Wahaha, I was doing my usual web surfing and encountered a quiz in the crystalnova forums. Crystalnova fansubs are the subs I used in order to watch Aria the Natural because I followed them ever since Aria the animation. Even though they are very slow in finishing up the bottom half of the series, it [...]
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ARIA (アリア)ARIA, by mangaka Kozue Amano (こずえ 天野), is serialized in Mag Garden’s monthly magazine Comic Blade. There are currently 9 volumes of manga, excluding 2 volumes of Aqua which are the prequel to Aria. ARIA depicts the story of a young Undine, Akari on planet Aqua. Over these 3 years, ARIA has gained tremendous fandom and generated a diversity of merchandise on its success.Animation: Two seasons of ARIA animation has been produced. The first season ARIA the animation comprised 13 episodes and was first aired in 2005. It was also released in 6 DVDs. After the success in the first season, the director and team continue to produce ARIA the Natural. ARIA the Natural was adapted as a 26 episodes series and gained much recognition and popularity. One success in the DVD sales is the bonus that comes with the DVD such as box art, clear files, postcards and even crafts.Manga & Books. There are 9 volumes of ARIA manga and 2 prequel Aqua released, as well as a novel. Kozue Amano has made a success out of ARIA due to her artistic and dedicated artworks, especially in the colour settings. There were 2 guidebooks, 2 calendars (desktop & wall version), 3 artbooks and a poster book released. There also a poster book, a guide and calendar scheduled for release at the end of year. Furthermore, 3 monthly undines have been released and came with bonus toys.Soundtracks: With just two seasons of Aria animation adaptation, it has produced 15 albums in just two years time. Aria the animation has generated 2 Drama CDs, 3 Characters CDs, 2 singles and 1 OST album. Aria the natural generated 2 Drama CDs, 2 singles, 1 OST album, 1 Piano collection and a vocal collection.Merchandise Another success of ARIA is the massive variety of merchandise available. These include items such as keychain, cups and bowls, straps, necklace, card holder, stickers, notepad, mat, tray, towel, clock, pouch, calculator, plush, tissue and underlay. ARIA has also released a number of figures.In addition an ARIA PS2 game has been scheduled for release in November 2006. The graphics and settings are impressive. There is both limited and regular edition as well as a single CD for its theme. The limited edition would feature many bonuses such as pins, single CD and SD figures.My Sentiments:Many would have thought that a manga or animation such as ARIA which depicts the spice of life genre would not make a hit. However, many are wrong and its merchandises are widely sought after. The reasons for the huge success in ARIA are the artworks and the merchandises that emerged from it. There are also incentives such as gifts to purchase the DVDs as well as the books. The diversity range of merchandises would easily market its popularity to fans. In addition, the dedicated effort in the director and the animation team add to the success of ARIA.
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Another day another wonderful item arriving at my doorstep. A package arriving from Amazon Japan and it was none other than the Amano Kozue Illustration Works III -Cielo- and the ARIA the ANIMATION Original Soundtrack. Having bought the first two books, Alpha and Stella, whilst I was in Japan earlier this year I was absolutely [...]
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Also arriving today was the first volume to Monthly Undine and an armband of the Student Council from Da Capo 2. Something I have been looking forward to ever since I saw the pre-release info, and finally it is now here. Monthly Undine is exactly like the magazine that is seen in ARIA The Animation [...]
