Aria the Animation - Episode 1: That Wonderful Miracle...

Welcome!

Welcome to Aria Company, a water-guide company in the 24^th century on the planet Aqua – formerly known as Mars.  Humans, being as cool as they are, decided that they wanted to live on Mars and so they terraformed it so it is habitable. Mars was then renamed to Aqua since it ended up covered in oceans. Now everyone on the planet Aqua travels using 24^th century space gondolas.

Ara,Ara.

Judging from the reason he called, Akatsuki is indeed very busy.

Aria the Animation begins at the beginning of a day in the life of Akari and Alicia, with Aria, the space cat president of their company.  Along with some relaxing music, Akari and Alicia both prepare for their usual day of work and then Alicia sends off on her space gondola, leaving Akari and Aria behind.  Immediately after, Alicia, being the perfect well-mannered lady she is, gets a phone call back at Aria Company from her fan, Akatsuki.  After picking up the phone, Akari is briefly insulted by Akatsuki for picking up the phone while he was listening to Alicia's answering machine and then hangs up.

Who doesn't dream of becoming a gondolier?

This episode we are briefly introduced to our cute, and love-able main character, Akari.  Akari is a young pink haired immigrant from earth, determined to become a professional gondolier on Neo-Venezia.

There's no possible way she can find her.

Coincidence?

It's clever because it's the original home of man.

Yes, yes I am.

Right before Akari goes to practice, she finds an unfamiliar girl chilling in her training gondola.  The girl uses her persuasion skills on Akari and ends up getting a free gondola ride from her. During Akari's training run, she talks about Earth, which is now called "Man-Home", and why it's more convenient than Aqua. Even so, Akari still ends up liking Aqua better because it is so much more inconvenient.  Akari also realizes that this girl in her gondola is the one who called her earlier, and finds out that her name is Ai, much to the dismay of Ai.

To put it bluntly.

Who doesn't?

This ride has neither.

This episode also introduces another fellow undine, Aika.  Aika is an undine from another company called "Himeya".  Aika has dark blue hair and also shares my admiration of Alicia. 

I've never seen one of those before. 

I never would've thought.

President Aria and his shenanigans.

Akari, Aika, President Aria, and Ai all take a break from riding in a gondola for a healthy lunch of buttered potatoes on the riverside.  While they are all talking and bonding, President Aria observes a seagull on a pole in the river and decides to mimic it.  He slips down the pole after he jumps on it and floats down the river.  All the girls notice this after their healthy meal and proceed to retrieve President Aria.

Don't forget seat belts.

Best character.

Aika reveals to Ai that Akari was a great back paddler back on Man-Home, and lets Akari row the gondola to go after President Aria.  After a short chase scene, a large airship descends right between Akari's gondola and President Aria.  The waves created stop Akari and block their view of President Aria.  President Aria seemed to have drowned but he is spotted soon after with Alicia closing in on him.  Alicia swoops in and saves President Aria rather stylishly in front of her customers and Akari and the others.

I do.

Miracle's are wonderful.

While heading back home, Ai admits that she hated Aqua and Neo-Venezia before.  Her older sister had her honeymoon in Neo-Venezia and when she returned home, she bragged about it to Ai a lot.  Ai decided to go to Neo-Venezia with her parents to experience it first-hand but it didn't seem so special to her.  Ai's older sister bragged the most about Alicia's gondola ride so that's why Ai called earlier to schedule a ride with Alicia.  Alicia was too booked so Ai asked Akari if she could ride with her.  Ai then tells Akari that she enjoyed riding and eating with her and Aika and she plans to boast to her sister when she gets home. Akari is happy to hear this but she tells Ai that her sister might not have been bragging.  Akari tells Ai that her older sister might've just wanted to tell Ai about her trip because that's what people who love each other do. Ai immediately understands her older sister's feelings and thanks Akari and Aika for that.

I think you mean Alicia.

Fan mail.

Great episode.

At the end of the day, Ai brings her parents to thank Akari and gives her a letter for Alicia from Ai's older sister.  Ai tells Akari that she wants to ride with her the next time she comes to Aqua and then both of them exchange goodbyes.  Akari gives Alicia the letter from Ai's older sister and Alicia reminisces about the time she gave them a ride.  Ai's sister and her husband had a fight in the gondola because of parts of her husband that she didn't like.  Alicia told Akari that they made up later and she said that the couple looks happy in their letter.  Akari then tells Alicia that liking something that you didn't like is a miracle.

Analysis:

In this episode, we are introduced to a lot of characters.  First is the clumsy but kind Akari.  Akari is kind to others and always thinks positively.  She may not be the sharpest tool in the shed but she is an honestly good person and cares a lot about her friends. Throughout the episode, Akari talks informally to both Aika and Ai, showing that she thinks of them both as good friends.
Next we are introduced to Akari's good friend Aika.  Even though Aika is from a rival gondolier company, she appears to be on good terms with Akari.  Aika is a blunt person and won't hesitate to point out things that are wrong like how Ai is a "free-rider".  Despite this, Aika still lets Ai ride without much of an argument, proving that she wants to be a nice and good person. Aika tries to cover up her embarrassment with her catchphrase, "Embarrasing remarks aren't allowed!"
This episode also introduces us to Ai, a young girl who doesn't have a very positive look on Aqua. In the beginning, Ai dislikes Aqua but because of Akari and Aika's kindness towards her, her view of Aqua slowly changes. A sign of this is when Ai is eating the buttered potatoes, which she remembers not enjoying much but tells the cook that they were really good. In the end, Ai admits that she dislikes Aqua because of how her sister bragged about how fun it was. Akari tells Ai that this is a misunderstanding and that her sister told her how fun it was because people "want to talk about the things [they] like" to people that they love.  This clears Ai's misunderstanding of her sister and her dislike of Aqua turns into a love for it.
Alicia is also briefly introduced in this episode.  Alicia is an older sister type of character who looks after others. Alicia is kind and seems to be very experienced with people.  At the end of the episode, Alicia is able to immediately understand Ai's feelings and provides great insight on this episodes theme of relationships.
This episode also introduces President Aria and Akatsuki.  President Aria, who is a cat from Aqua, is energetic but is also very clumsy. Akatsuki is a cocky man who speaks of himself very highly when talking. He uses "ore-sama" to address himself even though honorifics such as -sama are usually used for others. Both of these characters don't play a very big role in this episode.
The theme of this episode was about points of view and how changing it can turn a dislike for something into a love for it. Besides Ai's journey on learning to love Aqua and her sister more, her sister is also said to have changed her dislike for her husband to a more stronger love during their trip to Aqua.  Both Akari and Alicia dismiss this as a wonderful miracle made by Ai and her sister, which is why this episode is called, "That Wonderful Miracle".
The setting of the story is set in the 24^th century but there isn't a lot of high-tech gadgets or anything around.  In fact, some of the things in Neo-Venezia are low tech.  This keeps the story relaxing and doesn't distract too much from Akari's adventure and the main theme of the episode. This is focused on a lot in the episode.  The choice in music and the colors both are very docile and give off a relaxing feeling. This lets the characters and the main theme stand out much more.