentor Alicia off, she plans to spend the day practicing, but is sidetracked when she finds a young girl sitting in her gondola demanding a ride. Ai-chan (as she’s called, solidifying the fact that everyone from Neo-Venezia seems to have names starting with an ‘A’) seems rather desolute and quiet at first, but is eventually won over by the charm of Akari’s utter optimism and the sheer atmosphere of the place….. and a little help from her ever cynical and sarcastic friend Aika.
Aria is basically a bit of a slice-of-life show, but a damn good one at that. It’s a bit of a tough show getting into if you’re just browsing through it, but the charm of the show will win you over pretty quickly if you decide to give it a chance. And that’s all I have to say for now. A full THEM review will eventually be written when I’ve watched a sufficient number of episodes. In the mean time, I give this show my heartfelt recommendation.
Categories: Aria, Preview.