I was planning on writing a semi-big rant here about how hard translating and type-setting is, about how much my Japanese improved through scanlating this etc. etc., but now I don’t feel like it anymore. Just have the doujin.

Media Fire
Rapidshare

95% translated from Chinese (Chinese translation courtesy of these guys), 4% translated from Japanese, 1% guesslated, and liberal amount of re-writing when I just couldn’t squeeze the damn Chinese into an understandable English sentence.

Special thanks to Nekosasu, who solved the biggest problem I had in translating this doujin and so allowed me to sleep soundly, and Astrobunny, who was just generally helpful in translation. Can’t forget RunningKid (a.k.a. ScapeKid), who helped me QC and proof-read. If you find any mistakes, blame him! Sorry I didn’t credit you guys in the scanlation itself…
Oh, and of course, Eretto himself, artist of the Utsura Uraraka circle. He’s probably best known in the English community as the guy who drew the Churuya comics, but I’m a huge fan of his work in general. Check him out, and if you can, buy his stuff!

Finally, have my tsundere credit page.

P.S. Since I don’t have any other channel for distribution, I hereby implore that anyone who liked this doujin to spread the word on their own website. The more people that know about it the better! Basically, a license to freely re-post this where-ever you like, even without credit. Link directly to RS and MF! Edit the images and take out my credit! Take credit for the work yourself! Ok, don’t do that last one, but if you were going to do it, me telling you to stop wouldn’t have changed anything.

Basically, I just really want more people to know about Eretto and the work he does, other than the Churuya-san comics. So please help me spread the word!

I am one of the happiest anime bloggers when Aria returns with a third season. It is always a bit empty when I do not have a new episode of the tranquil Aria the Natural to enjoy. Aria the Origination really brings back everything that is good about the series: extremely cute and cool ladies in Undine uniforms and their silly interactions. Moreover, the graphical level has been upped a few notches, giving me and all of you a bigger reason to watch this.

We have Akira going all GAR while saving a completely nonsensical customer who is in love with her GAR beauty. Alicia’s Ara Ara~ just explains why she is one of the most popular characters. Only she can pull it off while looking completely elegant and stunning. Athena’s silly faces is a winner in order to save a child from crying too much. That is truly someone who is the classic example of a my-pace type character (gif stolen from Epic Win). Akari and Aika are always the best combination to create some “Kinshi” incidents. Even Aria-shachou gets some good screen time.

As much as my mind is trying to process thoughts carefully, the fanboy in me is rising. If anyone who frequents this blog, they know I have not mentioned a certain central character in the series. Yes, get ready for the avalanche of nonsense that will arrive now!

Dekkai Haru! Dekkai Kouhai-chan! Dekkai Shiawase des! Dekkai Okojama Des! Alice-chan is dekkai sugoi!

If you are still wondering, Aria the Origination is a must watch. If you have not watched the first two seasons, bloody get it now! Everyone loves it. I do too.

The October issue (on sale August 30) of Mag Garden’s Comic Blade magazine will announce that a third animated television season based on Kozue Amano’s Aria surreal slice-of-life manga was greenlit. Director Junichi Sato (Gate Keepers, Pretear, Princess Tutu) will return after overseeing both of the previous Aria television seasons and the OVA. The staff will largely be the same as the OVA version’s. The broadcast date has not been set yet, but the third season has been in production since this past spring.

Source: Moon Phase

Hurray for Aria fans. Now, I have to wait for it, and you will be sure that I am going to blog about this when it does come out. Woot!

Alicia is probably the big star of this show. Her affectious “my my” and her mannerisms are close to perfect and I think she is probably the symbolisation of Aria as a show. Elegant and beautiful.

Finally, I have finished this beautiful series of the Undines in Aqua. There is still the second series, Aria the Natural that I will also faithfully cover (got all of them on my hdd, up to episode 11). I think the whole series have brought to me many lessons of life and it is probably why many others have found this series magnificent. It is probably one of the least viewed and under-rated series and I would urge you readers out there to get it somehow if you liked a slice-of-life genre series. Aria will be for you.

Without any further ado, on to the episode summary/thoughts of the final episode of this first season!

It was the 31st day of the 24th month of Aqua, which meant that the end of the year was approaching our characters rapidly. In Neo-Venezia, Christmas was often spent with the family while the New year eve’s was spent with everyone at the San Marco Square. Akatsuki was already waiting with Woody at the Square, waiting for Akari and Alicia to get there. As Akatsuki started to complain that pigtails (Akari) was being late and delaying Alicia, the two females appeared. Like a 180 degrees change of attitude, Akatsuki suddenly changed his character completely and was like enjoying the company of Alicia.

Ai-chan suddenly arrived to the scene. She was actually brought here with her sister and Ai-chan wanted to celebrate the birth of a new year with Akari and all. Akari and Ai had been exchanging emails for the past year or so. As Ai-chan talked to Akatsuki and his brother, the brother mysteriously appeared and gave Akatsuki a nice bang on the head. With the brother seeing Ai-chan, he passed her a bunch of beans made from glass. It was a customary thing to eat beans during the new year and it was seen as a symbol of wealth in Man-home and the tradition continued here. The glass beans however was just a tourist attraction.

As Akira and Aika reached, Ai-chan remarked that Akira was teh deomon instructor, eliciting a rather amusing response from Akira. It seemed like a great gathering, as grandma, Alice, Athena all arrived at the scene and it was a big gathering. It was then when Aria run away suddenly and Ai gave chase. As Akari was worried about Ai, she gave chase as well. They ran and went into a dark path and a cat suddenly passed through in the alleyway in front of them.

As they reached the end of the dark pathway, the cats (in the time message) appeared and it seemed that they were thanking her for sending the message last time. With that, the scene disappeared. Ai and Akari had once again went back to the olden Aqua. Akari then noticed that there were lights appearing on the floor, which was the glass beans that fell due to a hole in the bag that was holding it. As they used the bags to find their world back, it was time for the countdown. It was a tradition in which everyone threw something at the countdown, something that was used in the past, to usher it the new year. It was also customary that people say Auguri, Buen Anno (which meant Shout of good wishes, Happy new year). Ai decided to throw the ribbon on her head while the undines threw their hats.

As the countdown ended, they went on for fireworks as well as other activities. The scene changed as we see Akari just waking up from her sleep. They had gathered for the sunrise. The sun started to shine for the first time in the new year, as they quickly embraced the warmth of the sun as they welcomed in the new year. A soothing end to a beautiful series.

———————————————————————————-

Series thoughts.

The whole series was episodic in nature, with great simple themes to boot with. For one, i think the clincher for this anime was the OP. Aria had a really beautiful OP song, one that suited the whole mood of the anime completely. It was probably why I had been really interested in this show, a possible slice of life genre that would delight watchers who loved Haibane renmei, Zettai Shounen, Kino’s travels and the likes. It is a light-hearted series by heart and there was nothing strong emotionally. No deaths, no serious angst, almost nothing really serious happens.