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I haven't watched much Aria episodes lately and that have left big gap into my fanboy section. I mean, it's already 3 posts without a mention about undines and even the last one included offtopic just half of the post. Such a disgrace so I had to fix the situation somehow, by posting these wallpapers. You may know that I use word 'hot' rarely (if ever) when talking about anime characters, but this
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Pretty slow today, so I thought I'd respond to this post by Stripey over at Hontou ni Taihen desu. A bit different since my interests are a bit different ;) Here are my favorites in no particular order, along with what I've watched from each studio and some people you might see showing up frequently in the credits for the studio's works (if I can think of any). Kyoto Animation What I've seen: AIR, Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuuutsu People: Tatsuya Ishihara (director), Hiroshi Yamamoto (script/storyboard/episode director), Akiko Ikeda (character design) Strengths: KyoAni quality -- the beautiful backgrounds and character design, the ridiculously high quality animation that stays high quality throughout an entire series, and unrelenting attention to every last detail. If you watched AIR or are watching Haruhi now you already knew that ;) Weaknesses: Tends to be faithful to a fault to the original works of the anime they do -- in Haruhi's case, leaving those who haven't read the original work behind with the experimental series composition (jumping around) and by bringing that in episode 1. Will they be able to maintain that "KyoAni quality" for all 24 episodes (their longest work) of Kanon this fall? SHAFT What I've Seen: Tsukuyomi ~MOON PHASE~, Paniponi Dash! People: Akiyuki Shinbou (director), Ken'ichi Kanemaki (script/series composition), Kazuhiru Oota (character design) Strengths: When I think SHAFT, the first thing that comes to mind is director Akiyuki Shinbou and his very unique sense of style, especially usage of shadows and color. Just take a look at the OPs for Tsukuyomi and Paniponi Dash to see what I mean. I enjoyed both shows a lot, and SHAFT has been improving the technical side of things with each show they've done. Weaknesses: Akiyuki Shinbou's directorial style takes some getting used to if you haven't seen one of his works before, though his work on Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (with Seven Arcs) was rather normal compared to Tsukuyomi or Paniponi. Consistent animation quality is another issue -- Tsukuyomi's ranged from excellent to downright bad. They did a better job with Paniponi Dash!, but will they be able to do even better and live up to expectations for Negima this fall? They also tend to take a lot of liberty with interpreting the original work -- in Paniponi Dash's case, it alienated fans of the manga who couldn't keep up with its pace. If they do that with Negima it ain't gonna be pretty (^^;;) Seven Arcs What I've Seen: Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha, Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's, Inukami! People: Keizou Kusakawa (director), Yasuhiro Okuda (character design), Yoshinari Saitou (episode director/storyboard/animation director) Strengths: Seven Arcs firmly established itself with its work on Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha with director Akiyuki Shinbou, garnering quite high praise from mahou shoujo fans, including me of course ;) They further reinforced that impression with Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha A's the following year, even with a change in director from the first season of the show. They're capable of very high quality animation, especially detailed battle scenes as seen in Nanoha. Definitely a studio to keep your eye on. Weaknesses: A very new studio with not much experience. The animation quality in Nanoha wasn't consistent from episode to episode, and the same issue is showing in Inukami now. Yoshinari Saitou's interpretation of the character designs in episodes where he's animation director strays too far from the original (known as "Velka-style" animation among otaku familiar with the studio), making it seem like the animation has significantly dropped in quality, even though there's usually more detailed movement. When are we going to see a Nanoha-quality battle in Inukami? (though that might just be the nature of Inukami there, hehe) HAL Film Maker What I've Seen: Princess Tutu, Kaleido Star (original creator, Jun'ichi Satou), Uta~Kata, Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime, Bokusatsu Tenshi Dokuro-chan, ARIA The Animation, Fushigiboshi no Futago Hime Gyu!, ARIA The Natural People: Jun'ichi Satou (director), Shougo Koumoto (director), Keiji Gotou (storyboard/animator, director for gimik works like Uta~Kata) Strengths: Home to one of my favorite directors, Jun'ichi Satou. I don't think there's been anything of his that I haven't absolutely loved. Lots of other talented people there as well -- no better place to learn than under the supervision of Satou-san. I can watch what HAL Film Maker does without worrying too much about anything. Weaknesses: Animation isn't quite as technically impressive as other studios. Some issues with consistency, especially when working on more than one thing at a time. J.C. Staff What I've Seen: A Little Snow Fairy Sugar, Azumanga Daioh, Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto (Someday's Dreamers), Mahoraba, Sensei no Ojikan, Gokujou Seitokai, Shakugan no Shana Strengths: A studio I'm very familiar with since I've watched many of their works. And I've liked pretty much all that I've seen :) They work on a wide variety of shows as Stripey mentioned, a lot of which come in my range of interest. Weaknesses: Depends more on the kind of work they're doing. Gokujou Seitokai, for example, seemed to suffer from a lower budget than most of their other works, so animation quality wasn't quite up to their usual standards, though I still enjoyed the show.
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