LogFAQs > #900252032

34. Aria (2005)
pyresword (3/5)


Aria is a slice of life about girls who operate gondolas for a living. It's primary motive is to provide a relaxing story without any drama or action to muck things up And it 100% achieves this goal, as in the 50+ episodes we got in the end, it never loses sight of what it is, continuing to create these slow-paced episodic plots from start to finish.

It's hard to describe Aria without making it sound boring as shit. Not a whole lot happens as far as story goes, and it's basically always cheery, with an occasional bittersweet kind of story to shake things up. It's longer than most series' of this particular archetype could ever really hope to be, but it never gets old watching the girls simply enjoy their lives in the utopia of Aqua. A lot of this lies within the characters, who function as both rivals and best friends. The main trio are all fantastic, with Alice being the best. I wasn't as big of a fan of the three teachers, but they were good in their own right. But the best character is Maa, who causes physical pain to the worst character, Aria, which is always a joy to watch. Honestly, Alice and Maa make up the majority of the show's best bits to me, and it sucked that they weren't as present in the recent set of specials they released iirc.

Honestly, this tye of show is pretty niche, and I haven't really been able to get into anything with the same feel, such as, most recently, Yuru Camp. Aria just feels like the kind of show to break that boundary, since I think most people end up liking it at the very least. It has beautiful setpieces, calming music, and wonderful characters. The writing in general is quite good as well. While there aren't really any significant events, the girls do get their fair share of development. But like the entire pacing of the show, it's slow and methodical, and man does it work!
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