ARIA 13 (END... for now)
First hazukashii serifu of the episode comes right at the beginning during the intro. Nice job, Akari ;) It's a cold last night of the year (a year on Aqua is two times the year on Earth, so that's why the calendar says 24), so it's time for a New Year's Party with everybody, of course. Akari meets up with Alicia and Woody and Akatsuki at the big square in Neo Venezia where the big countdown will be... she wishes Ai-chan could be there with her, though... well, guess what?
アイちゃんｷﾀ━━━(ﾟ∀ﾟ)━━━ ！！
Ai-chan kita---!
アイちゃんかわいいよアイちゃん！
Ai-chan kawaii yo Ai-chan!
Akari hears a voice that she swears is Ai-chan's... Ai-chan pops up from the other side of the table :) Seems Alicia kept it a secret from Akari so she'd be surprised, and surprised she is. Ai-chan seems to already know who everybody is thanks to Akari's e-mails.... repeating what she said (good or bad) pretty much verbatim, it seems, much to Akatsuki's chagrin (^^;;;) Akatsuki's nii-san comes and gives Ai-chan a present, some pretty glass beans -- beans are the traditional thing to eat during New Year's, and the glass beans are a popular item, it seems. Akira, Aika, and Al-kun show up next. Ai-chan "gets" the people she doesn't know, once again repeating what Akari said in her e-mails. Akira is the "oni teacher".. then Aika stops her right before she asks Al-kun a very hazukashii question (^^;;) But Akari's happy that Ai-chan's meeting everybody, almost like meeting characters in a novel... another hazukashii serifu (^^;;) Grandma then shows up to see everybody... but then President Aria runs off like he's prone to do, and Ai-chan and Akari follow him through the town...
Ai-chan and Akari come to a waterway, and across it is an old building and some windmills... and cats... that cat that was that omegakawaii girl as well. So this place is... it's a place from Aqua's past. Akari remembers what Akako said last time, that cats are said to be creatures that connect the past and future... but in an instant the scenery returns to normal. Ai-chan and Akari both felt a nostalic (natsukashii) feeling then. Maybe Aqua is welcoming them, Ai-chan says (hazukashii serifu kinshi!). Ai-chan's bag of glass beans she got had a hole in it, so they follow the beans back to everybody. When they're asked where they went they answer Aqua. And here comes "dekkai" from Alice ;)
Tradition is that when the clock strikes midnight that you throw something from the past year up high. For Akari, it's her cap, and for Ai-chan.. her ribbon that she wore last time she was on Aqua. The countdown is close... Akari says a very hazukashii serifu, but Aika stops halfway ;) And so the countdown starts and a New Year comes to Aqua -- time to party :)
Early the next morning, before sunrise, everybody wakes up. Ai-chan's big sister comes to pick her up, and she brings along her baby with her. The baby's name -- Aqua-chan, since her sister loves Aqua so much. Aqua-chan walks over and plays with President Aria some. kawaii~~~. The sun rises, casting a brilliant bright white light over everyone... a light that feels like it warms the inside of your heart, Akari says (Hazukashii serifu kinshi!) Ai-chan and her sister bid farewell to the group...
Alicia and Akari speak in a gondola (President Aria's there as well). Alicia must be happy that Ai-chan's sister brought her baby to Aqua with her. Yes, she is -- she's glad that when they met again both their families had grown. Both? Alicia bids Akari a good new year, and Akari the same to Alicia. And President Aria says something like that as well ;)
To the people who made this wonderful planet...
To the people who live together on this wonderful planet...
To this wonderful planet, Aqua...
And to those I'll meet from now on...
With all my heart: [Italian expression for "Happy new year".. somebody help me here]
That the coming year will be enveloped in happiness..
A fitting ARIA-like ending (for now...). Not quite as good as the previous two episodes, but it still left me with a smile on my face. How could I not smile seeing Ai-chan again? Only been waiting to see her again since episode 1. That's definitely one way to get people to keep on watching -- GJ, Jun'ichi Satou! He knows his audience ;)
Kidding aside, he has done a good job done overall with ARIA, as expected. I've been done in by him yet again ;) I've only read one volume of the manga so far (got two more to read here now...), but the show definitely kept that same slow-paced feel as the manga for the most part. Each character had their unique personality come through well in the anime, making them all extremely likeable. Not to mention the majority of them are rather cute. Yes, even President Aria's crazy antics grew on me. Though I dunno if I'd call him "moe" like some of the Japanese bloggers ;) Over the course of the show I've gotten each character's respective phrase stuck in my head... Aika's hazukashii serifu kinshi! being my favorite (GJ, Chiwa!), with Alice's dekkai~ coming in second. Even got so into watching the show that I'd say hazukashii serifu kinshi! out loud when the time was right ;) Every week was enjoyable, leaving me with a smile... or those couple of times some tears... it really is a "healing anime" as was advertised.
The music by Choro Club really enhanced that "healing" feel, appropriately very gentle and soothing (makes me want to buy the soundtrack....). The unique non-OP opening song by Yui Makino also grew on me quite a bit as the show went on, fitting the atmosphere of the show perfectly. She'll be doing the OP for the 2nd season, yes? If there were one thing I could pick on a bit, it's the quality of the animation... it was a bit below average in places. I'd like Hal Film Maker to pay a bit more attention to it the next time. But still, it was acceptable for the most part, the backgrounds especially well done.
ARIA's not going to be a show for everybody. There's no action, no overriding story or anything like that. It will put you to sleep, though in a good way, at least to me. But for those that enjoy the small things in life like Akari does, it's quite the way to relax during a rough week. I'm definitely looking forward to joining Akari and her friends for more wonderful heart-warming time together on Aqua again next spring (hazukashii serifu kinshi!). Would it be too much to ask for Ai-chan to come back, too? ;)
Random Stats:
Interest: High
Blogging: 8/13 (62%) - I'll do better next time, definitely ;)
Favorite Episode: 11
MVPs: Everybody!... though I guess Ai-chan would top the list ;)
Keeping it? Definitely... I'd like the DVDs, but only 2 eps a DVD... ＿|￣|○
Omake: Some more Ai-chan from this time. Click for bigger pics ;)
Definetly a 'good anime'...
;___; It ended so quickly though....
"Italian expression for "Happy new year".. somebody help me here"
It's "Augurio Buonanno" (If you check volume 2 of the manga ^_^ ). And the countdown is also in Italian.
Amano Kozue seems to like Italian things so much, and there is also "avvenire" in the last episode.
ARIA tte hontou ni sugoi desu ne~ \^o^/
I recomend this anime, I really love it. Can't wait for season 2!!!
I don't mind being just a postman if I can live in Neo Venezia :)