© Kozue AMANO
There are two reasons I held off on writing about AQUA and its continuation, ARIA.
When I first read them, I was in the process of preparing for the licensing announcement for the anime — which you MUST BUY. Also, reading it makes me a little homesick for phenomenal sunsets over impossibly blue water. ;)
AQUA flows directly into ARIA. (The name change is an artificial division necessitated by a move from one publisher to another.)
As for the manga, itself: These are quite possibly some of the loveliest books I’ve ever read. Each volume is a mini-vacation to a place where niceties and rituals are observed and hospitality is a matter of fact.