Lyrics for the full versions of UNDINE and RAINBOW have been added to the ARIA the Animation section.

(Unfortunately I am not able to provide the full versions. Please support ARIA by buying the official CDs!)

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yes! I have added information about the anime!!!:) (there's not much right now, but there IS an updated cast list, a link to the official site). I plan to put up episode summaries and screenshots soon!

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 02:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I got the first 3 volumes of Amano-sensei's Crescent Noise off eBay - the Japanese editions (which are a good bit bigger than I expected). However! at the back of vol 3 it says "To Be Continued in Vol 4."O_O As it is said, Cripes.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 03:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Just checked in on aria.sunnyday.jp to find that the site has been significantly reduced. The message on the front says, in effect, that Amano-sensei has been too busy to manage the site and even has fallen behind on fan letters, and is cutting back. There's no other meaning to this (sweatdrop for emphasis) and Amano-sensei would like to keep renewing information briskly.

Kawaiiso Amano-sensei! Odaijini kudasai!

(Status of the site: All the finished color artwork has been removed, although the rough sketches are still up. The photogallery is still up.)

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It appears that ADV is involved in the production of the anime in some way.

I found this in a staff listing [credit: F.A.T.] One of the entries for Aria is simply "Mag Garden x AD Vision", which doesn't say very much, but it is certainly telling.

Other info I was able to see: the debut is scheduled for Fall 2005, and a broadcaster has not yet been determined. Also of note: many of the staff, including director Junichi Sato, worked on Kaleido Star.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:58 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Comic Blade finally has the current issue listed on its site (the one with the Aria cover). I'm going to LA for Anime Expo next month, and my 2 main goals are:
1) Get that issue of Comic Blade
2) Shake down any ADV executives I see for info about vol 4
3) Look for info on the anime

I'm beginning to wonder if the Aria anime will debut this summer. I didn't see anything about it at the Tokyo Anime Fair, and I was looking. Two months between the announcement and debut seems really short. Then again, the Tsubasa Chronicle anime was formally announced only a couple months before its debut, and nobody seemed to know before then that it was even in production. (The downside is that the Tsubasa anime is really not that great...XD)

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Amano-sensei has posted a picture of the first set of Aria figures along with the model sketches.

omg so cute. I hope Sasuga will get these special edition issues.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It's gratifying to see that Aria is more popular than I thought.:) All the major anime news sites - AnimeNation, Anime News Network, and Anime on DVD - have mentioned Animate.tv's announcement now. All mention a July start date, which I still have been unable to verify personally; and Amano-sensei's site hasn't been updated since May 21.

I wonder which groups will sub it when it begins. I certainly don't have the ability to do so, but when it begins I'll do my best to keep up with the episodes.

Continue reading "Aria anime announcements hit press" »

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 01:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Animate.tv has confirmed that the ARIA anime is in production! No details about a premiere date or series length in the piece, but more information will be in the August issue of Comic Blade which goes on sale in June... Hey, that's this month!:)

...it figures that this news would be confirmed the day AFTER the big site update.XD

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Yay, the update! Added more character pages (Alice, Akira and Athena) and cover scans and info for Aqua and Aria 4-6 and the drama CD.

:edit:...d'oh. broken links all over the place. I think I found them all, but if anyone finds any, please leave a comment and I'll get to it asap.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OMEDETO TANJOUBI AMANO-SENSEI!!!

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

(Thanks to Aria fanlisting's Mazzie for this update!:)

According to this ad, Aria vols 7 & 8 will have special editions that come with chibi-figures of Akari, Aika, Alice, Alicia, Akira and Athena. From what I can tell, the Akari, Aika and Alice figures will come with vol 7 with one half of a gondola, and vol 8 will have Alicia, Akira and Athena with the other half, and the two gondola halves will fit together. Sounds really cute.:)

Release dates:
Vol 7: September 10, 2005
Vol 8: January 10, 2006

Each special edition volume will cost ¥1600 (about US$15). Which is not too bad, considering the regular volumes cost about ¥525.

There are also rumblings of a TV anime, but I'm holding out for confirmation on Amano-sensei's site. (btw, Aria-shachou's tail is flipping again...:) It may already be there, but I can't read Japanese fast enough, so bear with me if I keep my enthusiasm in check for a bit longer.:)

Misc housekeeping: Yes, the big site update IS coming. :) I've been kind of HTML-d out working on my friend's site, to get it updated in time for the summer con season (my goal, not hers). Please visit if you wish!

:edit: I read too fast. Vol 8 actually comes out January 10 2006, not October 6.XD

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

In case anyone cares, I do plan a big site update soon... I promise. I just have to get through tonight's Japanese class.XD

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 09:21 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

It's no wonder everyone on Aqua is crazy for Alicia, since she's got the voice of a goddess!:D On the drama CD, Alicia is played by Inoue Kikuko, better known as the voice of Belldandy.

