Aqua Volume 1

Set in the futuristic city of Neo-Venezia, Aqua is a breezy, slice-of-life manga with a simple mission: to make readers smile. As gondolier-in-training Akari encounters new places and meets new friends, you can see her delight light up her face. Amano's deftly-drawn artwork immerses readers into this whimsical world to the point where you don't care how illogical it is to turn Mars into a reproduction of Venice.

You'd have to be a serious grouch to dislike Aqua. If you are, there's no shortage of angst-filled manga out there. For the rest of us, Aqua is a rare pleasure that celebrates the simple joys of life.

A young girl arrives on the planet Aqua to fulfill her dream of becoming a gondolier or undine in Neo-Venezia. While it looks like Venice, Italy in many ways, Neo-Venezia is set in an idealized future where Mars has been transformed from a dusty red planet to a serene blue water world.

While its romantic architecture and canals are reminiscent of its predecessor, Neo-Venezia also has space ships and floating islands hovering in its blue skies to remind us of its futuristic milieu. It defies logic and reason that a technologically advanced society that could change the geography of an entire planet would go to such pains to recreate an ancient city, but Aqua is best enjoyed if you just accept its basic premise at face value and just sit back and enjoy the ride.

And what a relaxing ride it is. Amano's artwork is so deftly drawn and so utterly delightful, you can almost feel the sea breezes blowing through your hair as you flip through each page of Aqua. As undine-in-training Akari discovers a new place to see or a new tidbit of knowledge about becoming a gondolier, you can see the wonder light up her face and before you know it, you're smiling along with her.

Aqua was preceded by Amano's other manga series, Aria, but you don't need to read Aria first to enjoy Aqua. In fact, Aqua is a prequel, as it captures Akari's first days in Neo-Venezia.

Much like Kiyohiko Azuma's Yotsuba&! and Jiro Taniguchi's The Walking Man, Aqua can be enjoyed as slice of life vignettes that don't require a deep understanding of its characters' back-stories and histories. Amano keeps things light and simple. And after reading stack after stack of generic sword-wielding shonen warriors and angst-filled shojo romances, reading Aqua does feel mighty refreshing. It's a paperback substitute for Prozac that only an incurable grouch could hate.