In a way, this is the charm of the show, because through little things in life, it explains stories of life that is displayed on a raw, beautiful face that lets you appreciate things in your own life better. The characters were also well developed, even though I have to say that the main character, Akari, was way too innocent, naive and silly for my liking. Alice, Aika and Akira were definitely well thought out characters and the thing I found interesting was that each of the girls had “A” as their name. Was there a special significance in the name? I do not know.

Alice in particular catches my eye as the character that had developed. She was just a silent, quiet type of character at the start and was in a way a very mild Tsundere (I am stretching the meaning but yea). However, with Akari, she was clearly portrayed as a very kind girl that just did not know how to express herself. Some of her remarks in the show, like “You’re sexy dynamite”, “You two are so nosy”, “You two are so loud” reeks of cuteness and that sharp edge about her that I liked.

Alicia, as i had already mentioned at the start, epitomizes how Aria was : elegant and a beautiful episodic-driven series. Athena’s cluelessness and blurness was a great charm and anyone who had watched episode 11 would understand why Athena was just so cute. Her zoned-out attitude toward all things was a marvel to watch. I particularly liked the shocked face on both Alicia and Akira when they saw her sing suddenly. It was an impressive built up. That said, episode 11 was probably the best episode among the 13 that i had seen.

Aika and Akira also were worth special mention, as the relationship between these two was probably the strongest among the senior-junior groups. Their vibrant character and the part where both of them were actually shy beneath that portrayed strong character was a nice complexity touch that I liked a lot. In fact, the relationship was clearly shown during the episode where Aika left the house. Both of them knew exactly what each other would do. Of course, the quote “Embarrassing thoughts are not allowed!” stuck to me like a nagging statement.

The themes of the show was the main draw in this series. Themes such as friendship, time, precious things, enjoyment, the past, future and messages of feelings were all covered at one point of the series. These themes were general parts of our life and it was probably showing us glimpses of our life and how to correct it somehow. I particularly liked one of the themes which was the part where things that have changed were precious, but things that have not changed were precious also. None of them were not precious. They all are.

In all, a very beautiful anime, with very beautiful scenery, which is like watching a travel commentary at times, with good characters, nice themes and wonderful seiyuus. Good stuff, can’t wait to watch the 2nd series.

“Don’t tell me you just ate the only cabbage roll left in the house.” – Akiko

This episode, after the magnificent episode 11, was a little down. My expectations were probably too high after the greatness of episode 11, but no. 12 does have its moments and I actually learned just a little bit more. The past is a set up for the future. The future does not exist without a past.

Episode summary and thoughts below as usual~

Winter was in full blown fury as Akari and Alicia were busy shovelling off the snow that was collecting around the company. However, it is a futile task as the snow starts to fall once again. Akari was curious about the old bridge that was an interesting attraction in the past. No one had the interest of going to the old bridge as it was just that, an old bridge, as Alicia remarked. However, Akari was interested and Alicia gave her the day off to enjoy the day.

The next day, Akari went with Aria to go to the bridge and it was covered with snow. As she walked through the bridge, she found that the snow had mysteriously disappeared and it seemed as though she had gone through to a totally different place. There, she met up with a clumsy photographer called Akiko, who was capturing photos of the river (that was dry).

Akiko then invited Akari to her house, as Aria played with the cat Pete in Akiko’s house. They talked about how similiar they were actually in character (and i see the same annoying similiarities). They then went out to the balcony, where Akiko had set up a “sunny cafe”, a small corner for her to serve up some food. Akiko then mentioned about having cabbage rolls for lunch while Akari leaned back on one of the walls. However, she fell as Akiko’s structure was not stable.

As Akiko tried to fix it, she fell instead while trying to test the structure. It was then that they smelt something turning bad. It was the cabbage roll getting burnt. However, the bread that was baked by Akiko was well done. Akiko then showed Akari a data card that was associated with the past. She was shocked because it was as though Akiko had this like a new item and Akari remembered about the card incident in episode 3 (or was it 4?). Akari then noticed that the Ukijima also looked slightly different.

Akiko was in fact a school teacher, as she asked Akari to join her to the bridge. Today was the day where water would be released to the waterway. Many people were waiting at the bridge, anticipating the water. Some were excited, some were apathetic about it. However, the water was slowly coming as the signal came. Water started to flow slowly in the waterway, with everyone finally glad that it had happened after so long. Water was the way to connect others from one to another.

With that, Akari had to go and Akiko mentioned that cats were like mediums from the past to the future. As Akari left, Akiko probably knew that Akari was from the future and simply said.

“Farewell, my Avvenire” – which means my future.

————————————————————

Episode thoughts

The episode simply talks about the past connecting to the future. In this episode, we see Akari travelling back in time to see how the old aqua was. When there was water in the future, the water was scarce and people actually had this appreciation for water. In a way, the people in Aqua have taken water for granted, so as to speak. The thing was that in the present, we often tend to take things for granted, because they always exist. Only when they disppear, we start to miss such things.

It was ironic of humans but it’s always true, no?

I particularly liked the line that the planet, Aqua, was “a planet made with hands, sweat and the feelings of the people that lived in this planet”. It is true. A landscape is nothing without the people. Without people, every place would be the same, hollow and untouched. That is why places are built around people, that is what i feel as well.

Anyway, can’t wait to watch the end of the first series, episode 13. For now, so long ~

“Huh, what? I am busy thinking about ways to knock myself on the bridge wall…” — Athena

The episode is probably one of the best episodes, if not the best episode of Aria, because it is talking about the past history of the three water fairies. I really like the whole mood to the episode and it clearly shows its great ability to make you feel good by touching on the themes of friendship, time and things of precious value. I like this a lot and I will write in more detail about how I feel about the whole episode.

For now, episode summary and thoughts below! nyoro~

The entering of winter also brought about a severe change in winter. The three of them, Akari, Alice and Aika were all in combined training as usual, even though the chilling cold had brought about some difficulties to train. The three of them went back to Aria company after training, only to see the three seniors sitting in the fireplace, enjoying themselves. It seemed that the three of them were all free at the same time and hence they had came over for a little gathering. Alicia then decided to prepare some nice whipped cream with hot cocoa for everyone.

While Alicia was preparing for the house, Athena offered to be a host, as though it was her own house. She was always out of it and trust me, that was probably her charm because she always seemed so spaced out. Athena then asked the three apprentices whether they often trained together. The three girls said that they did and Athena started to vibrate and they thought that Athena was angry that they were training together. However, Akira came and told her to stop laughing so much.

Alicia then came with the cocoa and said that the three seniors often trained together when they were all “singles”. The reminiscing started to occur as it went back to the time where Alicia first met up with Akira. The two of them were friends and Alicia was the only apprentice in Aria, just like Akari, due to the fact that Aria was a small company that enjoyed coziness. Akira used to come everyday with excuses to meet up with Alicia as Akira was actually rather shy, as Athena accounted. Akira simply asked Athena to shut up. Akari also mentioned that Aika was the same and Aika used her common “Embarrassing comments are not allowed!”

