Athena Glory

The year is a little after 2300. Mars has been changed over about 150 years into a warm planet covered with water, and people now call it Aqua. On Aqua stands Neo-Venezia, a city built to look and feel like old Venice in Italy. It has no car roads. People get around by walking or by riding gondolas, long boats pushed by hand through the canals. ARIA The ORIGINATION is the third and last TV season of the ARIA anime. It aired in Japan from January 8 to March 31, 2008, with 13 episodes, plus one extra episode on DVD. The anime was made by Hal Film Maker and directed by Junichi Sato. It is based on the manga by Kozue Amano, which first ran as Aqua and then as Aria from 2001 to 2008. The manga sold millions of copies in Japan. Before this season came ARIA The ANIMATION in 2005 and ARIA The NATURAL in 2006, so this season is the end of the TV story. The heart of the show is a job. In Neo-Venezia, the gondola tour guides are called Undines. They row visitors around the city and tell them about its history and sights. Undines move up through three ranks. A Pair is a beginner who wears two gloves. A Single wears one glove and can take customers only with a teacher. A Prima wears no gloves and can work alone. Three companies train most of them: the small Aria Company, the old Himeya Company, and the large Orange Planet. The story follows three young trainees. Akari Mizunashi came from Earth, which people call Manhome, and works at Aria Company. Aika Granzchesta trains at Himeya, and Alice Carroll trains at Orange Planet. Each one learns from an older Undine. Akari's teacher is the calm and kind Alicia Florence. Aika is taught by the strict Akira Ferrari. Alice is taught by Athena Glory, who is clumsy in daily life but has a famous, beautiful singing voice. In this season, the three girls are close to their big goal, and their teachers are thinking about the next steps in their own lives too. The show is about what it means to grow up and move forward, even when you love the way things are now. ARIA is a famous example of iyashikei, a Japanese word that means "healing" shows. These are gentle stories made to help the viewer relax and feel calm. There are no villains and almost no fights. Most episodes are small: a festival, a walk across the city, a quiet talk on a boat, a sunset on the water. The soft music and bright blue canals are a big part of the mood, and the show often stops to enjoy simple, happy moments. Critics have praised the series for its art and its music, while some find it too sweet or slow. In 2006, a TV Asahi poll put the ARIA anime among the top 100 TV anime of all time. For fans of the first two seasons, The ORIGINATION brings the story of Akari and her friends to a warm and fitting close.