Aria the Animation was clearly the beginning of Aria, introducing the characters and setting. Aria the Natural, was just more Aria and very slice-of-life, in that nothing really changed with regards to the characters’ situation. And so, Aria the Origination serves as the end of Aria, something that’s not very slice-of-lifey.

It’s also amazing how Aria makes you care about gondoliers on Mars. And it’s not like the occupation is shoved into the sidelines and we can focus on life in space Venice. The fact that they are gondoliers and rowing around in gondolas plays a huge part and somehow makes the world livelier.

Aria is beautiful in its simplicity. They’re just a bunch of girls training to become awesome gondoliers. Along the way, they meet some people and they just go about living in space Venice on Mars. At the end of the episode, we learn to find happiness in everyday things.

And yet, Aria the Origination is able to deliver an excellent end to the series. It’s funny how an episodic series like Aria can conclude better than many serials. In fact, some of the best episodes of Aria are within the last few episodes of the series, when everything finally comes together. There was even a twist that I didn’t see coming!

I can’t say enough good things about Aria. It’s a very unique series. The only thing I can say is similar to it is Yotsuba&!, and only in mood and style, not subject matter. This is definitely one of those series where I realize moments after finishing that I’m really, really going to miss the journey. This one is solid gold, for sure.

But did Aria turn out to be boring? No, it did not. Again like Sketchbook, it turned out to be a very slow-paced slice-of-life show with a smattering of comedy. The characters were all lovable and each episode gave you a great feeling after you finish it. In fact, I felt that Aria did each of these things better than Sketchbook did, which made it feel a lot more interesting to watch.

Aria, like other slice of life shows, makes the characters and the world feel very familiar. What sets Aria apart is that it doesn’t focus on girls in high school. Aria is about gondoliers on Mars in the future. This is what’s great about Aria; it makes space gondoliers feel familiar and relevant. I look forward to continuing to learn about being happy from space gondoliers in ARIA the NATURAL.