How bizarre…the cover pictures for Aqua on Amano’s website are not the ones on the actual covers.

In any case, my apologies for leaving you so long having to read my whiny, self-indulgent last post. I just didn’t have the energy to write reviews, so I sat around, re-watched Devilman Lady (on the premise that no matter what’s going on in my life, Jun’s problems were infintely worse) and worked on the up-coming Yuri Monogatari 3 which will, gods willing, be premiering at Onna! in October.

But all this has nothing to do with Aqua – which is okay, because Aqua has nothing to do with anything in particular.

Aqua is the two-volume prequel to Aria, which I reviewed in February and May of this year. Aria is being made into an anime which is slated for this fall sometime, for those of you who missed that news on the Yuricon Mailing List.

So, if you are familiar with Aria, then you know exactly what Aqua is like. In these two volumes we meet Akari as she comes to Mars for the first time. Mars, now known as Aqua, has been terraformed and humans have, quite naturally, recreated the same places that they loved on Earth. Or that they destroyed. Either way. :-)

Akari meets and collects almost all of the characters who will return in Aria, so its kind of nice if you want to know about the first time she meets the postman, or Aika. The adventures are sweet and unstressful, there was way too many cats, and everything is pretty.

So, since there’s nothing earth-shaking (or mars-shaking) in the plot, let’s get down to business…Yuri?

Well, Aika’s crush on Alicia is way pronounced, but it is a very schoolgirly crush. So Yuri, no, akogare/admiration, yes. But hey, if you’re desperate, go for it. I don’t care. lol Alicia has, right from the beginning that undefined sensuality that makes her and Akira so much an item later in Aria, and which is probably what Aika is responding to.

So, pretty much, Aqua is more of the same as Aria, or vice versa, since Aqua came first.

It’s not lesbo sex, but its quite pleasant in a back rub kind of way. :-)

Same ratings as Aria.