Aria the OVA ~Arietta~
There are a small handful of series that anime bloggers generally agree on as their favorites, and among this select group, I’d like to think that Aria is one of them.
Words that have been used to describe Aria (and its sequels) include: slow, pleasant, relaxing, cute, charming. Even the negatives don’t sound too bad. There’s no major conflict, all the characters are likeable enough, and the president of each company is a cat. I mean, seriously, this anime must’ve aiming for the maximum likeability score ever.
The OVA, which I watched last night, gave an interesting twist to the usual placid mood of the series. Akari wakes up from a nightmare where Alicia has left Aria company upon Akari’s installation as a prima. Unlike Akari’s usual anxieties, you can generally understand that this is a true possibility. Alicia herself had to deal with Grandma leaving her once she was a full-fledged gondolier herself.
I think the OVA may have been one of the first instances where Alicia isn’t as cool and collected as she usually appears. She was noticeably upset after her trainer left her, so much to the point that Akira and Athena had to bring her up to the Campanile to bring her back to her usual cheerful self.
Truth be told, of the three prima, I liked Alicia the least. She was always so ~perfect~ that she seemed more caricature than human. I like that this OVA took the time to show that Alicia had felt insecure too, that her perfect veneer isn’t always flawless, and that like Akari, she just needs to see a smiling face every once in a while.
June 3rd, 2008 at 2:14 pm
Have you seen Aria season 3?
For the longest time I share your thoughts about Alicia, but after a while it got to me and I started to enjoy her very strange smile. And some of the character development for her was exactly the kind of things I like. Most of it took place in the third season though.
June 3rd, 2008 at 7:58 pm
I only just realized the beauty that is Aria recently. I am saving the OVA for last, but I’m pretty curious. In all truth, Alicia’s my least favorite. I never thought of why, really. I just found a reason to like the others more.
June 4th, 2008 at 9:14 am
@omo: no, haven’t gotten to season 3 yet. I think I’m still working on episodes from season 2.
@Os: who -is- your favorite? I don’t think you even mentioned that in your post on Natsukashii.
June 5th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Athena. Her singing pushed her ahead of the rest. Tied for a close second is Alice -cos she’s so cute- and Aika -only after her haircut-.
June 25th, 2008 at 9:31 am
Alicia is probably my least favorite of all the undines because we really don’t know much about her. At the same time, that mystery is one of the reasons that I like her, so what can you do. I did like how they do go into more about what makes Alicia tick with this OVA, and near the end of season 2 and into season 3.
I also find that it’s really hard to hate any character in ARIA, especially when you go through about 53 episodes of material for us to get to know them.
July 7th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
[...] code of ethics like it’s 1998 (but it might’ve been 2003, I can’t tell)? Some are embarrassing bloggers? We are not a mass market group that are likely to hover the latest Naruto or Bleach torrents. [...]