Big Move Announcement #2: Aria is now #4!

In the future, Mars is terraformed and modeled after the most beautiful city on Earth, Venice. Welcome to the world of Neo-Venezia.

There's only one word needed to describe this anime: beautiful. The plot, the characters, the architecture, the world, they're all beautiful. Its sheer beauty made it easy for me to place Aria in my #4 spot for best anime of all time!



We follow the life of a newcomer of Neo-Venezia, Akari, who aims to be a full-fledged gondolier. She starts out as an apprentice in Aria Company, one of the three biggest tour gondola companies. She trains vigurously with her two best friends, Aika and Alice (you guessed it, everyone's name starts with A in this show).

Yup, that's all the show's about. No, it's not a sports anime that talks about elite gondola rowing techniques, it's just a laid-back feel-good show. Let me remind you that I'm a sheer sucker for Slice of Life shows. If you like fast-paced anime, avoid this altogether.



If you hadn't already noticed, the world is beautiful. Amano Kozue has successfully captured the essence of beautiful Venice, and added together science fiction elements that do not cheapen, yet enrich the architecture of Neo-Venezia. The detail of the architecture reflected on the huge body of water just takes your breath away.

For example, if you see the first picture, you can see a hanging citadel with flying ships hovering above the city. The citadel acts as a weather control center to regulate the seasons. It's like those majestic cities you see in recent Final Fantasy titles, but more down-to-earth.



But what's more important than just a visually beautiful city is how we see things as beautiful through Akari's eyes. Every episode, she meets new people, explores new streets, encounters new things. Being a girl from busy and polluted Man-Home (the new name for Earth), she is delighted by every of these encounters to great detail.

Aria is just a simple example of how to appreciate the little things in life. The show is uplifting and is full of warm fuzziness. Hey, anyone could use an extra helping of relaxation and happiness. It's a great show to watch after a tiring day at work.

Amano Kozue has transformed the laid-back life in Venice into a beautiful tale of simple pleasures. You can clearly see that the story takes inspiration from slice-of-life short stories in Europe, like Life is Beautiful and Emily.



And just like those European short stories, the plot could go into the surreal. She went through this old tunnel once, and it brought her back in time to when the planet Aqua was just about to be filled with water.

Cats are also a very big influence to the anime's plot. They are considered grand creatures in the show, and following them to a hidden street could bring you to another world.

These paranormal details do not degrade the anime at all; instead they add more to that surreal European feel. Comes to show that Neo-Venezia is full of mysteries yet to be explored. I like.

Another beautiful thing about Aria is the sheer concept of its moral narrative. On the surface, it might be a simple story of girls in white rowing gondolas, but the life lessons learned in every episode are deep. It's hard to explain, you gotta watch it to understand what I'm saying.



The characters are cute too! And all of them are likable, just like Azumanga. Mix all this with comedy scenes and great chemistry between the characters, and you get the most beautiful anime that I have ever seen. Beautiful in all sense of the word.

A very big thank you to Benjamin for recommending this anime. For this, you get an A for your subject (haha just kidding :P).

To fuel my obsession for ranking every aspect of my life, below is my updated anime chart:



Sorry Chobits. At least you're still number six!