Back to memory lane, Akira then mentioned about the coming of a very famous “single” undine in Orange company and was starting to worry whether the new person was a great undine of person skills and oar skills. Then, they met up with someone (Athena) who was knocked down of sorts from the ship as she was zoning out while traveling on her own Gondola. Her face was planted on her own Gondola after the impact of the two Gondolas. Akira noticed that Athena was wearing an orange planet uniform and invited her to lunch in order to find out more about the special girl.

As they ate lunch, Akira’s questions went completely unanswered as Athena was in her own world, entertaining Aria with her orange juice and straw skills. It was rather amusing to see Akira completely baffled at Athena’s moving at her own pace. Once they finished their meal, Athena said that it was not too good to eat too much because the food might land up in the wrong parts of the body such as the arms. I seriously went all O_O when she said that.

As expected, the three water fairies started to train together and we see some candid scenes from the past. Alicia and Akari, as usual, were spot on with their introduction and had that professional feel in them. However, when it was Athena’s turn, her lack of ability to find her sense of direction meant that her ability to introduce places was off. She often was very clumsy too, as shown when she always knocked on bridge walls while oarring around. In other words, her ability to zone off was probably her greatest asset.

Alicia was also very graceful when it came to scooping balls out of the river. However, Athena while scooping up the ball, got the whole ball flying far away from the kid at the shore and fell down into the water as well. Akira remarked that Athena was really thick. However, when they had Canzone practice, they were completely shocked. Athena was the special undine in Orange planet, with her beautiful voice charming everyone that was around her. Even Akira and Alicia watched with eyes wide open because they did not expect the soft spoken girl to have such a wonderful voice. After finishing the song, she went back to her stoned mode but the audience around the shores started to clap at her wonderful rendition.

Back to the present, Akira mentioned that she could not stand defeat and spent hours trying to practice her singing. However, Akira eventually gave up because she was not able to reach how Athena was. They then remarked it had been such a long while since they had the chance to gather together ever since they turned professional. Akari started to worry about the case with the three of them but Athena simply said that even though the past was fun, the present was also fun too. There was no need to be stuck with the past because you would not be able to enjoy the present.

With that, Akari, Alice and Aika left the three seniors to talk as they probably had much to catch up on. They left, with Akari continuing to brood over whether they would one day see less of each other after they turned professional. Aika told her simply not to worry and that they were going to meet. With that , Aika and Alice left to their own companies. However, Akari suddenly ran to the bridge and shouted, “We will see each other tomorrow!”. Aika started to squabble and told her that shouting was not allowed. Akari did not care and continued to shout and it was really an amusing end as Alice went with her “you two are so nosy”.

——————————————————————

Episode thoughts (affected)

For one, we really learn much more about the bit-part seniors that have appeared for quite a few times. We did not see much development on Alicia, since she was still the same, the “my my” attitude. However, the young Akira is very similiar to Aika and I could really see very strong connections between the two of them. I guess that is also why Akira tends to care for Aika so much because she sees so much common in her.

The general theme of this episode was friendship. The three seniors have been around for a long while together and with jobs, time and other committments, they moved apart. However, the thing is that even though they have been apart, the feelings for each other stayed. That is the same as what we feel in real life. Things would change, some things would not. However, that does not make things that do not change more precious than things that have changed. They were equally precious and important for each of us.

There is also another important lesson that I have learned from this episode. It is the thing that we should not dwell in the past that much. Dwelling in the past never gives you anything and it was clear from Athena’s point of view that to them, the past was fun. However, the times spending with their work were fun too and the time spent with cute juniors was also fun. There was no need to qualm on the past because you will simply forget about the fun you are having in the present.

We often find ourselves thinking like Akari, worried about the present when it has not happened. I am sure with an Alicia’s attitude to enjoy every single thing that was placed at her was probably the best thing to enjoy life. Life can already be very miserable sometimes, we do not need to worry for things that we cannot control. Let us just learn a little in my humble opinion, to enjoy companionship, see the fine little things in life and enjoy the view.

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.

————————————————————

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.

As we looked out into the sky, have we ever wondered about the beauty of the sky. Has life become so frentic and busy that we do not have time to enjoy ourselves. What is life if full of care, if we have no time to stare at the marvels of this world? This is the question that this episode is trying to ask us. Sometimes, the only thing we need to do is to simply slow down in the rat race and relax in the surroundings that we are in.

Episode summary and my little incoherent thoughts below!

Autumn had started in the world of Aria and the cool wind brings about a spirit of melchanoly around Aika, who was feeling a little troubled due to the weather. She had been puzzled that the combined training had been repetitive and was starting to worry that she would not be a good prima anytime soon. Aika wanted to be like the legendary water fairy, the one that had been first in the undine world before Alicia’s time. Akari did not know who she was, but was told by Aika that she was the pioneer, the Aria undine before Alicia.

Alicia then came out with drinks for the three of them and they asked for Alicia’s advice or the grandmother’s advice on being a good undine. Alicia said simply.

“Why dont you meet the grandmother herself to ask her?”

The three girls had a break given by Alicia and they travelled through the railway on a train in order to get to the “grandmother”. The grandmother was waiting for them in the mountain stop and they went over, with Aika excited over the possible training that was approaching them. When Aika said whether the grandmother wanted them to do anything, the grandmother asked them to pick up chestnuts at a nearby area.

Aika thought that it was training in order to perceive which chestnut was good for picking (trust her warped mind to figure this out) but the other two girls picked up as many as they could. When they came back, the grandmother asked whether they picked up lots just as to roast them. Their next task was to get sweet potatoes on the field and Aika thought it was training once again, in which she was explaining the mechanism of getting a sweet potato. Aika really had to learn how to relax.

It was now cooking time and they enjoyed the sweet potato and chestnuts that they have picked up. As they rested after the whole thing, Aika started to think whether it was the right time to do, to enjoy all this when they were supposed to work hard. However, Akari simply said that it was fun to do it. Dinner time and they had a good dinner.

Aika thought that it was really time for the words of wisdom from the grandmother but all she got was a bath that was heated by firewood. As they finished their bath, they were moved to another room to take some rest at an early time. Aika was starting to worry that she was not going to be a proper prima soon. She was also thinking that the grandmother felt that they were not good enough to be taught.

Alice suddenly opened the door, as they went out to observe the night sky. they were looking at it, with the beautiful skyline meeting them. The grandmother came out and noticed that the three girls were still awake. Talking to them, she asked them what was the special thing about Alicia. Aika said that it was Alicia’s skilful oarring and that Alicia was taught properly by the grandmother. However, the grandmother said that it was simply that Alicia was able to enjoy everything, no matter sad or happy things. The grandmother then asked them whether they enjoy being in a Gondola. They said yes and the grandmother simply said, “Then there is nothing else I can teach you.”

