Aqua (Manga)

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Aqua ( Jap. アクア ) is a manga of Japanese illustrator Kozue Amano from 2001. The series was later under the title Aria ( アリア continued) and created three Anime - TV shows . In addition, an OVA was produced.

The series is about a world in which Mars was colonized and is largely covered by water. The work can be assigned to the genres of drama and science fiction .

content

world

At the beginning of the 23rd century, Mars was made habitable for humans. Large parts of the planet are covered by water, which is why it was renamed Aqua .

There is a city on Aqua called Neo-Venezia , which is a replica of Earth Venice. There, only gondolas are allowed to travel in the canals, all other traffic goes through the air. Most of the tourists use the gondolas. They are guided by so-called undines , female gondoliers who also sing and guide them through the city. There are three particularly well-known companies that operate gondolas: Aria Company, Himeya Company, and Orange Planet Company. As a rule, all companies de jure have a blue-eyed cat of the same name as a director (de facto: mascot), because these are considered special lucky charms on Aqua. Director Maa of Orange Planet shows that this naming convention is not always adhered to . These cats are also particularly intelligent when they cannot talk either.

An aquarium year lasts exactly two earth years, which is why there is a separate time calculation (AC: Aqua Calendar) with 24 months per year, with 6 months each forming a season. The inhabitants of the planet celebrate their “real” birthday only once per aquarium year; Staggered 12 months in the AC calendar, they celebrate an “additional birthday”.

Aqua is a world in which there are many inexplicable phenomena, a world of ghosts, dreams and wonders, which, however, exists unnoticed by most of the inhabitants, for whom these are just tales and tales.

action

Akari Mizunashi, a girl, comes from Earth to Neo-Venezia to become Undine. In order to fulfill this dream, she begins an apprenticeship at the Aria Company. Your teacher will be Alicia Florence, one of the three best undines in town. Soon she befriends Aika S. Granzchesta from Himeya and Alice Carroll from Orange Planet, who are also apprentices. In the following time Akari and her friends try to become the best undines in town. During their journeys through the city, they meet a wide variety of people and stories.

Although in the course of the total of 14 volumes (2 Aqua and 12 Aria) the different seasons appear several times on Aqua, the entire story takes place in the years 2301 to 2303. These four earth years would correspond to 2 aquarium years, but at least 3 full aquarium years will pass in the course of the plot.

Characters

Akari Mizunashi ( 水 無 灯 里 )

16-year-old Akari is very curious and marveled at everything new to her in the strange city. She is always open and friendly and gets along well with everyone. Akari has the ability to recognize the wonders of Aqua and in time it becomes part of the secret world of Aqua itself.

Alicia Florence ( ア リ シ ア ・ フ ロ ー レ ン ス )

Akari's 19-year-old teacher is also named as one of the three best undines of Neo-Venezia, Snow White ( 白 き 妖精 ). She is also one of the most popular undines and is always cheerful, often giggles and likes to tease others.

Aika S. Granzchesta ( 藍 華 ・ S ・ グ ラ ン チ ェ ス タ )

Akari's girlfriend is also 16 years old. She is the daughter of the owner of the Himeya company and is supposed to inherit the company, which she is not looking forward to too much. She is a talented Undine and very proud of it. Her teacher is Akira E. Ferrari ( 晃 ・ E ・ フ ェ ラ ー リ ), who is also one of the three best undines in Neo-Venezia. However, she also worships Alicia Florence of the Aria Company.

Alice Carroll ( ア リ ス ・ キ ャ ロ ル )

14-year-old Alice is very talented for her age and can therefore keep up with her older friends. She is trained by Athena Glory ( ア テ ナ ・ グ ロ ー リ ィ ), the third of the three best undines from Neo-Venezia.

Akatsuki Izumo ( 出 雲 暁 )

Akatsuki works as a salamander on one of the flying islands, but often comes to Neo-Venezia. There he mostly spends his time with Akari and likes to stimulate her. He often talks about loving Alicia, but is also drawn to Akari. He has a big brother who often drives him white hot.

Manga

Aqua

The manga Aqua by Kozue Amano was published from July 2001 to October 2002 in Stencil magazine by Enix . The chapters were summarized in two anthologies ( Tankōbon ).

The series has been translated into English, French, Spanish and Italian, among others. The two German volumes were published by Tokyopop in September 2006 and January 2007. The translation is by Keiko Ando.

Aria

As of November 2002, the series was released Aqua entitled Aria in the magazine Comic Blade of Mag Garden . The series ended with the publication of the last chapter in April 2008. The manga is also published in twelve tankōbon summarized.

The manga has been translated into English, Spanish and Italian. In German, the manga appeared incomplete in two volumes on August 28, 2006 and December 1, 2006 by Tokyopop . A new edition was also published by Tokyopop on December 22, 2009 and was completed on March 10, 2011 in six double volumes.

