Otakuism

Story:

In the year 2301 Mars has been successfully terraformed and renamed Aqua, due to 90% of it being covered in water from the melted ice caps. On Aqua lies the city of Neo-Venezia, modeled after the Earth city of Venice. In Neo-Venezia girls trained to be gondolier tour guides are called undines and are the symbols of the city. Akari Mizunashi has just arrived on Aqua to begin training as an undine at the ARIA Company. She will quickly realize how truly magical Neo-Venezia and Aqua can be.

Impressions:

AQUA is the two-volume predecessor series to ARIA that first shows Akari arriving on Aqua, meeting Alicia and Aika, etc. Finally the first volume is available in english. I swear, the wait was at least a year. Fortunately, the wait was well worth it. Despite coming earlier there is no difference in charm between AQUA and ARIA. It’s wrong to even call them by different titles. The same themes of discovery, mystery, friendship, and nostalgia are all present here.

If you’ve seen the anime then you’ve already seen all the stories in this volume. The only new ones would be Akari meeting Alicia and Aika, although elements of those stories are already animated. It’s particularly funny to see how much Aika comes off as a lesbian stalker of Alicia’s in the early stories. The other stories included in the book are when the aqua alta hits the city, the first meeting with Cait Sith, and Akari’s graduation to Single on the Hill of Hope. Reading them again reminded me how much I loved the stories the first time I saw them, especially the Cait Sith one. There’s such a supernatural element to it that is rarely matched elsewhere in the series.

The art hasn’t changed much than what we see is ARIA. The same clear, beautiful images, with Kozue Amano rendering both SD figures and realistic cityscapes with ease. President Aria appears to be drawn bigger here in the beginning, which takes some adjustment, but that’s more a minor quirk than anything. The usual tokyopop quality applies. The binding is suitable and the cover is quite nice, and I really saw no issues with the translation compared to what I know. I wish they would of included the original full color spreads, however. I’m sure ARIA fans have already gotten their hands on this manga, or are soon. For non-ARIA fans it’s a good place to be introduced to the magical world of Akari and friends. Of course, watch the anime, too. Ah, this is really getting me pumped for the third season. Tokyopop reallys needs to put the release date for the second volume on their site already. Damn site. Can’t find anything.