Aria

Episode 1 of Season 1 is set one year after Akari arrives in Aqua, which was determined by the lack of practice depictions from enrollment to passing the test found in the original work 'AQUA', and by working backward to have the final episode of Season 1, which has only 13 episodes, take place at the end of the year.

Director Sato Junichi says that when he read Aika in the original work, the image of voice actress Saito Chiwa came to mind, and Saito herself felt that her personality was similar to Aika's, but when she actually played the role, she reflected that it was one of the most difficult characters she had ever played.

The anime-original character Ai was created from director Sato Junichi's desire for a character who could watch over Akari and the others from an omniscient perspective, and the design was handled by original author Amano Kozue herself.

During the voice recording for 'ARIA The AVVENIRE', recording was initially conducted without BGM out of consideration that the performers might cry upon hearing music, but when the performers expressed disappointment at the absence of BGM, BGM was reintroduced starting with the test recording for Chapter 3, at which point the performers indeed began to cry, and the sound team lamented that 'the test is impossible.'

The production of 'ARIA The AVVENIRE' began after a compilation edition was considered as a purchase bonus for a Blu-ray BOX, but was judged to lack excitement, leading to the decision to produce a new episode instead. When asked by original author Amano Kozue whether there were any new ideas, she replied 'there are ideas', and it turned out that she had completely forgotten about an unpublished episode she had actually drawn right after the serialization ended.

The appearance of new characters Anya and Azusa in 'ARIA The AVVENIRE' is an additional element that did not exist in the original author Amano Kozue's original ideas, born from director Sato Junichi's request to Amano for a character who would become Ai's practice partner.

Saito Toshina, who voices the second generation Athena, initially felt that her voice quality and tone differed from Kawakami Tomoko, who voiced the first generation Athena, and was about to decline the offer once, but was persuaded by overall director Sato Junichi directly, and also accepted the role due to the existence of Kawai Eri, who handled Athena's singing in a radio program they had previously co-starred in together.

Anime director Shinbou Akiyuki expressed surprise that this work, which lacks exposition, development, climax and resolution, and has no incidents, became a hit, and revealed that he referred to it when producing his own work 'Hidamari Sketch'.

Anime critic Fujitsu Ryota surmises that the hit of this work reversed the trend of works depicting 'leisurely paced time', which had temporarily increased around 2000, gradually decreasing, and may have influenced the production of currently leisurely paced works in late-night anime.