For the purpose of this review, I’m going to write a review for both people who have watched the Aria anime already, and who have not and are only reading the manga.

----

Review for those HAVE NOT watched the anime:

Aria is a very nice and relaxing slice of life manga that definitely deserves reading.

One interesting thing about Aria is that it can be a bit hard to recommend to other people. Basically you follow the 3 main characters: Akari Mizunashi, Aika Granzchesta, and Alice Caroll as they work hard to become great undines… which are basically tour gondola rowers.

While that might seem a bit odd, in the world they’re in, it actually fits pretty well!

Like most slice-of-lifes, besides the goal of becoming better undine, there is no big concrete “plot” to follow. Basically every chapter is a new adventure through the relaxing yet mysterious world of Neo-Venezia. A majority of the chapters consist of the main characters interacting with each other, or doing random things that people in regular life do today like visiting a coffee shop. However, there are also a bunch of “supernatural” events that happen throughout the story, and they usually involve Akari and… cats. But they’re still entertaining and they fits well with the fact that Aria is already a whole new world to the viewer.

Even if in most of the chapters there is “nothing that happens”, make no mistake, the characters themselves still get a good amount of development throughout the series, and it’s very nice slow and smooth just like the series.

Speaking of the characters, I would have to say every single one of the characters is very likable, including the minor characters. However, the 3 main characters and their mentors are easily the best characters in the show, and their likable personalities will definitely keep you interested throughout the story.


Overall, Aria is a very likable manga series with some nice stories, great characters, good character development, and it just knows how to make you feel warm and fuzzy inside. I definitely recommend reading it!


(This is my first review. If you can, If you put whether you thought this review was helpful or not can I have some constructive criticism of why you think so? Thanks!)
----


Review for those HAVE watched the anime:

Basically the majority of the actual content is about the same. There are a whole lot of differences though. A lot of the content featured in Aria the Animation is actually covered in the manga “Aqua”. The character “Ai” was actually a filler character in the anime, and does not appear in chapters where she would normally appear in the anime… except for the last chapter, since the author decided to put her in.

The actual order of the chapters is actually quite a bit different compared to the order the episodes aired in each season. Not only that, but you may get a few chapters that you saw in Aria the Natural then all of a sudden you may get a chapter that was from Aria the Origination or Animation or vice-versa.

As you go through the manga you’ll notice that there are a whole bunch of episodes missing.. that’s because each season had about 3-5 episodes of filler each.

Also, there are roughly 5-8 chapters that were not covered in the original anime. I’m actually a bit surprised that they left these out since all of them were great, but I suppose it may have been a bit hard to find a nice spot to fit them in. Probably the most important one (in my opinion) is a slightly better resolution to the whole “Cat Sith” ordeal. If you wanted more of this particular character, definitely read the manga for this.

One thing that I actually liked about the manga more was that it was a bit easier to read at your own speed, since the anime tends to go a bit slower than the original manga chapters (however you may or may not agree with me).

I’d say if you enjoyed the anime a lot, it definitely would not be a bad idea to read through Aqua than through the Aria manga.

(This is my first review. If you can, If you put whether you thought this review was helpful or not can I have some constructive criticism of why you think so? Thanks!)