I was watching the Aria OVA the other day and it occurred to me that Aria really should be incredibly cheesy and the fact that it’s not is pretty remarkable. (If you’re reading this and thinking “but Aria is cheesy” then meet me behind the bleachers after school’s out and we’ll settle this the old fashioned way).
In Aria every episode is about how wonderful Neo-Venezia and everyone living there is but the OVA takes it a step further by focusing on Akari and Alicia’s very close relationship. The climax of the episode involves them holding hands while climbing the Campanile (on a side note, I’ve been to Venice and I didn’t know I could’ve climbed it. Damn).
In a lesser show this moment would’ve been unbearably corny but instead it really was moving.
What makes Aria so good is that it slowly sucks the viewer into the show and gets them to see the world of Neo-Venezia through Akari’s eyes. So when she gets emotional over a wind chime it doesn’t seem stupid or unbelievable, it seems natural. That’s no easy feat and I’ve really got to hand it to the creators for pulling it off so well.
I’ve used far too many words by now to point out something most of us already knew: Aria is able to get even a cynical viewer to fully accept, at least for a half hour, that embarrassing remarks really are allowed.
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So many people love Aria that I don’t know why I still haven’t seen it
ARIA is very, very sincere about what it wants to express through the eyes of Akari and co., so it’s seriously hard to find a reason not to appreciate that sincerity. That no matter what, you can always find something enjoyable about whatever you do. That’s one of the reasons why the series is pretty awesome to me.
Course, I don’t know why anyone would want to spend effort trying not to acknowledge that.
blissmo: If you do start watching let me know what you think. As a word of warning, marathoning Aria is known to cause diabetes. Best to take it slow.
TheBigN: Yeah, that’s a good way to put it. Aria is nothing if not sincere about its message and for once I can’t scoff at that.