————————————————————————-

Episode thoughts

A beautiful episode. I like the part where they talk about how people enjoy things. Actually, it is really true. The people who succeed do their things well because they enjoy every single thing that comes at them. Alicia often takes a casual, relaxed mood toward anything that happens to her. In that case, there was never a point of time to despair and get panicky for nothing. In fact, it was probably why Alicia can always seem so happy, simply because she was simple and appreciate whatever she has.

That is the same as Akari. Akari is not as talented as Alice and Aika in terms of sailing but she was always able to enjoy whatever she has, and her beautiful smile was a clear indication of the pureness of her heart within. She is simple and unsophiscated, with the keen eye to enjoy whatever life has to offer. That is probably why in an earlier episode, the thing about “the master takes over the student” not only applies to Aika and Akira, but also Alicia and Akari. They were the same type of people, simply in a different form of maturity.

In this episode, it is really amusing to see Aika’s antics because she was always thinking of mundane things as training. Her desire to work hard is admirable though and I must say that the continued attempts to move up the ladder is something that I should learn. However, the episode also showed one simple rule. When people are blinded by trying to succeed, they lose focus of their lives when they do not see results and they started to turn melancholic. This was exactly what happened to the genki Aika, even though she was disillusioned by the sheer need to succed, finally found the bridge in which to go back to the roots of the problem.

In order to work well, you have to enjoy what you do.

That is probably what the whole episode tries to tell us. Success might be important but it should not be a goal. It should simply be a side benefit but the real measure of success is the process and the journey. It is not the end product.

The hero running toward the sunset. Run Lola Run!!!!~ I mean Aria.

This seems to be an Aria-centric episode. That also meant tons of cuteness!

1st part: Aria leaving home?

It started with a voice commentary that the weather had turned from summer to autumn, alloing a small hole of workload. That also meant that they had time to clean up the company and this was exactly what they did. Both Akari and Alicia were busy cleaning up the place and Aria was trying to help by sweeping and mopping the floor. Instead, it only found itself blocking the way.

It was puzzled and wanted to help out in whichever way he could and he tried to carry water in order to wash the floor. However, it spilled the water onto the floor and Alicia had to clean the mess. It then tried to move a plant pot somewhere but it dropped it, breaking the pot into pieces. Akari and Alicia had to clean up the mess once again. It was then very depressed that it was not able to help the two of them and found itself to be rather useless.

It then sat down on his desk, opening the drawers to see if there’s anything that could be done but found nothing except a sketchbook and a mascot doll. Aria then said that it was possible to at least make a home-cooked lunch for the two of them who were busy and tried to dump some ingredients in (banana, green pepper and cheese dont sound nice in a stew to me). However, it turned to be some green mess stew. It tasted a bit of it and immediately turned pale.

In depression that it could not do anything to help, Aria decided to leave the company and it gathered two of the rice balls as its food resource. However, it’s stomach was getting hungry and it swallowed one whole almost immediately. It also wanted to finish the other but reminded itself that it was emergency food. As it stepped out of the company, it realised that it did not know where to go.

Aria’s name was then popped out and it wanted to rush over. Aria then heard the voice of Akari, assumingly making a mistake, using some bottle detergent to wash the bathroom. Then, Aria’s name was called. They had seen the letter that it wrote that it was leaving home for now. However, Alicia simply said that Aria was being nice by getting out of the way when they were cleaning and Aria was being polite and helpful. In sadness, it walked off.

We then see Aria being extreemly lonely on a building. There, Aria met its first friend and it was a bird that tried to steal its emergency food after it had offered some bits of rice to the bird. Aria continued to walk around and found a girl with a puppet frog. She grabbed Aria around, wanting to bring Aria back to Man-home because it was so cute. With its sneaky skills, it was finally able to escape.

Aria was now at the river side, observing the many couples taking the Gondola in travel. Aria then thought about Hime, who was probably able to understand what it was thinking. However, when Aria reached the Himeya’s headquarters, it found that Aika was happily playing with Hime, making the black cat very happy.

Aria was disappointed and left back to Aria. It was about to cry too, because its limited food resource was falling low. On the other hand, Akari and Alicia had finally finished cleaning up and they discovered that Aria was missing. Akari went out of Aria company to find Aria and found tears falling on her forehead. It was Aria crying.

Alicia thought that it was scared because it had climbed too high and was unable to get down. With that, the little adventure ended and they had omelette rice for dinner.

2nd part: Aria the hero!

Aria had been addicted reading about this comic called Nyaa Nyaa Pu~. It was very amazed by the special skills of the main hero and was starting to make a little dance. Noticing something, It walked stealthily to the cupboard and took a package before running off. It was in fact cloth to dress just like the main character of the comic that it was reading. He had changed to the constume of the super hero and it was surveying the town.

Aria noticed that a girl had left her toy at a shop and the shop owner shouted at the girl about her toy but she did not hear it at all. Aria offered to pass the doll to the girl in his superhero help. On the route to finding the girl, Aria was obstructed by a praying mantis and it used a leaf to move the praying mantis away. However, the girl was getting further away and Aria rushed over.

It was then he met up with Athena, who recognised Aria. However, Aria hid so that its identity would not be discovered. Aria then continued to hunt and found Aika talking to one of the gnomes. Hime was rather charmed by the constume that Aria was wearing until Aika noted that it was actually Aria in disguise. His attempt to impress immediately failed. Aria then moved around to hunt for the girl in a forested path. There was rustling of leaves from the bushes and Aria feared that it was an ambush.

In fact, it was Maa-kun who came charging in to bite at Aria’s flubby stomach. Aria was losing hope about the whole issue but it continued to encourage itself to finish the task. Then, Aria noticed that balls and hoops were rolling on the alleyway and it was Akari moving to chase the things. It was in fact circus props and Aria went over to help Akari on moving the balls back. He then lost control and went on to the top of the ball, barely able to keep its balance. The buskers thought that Aria was good because it was able to catch its balance.

Aria then noticed the girl in the far end and chased her. However, when Aria was about to reach the girl, it slipped onto a banana skin and fell, dirtying the doll. The girl had entered back to her own home. It was disappointed as it had failed the hero mission and left the dirty doll on the doorstep. The girl was starting to cry because she realized that her toy was missing as she rushed out. She saw the dirty doll and was just glad that it was back.

Mission accomplished!

Never ever antagonize Akira unless
1. You have a death wish in which to be pawed to death by the tyrannic and beautiful Akira.
2. You are “my my” Alicia.
3. You are a paying customer of Himeya.

Nuff said, onto the episode summary!

The episode starts with Ai being scolded by her parents for taking too long and always late for appointments. It was the start of another day and Akari, Alice and Aika had a combined physical training with Akira. The schedule was that they were supposed to observe how Akira was going to pick up the customers she was going to have for this morning and observe how to pick up the customer at their spot in a graceful manner.

As they sailed off, they had found their customers for the day and it was a couple. It seemed that the lady (now known as wife) was a big fangirl of Akira and her gondola and the gentleman with the travel book always with him (now known as Man). As they got onto the boat, their first destination was the Fenice theatre. Fenice meant Pheonix in Italian (i think?) and it was their honeymoon. The wife had decided to come to Aria for their honeymoon and was clearly charmed by Akira when she took a rose off one of the flower boats and simply gave it to the wife. She also happily placed a rose right on the lips of the Man, making him blush a little with the attention.

