Sep 26, 2013

Aria the OVA: Arietta

Akari is again feeling anxious about her future. Not an uncertain future, but one that she knows what’s to come. She see’s it as a big change in her life and is worried that she isn’t ready. Alicia shares her own worries and shows that Akari is closer to her than she realizes.
Akari’s loneliness is easily cured by the many people she encounters during the day. Not only her close friends, but the other people who work and live in Neo-Venezia, and the customers who come to visit. One day Akari will have Aria Company to herself, but she won’t be alone. Just as Akira and Athena were there to support Alicia after Grandma left.
Alicia then, as Akari is now, felt the next stage of her life as a looming presence. She hesitated to move on because it seemed too big for her to handle. She needed to look at her life from a different perspective, one that made her problems appear smaller. Like the view from the top of the Campanile. Seeing the city from that height put her worries in perspective. For Akari, she didn’t need to see it but just hearing the quiet pulsing of Neo-Venezia at night was enough to put her at ease.

We’ll see just how at ease Akari is next week when I watch Aria the Origination #13: To That New Beginning… The very last episode of Aria.

Sep 19, 2013

Aria the Animation #11: Those Orange Days…

Winter in Neo Venezia is the slow season for tourism. It gives the undines a chance to get together and chat. The apprentices hear stories about the past and learn the importance of living in the present.

Which is quite a trick since we’re watching a story set in the future. It leads to a question about the world of Aria, and of other futuristic stories, and that is where are the futurists of the future? The stories told about people living in on other planets, or traveling through space, or building fantastic populated by robots and flying cars… do the people in these stories read science-fiction?
This apparent blind-spot in futurism reveals a truth about the stories. Although set in the future, they are not meant to describe the future. The storyteller places herself in a world separated from us by time, then turns her gaze back at us. The story she tells us is about our time and our lives as seen by someone in the future.
While Akari hears a story about the past, we see a story about the future. But the message is the same, that the most important time is right now.

Next week’s episode is Aria the OVA: Arietta.

Sep 13, 2013

Aria the Natural #12: Chasing That Mirage…/The Light From That Nightshine Chime…

Akari’s attitude can be attributed to making time for relaxation. If she’s busy during the day, she’ll just take her tea at night. The environment of Aqua is well suited to her lifestyle. The sea is always calm and the weather usually pleasant.

The Summer midday sun may drive you indoors. Typical for her, Akari finds herself in a cat café. No, not like that. She has a tendency to stumble into the supernatural without meaning to. But was this an accident? Or was the door left open for her? Cait Sith will never say.

The weather here has been very warm, even though Summer is over. Next week’s episode is Aria the Animation #11: Those Orange Days…

Sep 6, 2013

Aria the Origination #11: Those Ever-Changing Days…

We've seen enough of Aika fretting over things. Now it's Akira’s turn. Following Alice’s promotion, she expects Aika to be jealous. Although she appears happy, how does she really feel? Aika’s positive attitude surprises Akira and convinces her that she’s is ready to be a prima.
The final test for an apprentice is facing her greatest weakness. For Alice, this is her self-doubt. Even as a prima, Alice still hesitates and gets lost in thought. But she doesn’t let her worries control her, and with some help from a meddlesome roommate, she’s reminded that she doesn’t have to do everything by herself. Aika’s greatest weakness has been her emotions. Now that she has shown that she can keep her feelings in balance, Akira is relieved to be able to call her “Rosen Queen.”

Next I will be watching Aria the Natural #12: Chasing That Mirage…/The Light From That Nightshine Chime…, and I may even watch it on Thursday this time.

P.S. Did you see the cameo by Anzu, one of the undines from the traghetto?