The CD booklet also reveals some information about Alicia and Aika. Alicia is Alicia Florence and she's 19 (!), and Aika is Aika S. Granzchesta (and is 16). And Aria-shachou's last name is Pokoteng. I am not making this up.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm back from Japan! A few Aria-related updates:
- The third water fairy's name is At(h?)ena. Apparently she sings. Personality-wise she seems to be quite a gloomy and/or anemic person. She's Alice's sempai.
- In addition to Aria, Aqua and Crescent Noise, Amano-sensei did a high school romance series called Roman Club and a series of short stories (I think these feature the Roman Club characters, but I haven't been able to figure them out) during her stint with Enix's G-Fantasy. These were published in tankoubon format under the GanGan Comics (GC) imprint.
- I had the opportunity to speak with a manga editor for Enix's manga line. He said that Mag Garden now owns the rights to republish ALL of Amano-sensei's GanGan Comics works, so there's a good chance that Crescent Noise will be reprinted under the Mag Garden imprint. So far from the GC imprint, the short stories and Aqua have been reprinted by Mag Garden (with new covers!) This explains why there have been 2 sets of covers seen for Aqua.
- Stella is out! Quite pretty. Contains color art up to vol 6 of the Aria manga, and more color art from Roman Club and short stories.
Whew! That's all I have for now. I will scan the covers of Stella and the GC tankoubon at a later date.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 09:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Reading the transcript of current Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's keynote at GDC, I noticed he mentioned that he was part of the group that created Mother, a game that Amano-sensei notes as one of her favorites. Iwata-san mentioned in his speech that Mother was released as Earthbound in the US, a crucial clue. So I went to look it up, and here's what I found. Amano-sensei has good taste.:)

In other news, Amano-sensei has posted some interesting new sketches on the Aria site, featuring a woman in an Orange Planet uniform. (from the home page, click the middle graphic (chibi-Akari) and click on the 2nd-to-last dot in the last row of large dots. sorry I can't be more specific.) It's not Alice, as she has no gloves, so I'm guessing that this is the third Water Fairy. I don't see anything that would be her name - nothing in the captions starts with "A." XD The first caption reads "Dougare kyuuden no nakaniwa" (Doges' Palace Courtyard?) and the second caption is "Dougare kyuuden no shirou no you desu" (Seems like Doges' palace castle[?]), so I think the setting is the Neo-Venezia version of the Doges' Palace in present-day Venice.

Why does she look so sad?

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

MangaOne is doing scanlations of Aqua!
IRC: #mangaone@irc.rizon.net
(An IRC tutorial, just in case)
it's nice to have something to compare my own pathetic attempts against. :) Ganbatte, MangaOne!

...now if only they wouldn't translate Neo-Venezia as New Venice...^^; Neo-Venezia is so much more elegant.

: http links removed as courtesy to siteowners :

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 10:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Sasuga brought some Japanese Aria volumes to their booth at Katsucon, so I stole a quick glance under the dustjackets. As suspected, there are little 4-panel omake there, that I hadn't seen in the English-language editions. I'm going to wait till I go to Tokyo next month to get them (hopefully Mandarake in Nakano will have them so I don't have to pay full price.XD)

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 09:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

According to Amano-sensei's home page, her second artbook, "Stella", will be released March 29! And I'll be in Tokyo on that day! YAY!!!

In other news, Aria-shachou no longer moves. Kind of a disappointment and relief at the same time.XD

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 01:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Amano-sensei updated her profile page with a 50 Questions kind of thing. ^^; Maybe it's just as well my next Japanese class starts on Monday - I can pick my sensei's brain.XD

Also of interest - Akari was the original cover girl for Aria vol 6. I think the reason Alice was picked instead was that Akari had already been on 3 covers, but that is probably not an accurate translation.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 01:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Now it's his paws and mouth twitching. Happily his tail no longer does the flippy thing. I wonder if this really is the Aria anime that was rumored.^^;

In other news, Alice is the cover girl for vol 6. I predict Akira will be on vol 7. Dare we hope that Akatsuki will ever get a cover of his very own?

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I'm not sure if it did this before, but the new picture of Aria-shachou on Amano-sensei's home page is now animated. It's rather disturbing to see his bobtail moving.XD

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 04:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Akemashite Omedetou minna-sama! Throw a hat in the air :D and let's continue to support Amano-sensei this year!

I finally have Kozue Amano's artbook Alpha, thanks to jpqueen. it's so pretty....:luv: Less than half of it is Aqua/Aria illustrations though. I'm really curious now about her Crescent Noise manga. At the very least the art will be amazing. shall have to look into that...

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I checked under the dust jackets of my two AQUA manga to see if there was anything special. (you never know....) And there was! Each one has a little 4-panel extra comic on the front cover with the characters in chibi. Silly little vignettes, but very cute. Now I wonder if ARIA has them too.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I've been all over the Mag Garden site looking for news about the alleged Aria anime, but the only anime they're talking about are Elementar Gerard and Jinki Extend (and PMK and tactics... ad infinitum...^^;). Google doesn't turn up any results either. I wonder if, as in the initial Tsubasa anime mix-up, there might have been a mistranslation somewhere. (But OTOH, the Tsubasa anime WAS finally confirmed later.:D) The fact that Amano-sensei says nothing on her site is rather worrying, though. She does have release dates for the two new drama CDs coming out next year. Ganbatte kudasai Amano-sensei!