Akira then introduced more about the Fenice theatre and asked if the couple wanted to watch opera there. The wife was concerned about the price of the opera show but Akira assured them that there are gallery seats that were much cheaper. The wife of course agreed and the three girls commented that Akira’s service was very through.

Akira then asked about how the couple actually met. The wife said that they had met during one of the tram rides in Man-home and it was then that the man often let his seat to people. At that point, the wife said that she found that the man was very nice, because he always did that. The man simply hid behind his book. For the whole journey, the man had held the book on his hands and did not observe the surroundings. Akira then took the book away, asking the man to observe Aqua through his own eyes. The man, however, asked Akira to mind her own business and in the process dropped the book into the water. Akira picked up the book using her oar and left it to dry, leaving the man book-less for now.

Akira decided to make a slight detour from the trip in order to reach the Statue of Maria. Even though the statue was not on the list of travel sites, she said that the town had so many attractions that some of them were left alone without anyone knowing about them. That was probably the beauty of Neo-Venezia, because there was always something waiting beautifully.

As the journey came to a close at Marco Polo Square, the wife requested that Akira sent them around for the afternoon. However, as there were practical lessons for the three girls in the afternoon, Akira had to decline. The wife then mentioned that they could join the training as customers and followed them around. Akira was reluctant to accept it until the man said that there was “nothing hard about being an undine”. You just have to know how to oar and smile politely. Akira was clearly annoyed but she kept her smile and agreed to them joining the trip.

They went for training then and Akari was asked to oar first. It was clear that the customers realized the change in attitude of Akira, who had turned back to her strict and violent self. The wife had mentioned that Akira was rather scary. Akira immediately flared up at that time, as Akari was travelling too slowly due to her nervousness. Akari further earned Akira’s irk when she started talking to Woody who was passing by to send a large package when they were supposed to be with the customer.

It was then Aika’s turn to oar and she was doing a pretty good job, introducing and getting the facts right on the travel destinations that she was moving with. She got proud when Akari started praising her for the good work until Akira came in with her usual strict tone. Aika always had a tendency to move too fast without noticing and there was in fact a speed limit imposed on Gondola.

It was now Alice’s turn to sail. She was sailing on a rather narrow waterway and another Gondola was travelling around the same waterpath in the opposite direction. The other boat announced its presence in the waterway and Alice did as well, albeit in a soft voice. It was going to be very close as the wife remarked that they were going to meet head on but Alice’s superior oar skills meant that they went through easily. Akira mentioned that Alice’s skills were impressive but she was way too soft. Another gondola came and she was asked to shout much louder quite a few times. I must say, Alice trying to scream for her announcing was rather cute.

Alicia came with a cake during a short break and offered tea to the couple. The man seemed to be charmed by “my my” Alicia. With that, they went on to their last training session. As the evening was coming, the last training session was to find the destination and get there. This was hard as the high tide was coming and the amount of bridges that the Gondola could not go through was more than doubled. It proved to be true as the three girls were unable to find their way out. Akari had tried to find some locals in which to ask for the path but to no avail as there were no people around. The man had tried a few times to help the girls but Akira told him in no uncertain terms not to.

Alice then noticed a very light current coming through a building door at the side. As they opened the door, they found a rather dark passage as they entered. Aika was the navigator, pushing away the obstacles and Akari was the undine for this tight dark passage. As they reached the end of the passage, it was assumingly a dead end until Alice found a key as she unlocked the door.

As they opened the door, they had finally found their way out of the place to the destination, much to everyone’s relief. They then had Margaita pizza for dinner and Akari was surprised how come they were not scolded for the bad actions. Akira simply said that there was no need to scold them because they already reflected over it and it was time to enjoy the food.

As Akira went over to order food at the counter, Aika noted that Akira might be strict but she always compensated for her moments of anger by such means like being nice to you after the whole issue. Akira was fierce and scolds when required, but it was a clear sign that she really cared. You would not scold a certain person if you did not care enough and it was simply an irreplacable gift from an irreplacable person.

Do you have a person that is your senior or your sibling that is always looking over you? Sometimes, it might seem that they were being nosy and overbearing. However, do remember that the thing is that they do care and they do love you. So understand that feeling and try to work from there. Viewing things from a positive standpoint is already half the battle won in many situations. That is what i learn from this episode at least.

As the music started to play, a song is something that others listen to, allowing us to soothe our senses and feelings as we listened quietly. A song is such a wonderful instrument of passing on feelings that we can never do with plain words. It’s beautiful, isn’t it?

This episode started with Ai sending an email to Akari, talking about her failed attempt to make buttered potatoes. Akari and Alice were out training, with Aika on a business trip somewhere. It was then that they met Athena, one of the three “water fairies”, who was distinctive due to her unique beautiful voice, singing the Conzone. She went past with Akari amazed at how Athena had that angelic voice with her. Alice, however, was in a rather bad mood and it was because she found that her left hand was in fact very useless. She even started a left-hand punishment campaign to punish her left hand because Alice thinks that the left hand always rely on the right hand to do things. It could not even write at all properly.

They went over to Orange Planet as Alice had kept a pet (a cat called Maa-kun), even though pets were not allowed in the company. They reached over and we learnt that Maa was actually picked up by Alice as she saw the cat abandoned three days ago. It was calling out Maa~, Maa~ and she decided to bring it home without thinking about the possible consequences. She was sure if she hid it, it would be safe.

A dark-skinned girl came in to the room, and it was Athena. Akari was really panicky and started mentioning that she was not a suspicious person. Athena did not take notice but simply smiled back as she poured water into her cup. However, we could immediately tell that Athena was a really careless person because she not only spilled water on the floor, but while trying to clean it up, spilled water on herself as well. Alice then told Akari to change to the uniform of Orange Planet, because it would be too outstanding walking around in an Aria uniform.

It was lunch time and Akari remarked that the whole eatery was very posh and it was here where everyone would dine. As they went over for lunch, Alice started to search around for ketchup and the likes. It seemed that Athena and Alice were a very funny pair, because both of them did not seem to be too concerned with each other’s strange behavior. Alice continued to say that Athena was in fact spaced-out all the time and the fact that she could trip on flat surfaces, spill water, forget all the important things as well as hanging herself up on the phone.

It was rather amusing to see the effects of what she said because while drinking her juice, Athena suddenly turned pale. Alice looked at the small jug and realised that in Athena’s absent mindedness, Athena had poured the whole jug of gum syrup into her drink, making her squeal “sweet!”. Athena was a really cute character imho, because her appearance clearly did not match her behavior.

AS they went back to the room, Alice asked Athena to bathe first. It was a form of distraction so that she could feed Maa. She then remarked more about why she had saved Maa. The Ocean Planet’s guardian had just died and somehow, she could see a little bit of Maa from the old guardian and that was the reason why she picked him back. Athena then came over as the two girls hurriedly made some lame excuse to escape from the situation.

