“Aria The Illustration: Avvenire” artbook review

Recently got the absolutely wonderful “Aria The Illustration: Avvenire” (アリアジイラストレーション AVVENIRE) artbook.

This book is a must have for every “Aria” fan, over 100 pages filled to the brim with full color art, containing all the promotional images, CD covers, DVD covers and visual novel game art, spanning all “Aria” anime series, from “Aria The Animation” up to “Aria The Origination”.

Even though the book’s fantastic cover art was created by Kozue Amano, the author of the “Aria” manga who gifted us with this wonderful series and its great characters, this “Aria The Illustration: Avvenire” book doesn’t contain more of Kozue Amano’s “Aria” art.

It really is entirely focused on art released for the anime series and the two “Aria” visual novel games “Aria The Natural: Tooi Yume no Mirage” and “Aria The Origination: Aoi Hoshi no El Cielo”.

Picked out a few of my favorite artworks to post along in this review. Was tough choosing which to add as I really adore all of them but could hardly include them all.

Always loved this promo image they used for the second anime series “Aria The Natural”. Especially Akari looks wonderful in it, so full of life with that joyous, bubbly smile. The other undines and idyllic tropical background give it an aura that makes you wish you could just be whisked away to that world.

Some fans may notice that with this artbook being a collection of visual art from the anime series, including the promotional art, poster art and DVD covers, it doesn’t offer much in the way of new art we may not have seen before.

Lovely image of Athena, my favorite out of the three water fairies, though Alicia follows closely.

Regardless, it’s doubtful most fans were able to collect all these different works of art separately, so this “Aria The Illustration: Avvenire” book is the perfect chance to have them all, bundled together in one high quality book.

The below artwork was used to promote the OVA “Aria The OVA: Arietta” and looks fabulous, also since it captures what “Aria” is all about.
Not only by showing Akari’s happy expression while waving at Alicia, but the background featuring Neo-Venezia and the floating island of Ukijima emphasizes one of the elements where “Aria” excels, taking you on a voyage to Aqua’s Neo-Venezia, until you feel you can grasp that fictional world with your hands.

While not a hard cover, the cover is still rather sturdy and not as flimsy as some other soft cover books, the paper used inside is thick and smooth, with an excellent print quality.

From the cover art used for the final DVD of “Aria The Origination”, the following image shows Akari when just promoted to prima, together with grandma, Alicia and Ai-chan. Four generations of undine in fact, if you count Ai-chan who will become the next undine as shown in both the manga and the anime.

Simply adore this one of Akari in her appearance when she’s been prima undine for several years, the time that Ai-chan joins Aria Company. There’s an aura of serenity and peace about her that clearly suggests she becomes more like Alicia, yet there’s a hint of melancholy in her expression as well.
Do wish we could have seen what Alice, Aika and the others look like in that era. Another OVA please Amano-sensei!

Of the few artworks I’ve posted here, even the larger versions accessible by clicking the thumbnails are smaller than the full scanned versions available in the pack or at moe.imouto.
(Though some like the promotional posters are not from this artbook but from the original releases.)

So if you’re an “Aria” fan, this book is well worth the expense!