Aria the Avvenire brings us back to the world of Neo Venezia with a sequel that, unfortunately, is a bit of a letdown. With a show like Aria, art direction is absolutely crucial to keeping the tone and emotional flow of the narrative in tact, and any hiccup within that art direction immediately draws me out of the experience. The more modern style of color design for character models leads to some noticeable compositing issues between said models and the backgrounds which they inhabit, and the occasional use of CG gondolas is more than a bit distracting. It’s not all bad, and this entry stillgets its fair share of lovely sunsets and striking shots of beautiful architecture, though that sometimes gets a less than stellar CG treatment as well, but the disruptions do take me out of the moment more than I care for.
That said, I do appreciate that the stories being told still feel like classic Aria. They don’t deliver nearly as much punch, but the ponderance on the coincidental miracles that life brings us, as well as how we can bring those miracles to life through our own power, was satisfying enough. A good chunk of the run time is devoted to flashbacks to varying moments across the story’s timeline, and getting more tiny nuggets of characterization out of the characters we love is nice. The new cast, however, don’t really stand out in any particular way. They are “nice,” and occasionally Ai does something that vaguely shows how Akari’s teachings are influencing her, but that’s basically it. I hesitate to call it unnecessary since that would run contrary to the message of Aria about enjoying life’s little moments, but I will say that if we’re gonna be doing more Aria, I do hope the movies following this give a bit more attention to artistic direction and crafting an Aria experience one can truly get immersed in.