AnimeSugoi

After a long day of work/school, nothing is better than coming home and relaxing, even better when you watch anime at the same time ^^. What I recommend to watch after a long day is ARIA. Aria is a very comforting “slice of life” anime where the characters go about daily normal lives, going through life without gigantic robots blowing up their city or super powered weirdos battling it out in their backyard lol. I feel very comfortable when I watch ARIA, especially with life’s pressures coming down on my with school and work.

In the 24th century, humans live on the planet Aqua, formally Mars, that has been terraformed into a planet filled with oceans and rivers and the best way to get around in a city is through gondola’s. The focus is on Neo-Venezia, based on the real Venice in Italy, where we follow girls living there lives being gondolier’s, called undine, for the beautiful city.

The main focus is on Akari who is a gondolier in training for the gondlier company, ARIA, which surprisingly only has two employees including Akari. The other employee is the most popular Undine in the city called Alicia which is probably why the company still goes on ^^. The “President” of the company, who is actually the mascot, is a cat named Aria (where the company gets its name). Besides the ARIA company, there is Himeya and Orange Planet. Within these companies, Akari makes friends with Aika and Akira of Himeya and Alice and Athena of Orange Planet; each of these companies have their own “President” cat that all have blue eyes which is considered lucky on Neo-Venezia. We follow Akari who is new to Neo-Venezia, originally from Man-Home, as she discovers the all there is to be offered on Aqua including friendly people, the beauty that is Neo-Venezia, fun, and much more.

In the first episode of ARIA the Natural, we follow Akari and her friend Ai-chan from Man-Home going to Carnival, the biggest festival in Neo-Venezia. Akari and Ai-chan meet up with the other girls when suddenly a gigantic figure in mask and cloak comes by with little “children” in mask and cloak dancing around him while playing musical instruments.

The gigantic figure is called Casanova who has become the idol of Carnival yet no one knows who is inside but some say whoever it is might be over 100 years old. Later we find Akari, Ai-chan, Aika, and Alice resting and enjoying tea when Akari and Ai-chan notice one of the “children” of Casanova watching them who the girls give chase after, perhaps leading them to Casanova. As the girls give chase, Akari and Ai-chan get separated from Aika and Alice and become lost in a alley way, only to come out to see Casanova staring at them. The “children” start dancing around Casanova and the “child” they were given chase suddenly gives Akari bells and Ai-chan castanets to play along with the children as they follow Casanova merrily. Suddenly Casanova stops after a short while at a intersecting alleyway where he takes the girls instruments and replaces them with flowers. Then he gestures for the girls to go back through the alleyway from which they came which they disagree to. The “child” they gave chase to pulls on Akari’s dress to also to tell her not to follow Casanova and reveals itself to be none other than “President” Aria.

Suddenly a strong light and breeze comes through a door in front of them as they see Casnova taking off his mask to reveal that he is actually the Cat King, Cait Sith (Totally different from the FF7 version).

The other “children” also take off their mask to reveal themselves to be other cats. We find Akari and Ai-chan sitting on the bench when a friend, Al, finds them and tells the other girls he found them as they were looking for the two. Alicia is also with them and notices the flower and mentions that it looked like the Jasmine flower which is made into the Cat King’s favorite perfume smell, Jasmine. The girls ask Akari and Ai-chan if they found out who Casanova is, only to reply that he was a fairy with a grin on their face, leaving a confused group wondering what happened.

Impression:
I really liked watching this anime and I want thank Adun for introducing it to me ^-^. This is a real nice anime that has great characters, art, music, and comedy. Comedy is something that really draws me in, mainly due to “President” Aria’s funny antics and his funny voice “byoi byoi (OoO)” and Aika’s line “Embarrasing remarks are not allowed” whenever something awkward is said, usually by Akari, which cracks me up every time. Like other “slice of life” animes, theres no real plot but mini-stories in each episode. Something I thought was interesting was the opening theme which is always different for they show scenes that coincide with the episode showing. Another was each main undine having her own “expression” like Akari’s slit eyes and open mouth, Aika’s angry look with a upside-down V over a U for the mouth (I think hers is the cutest ;p), Akira’s big scary eyes and gaping mouth, and more. Before Aria the Natural anime was Aria the Animation and a third season was recently announced, Aria the Origination, can’t wait. Something I recommend to watch when you wish to kick back and relax.

Akari, whose friendly and happy go lucky attitude that allows her to make many friends throughout Neo-Venezia.

Alicia and her “ara, ara” (my, my) attitude is a cute trait she has. She is one of the three “water fairies” of Neo-Venezia.

Aika, who is my favorite because of her attitude, “expression”, and I think she’s the cutest in my opinion.

Akira, look at the screen shot I took…the eyes are slightly off lol, also one of the three “water fairies”.

Athena, who I would say has the biggest cute and air-head combo I’ve ever seen lol. She is also one of the three “water fairies.

The “kohai” (junior) of the group, Alice, whose deadpan speaking manner intrigues me ^^.

Lastly is “President” Aria, the funny little marshmallow in my opinion lol.

Another “expressions” that looked hilarious to me ^o^. Btw, the little girl with dark green/brown hair is Ai-Chan.

“Byoi Byoi” lol, Aria taijou is hilarious and one of the best “non-speaking” character’s I’ve ever seen. The first pic is him trying to be brave in front of the female “President” of Himeya as they were about to enter a dark corridor, only to have him cower behind her when a drop of water lands on his face lol. The second one is one of my favorite scenes where Aria is tied up in phone lines after climbing up a phone pole to eat some kind of fruit and the phone lines snap and he goes “Byaaaaa” lol, I kept watching that scene again and again after that.