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 09:53 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My Aria calendar came today! It's actually a little (5"x7") hardcover booklet and comes with a little stand to prop it open. It has 12 full-color illustrations from the manga - some I recognize as cropped versions of the tankoubon covers, one is the Alpha cover, and the rest I think are from Comic Blade color inserts. But it only has the girls! Akari, Aika, Alicia, Alice and Akira, plus Aria-shachou and Hime-shachou of course - and the third "water fairy" from Orange Planet, whose name I don't know. No Akatsuki. Dang. I was hoping to see what color his uniform was.^^;

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 01:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I happened to line up all 3 of my (English) Aria volumes last night, and noticed that the spine picture for vol 3 was the same as the one for vol 2. I'm just speculating, but this MIGHT account for the scarcity of vol 3 in brick & mortar stores.

No word yet on when vol 4 will be out. ADV Manga is apparently not releasing anything in December and January, according to their own site.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 09:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Must remember to add this to my site tonight.

http://www.obiwanmarie.co.uk/aria/index1.htm
and with that absolutely adorable Aria-shachou (NYU!♥) icon. eee! so cute!!!!#^___^#

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 02:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Aria WIP color sketch: Akatsuki and Akari. SO cute. ^___^ (Go to Gallery and then click on the last aqua square in the ARIA category [as of 12/12/04]) The caption mentions a "Comic Blade Special Edition" double (?) cover. I guess that this is probably for an upcoming issue of Comic Blade - doesn't say which one though (Amano-sensei, you tease! ;___;).

There are also several interesting pieces in the "Rough Sketch" section (directly under etc.) It's fascinating to see Amano-sensei's work as it progresses and how many versions it goes through.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've created an Aria news page, generated from my anime blog. I hope to use this to share new information as I come upon it, quickly and efficiently. Yoroshiku onegai shimasu!

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Alas, Sasuga Books also does not have Alpha in stock. I also checked publisher Mag Garden's site, and it appears that they are sold out at the source. *kicks self for not getting it at Otakon* I am still getting the 2005 calendar, however.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Well, it seems that vol 3 of Aria just flew off the shelves. On a random check of Arlington bookstores while holiday shopping over the weekend, no one had it - including the Borders where I got mine during lunch two weeks ago. :sweat: Lucky!

Anyway, many good revelations in vol 3. Not the least of which:

Continue reading "the quiet popularity of Aria" »

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Aria vol 3 is out and in my hands. :D

Also got FMP! v6. Looks like more Fumoffu? than Panic! though.

Continue reading "glee!" »

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 02:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Aqua *looks* like it would be easy to translate, but it actually has lots of fun SF terminology that has made me realize that my J/E dictionary isn't nearly big enough.

However, there are some things I can tell without actually having to read. Like Akari actually has been up to the floating island where the salamanders do their weather control thing. Also, that Akatsuki's nickname for Akari is actually "momiko" = "little sideburns", not "pigtails" (benpatsu). xd I still say that he likes her though. :luv:

Continue reading "translating Aqua" »

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 11:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I finally got Kozue Amano's AQUA, the prequel to Aria, from Sasuga Books. and was delighted to see that Hime-shachou is based on a real cat. shoooo cute.:luv:

Now to try to translate it. :sweat:

It's rare that a manga can fill me with such pure delight as ARIA and, I can already see, AQUA. A steady diet of such would probably drive me nuts, but it's my little bubbly spring of solace in a conflict-driven manga world. (especially when Bleach goes overboard with the fighting. :sweat: )

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 12:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Aria Drama CD scheduled for release 8/25.
Quite an all-star cast they've got lined up (Kaori Mizuhashi, Kikuko Inoue, Megumi Hayashibara, et al.). I'm guessing these will play Akari, Alicia and Aika respectively. I wonder if Akatsuki will be in it. Hope they get Aya Hisakawa to play Aria-Shachou.xd

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 07:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Amano Company
And her cat cosplays!
Now I want an Aria cap for Ginger...

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 05:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Double bonus! Aria AND Tactics!
Natsume Goushin Ryu 16-29 February 2004 news
(I hope Aria will also include the story in AQUA. On a scarier note, my previous blog entry is now showing up in the Google hits for "Amano Kozue Aria". Fortunately not too high up...)

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 03:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I read yesterday on a Googled edition of Natsume Maya's blog that there will be an Aria anime sometime in Jan-April 2005, but I can't find the entry today.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 01:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Well, I got it. Hopefully it won't bring the wrath of Mag Garden/ADV/Kozue Amano down upon my head. But hey, if they REALLY wanted it they should've bought it in the first frickin' place...

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I'm sorely tempted to buy a certain domain that isn't registered yet, just because it's not registered yet, and because I could do some really great things with it.

Yes, this is manga-related.

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 10:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Argh! I saw this at Sasuga Books' booth!
Alpha - Kozue Amano Illustrations
I wish I'd thought to pick it up....(ah well, I couldn't have afforded it anyway.... It concerns me that I own books that cost more than my shoes on any given day.)

Posted by Aria-Kakaricho at 10:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)