Reading Aria is the manga equivalent of going on a lazy exotic vacation. I previously enjoyed the first volume, but I wasn’t bowled over by the lack of plot even though the manga contains beautiful background art. I think my opinion has softened a bit, because I enjoyed reading the 5th volume very much. I haven’t picked up the intervening volumes, but Aria is so episodic that I think you could pick up a volume at random and still enjoy the stories about female gondoliers on a future version of Mars that looks like old Venice. It is fall on Neo-Venezia and Akari has been promoted to journeyman status. She’s still exploring new aspects of her adopted home.