Product Details

• Actors: Aria
• Directors: Right Stuf
• Format: Animated, Box set, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled
• Language: Japanese
• Subtitles: English
• Region: All Regions
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 4
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: RIGHT STUF
• DVD Release Date: September 30, 2008
• Run Time: 325 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001BN4WA4
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #51,969 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

ARIA:ANIMATION DVD COLLECTION - DVD Movie

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's not shoujo, lol..., January 3, 2009

By 

Nat - See all my reviews

This review is from: Aria the Animation Season 1 (DVD)

This Solomon Amazon reviewer is an idiot. First off, Aria is not a shoujo series. I can't say exactly what it is... it's not exactly seinen, but it is most definitely not shoujo. (I've read/watched hundreds of shoujo manga/anime... I know shoujo when I see it) This guy name-throws in Azumanga Daioh (is it the one other anime he's seen?) even though it has absolutely nothing in common with Aria. Azumanga isn't even slice-of-life. Yes, there is a genre name for this kind of show. It's "slice-of-life." There is no overarching plot or intense drama. It's a subtler form of escapism, and it's only boring for "older viewers" with zero attention span and no appreciation for this kind of anime. This isn't really a kids anime, either. I'd think most kids would be bored to death by Aria. Like Kokoro Toshokan (another slice-of-life anime--not as good as Aria, but worth a look nonetheless), it takes you to a very romanticized version of the world, and eases you into its pace for a while.

That said, I was not so -very- impressed when watching the first season for the first time. I thought it merely a fairly good show. It was during the second season that I really fell in love with Neo-Venezia and its characters. By the third season it was one of my favorite anime of all time.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Calm, Peaceful and Lovely..., October 27, 2008

By 

Alanna Evans - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aria the Animation Season 1 (DVD)

ARIA is a beautifully crafted piece of anime, brought to life by Junichi Sato (Sailor Moon, Kaliedo Star and others). His optimistic characters shine through and this "slice of life" series about gondoliers on a foreign idyllic water planet called Aqua has life and substance. The stories are as light as air, and deal with three girls and their mentors as they train their hardest and most earnestly to become Prima Undines, gondaliers who scull boats through the water canals of a Neo-Venice.

The color and art design are breathtaking, water lapping, gorgeous blues and golds washing the screen to give a cool, soft feel. There are the typical episodes, such as the one where the girls go on a mission to train, but the training turns out to be different than they expect. A cat goes missing. There's a trip back into time to see the past in the present's eyes. There is the hot springs episode, the holiday episode... but its all well done and has a calm, uplifting feel to it all.

Those who enjoyed series such as Haibane Remnei, Somedays Dreamers and other slow moving, slice of life series will find themselves right at home here. It's calming, beautiful to watch and has a charming sense to it too.

All 13 episodes are represented from the first season/series. Japanese language with English subtitles (there is NO dub). An array of bonus features populate the four discs, including one that shows clips of the director in Venice (with commentary) by Sato, which is quite entertaining.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Addictive and beautiful, February 4, 2010

By 

D. J. Eddyshaw (Swansea United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Aria the Animation Season 1 (DVD)

The Amazon reviewer is completely out of it, as other reviewers have rightly said.

In fairness, it's not easy to describe this series in a way which conveys just how good it is, and why it creates that "just one more" feeling which makes you watch half the episodes at a sitting ...

There's no plot worth mentioning, the setting is about as close to paradise as you will ever see, and all the characters are just so ... nice. By rights it ought to be terminally dull and horribly twee. It isn't, but it's not so easy to explain why not.

I think what makes this special is that, strangely, there is always, somewhere in the background, a deep melancholy. The planet Aqua is a paradise, sure, but it wasn't always so; people suffered and died to make it the way it is, and in some way, the planet remembers. The Undines' life is blissful, but they know they will grow up and leave this life one day. The effect is a bit like remembering a very happy childhood, from a perspective of maturity; a happy time that it's delightful to remember, but which will never come again.

The reviewer has it quite wrong for this reason. The series is much more likely to appeal to older viewers than to small girls, who won't pick up on the sadness, or will just be mystified or bored.

"Aria" certainly isn't for everybody. It's just about the polar opposite of a Giant Mecha anime. But people on its wavelength will want to buy all three of the series, believe me.