It was already late night and Athena was reading a book. Akari was getting ready to sleep before noticing that Alice was acting strangely. Alice said that she was playing solo Scissors-paper-stone and that the right hand would always win. However, for once, the left hand won and she bashed her own hand til it was swollen. It was really amusing how Alice’s mind works. She might even be a closet maschoist. Ok, that was veering way too far off. Akari told her that the left hand was not as useless as Alice thought it was.

Maa suddenly started crying at the middle of the night and the two girls were woken up by the loud noise. Athena was still awake reading her books and she started to sing and it had a calming effect on Maa. Alice carried Maa onto the bed and slept together with Maa to allay Maa’s fears.

The next day, Alice set off for class as Akari had the day off. There were then instances she started to notice that the left hand was always quietly supporting what she was doing. As she rushed back to her room, she noticed that Maa had disappeared as the closet was open. She rushed out as she found Akari and told her that Maa was missing. They searched together to find Maa-kun and Alice was worried that Athena might have found out about Maa and reported it to the company. It was then that they met two friends of Alice, who said that they had heard crying from Maa in her room and had opened the closet. Maa however ran off and they could not find it.

It was then that we heard Athena’s voice and it attracted Maa out to the open. It was then that Akari remarked that it was probably Athena trying to drown out the crying of Maa yesterday night and Alice realised that Athena had also sang last time when she first came and was lonely. She sang to make Alice feel better and in this instance, to find Maa.

“A song is something others listen to.” was what Athena said and Alice knew that the left hand was not as useless as it seems. The episode ended with Ai telling Akari that her father had eaten her potatoes without her noticing and said that it was “so so” and asked her to improve it next time.

Note: I guess sometimes, we rely on people so much that we never even notice how much we are relying on them. So if you have friends that have supported you a lot, do remember to just say a big thank you to them and that they have always been with you in whatever you have done. That is probably what the message of the episode was.

Just me, but when Alice said that, it was so funny with the non-chalant emotions and feelings she brought with the voice? I laughed my head off when she said that. That sounded way more like an Aika line than Alice. It’s like asking Sagara in FMP to say “Let’s have a threesome, Tessa and Chidori…”. Ok, maybe not that scary. I will seriously creep out if Ichigo suddenly says “Let’s get married, Rukia”…Or Renji saying that. I am getting a little out of point so down to the episode summary!

This episode is a beach episode. Akari had received an invitation to visit Neverland (as we all know, the name is from Peter Pan) with a special invitation letter. Akari and Alicia were eating breakfast with President Aria then and in the letter, there was a remainder for her to bring a swimsuit. She then embarked on her Gondola to get to Neverland and found a completely empty beach. There, she ventured into the island.

She was however hopelessly lost in the island and it was there that she found the shadow of a person. It was Alice and she was also invited for this certain party. The instructions in the letter was the shining beach that was 2nd to the right but they were unable to find anything for now. Akari, with her slightly warped mind, said that this might actually be an invitation by Peter Pan to visit him. Aika suddenly popped out and told her not to say any embarrassing things. Then Akari went on some conspiracy theory that they actually offended someone and it was their way to payback. Alice’s amusing remarks that it might be true did not help matters.

However, Akari suddenly felt that she smelt something, something like the scent of the ocean in the distance. They then concentrated and found that there was indeed a scent as they ran over to that place. It was really a beautiful beach, one that most of them had not seen in Aqua. There, Alicia and Akira were waiting for them. It seemed that it was the two professionals who had sent the letter and it was actually intensive training for them.

The various craziness came when Akira emphazied that there was a lot of intensive training, like crazily amounts of training until you drop dead. Even so, due to the secluded area, there was no means of escape, which meant that they could be tortured to no end. Akira really had a talent when it came to scaring the shit out of her apprentices and she did it with great charm. Now how’s that for a senpai that does all forms of threatening like child’s play? Of course, the faces of the three trainees turned more and more pale with each word, until Alicia intervened with her special unique charm attack! Training has officially started.

They then did some running excerises and various other activities. The most amusing activity that I saw was the log training session where they were supposed to oar around on a log and keeping their balance. All of them had trouble doing it. In particular, Alice’s really emotionless “Oh, I’m falling” was really amusing to listen. I think I am turning into an Alice fanboy now. Alicia and Akira then demonstrated how to do the practice properly and they were really graceful, making the three trainees to be admiring them and hoping to be like the “three water fairies” one day.

Lunch time has finally started after a tiring training session. It was made by the beautiful Alicia and everyone praised her as the food was done really nice. In fact, Akira also had a hand in it, but was quickly refuted by Aika as usual. They were just so cute squabbling at every single thing alive. Akira actually wanted to give intensive training but Alicia had said that it was a good time for relaxation. Hence, they were allowed to do whatever they want for the rest of the day.

Of course, the girls were delighted as we see scenes of Akira spiking a volleyball right at Aika and it was amusing how Aika flew away with the impact. I swear that Akira has the strength of a man with her build. Alice was then seen swimming around with a guiding board, moving around idly in the water. Akari then was commenting that she was unable to swim in the waters of Man-home and it was probably the first time she had ever been inside a real “sea”.

As Akari was stoning, Alicia came over and started to talk to her about the sea and how she should enjoy this, since it was like a once in a lifetime experience. Alicia then suggested that they travel under the water to see what was happening underwater. As they all moved into slight diving gear, they saw the beautiful scenery under the water, with fishes, stingray and all sorts of marine life swimming around happily, with no disruption by mankind. It was amazing though how all these structures were actually man-made in this Aqua world.

As they all came out of the water, Alice was missing and she was actually on a short cliff. They all remarked that it was such a good spot and rushed over to that place. Alice looked down and was a little scared of the height. She then noticed that Aika and Akira had ran ahead of her and jumped into the water happily. Akari then came over and was also a little shocked at the height of the place, even though it was water right below. Alice and Akari then jumped down together happily.

They then continued with the rest of the recreational activities, such as building sand castles and having watermelon eating contests. We all know who are the really two competitive people in this group to fight for the winner of the watermelon eating contest, don’t we? *wink*

The day was turning to an evening and it was time to relax as the three girls laid down quietly on the beach, feeling tired but happy about the whole day. It was then that Akari realised that she lost one part of the ribbon on her hair during the swimming trip. She remembered something about her past, when she was a kid in the pool. She had also lost a ribbon then and stopped asking why the ribbon was lost and where it was when her mother promised to buy her one. She wanted to ask Aika about her opinion but both Alice and Aika had fell asleep.

BBQ time! They started to eat and enjoy the rest of the night away. As the night started to resume its daily practice, Akari was alone, gazing at the beautiful scenery of the place. With the cold wind, Akari shivered a little and Alicia came over, droping a coat right over her. Akari then started to talk about Neverland and how that she thought that this whole place of Neverland was actually a fairy tale that was not true.

