This past weekend was the annual New York Comic Convention, in the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. It was…okay. There was significantly less anime-related programming than last year and there were a number of things that went a bit awry.
For one thing, the Con came awfully early this year. Last year it took place in April, when the weather was better, making it easier to carry around posters and other delicate merchandise once you left the Javits Center (which is three avenues away from the nearest subway, so you have to walk a bit of distance outside just to go home).
For another thing, last year’s Comic-Con website offered a nice downloadable pdf grid for each day’s programming. This year, the grid was not available either online or in the paper program. Instead, there was only an excessively long (over 50 pages!) online pdf of the entire three-day event, which listed each event one by one with unnecessarily long descriptions of each.
Worse, some of the events on this pdf were listed with incorrect time slots. I actually missed a panel I wanted to attend because it was in the Sunday section online but turned out to actually be on Saturday morning.
There were fewer anime or manga panels and screenings this year, which I found unfortunate. But I suppose I can’t complain too much, since it is a comics convention, not an anime one, and there is an actual Anime Festival (scheduled for September this year).
On the plus side, I did get the chance to watch the first two episodes of “Aria The Animation,” a series I recently read about and was interested in checking out.
“Aria” is a somewhat unusual anime in that it doesn’t have much of a plot. It’s more a “slice of life” series along the lines of such fare as the recently popular “Emma.” “Aria” focuses on the life of Akari, a girl with a goal to become a professional gondolier–or “premier undine”–on the canal-filled planet of Neo-Venezia, which she has just moved to.
Neo-Venezia is a futuristic version of the Italian city of Venice. Instead of roads, there are canals, and “undines” are the sweet and friendly (apparently exclusively female) gondoliers. Their boats are additionally styled after the boats one rides in modern-day Venice. Naturally, there are many different boat companies, with “Aria” being the name of the one Akari works for.
The first two episodes of the series are very quiet, both featuring a brief story about Akari’s budding friendships with the people she meets in her new home. I’ve read that the entire show follows this path, with the viewer being treated to small vignettes about Akari’s life as an undine-in-training. Overall, it looks very subtle and sweet, though it sometimes veers into the sappy territory. Still, it’s something I’d like to continue watching, and I think it would be best enjoyed curled up in a blanket on a snowy or rainy day.