Aria the Animation #6: That Which You Want to Protect…

The letters between Akari and Ai provide a deeper reflection of the story. What does Ai’s cooking have to do with the relationship between Alice and Athena?

Mistakes are rarely a good thing, but they aren’t necessarily disasters; it depends on how you respond to them. Akari’s boundless optimism helps her overcome her inexperience, but her clumsiness doesn’t compare to Athena. Whether this bothered her in the past we don’t know, but now she accepts her mistakes, deals with them, then carries on. To someone with a strong sense of decorum, like Alice, this looks like carelessness. Athena, however, has more trust that other people will be forgiving of her.

It would be sad if Alice weren’t able to trust others. She doesn’t seem to have many friends at Orange Planet, even though the other girls are kind enough. It’s true that her age separates her from the rest of her class, but it isn’t like the intimidation felt towards the princess Aika at Himeya. Despite being at the largest company, she still ended up practicing with two older girls from Aria and Himeya. Even then, she finds it difficult to open up to Akari as she admits she’d rather ask advice from Aika. Never mind letting Athena know how she’s feeling. Because she doesn’t think they’ll have an answer that she’d be happy with. That desire to know the answer to a question ahead of time stops her from ever asking in the first place. So she struggles to deal with problems by herself. And when she makes a mistake, it embarrasses her and makes her want to hide it even more. It’s her own imperfection that she’s afraid of. The trust she’s lacking isn’t the belief in the goodness of others, but that they won’t see the goodness in her. Being able to let yourself be seen at your worst is the lesson she has the most difficulty with. And there’s no one more qualified to teach it than Athena.

Relying on other people isn’t about how much you believe in them. It’s how much you believe in yourself and accepting your imperfections. Then you won’t be afraid of making mistakes, because you’ll have the confidence to act knowing that your friends will help you out. And what you thought was a failure, such as burnt potatoes, may not be so bad after all.

Okay, next up will be Aria the Origination #2: That Smiling Customer…

Aria the Origination #6: That Wonderful Extracurricular Lesson…

Ara-ara

Alice in Wonderland is a frequent source of inspiration for anime. Neo-Venezia can be described as a wonderland, although it doesn’t have the same sinister contradictions of Lewis Carroll’s creation. And it would be Akari who has fallen down the rabbit hole. This Alice is a child of Aqua, the world of dreams, who has found herself living among humans. Nevertheless, the junior undine still shares with her namesake a wild imagination and stubborn curiosity.

Through the looking glass

The lesson here is one of patience, something that Alicia has in abundance. Of course she gets a completely different answer than if she had asked Akira or Athena. But they each have their specialties that the girls can learn from, such as the strength exercises during the island camping trip. No one person is qualified to teach everything. It’s the encounters with many different people, and persistent learning that comes from it that makes a complete education.

That smile is more intimidating than any scolding

What makes Alice charming is that she has the intelligence to understand this, but the willfulness to ignore it. In the end, she just wanted to see Alicia get angry. So she had to try one more time to test her patience, even though she knew it wouldn’t work.

Ufuu-fuu

Next episode is Aria the Animation #6: That Which You Want to Protect…

Aria the Natural #3: The Night Of The Meteor Shower…

Where else but Aria does a discussion of astrophysics turn into a love story? The metaphor is effective, though. Gravity is a mysterious thing that’s readily apparent everywhere in the universe, but difficult to explain in detail. It’s a force that is easily counteracted, but impossible to ignore. So as Al and Aika talk about the effects of gravity on Aqua, you wonder if they are still referring to attraction between planetary bodies.

Aika spends much of the evening looking not up at the sky, but at Al, and also inside her own heart. Of course she loves him, but she can’t explain why. Because she’s easily embarrassed and often hides behind a strict demeanor, to say this directly to Al is out of the question. The meteor shower gives her a chance to share her thoughts, and maybe get him to understand her feelings. It doesn’t seem, at first, that Al knows what she means. Men tend to interpret words literally. If you say you want to hear about meteors, he’ll talk to you about meteors. But Al is pretty smart, so he tells Aika that not all meteors burn up in the atmosphere. Sometimes they reach the surface after all.

Of course, as much as Aika tries to hide her emotions, she doesn’t realize how obvious she is to others. She insists that saying embarrassing things is forbidden, but the most embarrassing line of the night was said by her. (“Once you become enchanted by Aqua, it’s over. It draws you in and burns you out.”) It’s good that she has Akari to show her how to set her worries aside and sing a silly tune, even if the path she’s walking is pitch black.

What a nice coincidence to get such a romantic story on Valentine’s Day.

Next week will be Aria the Origination #6: That Wonderful Extracurricular Lesson…

Bonus Aika-being-cute picture just ’cuz.

Aria the Origination #3: Those Feelings Within…

Cats that can read. President Aria must be smarter than I give him credit for.

On second thought…

Neo-Venezia, though called “New,” is an old city. But it’s not merely a museum relic kept frozen in time. The city grows and changes, creating new traditions such as Anri’s chocolate stand. (Not unlike the actual Caffè Florian, with its displays of contemporary art.) The undines themselves are a recent addition. Gondoliers have traditionally been men. The gender barrier was finally broken in 2009, but it’ll be quite a while yet before we see water fairies plying the canals on white boats.

Because of the restorations highlighted in this episode, many of the buildings are surrounded by scaffolding or draped in dust-tarps. It brings to mind the wrapping of presents. An image not lost on Anri who is inspired to sell his candies in decorative cloth. There is a peculiar appeal to wrapping paper that makes receiving a gift more exciting than if it was simply handed to you. It’s not only the design of it, for plain paper and even re-purposed newsprint can evoke the thrill of discovery as you peel back the layers of an unknown treasure. No, that’s not quite right. I’ve received gifts where I knew what was being given beforehand, yet having it presented to me wrapped felt more suited to the occasion. Placing something in a wrapped box, or gift bag, or simply tying a bow on is a ritual that signifies the generosity of the giver. This is something that does not belong to me because I paid for or created it; rather because someone else cared enough to give it to me. That sentiment is enclosed within the wrapping and delivered to me with the message, “I am thinking of you.” It is a thought that, as the adage goes, counts.

Aika is not pleased with my embarrassing remarks.

Next week’s episode is my favorite, Aria the Natural #3: The Night Of The Meteor Shower…

Aria the Animation #5: To That Impossibly Existing Island…

Akari: Wow, it’s high.
Alice: But the sea is below.
Akari: That’s right. Then let’s jump together!

I could talk metaphorically about throwing yourself at your ambition. Or say the unknown future is a sea of time. Or relate memories to hidden islands in your heart. But looking for deep meaning in Aria can be put off for another day. Like all good beach episodes, this is just about having fun and showing off cute swimsuits.

Of course, this excursion is a chance for Akira to teach things that aren’t possible in the crowded canals of Neo-Venezia. It isn’t said, but I imagine the same thing was done for her, Alicia, and Athena when they were apprentices. The most important lesson is in the invitation to “Neverland.” It’s a reminder not to grow so old that you forget to take time off for play. Oh, and even though she claims it was for endurance building, the reason they were sent to the opposite end of the island is to give the seniors time to catch-up.

I remarked last week that Akari rowed out to Burano. This time she’s on the open sea. Are gondolas really meant for this kind of work? Then again, the gravity of Aqua is less than on Man-Home, even with the tinkering the gnomes do underground.

This was an unfair episode to watch when it’s just below freezing outside. Next week, Aria the Origination #3: Those Feelings Within…