Anime

Television broadcast
Original title Aria The Animation /
Aria The Natural /
Aria The Origination
Country of production Japan
original language Japanese
Year (s) 2005-2008
length 25 minutes
Episodes 52 in 3 seasons
genre Drama , science fiction
idea Kozue Amano
production Shigeru Tateishi, Tetsuo Uchida, Yasutaka Hyūga, Hisao Iizuka, Shinsaku Hatta, Shinya Tagashira
music Choro Club , Takeshi Senoo
First broadcast October 5, 2005–28. December 2005 on AT-X , TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Osaka, TV Q Kyushu, TV Setouchi, TV Tokyo
synchronization

In 2005, the studio produced Hal Filmmaker a 13-part anime - television series to manga Aria entitled Aria The Animation . Here led Junichi Sato Director, character design designed Makoto Koga and the artistic direction took Junichiro Nishikawa. The series was broadcast on October 5, 2005 on TV Osaka , and a few days later began broadcasting on AT-X , TV Aichi, TV Hokkaido, TV Q Kyūshū, TV Setōchi and TV Tokyo . The first broadcast on TV Osaka lasted until December 28, 2005.

In 2006, a second season with 26 episodes was produced under the title Aria The Natural , with Hiroshi Yoshikawa as artistic director. The GAINAX and Production IG studios were also involved in the production. The season aired from April 2, 2006 to September 24, 2006 on AT-X, TV Aichi, TV Osaka and TV Tokyo.

On September 21, 2007, a 30-minute OVA entitled Aria The OVA - Arietta was released. The OVA was previously broadcast on September 2nd on the AT-X transmitter.

A third season called Aria The Origination was produced in 2007 and 2008. Kenichi Tajiri was the artistic director for this season. The 13-episode series aired on January 7 through March 31, 2008 on AT-X, TV Aichi, TV Osaka and TV Tokyo.

The three-part OVA Aria The Avvenire was released between September 24, 2015 and June 24, 2016 . The artistic director is Masahiro Satō and the animations are produced by TYO Animations .

Animax also broadcast the first two seasons of the series in South Korea . The American company Right Stuf licensed the anime for North America and plans to release it on DVD in September 2008.

synchronization

role Japanese speaker ( seiyū )
Akari Mizunashi Erino Hazuki
Alicia Florence Sayaka Ōhara
Aika S. Granzchesta Khiva Saitō
Alice Carroll Ryō Hirohashi
Akatsuki Izumo Hirofumi Nojima

music

The music for the series was produced by Choro Club and Takeshi Senoo . The opening credits of the first season were Undine by Yui Makino, and the credits were Rainbow by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino . The following songs were used in the second season:

Opening credits

  • Euforia by Yui Makino
  • Undine by Yui Makino
  • Euforia ~ Hikigatari ver ~ by Yui Makino

Credits

  • Natsumachi by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino
  • Smile Again by Erino Hazuki
  • Rainbow by ROUND TABLE feat. Nino

For the OVA Nanairo no Sora o by SONOROUS was used as the opening credits, Ashita, Yuugure Made by Erino Hazuki for the credits. The opening credits of the third season, Spirale , were sung by Yui Makino, the closing credits Kin no Nami Sen no Nami was produced by Akino Arai.

Further adaptations

radio play

Several radio plays have been released on CD for Aria and Aqua. The characters are spoken by different speakers than in the anime.

Books

Several art books and a guide through the world of Aqua were published for Aqua and Aria .

In addition, two light novels were published by Mag Garden in January 2008 . Mizu no Miyako to Kanashiki Utahime no Monogatari ( 水 の 都 と 哀 し き 歌 姫 の 物語 ) was written by Ayuna Fujisaki . The second, Shiki no Kaze no Okurimono ( 四季 の 風 の 贈 り 物 ) comes from Mari Okada , Ayuna Fujisaki, Tatsuhiko Urahata and Reiko Yoshida.

reception

Dirk Deppey from Comic Journal speaks of Aqua and Aria as “one of the best comic series for elementary school girls ” and “a masterpiece of storytelling and illustration”. The series was recognized for the magic of the images and the futuristic world. The drawings are rich in detail and the lines are clear. According to Christel Scheja from Splashcomics, the story is about enthusiasm for a job that one has dreamed of and friendship between colleagues. The drawings are warm-hearted and the story is told calmly and very contemplative. However, there is a lack of tension and highlights.

The anime was voted one of the 100 most popular television anime in a 2006 poll by TV Asahi .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Announcement page of the Avvenire OVAs , accessed on December 19, 2015
  2. ↑ Anime News Network on American licensing
  3. ↑ Dirk Deppey in the Comic Journal on January 24, 2007
  4. ↑ Erica Friedman in Okazu , February 8, 2005
  5. ↑ Kai Ming-Cha on IGN , October 23, 2007
  6. ↑ Review in Splashcomics by Cristel Scheja on volume 1
  7. ↑ Anime News Network on TV Asahi's 2006 survey results

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