Anime — Aria the Animation

Row, row, row your boat,
Gently down the stream.
Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily,
Life is but a dream.

The 24^th century; the 4^th planet of the solar system is the blue world of Aqua. Mizunashi Akari travels from ManHome, to take up the profession of undine, a gondolier on the canals of Neo-Venezia, a city transplanted onto the shore of a quondam Martian basin.

Nothing much happens, but it does it in a very stylish and relaxing fashion, be it just showing a tourist around the city, practising with trainees from other companies, celebrating the turn of the seasons, or finding glimpses into the past, as Mars was becoming the third blue world in this system. You can tell quite how relaxing, as I first downloaded this 13 episode series at the start of November '06; and, with all the sequels out, I am effectively 40 episodes behind. It's good, but definitely not for marathoning, more for just chilling out with.

The only word of warning is about the cute animal mascots, supposed to be cats, like the white blob in the lower left image that waddles around going "poing~yuu". There has rarely been anything so less feline.