They then reflected that memories could be forgotten, but it was always kept deep within your heart. Memories that you assumed to be long forgotten, could one day be remembered as triggers were set to wake it up from its slumber. Akari then thanked Alicia for a wonderful day. However, Alicia simply said that “The world appears wonderful in the eyes of wonderful people.”

It was then that Akari found her ribbon lying on the water and tears started to swell up. It seemed that she had remembered some things from the past. Even though tears fell, she was not sad but it was in fact that her heart was full and she once again remarked that it was wonderful to be here.

Neverland might really exist, and Aqua could be that Neverland already. In fact, isn’t Neverland always somewhere in everyone’s heart, waiting for the day to surprise us completely? A question to pose to you as I ended this episode summary.

Strolling President Aria and Akari – So fun!

This episode started with the meeting of Alice, Akari and Aika on a light traveling on their gondolas. A wind messenger (sylph) called Woody came over with his air vehicle, nearly knocking over Aika on the process of saying hi. They then took a rest on a dock, thinking about how such messages seem to be passing on their most treasured feelings toward someone.

Back at Aria, Alicia informed Akari that they would be eating pasta for dinner and asked her to run an errant. Alicia asked Akari to go buy some things in the bakery for tomorrow’s breakfast. President Aria joined Akari to go there, as she carried him in a basket. As they walked around, Aria suddenly jumped off the basket and started to walk toward a dark alley. Not knowing what Aria was thinking about, Akari followed Aria quietly as they meandered around dark alleyways before reaching a backyard.

There, a little girl was hiding behind a tree and she had a letter in her hands. Coming out from her partially hidden position, she came over and asked Akari to deliever the letter for her. A side issue, she had a neko bell on her neck. Was that an attempt for neko-ness in a character? I do not remember the anime giving any form of fanservice, so I would have to wait and see. The little girl then continued to press Akari before Akari agreed as they made a pinky finger promise. The little girl then went off a backalley and disappeared.

Akari arrived back to Aria company and she started to look up on the address provided by the girl. As the address was blurred and unclear, she was unable to figure out the exact address. The next day, the postman came by and told Akari that the letter was an old data card, one that was seldom used these days. She asked the postman then to help to see if he could find out anything about the letter. She then wondered why the little girl had such an old device with her.

Akari was boating as usual for training after the postman came over. Aria then noticed and started to make a bit of noise as he pointed out a narrow waterway to Akari. Aria had signalled to Akari about it and she started to navigate around that waterway, eventually reaching a place that she did not remember seeing before. The little girl was there once again and asked her whether Akari had sent the letter.

Akari said that she had not but has asked the postman for help. The girl simply smiled when Akari assured her that she would send it and said that the feelings of the letter was really able to overcome time and space. Akari reached back to the Aria company and was ambushed by Alicia with some nice ice cream sticks. Alicia saw that Akari was a little disturbed and asked her, realising that it was the delivery of a letter. that had confused her. Alicia simply told her to work hard at it.

The postman came back to the Aria company in the evening and said that the address was Kak Tal base, an old area where they excavated water. It was probably no one living there but the postman did get a rough gauge on where the address was. Woody-san, with his sylph came over to deliver some goods for Aria company, including some food for Aria and a foot massager. She then thought of a great idea, which was to get Woody to send her to the base.

The next day, Akari got ready to go over to Kak Tal base, with Alice and Aika coming over to send her off. They travelled around the sky, as they thought about how the sky was like the sea, and there they were, like fishes happily swimming in this beautiful sea. They then picked up the speed and reached a small island for rest. They then started to talk and Akari said that Woody’s job as a messenger was very beautiful, as they were able to deliver treasured feelings through the messages they sent. However, Woody said that undines in their gondolas also have a role: to create such treasured feelings.

They continued to travel and finally hit the Kak Tal base. There was nothing there but Akari saw some strange structures in one of the plains. They were gravestones and it seemed that there were people living there at a point of time. Woody the remarked that he remembered seeing something in the water. As Woody beamed his light to the sea, he found that the base was already sunken below the water.

Alicia and Aria then came over on a rider as well, as she told that the Kak Tal base was sunk because they had exavacated more water than they expected. The letter was also a letter of the past and she had brought a card reader to “deliver” the message to the dead tombstone called Allen Honda. That person was the supposed recipent of the letter.

The card was actually a video. There was a woman in the video, talking to perhaps her husband that was working in Kak Tal Base (not sure if she’s working there, or her husband is) but they have not met ever since they got married. She talked about the tough times but she said it was all worth it because in the future, every child will benefit from their attempts.

Akari was touched by the message and in tears, she mouthed out that she had “delivered the letter”.

A really simple story that brought out the raw feelings of people. A message is just that, text. However, the feelings of those words were conveyed beautifully. It is not of the words that matter, but the strong feelings that were prominent from the writing. To deliver that form of hope and feeling was a really precious thing. I will never see sending a letter in the same light anymore after this.

The summer brings about different feelings within people, like the rainbow after the rain.

*note: I got feedback that I should split the images a little to reduce the monotony of words from Alkan. Will do that for ep 2, 3 and the next few episodes! Do comment on anyway to improve my review other than the fact that my grammar is horrendous. I wonder if it is >_>;;; Dont tell me, i know it’s good. bwhahahaha (self-justification for the win!)

Summer time has finally arrived to our peaceful little town. It was also a good time for training, as it was a good time to break some sweat. They were travelling along a harder route, where they reminisced about the time when they were still “two gloves” (trainee). It was definitely a harder route due to the currents and it was there that they met a new character, a 14 year old middle school girl who was from Orange Planet that went through the route very fast. Aika, with her competitive spirit, started a mini competition with the girl to teach her that “single” (one glove) was definitely much faster than just a simple trainee.

The girl was actually Alice and she was actually scouted from the middle school’s Gondola club as one of the best undine, with great speed in the oar. Aika wanted to race the girl but was stopped by Akari as they found a field of beautiful yellow flowers. Akari remarked that it was nice to pick up the flowers, not only for the scent but also to give Alicia some of them. With that, we see Akari offering to eat breakfast together with Alice but was refuted with a “You’re so nosy”.

Alice left and went over to school. It was then at the entrance that a fangirl of hers appeared. With a stone face, she rejected the girl, stating that she was just a trainee. In class, her friend told her that it would definitely be better if she smiled and declined the offer. As the lesson ended, she went to eat her lunch at a fountain while trying very hard to smile. She did not understand why Akari could smile so happily while she was struggling so hard to.

The next scene then came to Akari buying snacks. She was then stopped by Akatsuki (the annoying guy who calls her pigtails). Akatsuki was her very first customer and she had a rather bad experience as she gazed the gondola against the wall and Akatsuki complained about her attempt to boat the Gondola. A few words from Alicia did the wonders and it was clear that he was a fanboy of Alicia too (too because i am as well >_>;;).

