TV Anime Series 'Aria' Announces 15th Anniversary Project [Update 4/14]

The official website of the Aria anime series announced a 15th anniversary project commemorating the television anime on Tuesday. The new project will debut in Winter 2020.

Voice actress Rina Satou (Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, Sunohara-sou no Kanrinin-san) will play the character Athena Glory in the anniversary project, replacing the late Tomoko Kawakami from the previous anime installments.

Synopsis
Drift peacefully into Neo Venezia, a city on the planet Aqua (formerly known as Mars). By the 24th century, humans have found a way to colonize the previously uninhabitable planet. As futuristic as that sounds, Neo Venezia is still teeming with rustic beauty; gondolas on wide canals and waterways are the main mode of transportation. The city itself is a faithful replication of Manhome's (the planet formerly known as Earth) Venice.

To make sure that residents and tourists alike get the most from Neo Venezia's many wonders, companies offering guided tours via gondola were formed, one of which is named Aria Company.

This is the workplace of Akari Mizunashi, a free spirited teenager from Manhome who is now a novice Undine (the title given to tour guides). Join Akari as she becomes intimately acquainted with other Undine, tourists, Neo Venezia's residents, and even the city itself, learning many valuable life lessons along the way, such as the wonderful truth that there are such things as man-made miracles. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

The anime series adapts Kozue Amano's sci-fi slice of life manga, which originally began in Enix's Monthly Stencil under the title Aqua in January 2001. The manga switched to Comic Blade magazine with the new title Aria the following February. Mag Garden published the manga in 14 compiled volumes, selling a cumulative 4.2 million copies.

Junichi Satou (Bishoujo Senshi Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu) helmed three anime seasons and an original video animation at Hal Film Maker in Fall 2005, Spring 2006, Fall 2007, and Winter 2008. Satou also directed the latest anime installment, Aria the Avvenire (pictured right) at TYO Animations, which debuted in September 2015.

ADV Manga released the first three volumes of Aria in English in 2004 before dropping the license. Tokyopop acquired the license for both Aqua and Aria in 2006 and 2007 and released eight volumes in total before discontinuing its publication in 2010. The company began releasing a collector's edition of two-in-one omnibuses last March. The fifth omnibus volume shipped on March 17. The manga has also been published in multiple foreign languages.

Right Stuf Inc. licensed the anime series under its Nozomi Entertainment label in North America in 2008 and released the first season on DVD in September that year. The second season shipped in two DVD volumes the following January and March. The third season, including the original video animation, was released in March 2010. The company ran a successful Kickstarter campaign to English dub all the anime installments in 2017 and released the first Blu-ray volume on March 3.

Official site: https://www.ariacompany.net/
Official Twitter: @ARIA_SENDEN

Source: Oricon News


Update April 14


The official manga website of Aria updated on Tuesday, announcing that the anniversary project will be a brand-new theatrical animation.

Source: Manga official site

Aria (Movie) on MAL