Aria The Animation - Alice was the cutest after all! Relaxing series...
Aria The Animation is a fantasy science fiction slice-of-life anime series released in 2005, based on a manga of the same name written by Kozue Amano. The series spawned a large number of sequels. I watched this first season decades ago but ended up rewatching it recently to go through the entire story and watch the last two movies that I never got to see.
The story follows a girl named Akari Mizunashi who arrives on the planet of Aqua (formerly Mars) to become a trainee gondolier for Aria Company in the city of Neo-Venezia. The city is heavily influenced by the real-world Venice while still having the science fiction elements of being in another world.
While there, Akari starts to interact with other people and experience the various magical events that Neo-Venezia throws at her. This includes things revolving around the mysterious cats, time travel, or simply getting lost in the wonderful city. Most of the events are narrated from the point of view of Akari telling Ai (a girl from Earth whom she met at the very beginning of the series) what happened to her.
The six main characters are:
Akari Mizunashi
A native of Japan on Earth who immigrates to Aqua when she is 15 to become an Undine. She is energetic and friendly with everyone, which helps her make new friends along the way. She also seems to attract weird phenomena, which is the cause of many of the events in the story.
Aika S. Granzchesta
The first friend Akari makes on Aqua. She is 16 when she meets Akari and is the only daughter and heir of the Himeya Company's owners, even though she does not like the attention this brings her. She is blunt and is frequently seen as more aggressive compared to the calm Akari, but they get along pretty well together.
Alice Carroll
A 14-year-old Undine for Orange Planet. She is considered a genius among her peers and encounters Akari and Aika during one of her training sessions, eventually befriending them. She is quite silent and often talks in a deadpan manner, but deep down, she likes being around the other two girls.
Alicia Florence
The only other Undine with Aria Company. She is one of the Three Water Fairies (Snow White) of Neo-Venezia and is currently the single Undine who brings in the most revenue. She is easygoing and does not get startled easily. She loves teasing her friends like Akira with her signature "ara ara."
Akira E. Ferrari
Another of the Three Water Fairies (Crimson Rose) and a friend of Alicia since their trainee days. She is extremely similar in personality to Aika (blunt, tomboyish), who is her student, which often causes them to clash. She has a similar relationship with Alicia as Aika has with Akari.
Athena Glory
The last of the Three Water Fairies (Siren) and a friend of Alicia and Akira since their trainee days. She is Alice's teacher, even though her aloof and airheaded personality makes you wonder who is taking care of whom. She is the one with the most beautiful singing voice in the series.
My favorite character is Alice Carroll, both because of her small-animal looks and because of her absolutely adorable voice. Ryou Hirohashi has been one of my favorite seiyuu ever since I heard her in the role of Alice; she can just do that kind of voice that I have never seen replicated elsewhere.
Aria The Animation is one of the classics that everyone who loves anime should watch. If you haven't already, keep going and watch the entire series together with me. I will be making more posts in the coming weeks and months as I go through all the various sequels.
