[G. Zeus]

Clearly appealing to widely-accepted qualities like friendship, kindness, and so on, provides common ground through which all viewers can relate to the show on the same level. This further emphasizes the show's primary message, which revolves around the "quintessential human experience" that transcends time, space, circumstance, and the individual human heart. In other words, didactic moral-driven stories (as with all fables and parables) provide the framework for a universally-shared understanding and appreciation of the principle being conveyed. Even if it doesn't leave room for interpretation, it strikes a chord that resonates with our sentimentality and human nature, and I think that's really what the show's about.

Well, different strokes for different folks. The themes may be universal but the manner in which it was presented might not appeal to all. If the show's operating at your resonance frequency, then good for you. May you become a better person for it.

I just think that it would have been more effective if the main character was someone who was between the two extremes of Akari and Holden Caulfield, someone who sees the world as it is and appreciates it despite its flaws and bad times without resorting to romanticism.

Originally Posted by relentlessflame

But, personally, I don't think I'd change a thing in that regard. If the writers feel they need to so bluntly brandish such basic human qualities in front of us so we can see, once again, what's really important in life, it's probably because we could all use the reminder. I find that reminder, and that appeal to my sentimentality, to be a reward all its own.

It serves as a good reminder for those who have forgotten and those who never knew. For fans of slice of life works though, it doesn't offer anything new or unique. After 13 + 26 = 39 episodes of notifying viewers of how wonderful the world is, perhaps it's time to move on to something less sugar-coated.


All in all, it's a good series (ARIA in general). The music is soothing, the animation is fluid, the setting is beautiful, some of the characters are interesting and amusing, the themes are appropriate for all audiences, there's no fanservice, unnecessary violence, etc. It's an excellent package overall. So why not take it to an even higher level and make it more sublime?

Originally Posted by Taliesin

Aria should have its own Forum, not just threads!!!

How do we get a forum?

While i cant understand the OVA cause i dont speak japanese, it was awesome!!!

Originally Posted by Tabris

It's not popular enough (unfortunately), probably because it's MFI and most people won't go that bit more to try and find subs.

Seriously though. 1 manga series, 3 seasons of anime, a videogame somewhere, and an OAV to boot. It deserves its own forum section.