Back to reality, Akatsuki was actually waiting for someone to appear but the person seemed to be late. Akatsuki then asked Akari to drive him around to waste some time and he also used the lame “we’re friends” reason to get into the boat. While getting the boat off the dock, Akatsuki was continuing to tease Akari as pigtails and Alice arrived to the scene, thinking that Akatsuki was harrassing our poor Akari (he is btw, that bastard!). Akari simply smiled and said that it was not and invited Alice to join them in the fun ride.

They went through some public tourist spots, like the Spaceport for Immigration. Akari patiently explained about the places that they went through, with Alice providing some good back up when Akari forgot about the details. They also went around San Marco. Marco was actually a saint and it was represented by a lion that was like one of the beasts in the Old Testament. The lion figure with open scriptures was a personification of justice and was a symbol to protect peace in the region, as explained by Akari during their little trip.

As they continued on their little travel, Akari smiled and commended that Akatsuki was like one of the guardian deities of the town, cooling and regulating the weather of the town in Ukijima (the floating town). He was a flame keeper or a weatherman up there, to spread heat and the likes when required. Alice now could understand a little why Akari’s smile was not really for the sake of courtesy but simply a part of how she was as a person.

As they waited along the bridge to rest for a moment, Akari mentioned that a good way to spend some time was to simply observe people walking around. She then commented about an old man and was actively commenting whether he was able to get to his destination in time with comedic effect. Akatsuki was not impressed by it but Alice smiled. She was really cute when she smiled and I personally liked a lot. Ok, that was a digression. So Akari said that it was the first time she had ever seen Alice smile like that.

Finally, Akatsuki’s older brother arrived to the scene with money to give to Akatsuki and he praised that Akari was definitely a superior undine. She definitely was, since she was able to tolerate that bloody annoying person that kept calling her pigtails. They continued onto their trip to finish the journey. It was clear to Alice now why Akari was able to smile that way because she was one with the wind and she had opened her heart in the Gondola. When you allowed yourself to flow with the world, you would feel that way in alignment with nature.

The journey ended, with Akatsuki offering to give them two residential tickets to visit Ukijima. They accepted and they enjoyed a great view of the town. Alice realised the beautiful scenery and felt that she was closer to the wind just being there. She finally understood and was glad. The feeling was good.

A beautiful and nice episode. The scenery was well done and the interactions between Akari and Akatsuki were pretty funny. Alice was there for the moe factor, with her cute little blushes along the way. I really liked the mood of this anime. It’s comfortable, relaxing and definitely something you can watch while sapping some nice afternoon tea. I love it.

Moral of this episode: Love what you do and you show in how you do it.

Screenshots below:

(and i am so flooded away by your awesomeness, Alicia-san <3. Let me be your apprentice too!)

This episode started with an email to Ai-chan as the whole Aria company was resting. Akari had woke up in the morning, realising that the whole house was flooded. She went in shock as the rest of the company woke up (aka Alicia & President Aria) but was told that it was an occurance of Acqua Alta (high water). This was was a time where the whole town started to rest as nothing could be done anyway. Alicia then had to leave for a Gondola meeting and she reminded Akari to buy some food for President Aria.

As the town was in Acqua Alta, they decided to walk. As they walked, they got lost to the wrong street. the rain suddenly appeared, leaving our Akari and Aria stranded as they hunted a shelter. At the shelter, Aria noticed that there was a black cat peeking from the window. It was in fact Himeya, the president of another shipping company that is called Himeya (the name of the cat. It seems that the animals were like figurehead symbols of the company). In fact, Aika popped out from the window and asked Akari why she was here hiding from the rain.

They were then invited into the house, where we realise that Ailka was actually Himeya’s heir and everyone treated her respectfully because that was her position in the hierachy. She found it uncomfortable though, as she fetched some food for Himeya. They went into the same room that Himeya was at and were engaged in some talk. Aria, with his famished stomach, stole the food that was given to Himeya. Himeya did not want to eat it, especially after Aria had drooled on it..(eww..)

While chatting, we realised that the cat was actually a symbol of assurance of the company. For example, Himeya’s aquamarine eyes were considered to be that form of stability. A new character then came barging in, scolding Aika for being lazy and asked her to train in the high water conditions. She was Akira, a professional undine that was also one of the “three fairies” (Alicia is one of them too). She started to go on a bombardment of every single activity that Aika did, including the time where they rowed Ai-chan around for free when they were moving along the river. Aika could not take her taunts anymore and in a fit of anger, rushed out and shouted that she would be joining the Aria company. Akari quickly followed her, not wanting to stay in the tiger’s den for too long.

They went over to the Aria company, where Aika prepared fried rice for dinner. As they finished dinner, they went up to the bedroom, where Aika continued to complain about Akira’s overbearing behavior. Aika also mentioned that it was four years ago that she left home once. That was then she met Alicia (still a “single” – single glove means apprentice) who passed by the area and asked Aika how she was. Aika tried to ignore Alicia, but her shoe dropped into the water and Alicia offered to ride her around to cheer her up.

It was then she decided to be an undine, because to her, Alicia was someone she looked up to and was a special existence. She lamented that if she was not Himeya’s heir, she would already came over to Aria. In the morning, a booming “IS. ANYONE. HOME!” came through from outside the house (we all know who by now). Akira threatened to sink Aika in the Neo-Adriatic Sea if the two of them did not come out by the count of 10. Man, i love taking a line out of context.

She had came to bring Aika back. However, Akira and Aika continued to squabble, and a comedic act between Alicia “my my” and Akira’s extreme annoyance at her doing it brought about some amusement to my face. I must say that I could fully understand why Akira was annoyed by her childhood’s friend’s easy attitude to life, considering that she seemed rather serious all the time. As Akira chased Alicia around with “not allowed!” as Alicia continued to giggle and say “my my” , they went through into the room, where Akira proposed a race. If Aika lost to Akari, she would have to come home. If not, she could do whatever they liked.

They moved out of the house and commenced their race. Suddenly, Aika asked Akari to go to a different narrow lane in the river. She was actually there for the walnut bread, because Akira actually liked the bread there. She bought it, hoping to appease Akira later because she was going to quit. She knew that Akira was simply doing it so that her pride would still be there if she chose to return. Akira was the only person that treated her normally like a person and Akira was actually really kind, contradictionary to her comments about her being overbearing.
Changing scenes, we see the waiting Akira and Alicia talking to each other. Akira mentioned that Aika was a very kind and nice girl as well. Akira said that if Aika chose to leave in this race, she would follow her as well. That was showing how strong their bonds were together as friends.

As they reached back, Aika said that she quit the race, eliciting a huge response from Akira. Before Akira could go Watagashi on her, she shoved the walnut bread at Akira, appeasing her. As they sat down and chatted and ate, Akari saw the interaction between the two, and wished that she was able to be so frank with Alicia one day…

Pretty nice episode again. A very simple interaction between the main characters, and we realise a bit more about Aika’s background, as well as the two sides of Akira. Akira is really a very likeable character for now. Akari is pretty normal for probably the main character, a hardworking type and Alicia is just the angel. Waiting to watch episode 3 later.

Screenshots below: