THAT Animeblog

This picture is dedicated to a certain person that is always lazy. She likes this drink muchly. Anything with coffee makes her happy.

And then once again for impzie’s random episode summary and his insane thoughts!

It was turning winter by this episode and it was starting to get cold, as Akari struggled to get off the bed. It was really cold, with the whole window fogged up by the coldness of the water vapour. Akari woke up and started to train once again with Alice and Aika, with the three of them finding the cold weather rather bad. They sat down on one of the docks and Akari started complaining about the cold. Aika then went on some amazing pep talk about how they should not feel cold. That was well, before the cold wind started to drift through.

Akari went back to the company and found Alicia doing some cleaning up of the fireplace as it was the season to do it. Alicia then asked Akari whether she can help in gathering some firewood for the night and she followed gladly. Akari boated in a Gondola for a while, before hitting shores at a place where all the leaves had started to shed their leaves, in preparation for winter. Akari, Alicia and Aria started to collect the firewood as the snowflies started to settle in. Snowflies are little furry creatures that hid in the Japanese ash trees in the summer during the heat and then came out in order during the change of seasons. Snowflies were an indication that winter or snow was coming.

One of the snowflies in particular took a strong liking for Akari and started following it around. Akari looked at Alicia, who was just as usual nice to say that it was ok for it to follow them. As they got back into town, they were preparing to buy food for storage in the winter. There, they met up with Akatsuki who was also stocking on food. They had a chat, which included him going all flustered with Alicia when they talked about the role of salamanders that kept them warm during the winter coldness.

As they were going home, they passed by a hot springs ad and decided to go for it. Akari also invited Aika and Alice to the trip. Akari then went out to train some more in the cold and found the mailman as they talked about hot springs and the chimneys, where smoke was coming out with people setting up fireplaces in their houses. Akari reached home and Alicia started to set up the fireplace with the wood they picked up just now. It was extremely cozy, with the warming heat in the house. They also started to knit some clothes to prepare for the winter as the day runs to a close.

The next day, they moved toward the hot spring on a Gondola. Aika was particularly excited that she was able to go out with Alicia (and also leave Akira behind). The hot springs was in an old house but the interior of the old house made the whole environment feel more cozy. Akari had gone to hot springs for the first time in her life in Aqua and was rather embarrassed in such an open space, where everyone baths together. Aika told her not to worry but Akari’s natural clumsyness meant that she fell on the ground when everyone was ready to go in. She was in too much of a hurry sometimes.

As they soaked themselves in the hot springs, they felt really comfortable and it was a warm feeling compared to the coldness of the winter. They then had dinner and dozed off after it, with the relaxing room playing a factor here. Without realizing, Akari woke up and found that Alicia was awake, saying “ohaiyo” to her. Akari was worried that it was too relaxed and as a “single”, she was supposed to be working hard rather than taking a break. However, Alicia assured her that it was all right. After a while, all of them woke up and decided to go for yet another round of hot springs, since they had entries for 3 times.

Alicia led them through a dark tunnel as they found themselves in an ocean connected hot spring and the scenery was truly beautiful. They then decided to swim happily, as it was just too wide and comfortable not to. The three of them fully enjoyed themselves as they swam their hearts out, eventually resting on the water.

As they returned to their rooms after a nice soak in the hot springs, an announcement came that the guests have arrived. It was Akira and Athena and Aika mentioned that her heaven is turning into hell. Heh heh. They then had some ping pong and the likes to break a sweat and Aika’s nightmare had started. Akari and Alicia exited to the balcony and it was then that the snowfly made its attempt to leave so as to go back to the japanese ash trees. It was the sign for others that winter was finally coming. With that, the episode ends.

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Episode thoughts – My ramblings

I guess this episode teaches us something simple. It is simply that there is a season to do something. Winter might be cold, but there’s always something that can be done in order to alleivate the situation. In a way, i might be reading this way too deep, but i feel that it is the same with the human heart. Sometimes, our hearts were chilled by things that hurt us and that we forget that there are things and friends around us that warm us up.

Even though Akari is cold, she is warmed up by the fact of the hot springs as well as the companionship of her two friends. In a way, the hot springs to me was like a place where no matter how busy it was, there was always time to relax and simply wind down for a minute before going back to work. Working all day would only drain out anyone and everyone needs time to enjoy simply what they are doing.

In a way, Aria had always been concentrating on a central theme to enjoy whatever life has installed for us. With the promising optimism that was always around in this anime, it is little wonder that it has that feel-good feeling whenever I watch it. I guess for people who do not like a relaxed and character-development centric anime, Aria would probably not be for you. However, if you are drinking your afternoon tea, sipping it comfortably while having some nice crackers, Aria would be great for you.

I promise at least that.